A few questions about homesteading

Thank Rosepath, i was thinking about renting beforehand too. Some great points for us to consider.

Excellent points.

I would wonder if a medium-sized property, an acre or three, very close to a nice town, might be what the OP is really looking for. Enough room for chickens and a produce garden, but not Little House In The Middle Of Nowhere, either.

Come to think of it if such a place exists, I might look into it!

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I came for the cat's-eye and stayed for the Tightwad!

Ditto on spending time on the road to research. Also, there's no way to sift it down to which county with a spreadsheet.

Travel. Take a couple of years to find a place.

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Alice
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"No great thing is created suddenly." ~Epictitus

Our personal experience has been the same. When we bought our homestead property some years ago, the whole area was populated by generational landowners. That is, properties that have been in family hands for generations, passed on over time. We were initially concerned about being "outsiders", "those city people", "flat landers", or whatever.

The opposite has been the norm. All the old time owners welcomed us, and in fact were very pleased that new people were coming into the area. All the old timers are commercial cattle ranchers, and they are very interested in what we are going, because it is something new. We bought our land with the idea of it being a self-sufficient homestead, and initially planted a lot of trees in an orchard. We picked the brains of our neighbors, and planted everything they did that was successful. We just went on a 20 fold broader scale than them.

Fast forward to today, and they come visit to see what is growing, and I now help them plant what they see us successfully growing. I tried my hand at grafting, and now pass out grafted apple, peach, pear, ect trees to the neighbors. They are very enthusiast about trading services like helping to water my trees, in exchange for grafted trees are freshly baked pies.

We lived in Broken Arrow OK for a year when I was young. The humidity was awful, although we had just come from South Dakota so maybe it was just a shock to my system. And it seemed like we had tornado warnings all the time. We moved back to SD. I'm in Northern Ky now, closest big city is Louisville, and humidity can get bad here too. The Lexington area is nice, but relatively expensive anywhere close to town. I love Tennessee. The economy is doing very well right now in the Knoxville area, and I consider the tax situation better than Kentucky. The weather tends to be a little more moderate than where I am, and there are a ton of recreational things to do there. As far as being shunned or anything....the same thing can happen moving into a subdivision somewhere. I'm about as rural as it gets, and new people are always welcomed around here unless they themselves choose to wear the welcome out. Good luck!

Driven out? Oh, let me give you some perspective from a person who has moved around a bit...

~ When we moved to ID from CA, I had a pick-up truck nearly drive me off the road as I went down the freeway. I realized later I hadn't yet re-registered my car so I still had CA license plates. My suspicions were confirmed when a decade later I had an in-law who had lived in ID, moved to CA for a few years, then moved back to ID. She also almost got ran off the road - same thing, she hadn't switched her license plates yet.

~ People will notice your accent or lack thereof, then they'll ask you were you are from. I came from any state outside of The South, therefore I am a "Yankee". Yankees aren't appreciated around here.

~ When people hear my name they get quiet for a moment. I've learned that what they are doing is thinking about every family connection they know to see if they can figure out my maiden name. We are the only family in this state with our last name (yes, I've checked) so I know they will never figure it out. I tell them "I have no kin here" because we don't. We joke that my daughter is the only person in the school district who isn't related to anyone else. People think that people deciding to live in an area where they have no roots - we weren't born here and we don't have relatives here - is exceptionally strange. It is a foreign concept. We might as well have decided to move to the moon.

~ People who were raised here, moved away (military, job, even going to college out of state), then came back will tell me that they experience some degree of isolation. After all, they went away so they aren't really loyal to the area. Being raised in the area then having the nerve to move away makes you suspect, like they can't trust you to stay. I know a woman who moved here in the early 1980's because she got married to a local. She is still an outsider.

~ I noticed this a little bit when we moved to the Boise area and I notice this a lot more now that we're in MS ... no one tells you anything and all the best information is obtained by word-of-mouth. I love to go hiking but it was exceptionally difficult to figure out nice places to hike since when we lived there local guide books were non-existent and no one offered to show me where they hiked. In the same vein, here in MS, I struggled to find the simplest services. Need a hair cut? No one will tell you who they use. Trying to find a great restaurant? That's a family secret (and around here the best restaurants are way out on some lonely back-road so if you don't know where they are, forget it). Want to buy a used lawn tractor? Forget it, just buy a new one from Sears because if you try to find one on Craigslist, the internet or even the newspaper those are junk. Those are the ones so bad the seller didn't have the nerve to sell it to a friend or family member.

~ DO NOT ever tell someone you're from CA. If this comes up in conversation, I guarantee every contractor or service provider will charge you extra. All people from CA are rich, right?

~ I volunteer and donate whenever possible and always when asked. I have skills and I'm generous with my time and talent. Still, I'm not to be trusted and I might not be for years. Our saving grace is that my husband and I are known as hard workers - physical labor kind of hard workers (which is sometimes a good thing and sometimes bad because it makes the locals look bad.) Anyway, I am never asked to cook for an event (except dessert, I can bring dessert), be on a committee - or if I am, I'm relegated to the least of jobs, or given a church calling (unless I'm filling in for someone else). I know it is because they don't know me yet. I'm okay with that. I just continue to work hard, be honest, and prove I'm reliable.

~ I have known people who were "driven out" ... not directly but in a "give up because life will never get better here" kind of way. In a small town your reputation is everything. When you're a stranger moving in, you have NO reputation. One mistake or someone talking bad about you - untrue or not - can make your life very difficult. It is hard to recover from a bad reputation. A bad reputation is one of those things that can make you want to move away and create a fresh start somewhere else. That is why you're not trusted as a stranger. If you had to move to their community where you don't know anyone, you must have really blown it big time back where people know you.

As to humidity ... anytime you go east of the Rocky Mountain divide you're going to encounter humidity that is noticeably oppressive compared to CA.

And when it comes to church, I joke that I go to church (including Wed nite bible study) just to find out what everyone is saying about me.

Yep you got it!

Hi Tom! My husband is also from England (West Brom) immigrated here and we are working on a homestead. My suggestion to you is to put your resume live and see where you are offered a job. In our area (Ohio) we aren't that far at all from town. My previous residence was about 20 mins from town and it was a nice farming community, now we have a small plot of land to call our own and we are homesteading it the best we can (about 15 mins from town). Check your cost of living online, make sure it's worth it. All three are nice places to start a homestead. It may be worth deciding what you intend to do with your homestead and talk to people from there to learn specific regulations. Such as if you intend to sell meat or produce. Here there are tons of farms for sale, some really close to town. That's always an option too

Good luck to you!

Cookie2, where are you in MS? I have relatives all over MS and visit twice a year.

TomWilliams, Knoxville would be a good area for you to look into. (I'm about 35 miles SW of Knoxville.) Because of the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge, Knoxville has many international families. You are also close to Chattanooga.

Although I think as long as you are open to new experiences, not boastful of what you have/where you've lived, don't try to tell the locals what needs to be changed in THEIR hometown, join in local activities without barging in and trying to take over, you'll fit in anywhere. Also, don't try too hard to 'go local', if that makes sense.

Agreed with Wren - TN 100%.

Do not purchase land unless you own your SUB-Surface rights.

On WV oil and gas companies can lease the right to drill from those that DO own those rights and put a well where they please!

In our case they were here for over 12 months off and on, and our little piece if heaven will always be shared - not "private" any longer.

They have their own lock on my gate chain, and can enter 24 / 7.

Thank you!

Sorry to hear that, I didn't know about the sub-surface rights.

The Louisville area would be good for you. Plenty to do, plenty of jobs and yet you can be completely rural just a few miles out of town. There are reasonably priced places within a short drive too. Land is cheaper in Indiana but Kentucky is nicer.

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Tom, I was in one here that as close. I was in 2 up in Kansas that I saw.

I would certainly do a lot of research on properties, soils, legal requirements for water, building, animal keeping and so on - it varies a LOT between States and even Counties.

FBB is right about Oklahoma - land is relatively cheap and the people are generally as friendly as you want them to be. It is a pretty conservative State overall, so you might want to mull that over. But as a general rule in the more rural areas you are left alone to do your thing for the most part. Depending on what you consider "adequate housing" he could be right on prices. You can quite easily get around 10 - 20 acres with a home you can live in for that $75K if you are a good negotiator.

I have lived here 32 years, and the closest I have come to a tornado was when one took my back fence out when I lived in Tulsa. I had only lived here a year, so didn't know what it was, so wasn't frightened When I lived near Muskogee a couple of them skipped along the highway, but as my property was down in a dip they didn't bother with me.

I *do* have a storm shelter (or 'fraidy hole) here, but my neighbor has used it more than I have. I figure that the house has been standing for around 80 years now, so it is either safe or due for "the big one". Now, there are places that seem to have a real affinity for those twisters - so you could find out the general path of "tornado alley" and avoid it, if it worries you. I know there are maps online that show frequency, direction and strength of tornadoes over time.

Tulsa has a pretty good job market, as does Oklahoma City, though that doesn't mean they are the only places.

Mary

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I did for a while. I used to make it a point to go to town once or twice a week because it was so quiet: I *WANTED* the quiet but it was an adjustment!

Any move is an adjustment, really. I *DID* make the adjustment: I still go to town once a week but not it is a chore that is sometimes a pleasure.

I did end up getting a job: I stopped working to raise kids and then I got a chronic illness.

Oh, yes! Never buy land sight unseen! Just because a parcel looks perfect does not mean there is not a junkyard next door.

Also, if one area is affordable then there is probably other affordable parcels in the immediate area. After you have seen the advertized land, drive around and see what is in the area!

AND theres around a good 3 doz HT people in Okla, tho nobody can ever get them together

We do have a pretty heavy amount of humidity here but the higher up you go, the less you'll experience. Knoxville is less than an hour from my place and does have a lot to offer to a rural homesteader....you can live on just about any sized property and have what you want and still be within an hour for shopping/medical/entertainment purposes....in just about any direction. That's what we do- live about an hour away from there (and 30 minutes from Sevierville/Pigeon Forge) so we have the country life with access to more if need be

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Chris Ledoux

Wow Cookie2 that is a tough place! I am from the south but my wife is from Wisconsin. We moved to rural Virginia last July and I have to say that our experience has been totally different. We bought our place from an elderly couple that simply couldn't manage it anymore. They had lived there all their lives and were moving into a condo (the husband has recently passed). They were the nicest people you would ever hope to meet. It really seemed like we were more their kids than someone buying their house. The day we bought the place they threw a "block party" (blocks here are measured in miles!) so that we could meet all the neighbors and the neighbors could meet us. It was a fantastic experience. My wife has since developed some great friendships and nobody as far as I know has ever treated us with anything but kindness and generosity. My wife (Navy) has recently had to deploy to Afghanistan and everyone in the community it seems has come by to see how she is doing or if I need anything.
Tom the best advice I can give you is to have the job first! Never assume you can find a job and then get stuck. Especially at first it seems to me homesteading can get expensive. I just built a greenhouse, bought a tractor, need a zero turn mower, have ducks, geese, chickens, rabbits, etc that all need to be fed and housing built for them. Believe me it adds up. But we wouldn't have it any other way. This is the most fun I have had in years. Now if I can just get over the depression of my wife leaving....