intro

My entire life I've dreamt of homesteading the north woods. A couple of weeks ago Amy and I closed the deal on 5 acres 5 minutes east of Grand Marais, MN. We are 2000 feet from the shores of Lake Superior, 300 feet above it in elevation and surrounded by the Superior National Forest which fades deeply into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

The land is a mix of white spruce, balsam fir, birch and poplar. At least two major beach terraces of red, slaty rhyolite are found at 825 and 875 feet above sea level. There are a couple of small type 6 & 7 wetlands following two minor drainages. The shallow soil is roughly two inches of silt loam then 10-12 inches clay loam to clay to bedrock of porphyritic rhyolite. So far I have seen plenty of white tail deer, rabbit, red squirrel & grey wolf. There is a huge (200 lbs) black male wolf roaming the area. The word is that a large (12 strong) pack claims turf to the Devil's Track/ Wood's Creek watersheds. They can be heard many nights.

The plan is to build a garage with apartment setup. Live in that while we save our pennies to build the timber frame that we've always dreamt of. So here's where it all begins...