Is Chad Cane’s great sin going off-grid on the farm?
When Cane began building a container home on private land, county officials trespassed on his property, ignored due process, and levied a chain of regulatory penalties, he contends.
“Don’t dare try to live simply and responsibly if you don’t fit into the state’s model. We want to be left alone out in the countryside, but instead we’re fighting selective permitting schemes that violate basic constitutional rights.”
Self-sufficiency and solar power in rural America? “No,” he says. “More like targeting and potential jail time.”
Hell of a surprise
In 2021, Chad Cane and Rhonda Aho were given 2.5 acres of her father’s 40-acre farm, the last vestige of a family operation reaching back to the 1950s and still planted in corn and soybeans today.
Located outside Pine River (population 990), in central Minnesota’s Cass County, the 2.5 acres, partially edged by evergreens and jack pines, is surrounded by agricultural land. West, across a paved road, sits a cattle farm; north, a neighbor with another 40 acres; south, farmland; and east, a mix of timber and farmland.
In May 2021, Cane, 55, bought six shipping containers and placed them on the gifted acreage. “Rhonda and I decided to build a container house and go off-grid. We wanted to live basic on the farm. Bother no one. Build at our own pace.”
Cane sought the blessing of his only immediate neighbor. “They were enthusiastic and gave us a big thumb’s up. Other than them, there was no one else we could possibly bother. It was just a matter of putting in the time and effort to build a modest container home with my own hands—no public harm, no commercial activity, and no one else involved on private property.”
By the summer of 2022, Cane was making headway, digging a basement and utilizing solar panels for power. On June 22, Cane got a “hell of a surprise.”
An unidentified, unannounced woman entered the property as Cane was working. She walked behind the containers, taking photographs of the basement, solar panels, and Cane, he insists. “I was taken totally by surprise and had no idea who she was. I said, ‘Do you know you’re trespassing?’”
“She said, ‘I’m from the county assessor’s office.’”
The individual gathering information and taking pictures, Cane says, was Cass County staff appraiser Sandy Bennett. The property was posted with “no-trespassing” signs, including “private drive” hanging on the entry gate.
“She had no warrant, authorization, or permission,” Cane says. “A local government official walking around private land taking measurements and photographs? I didn’t know all my rights, but I knew this was crazy.”
Back came the county.
Out in the sticks
On January 10, 2023, Cane got “another shock” behind his containers. “Around the corner walks a different lady than last time and says she’s from the county and she’s supposed to check on my progress.”
Cane says Jerri Huston, another Cass County staff appraiser, began asking construction questions. “I told her I wasn’t through with anything yet, and she said, ‘I could tell that you’re not done from peeking inside.’”
“I was really angry about the actions of a county official that knew better,” Cane continues. “She was the second official to trespass, take measurements, take pictures, and snoop around—all without authorization. Blatant violations of the most basic property rights.”
“This was all done without warrant or consent. I told her she knew she’d driven through my gate and a no-trespassing sign and walked by another sign to get around back. She left, but I knew this was only just beginning.”
(Citing pending litigation, Cass County officials decline Agweb.com interview requests regarding Aho and Cane’s property.)
Less than 24 hours after Cane demanded Huston leave, Cass County officials downloaded (January 11) Google Earth images of the property, he notes. Several weeks later, on February 2, Cane received a letter from Troy Nelson, resource specialist with Cass County Environmental Services, declaring the containers in violation of regulations:
An on-site inspection was performed on your above listed property. This inspection revealed the presence of six storage containers, with at least one of them placed upon a basement. There is also a solar panel on site. These structures all require permits according to the Cass County Land Use Ordinance (LUO) section 501 “Permits Required.”
On a permit search of this parcel, it revealed no land use permits were approved or applied for on this property. These structures all now require After-The-Fact permits (LUO 604) which are 3 times the original cost.
Nelson’s letter refers to an “on-site inspection.” However, no on-site inspection was conducted by Cass County, Cane says.
“It’s deceptive. The wording makes it sound like he (Nelson) officially walked the property and examined everything. No way. He drove up to the gate and took a couple of pictures. That’s it. And there was 2’ of snow on the ground. How would he judge whether there was truly a basement?”
“Truth is, he used Google, Eagleview, and the photos taken by the county appraisers when they illegally came on my land. That’s an abuse of power. You illegally come on private property twice, and then pretend to have performed a legal inspection the third time when you never even were on the land.”
(Citing pending litigation, Cass County declined all Agweb.com questions related to the Aho/Cane property.)
Per the county, Cane needed permits for all six containers and solar panel. He was required to sign a residential building permit application—and abide by the stipulations.
“It said I had to be done in two years. Keep in mind, I was building all by myself, so there was no chance in hell I’d be done. It said I had to agree to inspections and the state could come on our property. It said they can do a stop-work order if I violate their regulations.”
“All these permits, rules, and regulations for a few containers and solar panels for a family living off the grid, out in the sticks?”
Cane began questioning past permitting: Cass County had abundant shipping containers and solar panels scattered over 2,400 square miles. How many were permitted?
The answer, he says, was telltale.
Hammer time
Roughly a half-mile to the south of Cane and Aho’s property, a neighbor had a shipping container. Almost a half-mile east, a commercial property housed four containers. Further down the road, at another commercial business, 10 containers were visible from the road. And Aho’s uncle, residing inside Pine River, kept two shipping containers.
“Throw a rock, hit a shipping container,” Cane says.
He asked each property owner or business owner a direct question: Are your containers permitted?
“None. Zero. Nobody had a permit,” Cane contends. “Nobody had ever been asked for a permit. Nobody had ever had county officials even take a look at their containers. I looked online in the public records for our area of the county (Barclay township) and found no permits issued for shipping containers in the 53 years of available data. Another township, same thing. Another, same thing. I found one township with a couple of permitted containers. Literally, there are thousands of unpermitted containers here.”
What about solar panels? “I started going around asking people with solar panels who told me they didn’t have a permit and had never been bothered about it by the county. What the county was doing to me was the definition of selective enforcement. In my opinion, because I threw them off our land, they decided to hammer us. I wasn’t sure what they’d do next.”
Jail time, possibly? Yes, according to Cass County.
Criminals and containers
Approximately one month after Cane received a notice of violation letter from Nelson at Environmental Services, he received another letter (March 16, 2023) from Cass County assistant attorney Nicole Cayko, regarding his sewage system: get permitted, get fined, or go to jail for 90 days:
… any habitable structure with pressurized water requires a Subsurface Sewage Treatment System (SSTS). All septic systems require a design by a licensed professional and a permit from Cass County.
You must bring your property into compliance within 30 days of the date of this letter or further enforcement action will be taken.
Each day of a violation of an ordinance constitutes a separate offense. Each offense … is punishable by up to 90 days in jail, a fine of not more than $1,000 or both.
“We were building on private land and not hooking onto public utilities, but I think that made them want to control us even more. And to top it off, they didn’t even know exactly what I was building, except for the information they took illegally. Suddenly, we were criminals for trying to live in a container.”
Sewer and solar
Pebble became landslide. Cass County hired a law firm, Iverson Reuvers, to seek enforcement or sue Cane in district court. On September 20, 2023, Cane received a certified letter from Iverson Reuvers, declaring him in violation of land use land use ordinances and in violation of sewage ordinances:
… the County will seek injunctive relief and/or criminal charges, in addition to any costs and fees awarded by the Court.
Three months later, sewer became solar. On the heels of Cass County’s noncompliance enforcement, the Minnesota Department of Labor & Industry put crosshairs on Cane’s solar power. Cane received a letter (December 28, 2023) from senior investigator Chris Nguyen, requiring Cane to undergo a solar inspection and obtain a permit.
Before the Department considers whether formal action is warranted or necessary, we would like to offer you the opportunity to respond to the allegations and/or potential violations noted above. Please provide this office with your written response by January 11, 2024. Additionally, please include in your written response the following:
Identify who installed the solar array and did the electrical work.
Provide copies of any invoices/contracts/agreements between you and whomever installed the solar array if it was not you…
A violation of either of these statutes would constitute cause for the imposition of monetary penalties of up to $10,000 per violation.
“Why is the state so desperate to regulate a solar panel?” Cane asks. “That’s the whole point of an off-grid power source—to generate our own power and not bother anyone. I believe it’s just one more means for the state to control people.”
Chain of suits
In January 2024, accusing Cass County of numerous constitutional violations, Aho and Cane filed a federal lawsuit against the county and 14 of its employees.
“When they’re engaging in unconstitutional enforcement and threatening to throw Rhonda in jail as the landowner, what was I supposed to do? This wasn’t about land ordinances,” says Cane, who represented himself and Aho, despite no legal background. “This was about basic freedoms.”
In June 2024, Cane’s lawsuit was dismissed. “I did my best, thinking I could just present the facts to a judge. Big mistake. It was all about procedure and filing; facts were irrelevant.”
In July 2024, Cass County sued Aho over the zoning ordinances, and won in January 2025. Cane followed with a second lawsuit against the county—now pending.
And the off-grid container home? It remains unfinished.
Personal liberty v. permitting
Rules for thee, but not for me, Cane posits. “The county ignores fundamental private property rights and then wields land use ordinances like I’m building a skyscraper or amusement park. They frame this as a zoning dispute, but it’s really a civil rights and government overreach dispute.”
How does Cane answer calls to pay the penalties and obtain permits?
“Somebody has to stop government overreach. We’re supposed to live in a free country with personal liberty that ensures the government doesn’t come on our land at will. Our crime was stacking cinder blocks, digging a basement on private land, and then challenging their selective enforcement.”
“There’s nothing more American than getting a piece of land far out and building something from nothing to live simply off-grid,” he adds. “This is not the land of the fee and home of the slave. Not everything needs to be regulated.”
This article originally appeared in the Farm Journal on March 31, 2026. Reprinted by permission.
