Homesteading in Michigan on the Upper Peninsula

article image
MOTHER EARTH NEWS staff

During the last year that Francie and I lived in Grand Rapids, a mother was murdered in front of her children, a house was torched with someone still inside (who, fortunately, escaped from the fire), and a large rock came crashing out of nowhere through our picture window: all ominous signs that reinforced our determination not to spend another year in the ghetto!

Escape from the City

Our initial plan in the fall of 1981was to leave Grand Rapids with our urban housemates. We’d decided homesteading in Michigan was the thing to do, and we were going to combine savings so we could afford to buy land together. But at the last minute our friends had to back out, and we were left without enough money of our own to swing a farm purchase. I’ll tell you, the thought of spending another dreary slum winter was almost more than we could stand.

Francie and I probably would have stayed on, though (and hated every minute of it), if it hadn’t been for a young farmer we met at a nearby outdoor market. “As far as I can see,” he said, “the only way to get to the country is to go there.” And come December, when we couldn’t bear our city existence any longer, that’s exactly what we did! We loaded everything we owned into the back of our old pickup, put our two-year-old son Aaron and our faithful Alaskan malamutes between us on the seat, propped the road atlas on the dash, and headed north to the Upper Peninsula.

We hoped to settle in the U.P. because we’d camped there many times and had become quite enamored of its unspoiled countryside. Furthermore, land in the rugged region is still inexpensive. For example, real estate listings I noticed in 1982 included a three-bedroom home on 39 acres — with drilled well, barn, and sauna — for $9,250, a 120-acre spread at $160 an acre, and property as low as $100 an acre in some places! Prime farmland or plots with lake frontage can command higher prices of course, but compared with most parts of the U.S., land in the U.P. is a real bargain.

  • Published on Jan 1, 1983
Comments (0) Join others in the discussion!
    Online Store Logo
    Need Help? Call 1-800-234-3368