After years of searching for a little patch of level land to build my dream home, I finally ditched the idea of building from scratch and purchased a decrepit old manufactured home on ten acres of desert land. Yeah, not exactly ideal for a future permaculture farm, but there was a really good well already in place and the house had year round access via a large highway nearby, so it would be easier to bring in supplies.
Although it was a manufactured home, the neighborhood was good with a dozen nearby homes valued at over half a million dollars, so if I needed to resell the property in the future it wouldn’t be impossible.
How much did I pay for this little stinker? Well, I worked out a deal with the owner. I would pay $50,000 down and he would carry the remaining $30,000 at ZERO interest for the next seven years. He also threw in the deed for an acre of water rights which would have cost me between $7,500 to 10,000.
I knew the house was going to need some work, but it had a brand new roof and was partially gutted for a remodel. I felt confident that my daughters and I could finish up the project ourselves, so I sealed the deal and Willowbark was born.
Oh my goodness! I thought I knew what I was getting into, but the house had some secrets that we were about to discover. To make things more interesting, it was now the dead of winter with one of the worst snow storms in decades brewing on the horizon!
Welcome to Willowbark! Sit back and enjoy watching us on this crazy adventure to make something out of nothing on a remote patch of desert rocks.