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[Tjenkins43]

Hi everyone, i am new here and I am starting to get curious. I and my wife are from Long Island, New York, the vampire state. And we are currently working on 5 year plan. In 2 years, when my son graduates high school I plan on selling my house, as long as the real estate doesn't crash. I want to buy some land in a freer state and build my dream home. The type of home I want to build is a unique off grid home called an earthship and build a small homestead. My plan also in tails the possibility of a yurt to start out with and using the yurt for friends and family to stay in. I also plan on building a tiny home for my daughter to have a home to live in. I would be looking for a reasonably priced 20-30 acres to do so and will be using solar, rainwater collection and recycling and having a spring or well water back up. I understand all this will take a decent amount of money and time which is why it's going to be a 5 year plan.
    So anyway I am a contractor on Long Island and am very familiar with building codes and also familiar with government nonsense for profit. My wife is a licensed physical therapist and can make the same salary someplace else at the cost of living three times less than here. And we both are looking for a real diversified community and individual freedoms. Now northern Idaho is my first suggestion due to no permitting bs and no covenants, conveniences, or restrictions, My second choice is New Hampshire and I'm loving the free state and civil disobedience ideas, my third choice is Indiana due to some family members that live there already.
    I guess my question is what are my chances of building my dream place and living the life I want? Freely, responsibly, and through educating myself and friends. I want to work my butt off for myself, instead of living to work and make someone else richer.

[JasonPSorens]

If you live in a rural place in NH, there should be no problem. North and west of Concord, it's not hard to find reasonably priced 20-acre lots. In sufficiently small towns there will be little zoning or code enforcement beyond obvious things like road setbacks. Some towns have no zoning at all, like Grafton, Canaan, and Orford. Others may be able to speak more directly to the logistics of building earthships here. Plenty of people around here are off-grid with their own solar.

[Retiree]

Granted I have no building experience, but my college roommate tried to build an “earthship” in Arizona. He attended the “earthship academy” in New Mexico and assumed the state next door would be about the same. The result was an “epic fail.” The surfeit of water and mild weather around Santa Fe made the design inviable for the Sonoran Desert. Now, clearly New Hampshire is not the Southwest, but the basic design will likely have other shortcomings there. However, people have subsisted in New Hampshire for centuries, so I think it would be at least theoretically possible to live that way – though I am not sure I would want to.

[Russell Kanning]

in the Shire and with freestaters
you will find those that have built yurts and done various earth sheltered designs
at porcfest you can hang out with them, we have also done alternative building meetings
you will find many likeminded people
I don't favor the earthship as much as other ideas, but you could make it work. In NH like longgisland, I am not real hip to collecting water when you can pump up nice clean water
in the hinterland you will find only 1 government restriction ... septic system approval
and with grid power you have their rules, which were no big deal

when one power company redid the power poles to our friends house he asked who did the wiring for the new panel (my wife). I said we had someone do it. He laughed and said "I don't know why I asked since you don't have to get permission here in Grafton."

you will find things pretty easy going in northern Idaho and NH, both will be a big change from what you are used to.

[Tjenkins43]

Thank Everyone, I have 2 years to do research. And I've been doing alot of  research on earthships. They do great in northern climates and solar passive design are being incorporated into new construction and the next wave of construction are passive homes which is already being used in Germany and a lady in the city had redesigned the concept to adapt to American codes. There have been earthships built in upstate New York , Canada, and all around the world. And stay at an average temperature of 65-75 degrees year round. Of course I plan on heating with wood but the earthship temp haven't fallen below 60deg in -20 degree weather. And not to mention the wife likes the idea of having a greenhouse attached to the house. Lol. Of course they are not for everyone and everywhere, but I being extremely mechanically inclined and well immersed in building. And as much as love renovating old farm homes, the cost is not cheap. Not to mention older homes are riddled with toxic materials and a lack of insulation. And earthships meet and exceeds building codes but are not worth the hassle and money to explain the concept and show reports to a corrupt and needy I am king government system. Again thanks everyone for some information and I am going to try to find some time to come up and explore and would love to check out porcfest.