For those who live in Missouri...

godsgirl · #21 04/10/07, 06:59 AM

My family and I moved a year and a half ago from Washington to northeren Mo and in general I really like it.The weather here in the spring, fall and winter is wonderful but the heat and humidity in the summer is horrible.

Debbie at Bount · #22 04/10/07, 10:51 AM

I live on a ranch in OK and take lots of day trips and camping trips in the Eureka Springs/Branson area. When my husband retires in 4 years I might sell this ranch (still in a beautiful hilly part of OK) for a smaller parcel in that area. I love it and I think my home business would thrive there.
Debbie at Bountiful

ozark_jewels · #23 04/10/07, 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by godsgirl

My family and I moved a year and a half ago from Washington to northeren Mo and in general I really like it.The weather here in the spring, fall and winter is wonderful but the heat and humidity in the summer is horrible.

The humidity level in Southern MO is nothing compared to southern OH where we are originally from. Much nicer here!!

linn · #24 04/10/07, 12:20 PM

The heat and humidity in MO is nothing compared to Georgia either. My DD and her family lived there about five years. The humidity was very oppressive during the summer months.

FourDeuce · #25 04/10/07, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CJ

Ava is a great town! What you can't buy locally, just order via the internet. They have just about everything available that you need however.

You'll find no shortage of the homesteader mentality there, and everyone is friendly. Community support is amazing. They take care of their own. Our kids went to highschool there, then we moved a bit north to Mansfield until we decided to fulltime in our RV for a few years.

We like Ava much better than Mansfield, so we bought land there again to build on later. Boy are prices going up, and it's still one of the cheapest places to buy land in.

On a comical side note, our surname is Tinkle... and our land is on "P" hiway.

There's a Highway PP over near Aurora, too.

ozark_jewels · #26 04/10/07, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FourDeuce

There's a Highway PP over near Aurora, too.

Yep, and over near Grovesprings too, also two Hwy TT's......my *slightly* crude-humored grandpa would get such a kick out of the Hwys around here....

ozark_jewels · #27 04/12/07, 12:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adron

I think you should look at the milk sales regulation a little more.

Missouri Statutes
TITLE XII PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
Chapter 196 FOOD, DRUGS AND TOBACCO
FLUID MILK AND FLUID MILK PRODUCTS

196.935. State milk inspection required on all graded fluid milk or milk
products pasteurization required, exception.

No person shall sell, offer for sale, expose for sale, transport, or deliver any
graded fluid milk or graded fluid milk products in this state unless the milk or
milk products are graded and produced, transported, processed, manufactured,
distributed, labeled and sold under state milk inspection and the same has also
been produced or pasteurized as required by a regulation authorized by section
196.939 and under proper permits issued thereunder. Only pasteurized graded
fluid milk and fluid milk products as defined in subdivision (3) of section
196.931 shall be sold to the final consumer, or to restaurants, soda fountains,
grocery stores, or similar establishments; ********except an individual may
purchase and have delivered to him for his own use raw milk or cream from a
farm*********.

Heritagefarm · #28 03/02/10, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by linn

I love Missouri because the people are still friendly and willing to help a neighbor. To me, Missouri has just about everything but the ocean; although we do have some wonderful water recreation areas. MO has rich farm ground.

Huh, no offense, but Missouri is NOT renowned for rich soil! That's why the land is so cheap!

salmonslayer · #29 03/02/10, 05:32 PM

We bought a small farm in the Lebanon area about a year ago and we love it but you need to have some type of income as the area is very depressed economically. Our soil is rocky clay but things still seem to grow like crazy and we got a great deal on the property. We have all manner of wildlife and the variety of plant life where we are is astounding.

One of our considerations besides the beauty of the countryside and the low cost/low taxes was the fact that we are so centrally located. We are close to Lake of the Ozarks, Bull Shoals, Branson, Springfield, we are a days drive from New Orleans, the Great Lakes, the Rockies, and the Appalachians...and there are many fairs, shows, rodeos, etc. in the area.

Just take a breath and relax if you end up there; time is..casual in the Ozarks and you have to get used to the relaxed pace.

Razorback21 · #30 03/03/10, 07:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heritagefarm

Huh, no offense, but Missouri is NOT renowned for rich soil! That's why the land is so cheap!

You might have some Cotton and Rice Farmers in the bootheel who would disagree with you on that! All depends on what part of Missouri you are in.

elevenpoint · #31 03/04/10, 06:17 AM

As pointed out in the previous post, you can sell milk and cream from your farm, I buy mine this way and butter also....the Attorney General here went after two young girls from a farm around Springfield for selling milk on a parking lot somewhere....shame on anyone for trying to live outside the mass produced tainted food supply...farmer's markets are usually in every town, a very small town nearby even has one every Sunday. Land is still priced so it is affordable, jobs are scarce...but the beauty and recreation cannot be had anywhere else.

Alice In TX/MO · #32 03/04/10, 07:15 AM

Yes, farm sales of raw milk are allowed, as posted above.

The land is rocky. Plan on raised bed gardening.

There are a LOT of ticks and chiggers.

Winters are cold. The rest of the year is beautiful. Fall foliage is beautiful!

Few jobs.

Callieslamb · #33 03/04/10, 07:23 AM

Some people just bought almost 200 acres of my mom's farm about 14 miles east of Ava. These folks are going to run a goat dairy there -if I have it right, about 90 goats. I have to wonder after this amount of time - if YOU are the ones that bought my mom's place! LOL!!!! near Brushy Knob?

FarmboyBill · #34 03/04/10, 09:07 AM

HF, your wrong about MO haveing all bad soil. I know for a FACT that NW Mo has great produceing soil. Do you think that the good soil stopps at the Iowa line? Now I do agree that the areas where most are talking about the soil is bad, AND FULLA ROCK. I lived in Douglas Co, and hated it. The garden area was more of a rock garden, and there was way to many trees around the place. I LOVE NE Okla compaired to SW MO. AND Springfield is a heckuva long way to go from D C to sell veggies.

Heritagefarm · #35 03/04/10, 09:48 AM

Hm...I thought all of MO had Texas county's soil. Guess I was wrong!

wwubben · #36 03/04/10, 10:06 AM

I guess your idea of rich soil depends on what you compare it too.Us north Iowa folks consider southern Iowa soil poor and Missouri soil poor.I am sure there are some areas of Missouri that have excellent soil.I wanted to buy a small farm in southern Missouri years ago but my wife did not like the summer heat.She finally told me if I wanted to move to Missouri I would have to go alone.I found this place in Iowa and am happy here.The majority of my company in boot camp were from southwestern Missouri and they were wonderful guys.That is what attracted me to the area.

Sparticle · #37 03/04/10, 02:24 PM

It took us 9 months, but we found exactly what we were looking for in Southern Missouri, near Lebanon. We start building very soon and now that the weather is getting nicer, we'll start. The bottom land has very good soil and we have a nice hill to protect us for when the creek floods. We found lots and lots of good, affordable land but we were very picky about wanting a spring fed creek so it took us a little longer. We looked at over 100 properties and saw most of the state. All except for one part (in Ironton) everything was beautiful. Ava is gorgeous. We have made friends with someone from this forum that is near us and have met some other great people near us. We just this week found a solar installer a mile from our property and hope we become friendly. The taxes are low and the building codes non-existent in most county areas. We are about 30 minutes from Lebanon which has a farmer's market. We are very happy with our decision to move to Missouri.

As far as the milk thing goes, we are into raw goat's milk and found a hand made sign in the grocery window of someone selling it. Don't know if it's legal, but I don't really care. If I'm willing to take the risk it's my business. I'd say the best soil is in the North part of the state or near a creek that occasionally floods with bottom land.

paul · #38 03/05/10, 07:06 PM

I moved to the Ava area a decade ago. It felt like home before I was settled in and I'll never leave willingly. Yes, the summers are muggy, the winters can get cold, spring freezes often knock out the fruit blossoms and the ticks and chiggers will eat you alive, but it's still a nice place to live.

Ava has a small but active farmers' market on Saturdays. There is a good healthfood/bulk-food store in town. There is an active organic gardening club and variouse art-type organizations. Baker Creek Seeds is not too far away. There are several old-timey festivals that are never-miss-this worthy.

There are also a lot of homestead-type people in the area. You can meet some of them on-line at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ozark-homestead/

I started the group before I moved here and it now has over 500 members.

==>paul, who's sitting 6 or 7 miles east of Ava.

Heritagefarm · #39 03/05/10, 08:45 PM

We got most of our goats from a lady who lives about one mile from bakersville.

Sparticle · #40 03/06/10, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paul

I moved to the Ava area a decade ago. It felt like home before I was settled in and I'll never leave willingly. Yes, the summers are muggy, the winters can get cold, spring freezes often knock out the fruit blossoms and the ticks and chiggers will eat you alive, but it's still a nice place to live.

Ava has a small but active farmers' market on Saturdays. There is a good healthfood/bulk-food store in town. There is an active organic gardening club and variouse art-type organizations. Baker Creek Seeds is not too far away. There are several old-timey festivals that are never-miss-this worthy.

There are also a lot of homestead-type people in the area. You can meet some of them on-line at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ozark-homestead/

I started the group before I moved here and it now has over 500 members.

==>paul, who's sitting 6 or 7 miles east of Ava.

I forgot to mention Baker Creek seeds. They are who we bought all our seeds from since they are so close. I hope you don't mind, but I didn't know about the homestead group, so I"ve joined it.

I also didn't mention that the university of Missouri has agriculture programs set up at test farms in the area. I was doing research on Black Cohosh (a native medicinal herbal) and found them.