Latest EpisodeEpisode 07 — Walking Ten Acres in Mohave Valley
Well depth, access road, zoning overlay and the asking price. We run the whole checklist on camera before we make an offer.
In Development · Mohave Valley, Arizona
What If We Could Build a Better Way to Live?
Homestead XP is a working experiment in the Arizona desert — six kinds of homes, real gardens, real water, real power, and real numbers. We're documenting every step, starting before we own the land.
Experience a Different Way to Live.
Our mission: test what actually works on ten desert acres, publish the results, and teach it to anyone who wants to try. Build. Grow. Test. Live.
The Journey
Five phases, from first lesson to first guest.
- 01In Progress
Learn
Skills Before Shovels.
Canning, gardening, animals, solar, water. We're building the skill set now — on camera, mistakes included.
- 02In Progress
Find the Land
Ten Acres, Mohave Valley.
Zoning research, water rights, well depth, access and cost. We share every listing we walk and every number we run.
- 03Next Up
Build Homestead XP
Different Homes. Real Data.
Six experimental builds, side by side, tracking cost per square foot, build hours, indoor temperature swing, and energy and water use.
- Shipping Container
- Geodesic Dome
- Straw Bale
- Earth-Sheltered
- Shed Conversion
- Tiny Home
- 04Coming Soon
Stay
Don't Just Watch the Experiment. Live In It.
Book a night in a container, a dome, or an earth-sheltered home and feel the difference for yourself.
- 05Coming Soon
Experience
Learn By Doing.
Hands-on workshops at the Community Center — harvest, cook, can, build, and take the skills home.
The Vision
Ten acres, planned on paper before a single post goes in.
This is the conceptual layout we're designing toward. Tap a zone to see what we plan to test there.
Experimental Homes
Six builds spread across the west acres — container, dome, straw bale, earth-sheltered, shed and tiny home, each metered separately.
Community Center
The Heart of the Homestead
One building where everything we learn gets handed off — cooked, built, taught and shared.
- Teaching Kitchen
- Cook and preserve what came out of the garden that morning, on equipment you could actually own.
- Workshop / Maker Space
- Build, weld, wire and repair. Where prototypes for the experimental homes take shape.
- Classroom + Gathering Space
- Sessions on zoning, solar sizing, water math and homestead planning — then dinner together.
- Outdoor Learning Area
- Shaded ramada beside the beds for planting, pruning, irrigation and animal handling.
- Harvest + Prep Area
- Wash, sort, weigh and record every harvest, so the data behind the food is public.
What We're Testing
Six questions we intend to answer with numbers.
Homes — what gets measured
- Cost per square foot, materials and labor separated
- Indoor temperature swing across a 110°F week
- Build hours by skill level, DIY vs. hired
Our Philosophy
You Don't Need a Homestead to Start Homesteading.
Homesteading isn't a destination — it's a set of habits you can practice in an apartment, a rental or on ten acres. Start where you are. Use what you have. Learn one skill at a time.
- 01
Start Where You Are
A balcony, a rental, a suburban yard — that's a homestead too.
- 02
Use What You Have
Inventory before you shop. Most first projects are already paid for.
- 03
Get It Free
Pallets, cardboard, manure, wood chips, coffee grounds, buckets.
- 04
Buy Used Before New
Old tools were built to be repaired. New ones often aren't.
- 05
Learn Before You Buy
Borrow the skill first. Then earn the equipment.
- 06
Start Small. Test. Then Scale.
Four tomato plants teach you what forty will punish you for.
- 07
Waste Nothing You Can Use
Scraps, greywater, ash, bones, packaging — everything has a second job.
- 08
Work With Nature
Fight the desert and it wins. Read it and it cooperates.
- 09
Build Systems, Not Chores
If it only works when you're standing there, it isn't finished.
- 10
Share What You Learn
Publish the failures too. They're the useful half.
Homesteading isn't about having more land. It's about learning to live well with what you have.
There Are More.
Ten more principles cover food, water, backups, comfort and knowing when not to do it yourself.
See All the Homestead XP PrinciplesDon't Wait for the Land.
Get the free guide: 20 principles for starting a homestead wherever you are.
Follow the Experiment
We're Starting Before We Own the Land
Every lesson, every listing, every mistake — filmed from day one. The interesting part is the part most people skip.
Current Experiments
What we're running right now.
Learning to Can
Pressure canning from zero — salsa, beans and the batch we had to throw out.
Starting a Desert Garden
Beds, soil mix and shade cloth trials through a first brutal summer.
Raising Chickens
Heat-tolerant breeds, coop shade design, and feed cost per dozen eggs.
Testing Irrigation
Drip vs. ollas vs. wicking beds, measured in gallons per pound harvested.
Finding Land
Every parcel we walked in Mohave Valley, with the numbers that killed most of them.
Arizona Zoning
What you can legally build, where, and which counties make it hardest.
Solar Planning
Logging real daily loads first, then sizing the array and battery bank around them.
Homestead Design
Laying out ten acres for sun, wind, water flow and daily walking distance.
Future Stays
Don't Just Watch the Experiment. Live In It.
Once the builds are standing, each one opens for overnight stays. Same desert, six very different nights.
Container XP
Steel box, heavy insulation, big glass to the mountains.
Dome XP
Geodesic shell testing airflow and even temperature.
Earth XP
Earth-sheltered and bermed — the coolest bet for August.
Straw Bale XP
Thick plastered walls, deep window sills, quiet inside.
Tiny XP
The smallest footprint we think a person can live well in.
Shed XP
A stock shed converted on a budget, cost tracked to the dollar.
Experiences
Learn By Doing.
Hands-on workshops at the Community Center, taught with whatever the homestead is producing that week.
Garden to Table
Harvest in the morning, cook it by noon.
Canning 101
Water bath and pressure canning, safely, from scratch.
Desert Water Systems
Catchment, cisterns and drip, designed on paper then built.
Backyard Chickens
Coop, shade, feed and first eggs.
Off-Grid Solar Basics
Sizing an array from your own real numbers.
Build Weekend
Two days on an active experimental build.
About
Why Homestead XP?
We got tired of advice that only works somewhere green. Most homesteading content assumes rain, soil and cheap land. We're in Mohave Valley, Arizona — 110 degree summers, hard ground, and water you have to plan for.
So we're running it as an experiment instead of a fantasy. Six kinds of homes on the same ten acres, the same weather, the same year. Gardens, animals, water and power all metered. Every cost, every failure and every number published.
Then we open the gate: stay in the homes, take the workshops, and decide for yourself what a different way to live is worth.
Build. Grow. Test. Live.
Follow the Build From Day One
One email when something real happens — land found, ground broken, first stay opened. No noise.
In development in Mohave Valley, Arizona. Unsubscribe anytime.