# Best place in America to homestead?



## WalterD (Mar 24, 2012)

Hello all,

My wife and I are really considering a shift to a self-sufficient life in which we grow our own food and raise chickens, rabbits and goat (maybe some beef too). We currently live in central Texas on about 2 acres in a residential neighboorhood where we can grow vegetables and have a small number of chickens, but we want to buy about 20 acres where we can really go self-sufficient (maybe even get off the grid totally). I wanted to gather opinions about where in the country would be the best place to look for a 20 acre ranch to be able to homestead most effectively? We need to keep the cost per acre pretty low, and we want to find the best conditions (rainfall, long growing season, good soil, etc.) Any advice is welcome.

Thanks!


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## Ken in Maine (May 10, 2002)

Saint Albans Maine;

Only 15 minutes from the Interstate and no zoning... a building permit is still only $5.00.


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## luvrulz (Feb 3, 2005)

Ken in Maine said:


> Saint Albans Maine;
> 
> Only 15 minutes from the Interstate and no zoning... a building permit is still only $5.00.


How much is the land up that way - way too much snow for my liking....short growing cycle.


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## luvrulz (Feb 3, 2005)

Alot of things to consider.....what will your source of income be, you will need income besides the farm? You will need to look at sales tax, state income tax - alot of factors besides the cost of land.

Hubby and I picked Ky because there's no state income tax on retirement income. The land was affordable and we lokied the seasonal change..... We paid $42,000 on 46 acres of raw land. No bldgs, no barn, no nothing. In 1996...


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

Mid-western Illinois has been GREAT, so far.


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## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

Parts of Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri would be my best recommendation. Some of these places are very rural and there's no zoning, no permits, and cheap land. Keep in mind you might live next to a meth lab but homesteading can be cheaper in these areas.


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## shdybrady (Aug 26, 2011)

i cant give you a "best state". But I will give you a region to start to look at. I would consider the appalachian mountains. Land can be real cheap its usually great soil and perfect for goats "if you see that in your future". Here in the southern region of the mountains we have really good growing seasons and its easy for your animals to be primarily on a pasture diet. Its something to consider


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## ErinP (Aug 23, 2007)

Personally, I'd suggest the central Great Plains. Generally, only towns will have zoning/permits/fees, rural areas are left to our own devices. Land is pretty cheap if you buy range rather than tilled (we paid $16K for forty acres a couple years ago) and if you put some effort into compost, ALL soil bcan be good.
Plus, if you choose one of the sparsely populated "frontier" counties, neighbors are far enough apart they still value one another. The word "neighbor" is both a noun and a verb


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## SkizzlePig (May 14, 2006)

My wife and I asked ourselves this same question before we picked up and moved. We did a *mountain* of research and settled on the Carolinas. 

Here's why we picked South Carolina:
- There's two complete growing seasons (Yes! Two!)
- Land is cheap and plentiful (dirt is about $1000/acre, price goes up with timber value or location)
- The Summer is the wet season (when everything needs water. Brilliant design, eh? :grin
- Cost of living is low
- The early major settlements were the Carolinas. The land is given to growing just about anything you'll need to garden

We're sold on South Carolina, but any of the Southern states would really provide the same things.


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## Micheal (Jan 28, 2009)

The "Eden" you are searching for I believe is unattainable although:
Most every place that there is a person "homesteading" has it's good and it's bad points - just ask them......
Its either: to hot and humid in the summer, to cold and snowy in the winter, there's the threat of tornado, hurricane, earthquake, flooding, drought, etc happening, lets not forget taxes, zoning, neighbors, isolation or not, rocks or clay, and more.....
But other than that, where they have set down roots is great, ideal, couldn't have found a better place, works for them, etc.............

With all this I do hope you find your "Eden" as I found mine in Cent NYS......


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## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

I think just about anywhere in the south/southeast works. You usually get 2 crops, although you have the heat, you don't have as much trouble with drought, although Georgia has been in drought lately. Even the southern parts of the midwest, although I don't know how much land is going for there.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

I live on 1 acre in Kansas.

On this lot I could raise enough vegetables for my family of 5, as well as providing enough feed for a few layers. 4 hens would give 2 dozen eggs a week.

If I had another acre I could raise grain as well: corn here yields 150 bushels and acre and wheat perhaps 50???? 

In other words you can do an aweful lot with your 2 acres, if you did not have a mortgage and utility bills. If you homestead in Texas, WATER would be very important!

I think that an income would be the most important thing, as nails are not free. Neither are salt, gasoline, taxes, medical bills, and so forth. Some homesteaders have a very TINY income, but all homesteads must have some.


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## am1too (Dec 30, 2009)

If I wanted to stay in Texas I would consider NE Texas. Beautiful and lots of water. If I move it will get prime consideration.


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## sisterpine (May 9, 2004)

So what you want is a slice of perfection for the cost of a slice of non perfection. Hmm...that will be tough. When I lived in MT we had inexpensive land, some water, isolation, not too far from town, no near neighbors, no zoning or building permits, no sales tax free firewood and WINTER THAT LASTED 7 MONTHS A YEAR. Someplace you gotta find "most" of what you are looking for and some that you can just deal with. Good luck to you though.


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## nancylee (Mar 8, 2011)

Keep the weather in mind - it is hot and getting hotter in many parts of the country, and tornadoes are in many places where they weren't before. If I were going to leave upstate NY for warmer weather, I think I would look in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, someplace where there is warmer weather than here, but not too hot.


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## WalterD (Mar 24, 2012)

Thanks for all of the great input! Right now we are hot on looking at 20 to 40 acres in Southern Missouri, but that might change. The only down side I can see right now with Missouri is the slight possiblity of a tornado, but I need to do much more research. Just to answer the income question, I am about 10 years from retirement from teaching at a large Texas University which will give me about a 65% pension (plenty for two to live on). Any additional suggestions are still very welcome.


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## Big Dave (Feb 5, 2006)

The quality of life is where you should look. You already have a great place, you just don't know it. Look at the climate you want. Look at the land and what you want to do for your selves on it. I have a couple of friends that make a living Market farming and only use at the most one acre of 5 acre farm and 7/8 of an acre out of 23 they lease. Living being 20 -75 grand depending on what they grow and how much. Type in Ozark Alternatives and Foundation Farm to verify. Good luck with your dreams. By the way the best homestead in the nation is mine and it is already taken.


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## piglady (Sep 28, 2006)

Before you buy in Southern MO, look at the soil. Lived there for 10 years and got so tired of dealing with the rocky thin soil. No matter how many rocks I picked up, there were more behind them. Fence posts were near impossible to put down and the rains washed away any amendments we added to the dirt. We did garden but it was extremely hard work and not always a good outcome. Moved from there to southern Texas and I have found my eden. We have 17 acres next to an irrigation canal. In addition, we have a well so we water all we want and keep things growing year round. There are no rocks in the soil and it is good black delta soil (cameron county). I can literally see my garden grow by the day. We have a milk cow that does great on just the bermuda grass here and the horses love it. Cost of living is low and we have no trouble finding cheap farm help when needed. It is hot but I like it hot and never have to deal with cold or snowy winters again. If you have never lived north of Texas, you might want to visit during a cold snap to see if you could even stand it. There are lots of farmers markets around should you decide to sell there. The land cost more than in MO but then you can do way more per acre than we could with our mountain of gravel. The key here is to make sure your land has irrigation of some sort.


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## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

Not here. We've got 2 seasons: winter and August. Water is hard to come by and expensive. The area is overrun with people who saved all their life to be able to come here and retire and they are all terrible drivers.


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## Raeven (Oct 11, 2011)

oregon woodsmok said:


> Not here. We've got 2 seasons: winter and August. Water is hard to come by and expensive. The area is overrun with people who saved all their life to be able to come here and retire and they are all terrible drivers.




Exactly right.


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

You are on the wrong side of the mountain. Willamette Valley, land of milk and honey. 4 seasons. Mild temps here. Lots of rain, hills and green trees. I will stay right where I was planted. The grass is not greener over there. Grandad came here from Kansas in 1953, he had to leave Kansas because of heat strokes. Came down out of those mountains and found paradise, said if you starved here you deserved to, you had to be lazy. They lived off the land til he found a job cleaning up at a sawmill. Bought a little house and was very happy and grateful for the temperate climate....James


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## WalterD (Mar 24, 2012)

Piglady,
I was shocked by your description of your land in Missouri and you new land in Texas. When I read your rough conditions description of your land in Missouri I thought you were describing my land here in South Texas, and yet you describe your place in South Texas as wonderful. I had to rent a jackhammer to get a few posts in to fence off my current garden, and I will NEVER pull out all the rocks! We really don't have soil here, just clay and rocks. The weather is, how to put this. . . HOT! I think we had at least a hundred 100+ degree days last summer with 0 rain! Growing here is next to impossible. Thanks for the input.


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## ET1 SS (Oct 22, 2005)

Keep in mind that most of the nation is seriously prone to drought.


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## Raeven (Oct 11, 2011)

jwal10 said:


> You are on the wrong side of the mountain. Willamette Valley, land of milk and honey. 4 seasons. Mild temps here. Lots of rain, hills and green trees. I will stay right where I was planted. The grass is not greener over there. Grandad came here from Kansas in 1953, he had to leave Kansas because of heat strokes. Came down out of those mountains and found paradise, said if you starved here you deserved to, you had to be lazy. They lived off the land til he found a job cleaning up at a sawmill. Bought a little house and was very happy and grateful for the temperate climate....James


James... not sure where you think I am, but I'm west of the Willamette Valley, up in the Coast Range. Wouldn't trade it for anything.


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## piglady (Sep 28, 2006)

You must be in the hill country (very pretty though I might add). Very different than down here. We live in the rio grande delta and love it!!!!!! If you don't like hot though, Texas is not for you.


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## unregistered168043 (Sep 9, 2011)

If was ever going to leave ( wouldn't unless my whole place burned down and all the trees blew away ) I would think about Missouri or Kentucky. The prices are affordable, property tax is under control, the weather is more mild ( yet you get all seasons ).

I'm a northman by blood and I could never survive below Virgina. I'd melt in one season. I once tried to live in Arizona and almost dried up and blew away like an old tumbleweed.


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## ronbre (Apr 26, 2009)

I love north central lower pen of Michigan, we have no hurricanes, no severe droughts, very very few tornadoes and much smaller than the tornado belts, we do get snow but not like they do farther north..we had a very mild winter this year ...only areas that are really low lying have any flooding at all and that is generally snow melt in the spring.

the land is super cheap right now cause of the housing market, and most of them have homes on them.

right now there are 3 properties on our road for sale..ranging from 130, to 200K with houses and most have outbuildings..and acerage..some partially wooded, some mostly open..if you have a desire to find out about any of them I can send you links.

one home east of us is on a rise with a great view and a lot of open land, has a 2 story home plus a walk out basement/garage..not sure of the rest of the area around it ..but it was new not that long ago, and I think they'd take around $130,000 or less..another brand new fancy pants home west of us with an attached garage and a separate pole barn has both wooded and open land and was going for over $200,000 but they have been having problems moving it in this market and probably would take a much lower offer, this is a beautiful home..

there is another home across the street from this one (both 2 story and prob basements?? not sure about that)..this one is a good size house with attached garages and a separate couple of buildings and some fenced in area for kennels or something..and this has both open and wooded land..not sure of the price but I think quite a bit less than the previous one..

last two have a small creek beside them..runs between our property and theirs..spring fed..on the woods side and maybe a small amount of swampy area that would be good for digging a pond??


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## dirtman (Sep 15, 2011)

I think Michigan is great but I doubt a Texan would easily adapt to the weather. Doesn't anybody in south missouri worry about the new Madrid fault? If I lived in tornado country I'd build an earth sheltered house.


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## ErinP (Aug 23, 2007)

Or have a basement. Truly, tornadoes are not that big of a deal... :shrug:


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## YuccaFlatsRanch (May 3, 2004)

Walter - you already live in the best part of the US. I spent 24 1/2 years in the Navy living all over and retired to the Hill Country of Texas. Just get yourself some more land. Not all years will be as dry as last year.


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## WalterD (Mar 24, 2012)

YuccaFlatsRanch,

We do like it here even though it is quite hot, but the biggest problem we have is that the land it way to expensive for us. We have been here at Canyon Lake for about 18 years, and it keeps getting more crowded every year. I have looked around the area, and it appears that the land is about 8,000 to 10,000 an acre. In Missouri the land looks to be about 1500 an acre, and not nearly as hot with better rainfall. Let me know if you know of anything in the 15 to 30 acre range for a good price. Thanks.


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## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

We are in Bulverde! I feel ya, it's gotten crazy expensive out here over the last 10 years or so. Not to mention, all of the people that have moved here to "live in the country".
But then decide that no one should have any animals, and want their nasty HOA's all over the place telling us what we can do on our own land
We are fixing to leave within the next year, heading to Nebraska ourselves. Dh is from there, and it's where his family is. :hobbyhors.


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## salmonslayer (Jan 4, 2009)

dirtman said:


> I think Michigan is great but I doubt a Texan would easily adapt to the weather. Doesn't anybody in south missouri worry about the new Madrid fault? If I lived in tornado country I'd build an earth sheltered house.


 One posters description of their soil and land when they lived in Southern Missouri brings up a point that soils and conditions vary wildly in the Ozarks. We have pretty fertile soil and to us its a growing paradice but it is rocky in places and it wouldnt be suitable for large scale row cropping (hay is the big crop down here). But that rockyness is also beneficial if your worried about New Madrid. The places in most danger are closer to the Mississippi river delta where the soil is sandy and would cause a lot of movement during an earthquake and liquifaction would be a serious issue. Our farm is perched on a limestone plateau and in fact the full basement of our farm house was blasted out of limestone in the 1930s.

Besides, asteroids are heading this way and will get us before New Madrid. :runforhills:


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## ldc (Oct 11, 2006)

Ah, salmonslayer! Such optimism!!! (re:asteroids!).


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## jp_over (Jun 20, 2013)

WalterD said:


> Hello all,
> 
> My wife and I are really considering a shift to a self-sufficient life in which we grow our own food and raise chickens, rabbits and goat (maybe some beef too). We currently live in central Texas on about 2 acres in a residential neighboorhood where we can grow vegetables and have a small number of chickens, but we want to buy about 20 acres where we can really go self-sufficient (maybe even get off the grid totally). I wanted to gather opinions about where in the country would be the best place to look for a 20 acre ranch to be able to homestead most effectively? We need to keep the cost per acre pretty low, and we want to find the best conditions (rainfall, long growing season, good soil, etc.) Any advice is welcome.
> 
> Thanks!


How about a long term update? Any final decisions?


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

Ken in Maine said:


> Saint Albans Maine;
> 
> Only 15 minutes from the Interstate and no zoning... a building permit is still only $5.00.


What are land prices like for raw land?


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## ed/La (Feb 26, 2009)

Get two. Winter in Arizona and summer in Colorado.


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## coolrunnin (Aug 28, 2010)

The one you love!!!!


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## ET1 SS (Oct 22, 2005)

fishhead said:


> What are land prices like for raw land?


We bought two parcels of land. One was 45 acres of river frontage for $900/acre. The other was 105 acres for $350/acre.

Property taxes are high though, $1.05/acre.


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## melli (May 7, 2016)

ET1 SS said:


> We bought two parcels of land. One was 45 acres of river frontage for $900/acre. The other was 105 acres for $350/acre.
> 
> Property taxes are high though, $1.05/acre.


Is that per year? So, 45 acres = $45.90/yr? 
I'd be ok with that.


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## ET1 SS (Oct 22, 2005)

melli said:


> Is that per year? So, 45 acres = $45.90/yr?
> I'd be ok with that.


Yes, your annual taxes are paid once a year.


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## dyrne (Feb 22, 2015)

I think it really depends on where your family is. I am not sure I would want to isolate myself or my immediate family by moving away from the rest of our people. 

Having said that, as much as I love the south, I would find Maine to be an awfully tempting place to settle if I weren't already firmly planted in KY. Though honestly, if I were willing to make that move I might bite the bullet and go up to Alaska instead. 

I'm big on lakes, lots of timber, good hunting and I don't mind the cold though.


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## greenbeans (Jan 31, 2017)

I have one at https://youtu.be/hkT7qzVPa0s
Very low taxes. My wife and I lived there on social security alone.
PR is in America!


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## ET1 SS (Oct 22, 2005)

greenbeans said:


> I have one at https://youtu.be/hkT7qzVPa0s
> Very low taxes. My wife and I lived there on social security alone.
> PR is in America!


17 acres for $140k.

What are the taxes?


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## Bellyman (Jul 6, 2013)

It's getting just a bit dated but a good read is Joel Skousen's "Strategic Relocation". He talks about a lot of different factors that make up what he considers good places to live. You may not come to the same conclusions as he does about where the best places are but he does lay out a lot of variables that a person can consider. What is important to you might not have been as important to him and what was important to him may not be as important to you. But at least looking at a wide range of topics for a given area is a good thing. There are better and worse areas in almost every state and every state has it's pluses and minuses... politics, taxes, regulations, gun laws, home schooling laws, cost of living, crime and corruption, weather vulnerabilities, war target vulnerabilities, nuclear fallout vulnerabilities, growing season, quality of land, water availability, ethnic makeup (to some people it does matter), population density... There are a LOT of things to consider. And only you know how you would prioritize those things.


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