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I love my cold frozen winters as much as the next guy, but can't help but think about how easier homesteaders have it in warmer climates this time of year. They are possibly still growing food, starting outdoor building projects etc, while we are all hunkered down up north. I can't help but browse land for sale with sunny blue skies this time of year. .
Not that colder climates don't have their advantages. Beautiful summers for one. Usually less population density. It's surprisingly cheap and easy to stay warm without electricity vs staying cool in hot humid oppressive weather without central air. What else?
Although much of it is personal preference, who has it better Northern or more Southern latitude homesteaders and why?
I think it's a draw. Go onto YouTube and look at Deep South Homestead. They love it this time of year, in coastal Mississippi. But look back at some of their videos from 6 months ago - they were getting up at 4 AM to do outside chores, then spending the day inside with the air conditioning on. Months and months of that. In a power outage, they'd be toast. I know I would!
We've partly solved the problem by having a second home in TN. I usually go down there with the wife in February, and get the meat birds brooded out till about Memorial Day. Then I can't stand the heat much beyond that. She loves it. Her brother then comes down from Maine to care for the chickens and turkeys, till they reach butcher age. He loves the heat, too. I'm happy to get back to Maine.
It's more what you feel comfortable with. I'm much more productive when I'm comfortable. I just love the cooler temps!
I think it's a draw. Go onto YouTube and look at Deep South Homestead. They love it this time of year, in coastal Mississippi. But look back at some of their videos from 6 months ago - they were getting up at 4 AM to do outside chores, then spending the day inside with the air conditioning on. Months and months of that. In a power outage, they'd be toast. [Moist is more like it]
The don't call it Hot 'Lanta for nothing.
. . .
Frankly, homesteading in the southeast, especially near TVA, is probably a good compromise.
Like NE said a draw. Every location will have good points and bad. I HATE the heat so Minnesota is the place for me. Get cold? heck yes! But I can keep warm.... You can be buck naked but it'll still be hot and I'll be sweating my butt off!!!
I've lived from Vermont to Florida. There is no "best." The best you can do is find something that fits for you.
The cold weather crops I had in Vermont were luscious and plentiful from a regular size garden. In Florida, the only spinach that would grow was Malabar. There is no reliable or extended freeze to kill pests in Florida - consider the ramifications of that.
If you are acclimatized to Vermont weather, a 95 degree day in summer feels MUCH hotter to you than one does to a Floridian.
Where I'm at seems to fit fairly well climatewise for me.
If you are acclimatized to Vermont weather, a 95 degree day in summer feels MUCH hotter to you than one does to a Floridian.
Wow. You sure got that right!
Once every few years, Maine will get a coupla days around the 4th of July that are hotter than Hades - over 90F. The east coast humidity makes it even worse. We got a spell of hot, humid weather the first year we moved in here. I put a window A/C in the kitchen, and even the wife was glad for it!
I'll just observe that there are low-tech ways to heat and humidify cold, dry air, but to do the opposite takes electric power in quantities that are difficult for most to generate on their own.
Easier to grow food in a hot climate but easier to preserve (spring house, outdoor freezing) in a colder climate.
You can look at how indigenous people live or lived anywhere from Hawaii to the North Slope, and see that it's possible to cope with a hot or cold climate.
Almost all of the CONUS 48 states have some weather that's hotter or colder than most find pleasant, for part of the year, most years.
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Originally Posted by Nor'Eastah
Wow. You sure got that right!
Once every few years, Maine will get a coupla days around the 4th of July that are hotter than Hades - over 90F. The east coast humidity makes it even worse. We got a spell of hot, humid weather the first year we moved in here. I put a window A/C in the kitchen, and even the wife was glad for it!
And even parts of the Deep South do get occasional snows (N. Mississippi and Alabama get at least a light snowfall or two per year, Central MS and AL get a good 3 to 5 inch snowfall every 4 years - at least in the 20th century they did - and within 50 to 100 miles of the Gulf every 10 or so years).
It's just the flip side of the "hot in Maine" comment.
The Pacific NW west of the Cascades (especially Oregon) is probably the most optimum balance. Rarely really hot or really cold.
I vote hot, partly because food - one of the few absolute essentials - can be grown better and longer in a hot environment. Heat can slow a person down (conserving energy), while cold revs up a person (burn more energy to stay warm). People can still bury things in a hot environment, where the temperature does not vary much or reach as high. There are more options with a hot environment.
The most productive agricultural areas in the world are in places with long summer days; that means closer to the poles. The vast wheat fields of North America are in the northern plains states and the adjacent Canadian provinces. Soil is richer than subtropical soil. The richest soil in the country is in Illinois.
There are obviously other climate and soil considerations; grain crops aren't grown on tundra.
We've gone through this before.
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