Choosing a Site for Our Home

Last nights sunset

While we were staying in the old run down house on the previous homestead site this was not where we wanted to build our home.  It was a nice site. It had a gravel road, a sewer, a power line running to it, a large dugout which would work for water until we dug a well, but, it was close to the road. Now I don't know about you, but people who decide to live this lifestyle seem to be a bit of a different lot.  Maybe it's just me but even though I like people and have worked in the public sector most of my life I like my privacy. I don't want to live right close to the road where I can see all the neighbors drive by and they can see what I am up too. Not that I am up to anything strange other than I suppose the way I have chosen to live but still I imagine to them I might be the weird one on the block to so speak. I also didn't like the dust created by the gravel on the road every time someone drove by.

It was difficult to chose a site for our home. We had 320 acres and must have spent days walking it all, looking at this clearing or that spot and discussing the pro's and cons of them all. This is the Canadian prairies so there are a lot of things to consider.

1. The house had to be in an area where the wind would chase most of the mosquitoes away in the evening. Mosquitoes here can be horrible at certain times of year but a nice breeze helps so you don't want to be too far into the trees. One thing about the prairies is you can almost always count on a breeze.

2. It had to have a clear view to the south as our house would be utilizing the sun as much as possible in every way. Most all our windows would be on the south side which would give us passive solar heat in the winter. and would also fuel our solar panels which would give us electricity.

You can read more about Passive Solar Design at this site http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_solar_building_design

3. It had to be away from the gravel road and the dust which I can't stand. Who wants to be dusting all the time? I would rather be outside having fun.

We finally chose a site on the southern part of our property with a clear view to the south and two nice sized ponds so we could watch the birds. I stood on this site for a long time looking around and fell in love with it.  The skies here are SO huge! When you look at the horizon 3/4 of what you see is sky so when a storm rolls in it is an incredible sight. The trees you see in the middle of the picture are on the edge of the bigger of the two ponds and from spring till fall I can look out and see the ducks and other birds swimming. Finally we were home. What a feeling!