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Every state has within it, good areas for homesteading. In general, you'd want to be in a rural area, as urban areas do not always allow livestock, or even gardening in some places. You'd be looking for tillable land, and just as importantly, access to clean water. Depending on your preferences, climate may play a factor (warm? cool?) and also, the population density of the area (neighbors? Or not?).
Literally, you have given us nothing of your preferences. If you wish us to narrow down specific places for you to consider, we'd need to know more about what you're looking for, and what you consider important. There is no one place that would be suitable for everyone. This topic has been explored before - many times - on the SS&P forum. Just do a search, and you'll find many threads that discuss this topic.
If you're looking for entire states, then I would suggest you stay east of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers or at those parts of states east of the 100th meridian, which is a general dividing line between where you can reliably grow crops without significant irrigation and where you absolutely need it. That means that most of the West is not a good choice although lots of people think it is because of supposedly "low" land prices. The only exception to that would be the western parts of Washington and Oregon which get lots of rain off the Pacific. There's a good thread on water issues in the West, specifically Colorado but not just there, in the Colorado forum. That forum also has some threads on the San Luis Valley, which seems like a mecca for homesteader wannabees, too.
If you're looking for entire states, then I would suggest you stay east of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers or at those parts of states east of the 100th meridian, which is a general dividing line between where you can reliably grow crops without significant irrigation and where you absolutely need it. That means that most of the West is not a good choice although lots of people think it is because of supposedly "low" land prices. The only exception to that would be the western parts of Washington and Oregon which get lots of rain off the Pacific. There's a good thread on water issues in the West, specifically Colorado but not just there, in the Colorado forum. That forum also has some threads on the San Luis Valley, which seems like a mecca for homesteader wannabees, too.
For our "final homestead", we are looking at East Texas (pretty green) and the area at the Virginia/North Carolina border, also spent considerable time looking in New Mexico. A place like Virginia will offer plenty of water, cheaper land in the very rural areas, lots of timber etc. One thing to always pay attention to is fracking and the quality of water (in VA and WV this is an issue due to coal mining, Christmas farms runoff etc.). It would be pretty sad if you bought some pretty virgin land to go back to nature and found out that that the next door neighbor is renting it out to be raped with a fracking well.
We considered going back to Florida but it is over-run with people. That's generally the problem with East of Mississippi area - too many people. Although you could easily find plenty of good land in rural Alabama for next to nothing - if you are willing to live in rural Alabama.
In my opinion a family of 2-4 could homestead pretty much anywhere given sufficient acreage and roof area. Even in the SW desert you can collect enough rainfall to grow a garden year round, you can have a few layers for eggs, solar works really well in New Mexico or SW Texas - plenty of sun. However, once you throw livestock in the mix it is a different story, you either need serious acreage, irrigation rights or you will be buying hay/food. You also have to make sure you are as far away from fracking (which is not easy in TX, for example).
Out West it is the norm (and increasingly in the East), land is separated from the mineral rights - meaning if someone else owns them - you may wake up to a drill operation going on on your own property. Make sure you cover your bases - it will cost you.
One word of advice: better have a thick bank account - the road to self-sufficiency and homesteading is expensive. Obviously, you have to be debt free to start with and if there are no jobs in town or if you do not work over the Internet - a phat bank account will be necessary to begin with, until you can get some kind of a small scale farming operation going to make a few dollars. It will not be glamorous and you will always be teetering at the brink.
If you are looking to build yourself, make sure you find a county with no building codes in the rural areas (we live in one right now and it is a blessing for DIY home builders).
Finally - think about what you will do for health insurance and medical stuff in general. One medical procedure or one mishap can put you in the financial "toilet".
Wow, thanks for the great answers. We are very open to "anywhere" so we're just looking for places where land is relatively inexpensive and fertile and where, as ognend pointed out, we're not likely to wind up next to a major fracking operation or the like. Overall, warmer and greener is better (for us), but we're open to all good ideas you guys want to throw at us.
You might also wish to consider leasing some land, at least for agricultural activities. You could live on one small parcel (which you own, I always recommend this) and lease however many acres you need nearby, for agro use. More people than you know own vacant land that they can't sell, for whatever reason, and are stuck paying taxes on it. You can get a 10, 20, even 50-year lease on good agro land without buying it. We are currently doing this on property about 20 miles south of our home.
* Best advice: never buy what you can rent or lease for less. Insisting on owning a big parcel is the surest route to the poorhouse. If you need a big truck periodically, hire a driver who has one. Let him/her pay the taxes, insurance, and maintenance on it. For occasional use, why own it?
We considered going back to Florida but it is over-run with people. That's generally the problem with East of Mississippi area - too many people. Although you could easily find plenty of good land in rural Alabama for next to nothing - if you are willing to live in rural Alabama.
My guess is that rural Alabama beats the San Luis Valley if you're planning on raising something besides sagebrush and snakes!
I think the western NC/western VA/eastern TN areas are good areas. The valleys are pretty fertiles, the climate cooler than further south and lower elevations but still relatively moderate winters. The COL in these areas remain fairly low, too.
BTW, unless you are planning on supporting your homestead with some kind of non-agricultural income, being near or having good access to markets is important. Being 10 miles from the nearest paved road is not practical. In fact, being located on a fairly busy paved road would enable you to sell your produce from a farm stand. That's what my family did for a lot of years. Even after my dad "retired", he had regular customers from the "stand days" who bought canning tomatoes from him by the bushel.
My guess is that rural Alabama beats the San Luis Valley if you're planning on raising something besides sagebrush and snakes!
I think the western NC/western VA/eastern TN areas are good areas. The valleys are pretty fertiles, the climate cooler than further south and lower elevations but still relatively moderate winters. The COL in these areas remain fairly low, too.
BTW, unless you are planning on supporting your homestead with some kind of non-agricultural income, being near or having good access to markets is important. Being 10 miles from the nearest paved road is not practical. In fact, being located on a fairly busy paved road would enable you to sell your produce from a farm stand. That's what my family did for a lot of years. Even after my dad "retired", he had regular customers from the "stand days" who bought canning tomatoes from him by the bushel.
Yes - if you are planning on farming for a living - proximity to market is imperative. Also, not all markets are the same, being near Austin or Portland will mean easier sales than proximity to Tallahassee, Florida, for example. I think no matter what, I want to be not more than 60 minutes from a large town/small city. Everyone needs a doctor sometimes (no matter how much the prepper/self-sufficiency crowd swears on the herbs and exercise), many times I need something that I can order from Amazon but to be honest, I dislike Amazon for what they have done to the brick and mortar stores. A lot of the prepper crowd goes deeper into the rural and uses Amazon like nuts (an engineering/operational marvel of today) but at the same time laments about the destruction of small town, local jobs and mom and pop stores (not to mention wants to go back to 1880 ).
Today you can get a 160 acre fertile, USDA certified farm near Talladega National Forest in Alabama for $300K. If you have that kind of money and want to farm, not a bad place to be. People look down on the "deep South" but where others look down upon, I see opportunity...
Wow, thanks for the great answers. We are very open to "anywhere" so we're just looking for places where land is relatively inexpensive and fertile and where, as ognend pointed out, we're not likely to wind up next to a major fracking operation or the like. Overall, warmer and greener is better (for us), but we're open to all good ideas you guys want to throw at us.
That's perhaps the best example I've ever seen of the term mutually exclusive. A warm and humid climate doesn't necessarily mean fertile soil either. It just means a miserable climate.
It's well to remember that nesters never had good lives on their 160 acres. Most were part-time farmers and part-time outlaws who thought a stray cow should be theirs. Cattlemen's associations hired range detectives whose job was to rid the place of rustlers by any means necessary.
The first requirement in the quest for independence is money.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ognend
...many times I need something that I can order from Amazon but to be honest, I dislike Amazon for what they have done to the brick and mortar stores. A lot of the prepper crowd goes deeper into the rural and uses Amazon like nuts (an engineering/operational marvel of today) but at the same time laments about the destruction of small town, local jobs and mom and pop stores (not to mention wants to go back to 1880 ).
Amazon today is what Sears, Ward's, and, perhaps surprising to some, Bloomingdales's were in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They were the business marvels of their day. Just as Amazon does now, those businesses enabled folks to escape the thralldom of typical predatory local merchants. The only people who defend small town merchants have always lived in cities where there's plenty of competition and they know nothing of country life or they're members of the underclass who need merchant credit at any price or they are merchants or family members themselves.
Perhaps the best glimpse of the old days is found between the covers of catalogs. People bought the most common items from faraway places because mail order houses treated them well. I could do well today buying supplies from those great old catalogs. In 1880 there were other mail order houses. I could have bought one of the new safety razors, a supply of blades, and a blade sharpener. Blade sharpeners, actually aligners, are still available today; they greatly extend blade life and provide a better shave. I wonder how many here knew that.
Last edited by Happy in Wyoming; 05-17-2015 at 04:40 PM..
The most first requirement in the quest for independence is money.
^^^ Sear this into your brain. You'll go far with it. Without it, you're just another wanna-be.
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