As far as explosives: Yup. We had a well drilled in '98. Hit a boulder that measured somewhere around 20 x 20 and had to spend an unscheduled $1200 to have a blasting expert come and pop it and another $1500 bringing in heavier-duty equipment to move the peices we were left with.
Yeah, we have serious issues with digging here too, being on a shale bed. Perking is also a serious issue here. In NC, even if you're putting in a rock solid composting toilet, you still have to dig a septic. Even if you don't use it, all that has to pass muster, and it sucks a lot of ass sometimes to make that happen.
Our friends who are already doin what we want to do have a good network of friends /neighbors who all barter for dairy/meat/veggies/etc. Raise something someone else wants and jump in the mix. I have enough savings to feed us for life and then some, so whatever we can save off the top, as with energy consumption/alternatives, will help overall.
That's awesome. I'm hoping to get involved in something of that nature. I have very little in the way of resources, and am working mostly on ideas for new income streams. I'm getting old to be so alone. I'm a good gardener and animal caretaker, though, and have other skills that could be extremely valuable in a remote area, medically trained etc.
It's very hard to research where they're going to frack, either here or in CO. There isn't even all that much gas here, from what anybody knows. They're plunging forward at a high rate of speed on a tiny scrap of data.
Speaking of fracking, I went back to the house listings to see if I could find the place that was near what looked like a frack pool to me. It was a very sizable area of yellow, red, and black, looked like liquid, I clearly remember the shape of it. I was not able to find it again though.