Homesteading in Chile - Part 1 - Finding land

Quiet country road with blueberry farm on the left

Homesteading in Chile has its particular difficulties that may or may not be similar to homesteading in the US but I want to share our version of homesteading Chilean style!

The whole concept of homesteading and living a self sufficient lifestyle is a little foreign to most Chileans as 85% of them live in urban areas. Even out here in the farm country of the south the concept is puzzling to our neighbors after all you can't make your own Coca Cola! (that's what our neighbor said when we told her we were trying to be self sufficient) Many people own farms but live in the city, don't drink the milk they produce on their own dairy farms, kill and toss the bull calves instead of eating them, and rarely have more than a day or two's worth of food in the house. Though many grow a lot of their own food in gardens and greenhouses and live and eat simply, eating simply for Chileans means lots of bread. I'm not meaning to sound condescending, I'm just saying I have a different North American perspective that they don't always understand and that's ok!

Well, the first step in homesteading is to find your land. This in itself is very challenging as the only place with anything close to an MLS is Santiago. Realtors are not regulated and anyone can say they are an "immobiliaria" who knows a few neighbors who want to sell. So often they only know the properties in their own backyard. Finding property is all about who you know.The key here is to get out and meet people, talk to people and spread the word around that you are looking for property. It sure helps to know the language or bring along someone who does. Try to get a feel for the prices because many are quite willing to take advantage of a gringo.

But where in Chile? It is so large and has many different climates. I would suggest some travel to explore the different areas first. North of Santiago, which is centrally located, is very dry and includes the Atacama Desert, the driest desert in the world.These would be Regions 15 and 1-5. Probably not the best for a small farm because of the lack of water and water rights are a problem in the dry areas.  Just south of Santiago are the agricultural regions 6 & 7 with grape vineyards and lots of fruit trees. The climate is Mediterranean meaning warm to hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters. Land here is at a premium and you pay more for productive farmland. The 8th region is the home to large tracts of pine trees for the wood industry and the 9th region is Chile's breadbasket grain growing area while the 10th region is dairy country. The climate of the 10th region is temperate with mild dry summers and cool wet winters. I think land in these areas is fertile, productive, and relatively inexpensive. We estimated from all the different land we looked at in the 10th region that a good price would be around $2,500 USD per acre  or $5,700 USD per hectare. The 11th and 12th regions are cold, rugged, and remote and the land is probably cheap!

This eucalyptus grove would provide a lot of firewood

Here are a few tips on what to look for as you are looking at properties.

1. Is it big enough for your needs?
pasture and forest - we wanted a mix - pasture for animals - you need 1.8 acres per cow- forest for privacy and the lumber - you need a 10 acre wood lot to be self sufficient in firewood and firewood is the primary way to heat homes in this area - space for a greenhouse and an orchard

2.  How does the land lay? 
flat areas hopefully in the pasture and some hills for interest - we like a varied landscape and didn't want a pancake flat piece of land - move yourself in and see how workable the place is - where can you put your house and the barn, the vegie garden, chicken coop, orchard, etc.

3. Does the land drain well?
make sure you have good drainage- if the pastures are flat look for signs of wet grass and puddles which indicate a high water table or drainage problems

4. Is the soil fertile?
look at the soil - is it a deep, dark color and loamy? if you are going to live off the land you want it to be fertile- stones, clay or sand may make your life difficult

5. Does the property have good access?
make sure you have access from the road- one property we looked at you had to drive through someone else's farm to get to it and the drive was so rutted and filled with giant puddles that we actually had to drive through the pastures and gates

6. Does it have any running or standing water?
we wanted a year round running river or creek or pond for possible power generation or irrigation water or even drinking water- make sure you have rights to use it - in our water rich area this isn't a consideration but in many areas of Chile you have to be granted the rights to use the water running through your property

7. What utilities are available?
 we have power lines running through our property but the power company wanted $5,000 just to hook up so we went off grid with solar which we wanted to do anyway and we have no water or sewer utilities either which was fine for us as we dug the septic system (no permits needed) and pump our own water from a spring. We had the water tested for drinkability at the local farm supply store - internet is a consideration also- towns usually have high speed internet but not out in the country- dish service can be expensive and sketchy at best- a data plan through your cellular service may be your only option

These Pellin trees are a good sign of fertile farmland

Here are a few links to sites that list properties. I do not know and cannot vouch for either of these sites but it is interesting to see what is available.

http://www.chileproperty.com/

http://www.southernchileproperties.com/

New lambs

A family photo
The proud father is in the back. His name is Shawn the sheep and he is a ram we traded out with our neighbor.
Pippin is the mama on the right and the new lamb is a male. He is so cute with black knees, black tipped ears and the black mouth.

This sweet little lamb is one of  two girls born to our black ewe. She is only a few hours old.

Our new rooster, Don Gallo, or Sir Rooster

I have 10 laying hens and I got 7 eggs here which is a good day. I love the different colors- green, tans, and pinkish whites.
My ducks actually lay better than my hens. I have 2 female ducks and they lay almost every day even through the winter. Nice big white eggs. If I could only get them to hatch their eggs! I would love to have more ducks. 

Family update and what's been going on for the past 3 months

It has been a while since I last posted but moving and no internet for over a month is a pretty good excuse, I think!
As you may know for the past 2 years we have been living in a friend's house. It was great but they decided to sell the house right after we bought our farm. That sounds like good timing but it proved to have a few difficulties! :) life always does We have a great little cabin on our farm which we had to remodel to make it livable but it is not large enough for all 5 of us. A generous friend offered a spare room for our teens. It is only 5 minutes from school and 10 from our farm. It's worked out well and we get high speed internet which we don't have at the farm and aren't likely to get soon.
Samuel and Andrew are doing well at school. Picking up spanish very quickly and making lots of friends. Samuel is taking violin lessons at the beautiful Teatro del Lago in Frutillar. See the link for this awesome theater.
http://www.teatrodellago.cl/web2/
 The boys also joined the teen chorus at the Teatro and get to travel around southern Chile giving concerts. It's been a lot of fun for them.

And we also joined the adult chorus- all 4 of us. It's a lot of fun singing together and we are having our first concert on August 22 in Chiloe, an island about 2 hours south of us.

We have made some nice friends at church and between chorus practice, Mass, and a bible study we attend weekly, our spanish is coming along! We have friends now who don't speak english which really pushes us to learn the spanish. I love spanish. It's a much prettier language than english but I must say it hasn't been as easy as I thought it would. My 50 year old brain just doesn't learn as fast as it used to.

On the farm, we have our first 2 lambs of the season, a male and a female, from 2 different ewes. We have a hen with 4 chicks which has just been darling. Jim bought three piglets for meat and breeding. He has really enjoyed them. They are cute and have interesting personalities. Minnie, Winnie, and Pearl are their names. We cut down around 8 trees and are in the process of sawing the wood with a friend's sawmill to make posts for the fence we need to put up.

We are also building a loft in the cabin to put our bed up so we have more room for a couch and table. Right now it is very challenging living in such a small space. I'll give a tour of the cabin when we are done with the loft. Soon we will start a post and beam barn if we have any wood left after building the fence.

We know it is spring when the falcons start gathering wool for nest building with the plentiful sheep wool available
How soft and cozy for the little chicks!
This ewe is the fattest I have ever seen. She has looked like she is having triplets for a year now!

This is Rosemary with 3 of her 5 chicks. Isn't she pretty? And such a protecting mother. She is fierce and even the cats are scared of her!

I have never been a cat lover due to my allergies but they have gone or diminished any way and I am now a cat lover!
On the left is Nubecita, that is little cloud in spanish..She was Andrew's kitten but she loves me better now! And Higgins is our new kitty gifted to us from a friend. He was found as a kitten on the streets of Santiago and now he is an awesome mouser on our little farm!

Summer on the farm

Ah, the sweet days of summer are almost over! And it was quite an adventurous and busy summer.
Living out on the farm was bliss despite the lack of water and power but we did manage to get all that going before the summer's end. We got our water tower up, solar panels electrifying, septic draining, bathroom tiled, and the wood floors of the cabin will soon be layed so we can move in. We are living part time in Quilanto and part in Chiriuco. The big boys are now full time students of Colegio San Vicente de Paul in Puerto Octay. We are  officially in process for permanent residency. Still waiting on the title for our property even though we signed almost 3 months ago. 
Here are a few stories and pictures.

Our big helper

Our cabin with the siding removed. We had to remove it all to get rid of the bats who were nesting under it. It is insulated with styrofoam sheets. It is a popular way to insulate here as it is so cheap and easy to install but the problem is that when you cut it the little bits fall everywhere and make a real mess and the other problem we had is that the ducks and chickens wouldn't stop eating it! Doesn't seem to bother them though as I've not had any deaths. Our hot tub is in the middle and our container on the right that we just had moved from Quilanto in March.

Our long awaited water tower
It has 5000 liter tank and our local buddy welded the tower about 20 feet tall
The tank is strapped to the tower and the tower legs are welded to concrete pads making it earthquake proof, we hope!
The spring we are pumping from is about 60 feet below it  in the woods
Andrew had to climb the tower and lower himself into the tank so we could connect the piping
He was a little freaked out but got the job done!

Our summer kitchen under the laurel tree
Our picnic table which Jim built last year and behind it is the fire pit with a grill and bar for hanging pots over the fire
Jim's grill is our work area where we prepare food and keep our Coleman camp stove
To the right is a table and dish washing area

Our tents
Samuel & Thomas slept in the small tent on the left and Jim and I had the big tent which has a full size bed in it
Camping in comfort!
We had to put the plastic over because it got a little drippy when it rained
Andrew slept in his tent hammock hanging from the trees until we had a good rainstorm and then he move to the loft of the cabin

Bo, Andrew's duck, is the worst of the styrofoam eaters
One day she was quacking so hoarsely I thought for sure she had eaten too much styrofoam but after a few days her voice returned to normal

The tragedy of the summer
Our $600 septic tank was run over by the backhoe
Jim thought we'd save some money by getting the local road crew working on our road to come over and earn a few extra bucks on  their lunch break. At first, it went great and we got the water and septic lines dug in a flash but then in covering up the septic lines, the dummy ran over the plastic tank
So in order to save money, we just fixed it
Samuel had to climb inside the tank and push it back up with boards and jacks and then we are going to pour concrete over it like a cap

The outhouse in the woods came with the property and it was a real life saver as we did not get the bathroom installed in the cabin for 2 months

Our first beehives
Jim brought a lot of his beekeeping equipment with him but we were having a hard time finding bees
One day last January we were driving down the highway and I looked over and saw this guy in a truck wearing a bee suit parallel to us on the frontage road so we got off the next exit and Jim chased him down. Super nice guy with 200 hives in the Frutillar area.
Jonathan speaks some english and has been very helpful in getting us set up with 2 hives. Each country has specific types of bees suited to the climate and its own particular problems.

Caught in the act!
Adventure Chick (named by Thomas) decided the coop just wasn't good enough for her and our bed was much more comfortable
The zipper on our tent is broken and it was very hard to keep them out so each evening we had to check the bed for eggs before we jumped in!

The triumph of the summer
Solar panels
We had been searching and searching for the means to power our house
We got a solar quote that was outrageous
We got a power hook up quote from the local power company of $5000
So we waited and looked and asked around
Got another quote which was more reasonable but still too high and we even got quotes from the US until we finally ran across a guy recommended by a friend of a friend
His quote to power the cabin and water pump was $4000
The set up was so simple and we had power the same day
6 panels and 6 batteries and it has payed itself off the day we turned it on since it was cheaper than hooking up to the power grid which by the way charges more than the US- 20-30 cents per kilowatt hour and rates are going up. We paid only 12 cents per kilowatt hour with Duke Power in the US

The boys snuck out one night to the neighbor's field and rearranged his hay bales for him
They almost got caught in the act as the farmers were out working late in the dark
I imagine they were a little puzzled to find this the next morning!

Trapped!
Thomas got himself stuck behind this root in the water line ditch!
We had to lift him out

Lori Bought the Farm Today!

Today is January 13th 2015, and my wife, Lori, and I have finally reached our dream of having a small farm debt free (and tax free) to call our own. THIS IS WHY WE CAME TO CHILE!
25 years of marriage and we made it come true here in Chile. The new name of our farm is "La Campanilla". It is not really that big but it is all ours at 6.5 acres of land that has a lot of potential and a lot of work to be done.

The Campanilla flower grows wild on our farm and is called Foxglove in english. It is very poisonous and is used in making the drug Digitalis which is a potent heart medication. 

Here is a view of the farm and Thomas's Cabin, which will soon be our new home.

We just applied for permanent residency so we will be posting more about that and opening a business in Chile which is not hard but just different. We will be living out on the farm with no power for the summer (thru the end of February) and we will be posting about homesteading in Chile. You can also follow our homesteading efforts on our youtube channel - ChileExpatFamily.

Ciao for now!

El Zorro

I was surprised to hear that fox in Spanish is zorro as I always think of the movie by that name.
I did a nice post on the fox that has come to visit our ducks and chicks on my nature journal.
Which you can click on the link here
http://patagonianaturejournal.wordpress.com/

He looks like my pet hanging around the front yard looking for a handout!

Life has been too busy to do much blogging between prom, 18th birthday party for Samuel, canning strawberry jam and cherry pie filling, and working on our new farm, there isn't much time left! But Jim has been doing lots of videos for his youtube channel about getting our homestead going so you can go see those here.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiLbaEPlfgrpPZo0w_JRADQ

Hasta luego!

Hawks & Caracaras

Isn't this little guy cute?

This hawk chick in his nest is in our yard.

If you want to read more about hawks and the caracaras, a larger predatory bird,

please visit my other blog

https://patagonianaturejournal.wordpress.com

Video Walking tour of our new farm

Here are a series of videos on a walking tour of our new farm here in Chile.

New Baby Sheep Video

Here is a video of our new twin, baby black sheep.

One little female and the other twin is a larger male.

Busy, busy & our new farm!!!

Wow! Life has been busy lately. Just a quick update for family & friends
We sold our duplex in the US and
about 3 weeks ago we made an offer on the land in Purranque. It was a low offer and it was declined.
So then we made an offer on the land in Chiriuco but we were too late as another person had made an offer but they are slow and the owner is getting frustrated so if these other people can't make it happen by November 20th, we are in. Here are a few pics of that property. It is 6.5 acres with pasture, creek, woods, and a spring on a dirt road surrounded by dairy farms and a short walk to a navigable river for kayaking. Update - on Nov. 15 - our offer was accepted!

On the road

The right side - beyond the trees is a ravine down to the creek

Pasture to the fence and then down to the woods in the rear

On to other news - Samuel & Andrew are spending the week at the local Catholic school. They are checking it out before we enroll them for next year. This is the quickest cheapest way to learn spanish and make friends. I'll post more about the school system later - it's a bit different than the US and took us a while to figure it out.
 And we had 2 new additions to our flock yesterday.

I suspected something when I saw her trying to hide behind a tree but then we had to leave for the day and we missed the birth. It's a boy and a girl! We have one more ewe who is round as a barrel. I wouldn't be surprised if she had triplets.

And finally, we finally got a bank account! But it's really weird and we can only put so much money in. Jim will post more on that later.

Land in Caracol

This little village (the Snail) is NW of the city of Osorno. Beautiful big farms with highbrow neighbors. Maybe a little too rich for our blood! The site is a little over 50 acres and the owner is asking around $5600 per acre. A little too big and little over budget but well worth the walk over this nice piece of land.

The view down the road

View from the gate - most of the land is pasture

Heading down the slope towards the river- the property line is the fence on the right and the clumps of forest are on the other side of the river on another piece of land

This is a spring that comes up about half way down the hill and flows down tot he river

Samuel & Thomas  inspecting the creek flowing down to the river

Views of the river

The view of Volcan Osorno

The bottom land near the river is a little swampy

Land in Purranque

Coming down the road towards the property

Across the street is a blueberry farm (yum)

To the right would be the road frontage of the property

The view from the front gate - open pasture with a few large trees and a few grazing bulls all the way to the tree line in the back center which is a stand of Eucalyptus

Walking through the eucalyptus stand - the property slopes from the front to the rear creek

At the rear of the property overlooking the creek to the neighbor's farm

Looking towards the front of the property from the stand of woods

The sad part - they are clearing the land to sell for firewood
I don't know if they are clearing all the eucalyptus but this is a major drawback for us 

A swampy area near the clearcut

The creek that runs on the rear property line is moving fast enough to use for some power generation and seems to flow year round

This is another small creek that runs into the one above

And here is the video Jim put up on Youtube
The land is 8 hectares which is about 20 acres. They are asking around $8k per acre which is way too much but we'll offer what we can and see what happens. Since they are clearing the land for firewood, they may need the money. It is a buyer's market here. Land doesn't move fast and there are rumors that a big fat new tax is looming on the horizon for land purchases (19%) to fund free higher education.