Off-grid 60-acre woodland homestead near Lake Superior
Michigan
I am located in the foothills of the Huron mountains on 60 acres near the Wilson Creek. This place is an off-grid woodland homestead with a small garden, budding orchard (planted 2020) several dwellings, outbuildings that are under construction and sawmill for local use. The homestead is 25 minutes from Marquette which has all the facilities of a small city. I am settled in large and mostly contiguous boreal forest that has beautiful peaks within a short walk of home base as well as waterfalls to hike down to. Lake Superior is about 7 miles away. This may seem like an isolated place but there are numerous and wonderful friends, neighbors and community members who drop in regularly.
We are mostly looking for help in the growing seasons. A minimum duration for a stay would be 2 weeks so that people can find a comfortable rhythm living here before they move on. There is potential for staying beyond those months if all feels right. We are also open for help with maple syrup. The season depends on the weather, but it usually in March and April as the snow melts here.
This is mostly an attempt at a non-commercial sustainable homestead. I would greatly appreciate some helping hands on the endless list of projects and goals, as well as the opportunity to share this space with more folks who are into this kind of thing!
Here are some examples of projects we might want help with depending on the participants interest/ skill:
Firewood (felling, hauling, cutting, splitting , stacking)
Tending the garden (weeding, harvest, preservation)
Tending the orchard
Mud strawbale (mixing mud and applying final coat and maybe artistic touches)
Operating the sawmill
Wood chipping
Natural building
Minor construction/ basic carpentry (stair cases, paneling, small outbuildings)
primitive construction
Log peeling
Organizing existing spaces (sometimes stuff just accumulates on a farm...)
Food preservation (canning, drying, fermenting, winemaking, freezing)
Hide tanning
Cider pressing
Helping out neighbors
Learning to make kick-ass sourdough pizzas in the mud oven.
I am seeking people who are genuinely interested in learning and internalizing skills for their personal satisfaction. I have many ideas for projects this growing season and would discuss with a potential woofer what amount/ level of engagement i.e. hours and days they would want to do. I want this exchange to feel good for all involved.
The exchange: I would provide skills training, meals or ingredients, housing and tours of the local area. Our expectations of you are; hard work, clear communication and flexibility. There are various versions of this work trade that could be accommodated and we could adjust how much each party puts in accordingly (i.e. you want to work more... then I provide more, and vice versa)
Organic methods: compost, animal manure, mulch, no till,
Certifications: I am a small scale homestead.
My main plans for summer 2026
Gardening vegetables
Expand orchard
Foundation of a house
Frame out the Pole barn out of round red pine logs that were peeled in 2023.
We have goats, and chickens
Facilitating projects others.
I am looking for someone to stay most of the season. Sauna space is reserved for seasonal stays. I am open to shorter stays if individuals bring a tent or something to sleep in.
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Learning opportunities
Vegetable farming
Fruit or nut farming
Poultry farming
Sheep or goat farming
Forestry
Seed saving or production
Meat processing
Vegetable or fruit preservation
Beer, cider, wine, or juice making
Green Building
Methods or systems
Holistic management
No-till farming
Permaculture
Regenerative agriculture
Host type
Self-sufficiency property
24.3
Hectares
|
60
Acres
Adam
Member since 2021
Languages spoken:
English
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Response rate: 67%
Response time: typically within 6 days
Michigan
Marquette
Reviews
Stephanie (Suka)
United States
•
August 2023
We stayed on Adam's property for about two months in our camper van. He provided us with a place to camp, food from his garden, and communal cabin space where we would watch movies and eat meals on rainy days, occasionally. Adam is a kind individual, who provided a fair work exchange experience. He wanted to provide work specific to the interests of an individual, which was great. The work that we did included; stripping bark off of logs, splitting firewood, weeding the vegetable garden, and learned how to work with Cobb. It is a rustic way of living, which was awesome for us as we are interested in learning how to live off grid. We fetched water from the creek on his property and filtered it. There were three available composting toilets, two very nice gardens and the beginning of a fruiting orchard. The area is very peaceful and quiet. It is a great place to relax, learn, go on walks in the woods, sit by the pond with a book, and look at the starry night sky. Know this is off grid and rustic, there is no running water and all electricity is acquired via solar. He also let us use his generator when our battery was low on cloudy days. All in all it was a rewarding experience and we enjoyed our stay.
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