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Mare1971
Member
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# Posted: 18 Mar 2018 12:51pm
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Hi all, new member here from Eastern Ontario ðŸ
Hoping to move off grid in a couple of years to Northern Ontario, can't wait!!
Investigating the Pros and Cons of Unorganized Townships.
I'm fairly certain it's the route we'll b taking.
Pros
-cheaper land (hundreds of acres for 20k type thing)
-few or even zero building permits needed
-no nosey government issues,
-few/no annoying neighbours lol
-PRIVACY
-do what u want when u want!
Cons
-no services such as fire/police/ambulance (I'm only mildly am concerned re fire & somewhat concerned re no 911, as we are getting older)
-possibly difficult to get house insurance
-maybe tricky to keep in touch with family?
We don't have small children, so don't care about schools & recreation programs.
Don't care about garbage pick up as we'll deal with it ourselves.
Don't really care about road maintenance... We have jeep & atv, and don't plan to be heading off our property often - plan out specific trips to store for necessities when weather/roads permit.
Plan to hunt and grow/farm most of what we can.
I work in health care so can get us through your basic health issues lol, and hubby is super handy and can build/fix anything!
Homesteading will b our job, so commuting is not an issue.
It seems to make the most sense, especially financially!! 😆
Anyone have ideas, pros/cons?
Thanks!
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leonk
Member
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# Posted: 22 Mar 2018 08:20pm
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I don't know how old you are (1971..? ;))
and why are you doing it, but health care and aging are concerns,
what is your long term plans..? You need to have a plan.
Even Dick Prenneke moved from his cabin at his last years.
I doubt you can grow much in N Ont where land is 20K for hundreds of acres.
Best of luck.
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Mare1971
Member
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# Posted: 22 Mar 2018 09:55pm
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Thanks 😊 I'm 47...hubby 57. Plan is to sell current home for nice profit (we bought as is and flipped) and hopefully buy portable mill perhaps for e trading income😊
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Steve_S
Member
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# Posted: 23 Mar 2018 06:27am
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Try having a look around Wilno or Barry's Bay even Madawaska. These are townships proper but there is quite a bit of property for sale in the area. Many are Bush Lots which can be bought pretty reasonably if it's a recent cut versus a mature bush ready for harvest. Watch for zoning but most are ok if you want to build a small homestead. As for gardening etc, zone 4a still so not bad and with a greenhouse you can extend pretty well. NOTE that when searching listings, often there are large properties for cheap but are land locked or have access issues which most listings are not clear about.
Stay away from Chalk River and upstream from there, the old Rolphton CNL Nuclear Facility is still leaking away, so keep away from that area.
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KelVarnsen
Member
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# Posted: 23 Mar 2018 08:14am
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Quoting: Mare1971 -maybe tricky to keep in touch with family?
I'm not sure how tech savvy you are, but I'd look for a place where you can get cell signal or decent internet of some sort, possibly satellite internet. Price that into your monthly budget. It will make keeping in touch with family much easier and possibly help in emergency situations.
I understand you desire to be remote, but I'd err on the side of caution and be within a reasonable distance to medical care. Also, be wary of the short growing season and soil conditions in northern Ontario.
Sounds like an ambitious and exciting plan. Best of luck!
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silverwaterlady
Member
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# Posted: 23 Mar 2018 12:20pm
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Most people that farm raise cattle in Northen Ontario since the soil is so rocky.
Having a garden with enough produce to feed a few people is doable as long as you can keep the deer from eating everything.
The growing season is short so if you want tomatoes you will need to start them early inside.
Building in a unorginized township means you will still need to draw up a plan, take it into the municipality and get a change to the bylaws for a small fee. At the time we paid about $250.00.
We wanted to build a pole barn before we built our cabin, that was not allowed unless we had the cabin built.
Many bush off grid properties in Canada are insured as seasonal. Insurance is expensive because of the remoteness.
There is some landlocked property we own. We have a nonverbal agreement with the cottage owners. They can use the road but are on their own with maintaining. This means cutting down some overgrown bush. Not every landowner is as generous. So be wary of landlocked property.
Good luck. Looking forward to updates.
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silverwaterlady
Member
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# Posted: 23 Mar 2018 12:29pm - Edited by: silverwaterlady
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Adding that we wanted to put in a wood burning stove but we're told that we would not be able to be insured due to our remoteness.
People in town don't have a problem since the fire department can get to their houses to put a fire out.
Most use a wood stove but still need baseboard heat to be insured. My SIL never used wood heat. Her electric bill in the winter was $600-800 per month.
We put in a propane stove. That would be expensive to keep going all winter in a full time cabin.
We will never have electricity at our cabin. The nearest pole is about 1 1/2 miles. About $250,000 to run it to our camp.
Life is easy enough though because we don't go up until after freezing temperatures are over. So we don't have to worry about our makeshift water system, pumps and on demand water heater freezing. They are bought home and stored in our heated basement.
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hattie
Member
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# Posted: 23 Mar 2018 08:34pm
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Quoting: Mare1971 no nosey government issues,
Hmmmm....not so sure about that. Our town is unorganized but we still get the nosey government driving around looking for infractions. You might want to check into this. I am in BC so not sure if Ontario is different.
silverwaterlady has some really good points you need to consider.
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Mare1971
Member
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# Posted: 30 Mar 2018 06:56pm
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Wow, wonderful feedback folks!! Thanks bunches! I sure have my work cut out for me lol
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