Making it a Reality

This is an experiment in living and life for us. And two of the keys of good science are documentation and an ability to duplicate the results. We’ll be outlining exactly how we made all of this a reality (being as transparent as possible along the way).

And I’d like to reiterate, while I believe this is a good path for us and possibly you, it is not for everyone and if you would really like to make a difference in a green/sustainable/significant way, cities are the place to start. That being said, let’s begin… (Note: Most steps will have associated posts found by clicking around on the map on the experiment page, which will have much further detail, including invoices, lessons learned and other things that popped up along the way.)

Moosicorn goals:
House/Barn (main residence) built to last 100+ years
80% energy production through solar and wind technologies – hooked into a net metering system
Eventually 100% energy independent
Produce 50%+ food on-site (organically of course)
Full menagerie of barnyard animals
3 sustainably built cottages for housing artists/seminar guests (We will be hosting artists/entrepreneurs for 3-6 months at a time… allowing them free food and board with a lot of creative motivation so they can pursue their dreams)
Provide enough industry (bees/honey, furniture making, consulting, B and B, etc.) to live and save
Establish location as an educational retreat

Step 1 – Find land: Alex did an exorbitant amount of research on properties using the MLS, Craigslist and other sources before we made a trip to Eastern Washington. We found a realtor, Steve Evert, that knew the area well and began a whirlwind tour. Out of the 15+ properties we looked at the first day, Moosicorn was the second. [March 2008]

Land hunt in Eastern Washington. Scott and Steve survey the property.

Step 2 – Buy land: After our tour we knew this was the place and were able to negotiate the purchase of 44 acres for $115,340.05. [April 2, 2008]

Step 3 – Get a plan: We walked the property extensively and began making crude drawings of the property for our rough planning. We used a Garmin GPS and Google Sketchup to work out the details. Once we had a rough idea we were ready to submit our site plan. To do so we also had to ensure the moratorium of non-forestry use was lifted.

Step 4 – Run power: This was a bear of a project and necessitated renting some equipment and digging a 800′ trench from one corner of the property to the building site. While this temporarily disturbed quite a few little critters, long term we felt much better about the trench than overhead power lines. We then had to install 800′ of schedule 40 2″ PVC conduit and after some wrangling with details from the power company, we finally got the meter installed. See more power details here.

Step 5 – Run Phone: The same weekend we trenched the power in, we also ran a 1600 foot trench 18″ deep from the building site to the front of the driveway.

Step 6 – Drill Well: This one we couldn’t really handle ourselves, so after choosing our well location we hired a well company to drill for us. Originally they drilled past the aquifer by about 120′ and we got really nervous that our budget and dream wasn’t going to come to fruition. But after the dust settled we wound up with a great well at about 95′ down. See more well details here.

Step 7 – Design Barn/House: Alex did a lot sketching as we hovered around which design elements would be crucial for our first building at Moosicorn. We opted for a 2-story Barn style structure with a workshop below and a 2 bedroom apartment/home above. Once we were done with our design work we used the help of a friendly architect, John Kappler, to bring our ideas to fruition. Total cost: $4,000.

Step 8 – Prep Road: There are approximately 1600 feet of road from the street to the Barn/House. Of which we needed to build-up approximately 1200 feet. We were lucky enough to have a very helpful neighbor with a 12′ road grader, his own gravel pit and a buddy with a truck. Not to mention, sourcing road material within a mile of our property lowered the ecological footprint of the job and brought the cost down considerably. Total cost: $2,040. See more road details here. [April 26, 2009]