wanted information

[blt]

Hi, all, I am considering a move into the Mansfield, MO area, and am wondering what that area is like? Any information about climate, land and land values, places available, people, economy, etc. would be much appreciated, thank you!
(I have sheep, dairy goats, angora rabbits, and ?, and I'm a fiber artist and gardener, etc. )
Getting a bit of winter here, Lorna Jean

[ozarkcat]

Howdy!
You'll fit right in - you can probably find a decent place (depending on what you want to do with it) for well under 100K, the people are great, Springfield, MO (a good-size city of about 150,000) is well within an hour's drive or so, and you can find a lot of places through caroljones.com, unitedcountry.com or realtor.com. Realtor.com will give you the names of other realtors in the area to track down. As far as temps, we might dip a touch below 10 above in the winter and up to touching 105, possibly 110 in a heat wave during the summer. We're in the coldest time of the year right now, and we might see 12 degrees by Wednesday for a cold point. Can't tell you much about the economy around Mansfield, but Springfield's doing pretty okay. Hope that helps!

[paul]

BLT, I've lived 20 miles or so south of Mansfield for the last eight years. It's a nice area. If you want a job, you might have to drive to Springfield. There is some work int he area, but not much.

The weather right now is cold, but over-all it's been a mild winter. One of the reasons I moved to this area was I wanted some winter, but not a lot. The first winter I spent here, 2000/2001, we got a couple feet of snow in early December and there was still some on the ground in March. Old-timers who lived here 70 years could not remember that much snow staying that long. A couple of winters we've had lows in the 20 below range. The coldest I can remember was something like -24 or -25, but that too is rare. Last night it was 4 above for the second time this year and that is the coldest it has been so far.

The soil varies quite a bit from one far to another, and even from one end of a field to the other in places, but expect rocks and unless you look carefully expect soil that was overfarmed half a century or more ago. There is some good land though and even the worst can make good pasture with some work.

Mansfield is the home of Baker Creek Seeds www.rareseeds.com They are one of the best heirloom seed companies in the world and their monthly festivals are nearly must-attend events for homesteaders. They run a forum at IDigMyGarden.com Although the forum is world-wide, there are quite a few locals there.

One other source of information, if I my humbly say so, is the Ozark-Homestead list I own. It's at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ozark-homestead

Also of note in the area:
A New Chapter is a very good used book store on the square in Mansfield. Tell Sara I said hello. I need to get up there soon myself.

Jean's Healthway is on the square in Ava, something like 12 miles south of Mansfield. Jean's is one of the best healthfood/bulk food stores I've ever been in. Tell Jean I said hello.

There is an organic gardening club that meets every-other Saturday at Jean's. The store doesn't have anything to do with the club, but is nice enough to let us use a corener of the store for our meetings.

There is a farmers' market in Ava, and others in the area. There is also a small animal swap meet once a month between Mansfield and Springfield.

Oh, and there is an active spinning and weaving guild that meets in Mansfield and plenty of spinners and weavers in the area.

Any other specific questions, feel free to PM me or join the Ozark-Homestead group.

homesteadpaul