What would you choose - rural KS or the Ozarks?
 

Rural KS or the Ozarks, and why?

Just husband and wife, no kids. Kids and grandkids will be visiting. We want to live off his retirement as much as possible and I only want to have to work part time, and we plan to have chickens, milk goats, and the best garden we can have.

It's hard to make a decision - I'm from KS originally and love the Lawrence area, but I think the Ozarks might be a better place to homestead - more like-minded people there. We're moving from the UP of Michigan, where DH is from and where I've spent the last 21 years. The Ozarks is a lot more like the UP, I think, as far as culture and topography. We love our wood heat and we're more likely to be able to find a place with a good wood lot in the Ozarks......

Decisions, decisions. This is so exciting, though. When we moved here we didn't know much at all about homesteading. We've learned a lot and now we're going to take that knowledge to a place where we can garden year-round if we have a green house. Here, it's winter 7 months out of the year and often gets -30. If we were in KS or the Ozarks right now we'd probably be sitting on our porch instead of in front of our wood stove, and we'd probably already have the cold season veggies started in the garden/

Just my two bits, but, I would think the ozarks would be much preferable. More moderate winters, more things to do when the family visits. Guess maybe since I live in Kansas the grass looks greener in the ozarks.

I don't know much about Kansas except that awful thing that happened to poor little Dorothy. I am staying right where I am in the Ozarks.

Ive lived in both. EXCEPT for the winters in Kans you couldn't pry me away. Ozark winters are much better, and that's about all I can say good about the Ozarks.

That's good to hear about the Ozark winters - I didn't realize there would be that much difference. I've only been in the Ozarks in the summer.

There are SOOOO many people in the Ozarks!
But where you mention Lawrence, Im guessing your rural Kansas isn't MY rural Kansas ;)

Ultimately, I would say rural Kansas.

Good for you and your hubby! Sounds as if a road trip might be in order. :happy2: That is a great way to go out and see what you both like or dislike. The Ozarks are such a beautiful place year round. Then there are the ticks and chiggers...:shocked: Brrr...can't imagine 7 months of cold.!

Good luck on finding your perfect new retirement place. :)

The name Ozarks covers a whole lot of ground. Usually it includes from roughly central MO, about 100 miles from the AR to into AR another 70? miles, and then all the way over to Joplin and down past Ft. Smith. Some people call it the Ozark Mountains, but there aren't any. It's mainly a plateau that eroded into hills and valleys.

We get all four seasons here, just not too much of any one. In most areas the land is cheap compared to other areas of the country, and the cost of living is lower also. Very few, if any, building codes in the rural areas. Septic test is about the only one I know of in Stone County.

You'll find every type of land you can imagine here, from reasonably flat range land to nearly straight up and down rough country.

PM me if there's anything specific you'd like to know about the Springfield & south area.

I lived in real rural ks from age 5 to 15. White City area. We would like to be just as rural but not as flat and dry if we choose KS. I'm wondering about Washington county or Linn county. Mound City has some interesting properties for sale.

I'm a home health and hospice RN and will need to find a good company. That will play a role in our decision, but I don't imagine it will be too hard to find a job.

If we move to the Ozarks I want to find something very rural and very heavily wooded, preferably in an area where plenty of the people still garden and can and raise goats and chickens. Are there any such areas in the southwest part of Missouri?

I live in Washington co. Kansas. In the winters I would much rather be in the ozarks. Any questions you have about Washington co. I would try to answer. We are about an hours drive from Manhattan for any shopping trips, 2 hours from Topeka. I notice your post on the house near Linn. It is a nice little town, one grocery store, a hardware store, tractor dealer, and a couple of plants that make cattle handling equipment. The county seat is Washington where the county hospital is as well as a county health dept. This part of Kansas isn't nearly as populated as the Lawrence area is, but more so than ErinP 's area. :cowboy:

After handling UP winters for the past 21 years, KS winters sound like a piece of cake :) The warmer the better, though, IMO

Where are you located, ErinP?

Yes u can

I lived in the Ozarks for 15 years. Soil was very rocky. Also, if you get yourself in the NW corner, prices are higher and it is busier since the Wal-Mart headquarters is in Bentonville. I would not want to retire in that area. However, if you go east and a bit south, there are some beautiful areas and less population.

Ozarks in north central Arkansas, of course :)

We are in Riley county. Just outside of Manhattan. Both of my DDs are nurses, they however live in the Big city of Topeka. Plenty of Nurse related jobs in the area. We still have the small town feeling for about 3 months, then the students show up and grow for 9 months. you also avoid going to town on game day.. if you have any questions of this area, let me know and I will try and help.

Well most of what I've seen of Kansas is flat as a pancake and open, not much forested land. I like hills and woods to add contour to the land and privacy. I'd go with ozarks.

You are describing a place listed in Real estate section--all set up and ready to go--if she hasnt sold it yet

Having lived in the Ozarks of SW Missouri for the last 16 years, I wouldn't want to go anywhere else ! ! ! :happy2: Check out the main real estate agents here in Shell Knob to see if there is a place you would be interested in. for reference, Shell Knob is on Mo Hwy. 339 where it crosses Table Rock lake. It is private, quiet, secluded, and there are no GOOD roads to get here ( HE HE HE ). P.M. me and I'll send you some pictures of the area.

Dave

My Kansas isn't. Well, we're not much for trees of course, unless you're down along the creeks. This is the high plains, afterall.
But it sure isn't flat! lol
http://thebackgate.biz/Kansas/BBTrap...acingSouth.jpg
My husband is standing on the hill our house is tucked in to. If you look at his right elbow, you can see his blue, full-sized pickup, for scale. :) (it's prettier in spring when everything is growing, but this is my best pic to get an idea of how "flat" it is around here lol)

To answer your question fffarmergirl, I'm up in Cheyenne county.

:umno:You must have traveled I-70 across the flattest part of the state. Like Erin says, Kansas isn't mostly flat. And, we even have trees in the east half especially. I'm about mid way along the northern part and we have hills and trees. It isn't the ozarks, but I'm not sure that is bad.

I have spent a lot of time with my family in KC, including a lot of hunts in eastern Kansas. Excellent goose, duck, turkey, and deer hunting. I loved the area around Atchison. Hilly but not steep,woods and fields, great soil, near the big city, but still rural. Not as wet as PA or MI, but not as dry as 'out west.'

I have also loved every part of MO I have been in, but I never have been to the Ozarks.

If I were considering a move, one important consideration would be the availability and quality of water for the long term. In parts of the country that have traditionally been agricultural based, the water tables are reaching alarmingly low levels. In addition, because of the high use of chemicals, the ground water that is there is questionable in terms of quality. Also of consideration of how deep wells need to be to find good quality water of sufficient quantity. It is very expensive to dig a 500+ foot well.

Just thought I would throw that out as something to consider when looking at rural locations. We used to take water availability as a given but times have changed.

The possibilities are ENDLESS! I spent the entire day yesterady looking at properties listed on landandfarm.com. We found two very interesting off grid properties - one in Weableau, MO and one in Mound City, KS. It sounds like getting financing for off grid properties could get interesting. We're talking about actually just renting until we can save up the 50% down payment that would most likely be necessary for such a place.

Wally, I went to K-State :) My ex was stationed at Fort Riley. We lived a couple blocks from the K-State stadium.

Ceresone - what place? Where?? We have a real estate section? Now I know what I'll be doing the rest of the afternooon!

Pepsiboy I'ml going to look up Shell Knob right now - any place with no good roads sounds good to me.

We started cleaning the garage yesterday - deciding what's coming with us and loading up the stuff to throw away and sell. This is soooo exciting! It's helping my spirits during this snow/ice storm we're having today.

My part of kansas looks just like your part of kansas.

Humidity or not...

Having grown up and living around the Fort Leonard Wood area until age 30 , and now having spent about 17 years in the burps of Wichita, I would pick Mo over Ks any day.
I love to garden and the wind and heat here on the plains dries out plants to a crisp during summer. You have to use a ton of mulch and some plants just don't tolerate the heat.
The rivers have precious few rocks here, so they always look dirty because they are full of dirt. While the creeks and crystal clear springs in Mo are plentiful.
The plains do have a beauty of their own once you get used to it, but i prefer all the beauty the woods hold in Mo.
If you need work, Ks has more jobs than Mo. That is why we are here now.
Once retirement time comes, I am heading back to Mo as fast as I can go!

Eastern KS is about as muggy as MO. You have to get west of the 100th before Kansas dries out.
Of course, at that point the rainfall declines, too... ;)

Wally, that picture was taken about 45 min north of Manhattan. In the northern Riley co area. We were on a photo taking expedition in the area west of us-177 south of Waterville.

We settled on the in between of what you are after ground on the I 49 corridor between Joplin and kc is cheap . Vernon county where we moved has good soil without a lot of rocks rural water is available in most places and wells are doable but expensive due to depth . We are off grid with rainwater collection and solar/generator power . I work in Joplin it is a 1 hour drive each way.

fffarmgirl,

Well, looks like I'm falling behind AGAIN on the pictures. Attached are some from here in Shell Knob. Also some from part of our yard and some critters here.

Dave
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You couldn't pay me to live in Kansas. We drive through it every year to get to Colorado and it is the most god forsaken drive I've ever done.

I guess I am a sucker for trees.

Ha! You've never driven from Casper Wyoming to anywhere, have you ? Western KS is a oasis compared to some places.

I guess I don't consider Linn Co or Washington Co to be rural. Not as rural as we are in Western Ks anyway. Neither is flat, and they get way more rain per year than we do in Ford Co. But I realize it's all relative. My inlaws considered their small portion of Ohio to be rural. In my mind, neighbors and cities were still too close!

Personally, I prefer living in the red hills areas of Kansas. I loved my years in Thomas County too. (The Breaks in NW KS are amazingly beautiful.) I think the Ozarks, while pretty and home to lots of water, I still prefer my red hills. (Clark Co, Comanche Co, Barber Co.)

And, like I tell people who complain about Kansas being flat...we put the interstate where it is for a reason...to keep people "like you" moving on through the state. The best parts of the state are no where near I-70!

In this little part of North Central Kansas, homesteading is pretty much a way of life for quite a few. Most everyone has a garden, lots of people hunt, not just for fun but for meat. Several people trap in order to provide some extra income. While there is a lot of large scale farming, there are still small corners where people provide for themselves. Firewood is readily available, just ask any of the farmers about cleaning out tree rows or creek bottoms and you'll have more than you need.

As far as winters go, I grew up in Montana and Wyoming, lots of cold, some snow and lots of wind. It isn't really that bad here for winter. It was as cold as 0 overnight for a couple nights at different times, but not bitter cold. But no snow. The biggest challenge for most people not used to the plains is the wind. It is an inconvenience at first, but the stories of people going crazy because of the wind are real. After three days, everyone's humor is gone.

Pepsiboy, thanks for the shots of Table Rock Lake!

We haven't been down there for quite awhile and that makes me miss it. I think it's THE best lake in Missouri. Notice the boat wakes are white where they curl over? That's clean, clear water.

I love the openness of the plains, and anyone who thinks all of Kansas is flat, barren and boring has never gotten off I-70, or never been there when the wheat fields are golden or the sunflowers are in bloom. It's a beautiful state in many ways, although the wind is a bother in some of the more wide open spaces.

When I was a kid in Morris County, KS, I really enjoyed the wind. I'm not sure if I'd enjoy it so much now. We used to have so much fun jumping off of tree trunks, holding something in the air above us like a sail, and "flying." We played another fun game with a sheet - two older kids would hold onto who corners on end of a sheet and one little kid would hold onto the other two corners. We'd turn the sheet up like a sail and the little kid would get to "fly". Too bad I was the oldest - I never had a chance to be the little kid on the other end.

I don't think I want to deal with that wind as an adult. Gardening in it does not sound the least bit fun.

I used to have this dream: move to someplace in the Ozarks for the winter. Build an attached greenhouse where I could install a concrete laze about pool in it to absorb heat for the night, and actually laze about in the warm water while my spring seedlings would grow in time to take them back to Michigan to plant.....Then I got to thinking about opening it back up in the Fall and having to chase the water moccasins out of the pool.....

With Florida, it was the thought of fire ants in my compost pile.....

:)

geo

That's one good thing about Michigan - no poisonous snakes! Once when I was a kid in KS our family and another large family went swimming together in a creek. There were about 10 or 12 kids swimming in there when one girl yelled "snake!" We all ran out of the water as quick as we could and our mothers looked and saw that the root ball we'd been using as a diving board contained a nest of water moccasins....and many of them were in the water!

What's expensive?
480 ft well drilled and top 40 ft cased = $4400
480 ft well drilled and cased all the way down = $8400

Not very expensive at all around these parts.