My name is Zach and I am here looking to make connections in the Keene liberty movement. I found Free Keene basically from being a Free Talk Live fanboy. I have been listening for years now and first discovered the show back when there were only 6 affiliates (Fire Manwich!). I'm now married to a member of the Shrine of Female Listeners and wrote the LRN.FM iPhone/iPad app (not meaning to advertise… just mentioning it to fully identify myself).
I have been a FSP signer for several years now and this morning I accepted a job with a company in Portsmouth. This combined with having personal details in order mean I can finally start planning a move to NH! The job is a telecommuting job, so I could stay in Chicago… um… not freaking likely. I can move anywhere I can get broadband, so it will be somewhere in NH. I have never set foot in the state before, so I am somewhat blind on where to look to move. I do feel a strong bond to the Keene area already from listening to FTL and we are pretty much decided on moving into or near Keene unless confronted with some substantial reason not to.
My main goal coming into the forums is to meet people ahead of moving. Advice ahead of our move is certainly welcome too. I will be in Portsmouth sometime the beginning of March for new employee training and will make a point of coming to Keene at some point during my stay. I won't have enough vacation time for all of Porcfest this year, but we will be there at least for the weekend. I look forward to meeting everyone!
Welcome!
Very cool. Keene has Cable via Time Warner and DSL via Fairpoint in addition to 3G via cel providers, so there's plenty of broadband here.
We're looking for a big property, within half an hour driving distance of Keene.
Preferable 10 acres at the very least, hopefully more.
We want something with fixer upper that we can stick it out in for a couple years, and plan to eventually build an Earthship (http://earthship.com/buildings/global) on the property…
We want to be as much self-sufficient as possible… basically do the same thing Sam is doing, but not in Texas. ;D
Currently we've got our eye on this one http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/697-Gilsum-Mine-Rd-Alstead-NH-03602/86741356_zpid/ though seeing it in person is must obviously.
But we'll probably contact Mark Warden pretty soon here to see if he can show us some properties in the Keene area.
Ishtar, when you talk to Mark, ask him about the 10 acre property in Marlborough that has a nice mobile home on it currently. It keeps dropping in price. No telling how low it's gone by now. I'm pretty confident it's not sold yet and has been on the market for a while. Great market for buying as long as you plan to sit on it for a while.
Thanks Dalebert, I'll definitely do that.
I'm so happy Zach isn't stuck commuting to Boston, like we first thought he'd be in his line of work.
The prices of land in that corner of the state are so much less pleasant than what we're looking at in the Keene area.
[quote author=Ishtar link=topic=4724.msg49831#msg49831 date=1296764278]
We want something with fixer upper that we can stick it out in for a couple years, and plan to eventually build an Earthship (http://earthship.com/buildings/global) on the property…[/quote]
Awesome! You might also try talking to the guys at the Keene Transition Movement, like Steve Chase: steve_chase@myfairpoint.net. They aren't hardcore libertarians, but I think they'd really like your Earthship idea, and might know more about the area.
Swanzey is just outside Keene, really convenient, and it had some great land deals the last I looked.
[quote author=Skeptikos link=topic=4724.msg49838#msg49838 date=1296784252]
They aren't hardcore libertarians…
[/quote]
My computer hardware is all from China, so apparently I am willing to do business with non-hardcore-libertarians. :) I have not read through their site in detail yet, but it looks like it might be a good resource for us. Thanks!
[quote author=Skeptikos link=topic=4724.msg49838#msg49838 date=1296784252]
Awesome! You might also try talking to the guys at the Keene Transition Movement, like Steve Chase: steve_chase@myfairpoint.net.
[/quote]
I'll definitely check them out.
When you say they aren't hardcore libertarian, are you suggesting that they are softcore libertarians?
Zach and me usually don't get along very well with greenies seeing that they tend to want to mandate everybody else to be green to.
We don't like people who want to force other people to do stuff, even if think they have the best utilitarian motives.
As soon as you think you can force other people to make the world a better place, you're on a one way road to fascism as far as I'm concerned…
We're not even building an Earthship out of green motivations (though the fact that we'd end up with a "green" house doesn't bother me either, obviously) as out of "I want to be off-grid and nobody to be able to cut off my water supply for any reason" motivations.
That, and a lot of the Earthship's building materials, like nearly all of the materials for the walls are literally free.
It takes a lot of hard work to build one though, but we're secretly dreaming of situations like setting up activists with room and board and no paper trail in exchange for help with pounding tires. ;D
Oh well… lets see if we can get moved first, before I really go wild and start dreaming out loud…
Hey Ishtar, stop posting on my thread! 
[quote author=AppZach link=topic=4724.msg49846#msg49846 date=1296792233]
Hey Ishtar, stop posting on my thread!
[/quote]
If I don't talk more than you do, they won't believe we're married. ;D
But fine, have your thread.
Yes Dear.
[quote author=Ishtar link=topic=4724.msg49847#msg49847 date=1296792547]
If I don't talk more than you do, they won't believe we're married. ;D
[/quote]
LOL!
Unless you're planning on buying a T1 or getting satellite internet, you won't want to be too far outside civilization. There should be some deals in Swanzey or Marlborough where affordable broadband is a possibility. Be sure to avail yourself of the links in the sticky of the Housing forum. http://housing.freekeene.com - the Beangroup site is pretty useful.
I've been using http://www.saveology.com/ to check for internet availability at the houses we've been finding on Zillow.
According to them, Comcast offers services in Alstead (which is where our current favorite is) does that sound like it might be correct?
Satellite is out for us, because Zach can't handle the delay it causes considering he's telecommuting and T1 is too expensive.
So yes, we're limited to how far in the boonies we can get though internet services offered… but then again, we don't want to be completely in the middle of nowhere either.
[quote author=Ishtar link=topic=4724.msg49844#msg49844 date=1296791519]
When you say they aren't hardcore libertarian, are you suggesting that they are softcore libertarians?
Zach and me usually don't get along very well with greenies seeing that they tend to want to mandate everybody else to be green to.[/quote]
It's hard for me to pin down. The impression I get (I don't know them well yet) is that they're more Vermont-style greenies… not mainstream liberals, more hippie-ish, more anti-authoritarian, kind of reminiscent of anarcho-socialists. They're working on starting a local alternative currency.
[quote]It takes a lot of hard work to build one though, but we're secretly dreaming of situations like setting up activists with room and board and no paper trail in exchange for help with pounding tires. ;D
Oh well… lets see if we can get moved first, before I really go wild and start dreaming out loud…[/quote]
Awesome… and I dream of a future where local Vermont-style liberals would lend you a helping hand, because there's a mutual recognition of how awesome both of our groups are. 
Ahh, I don't know much outside the immediate area. If comcast is there, that's a good sign.
The furthest out people I know of are Jim and Lauren in Winchester. They're about 12 miles outside Keene. They have high speed Internet. I think cable.
[quote author=Dalebert link=topic=4724.msg49859#msg49859 date=1296827246]
The furthest out people I know of are Jim and Lauren in Winchester. They're about 12 miles outside Keene. They have high speed Internet. I think cable.
[/quote]
I believe they have DSL.