Homesteaders in Riverside county, Ca area?

[1stTimefarmer]

I will be exiting the military here shortly and we are planning on trying our hand at the homesteading life. Not completely self-sufficient yet but some animals and garden. I was wondering if there is anyone on here that's in the area who can offer advice for our area? i.e. What should we look out for, be aware of, dos/donts. Anything you can offer would be great. Thanks!!

[MichaelK!]

We're in the area. When it was time to start searching for land I got the "Atlas of California" and looked at all the demographic maps of the state.

I searched the maps with three criteria in mind. First, enough natural rainfall to support trees. Two, low population density, and three, within 1/2 a tank of gas from our current home. In our case, we planned on keeping our career jobs and developing the homestead on weekends.

I pinpointed four areas that warranted detailed searching. San Louis Obispo, Julian, Kern county, and the local Big Bear area. I shotgunned coverletters to realtors in all those areas and took a few weeks off to visit the properties we were interested in.

Our cover letter outlined some specifics.

Hunting and shooting must be legal ON the property.
There must be a source of water.
There must NOT be any close by golf courses, shopping malls, ect.

We seriously started our search in January of 2005, found our property in April of 2005, and closed by August of 2005. We have since planted an orchard, started growing food, build a roof over our heads, and harvested some of the wildlife to put on our table.

[1stTimefarmer]

Hey yeah it sounds like you're in the neighborhood! Have you any animals on your property? We're starting with chickens and turkeys and will be working into pigs then mini cows, baby steps!, but would appreciate any advice you have on the what's and how's of what you have learned! It took me awhile to learn that other peoples advice can save your butt!
We're in Anza, if I didn't mention it, where'd you settle at?