Homesteading can be a rewarding and challenging journey.

The benefits of homesteading go far beyond simply growing your own food and relying on minimal resources. You’ll also have the opportunity to learn and grow as a person.

When Arianna Lavan and her husband started looking for places to homestead, Maine was not on their list. But after just a year on their small farm outside of Lincoln, they could not be happier to have ended up here.

“We had spent a couple of years saving up our money and researching different places,” Lavan said. “We wanted a state that had the laws and philosophy we were looking for [and] we were looking more at Wyoming, New Hampshire and Vermont.”

They wanted a state that allowed open carry of guns and the opportunity to legally grow marijuana and raise animals, and that had an unintrusive state government.

homestead in Maine. It allowed them to purchase their land outright.

Lavan, 27, and her husband, 29, bought their home on 5.69 acres in Burlington in October 2021 for $60,000 after selling what Lavan describes as a three-bedroom on a postage stamp in Delaware for $95,000. The sale left them with enough money to fund their move last May.

In Delaware, Lavan worked in sales and her husband installed building sprinkler systems.

“We lived in an investment property and saved and saved our money,” Lavan said. “When we had the cash, we moved.”

They now have a small flock of chickens, two meat rabbits for breeding and a pregnant Nubian goat. Just less than an acre is devoted to a vegetable garden.

Burlington, they found a mix of people from families who have lived in the area for generations and newcomers like themselves.

“We expected to find some like-minded people,” she said. “One thing we did not expect was an entire community of like-minded people.”

Connecting on a personal level with those people has been a bit of a challenge for her husband, who grew up in a more urban environment, Lavan said.

“I think now he is learning how essential that is here because you can’t do it on your own, especially if something bad happens,” Lavan said.

So far neighbors have stepped up — often without being asked — to plow snow out of their driveways and clear downed trees from their property.

“I am so grateful to be here,” Lavan said. “We have zero buyer’s remorse.”

Layout design by Leela Stockley for the Bangor Daily News

Source: bangordailynews.com