Location Suggestions in the Ozarks to start a family hobby farm (Columbia: 2013, home)

[dusky_beauty]

Oh, I'd also like to add, I'm no city slicker. My second home town (the pre-teen-adult years) is 3 hours away from anything. No shopping mall, your choice of a whopping TWO fast food restaurants, and school clothes came from JC Pennies, the local Tack and Feed store, or the internet. (Blazing fast 56k dial up!) and we even lived 30 miles away from that-- the school bus was a 1 hour ride that you got on in the morning after the stock was fed. Life began and ended at the high school, and everyone I ever went to school with married each other.

I believe home owners associations are barely disguised fascist regimes. I haven't been to a museum in 15 years. The most expensive pieces of clothing I have ever owned have all been leather boots. And not the high fashion kind either.

[GunnerTHB]

Originally Posted by dusky_beauty

What I am used to for winters is from oregon and northern nevada. We typically had 1 major regional shut down a year in oregon from ice storms and 1 in blizzards, and it often froze, I think the lowest low we ever had was in the teens in early morning. In Nevada we had a couple blizzards a year, no ice storms, and 8 ft snow drifts (from the wind working 8" of snow just right) and temps got a bit lower. I've maybe seen 3 days in my entire life where the night time low was 0.
I consider that "average" for me, but mild compared to upper midwest in the dakotas/wisconsin/michigan. I realistically expect to lose power due to storms for more than 8 hours twice a year anyplace I have lived or expect to live.

What I'm REALLY craving relief from is the 115 highs we have in Phoenix and the dryness. I've done humid before but the sensation of your skin cooking under the sun in 15 seconds of being outdoors is really uncomfortable. There are documented cases of people walking across asphalt and having their shoes melt. These temps last for 3 months. My research seems to indicate that Missouri temp spike for a couple of weeks in mid summer. Huge difference.
In Oregon we often got into the mid 90s with NO Ac of any kind.

Hubby and I love rainy days. Not just to sit inside and listen to them outside, we love to be outside IN them. Sometimes it doesn't rain here for 4 months. When it finally does rain, it may only drop 2 inches in 1 hour and be finished.

I'm not "afraid" of tornados. I believe in carrying a good insurance policy and a good prayer policy and not dwelling on what "might happen". Disasters can happen anywhere. As a parent, I think it's "smart" not to build or buy in a particular spot that sees 50 tornadoes over it's head every summer, just like I think it's smart not to build a house on a cliff face like they do in socal. A good storm shelter or basement and I don't see much reason to waste effort worrying about twisters again.

My mother has tried to talk me out of moving the family to the entire state because of what happened in Joplin this spring. I've explained time and time again that Joplin is THE worst tornado ever. The odds of one like that hitting that extent again are slim in my estimation. Joplin may well be one of the safest tornado places in coming years because 1. It's already been hit, and 2. the area is going to be hyper aware of tornadoes in safety and building practices in the near years to come.

There's a quote from the movie "The Thirteenth Warrior" that has stuck with me. In it one of the vikings says: "The All-Father wove the skein of our lives long before we were born. Worrying (about how long we will live) profits a man nothing."

TDLR: I want a farm. I want my hubby to have a job in his field. I want the farm to have a chance at being modestly profitable. I want a winter (just one not too cold for my animals to tolerate, or to be snowed or iced in for a week.) I want a fall and spring. I want a summer where I can actually be outdoors. I want rain. I want trees. I want grass. I want a grocery store close enough to home that I can buy ice cream and get it home before it turns to soup.

We've talked about moving back to Oregon or Washington instead because it's familiar in every way, but the property is two to three times as expensive on the same wage and there's no real industry outside of Portland. On average people can't afford to buy from the farm natural products--It's wal-mart generics or nothing. Also property taxes are nuts.

Fiscally, the numbers in favor if MO work, and we can't hate anything as much as we hate Arizona rofl! The weather sucks, the commercialism sucks, the job market sucks, the wages suck, the land sucks, the people suck, the crime sucks, the drivers suck, the taxes suck, the politics suck.

I stand by my recommendation of the SE part of the state. As I stated before, I believe your best bet would be to pick a few areas of interest & take a trip out here & come check them out!

[dusky_beauty]

My original thought was to try to hit the bullseye between Springfield and Branson on the practical idea that the two cities would have more options as a vendor, and for an EMT (and our kids in 10-15 yrs)-- but pickins are slim on the land searches. In theory, we could live off of any emergency room or ambulance company that will have him-- so it's not like our options are really limited.
I've really focused my searches on the SW (can't put my finger on it, but I like the fault line in the east side less than I like tornado alley for some reason.)
Our plan is to drive out there probably next feb, weather permitting (should give us a glance at winter, no?) And do a loop of probable places and see what speaks to us. We can't get away now for a couple reasons... 1.)hubsters class schedule, and 2.) I'm raising baby poultry in the spare bathtub. 5 now and another dozen on the way in august.... <_<

At a glance it looks like we will take the 40 through Oklahoma City, From there I'm thinking we'll hit Joplin by way of the 44, and meander to Springfield and a good radius around it. From there I don't really know the best way to go. I think the first trip should be dedicated to road tripping through as much of the state as possible and maybe flat out eliminate some areas we wouldn't care for. I'm accustomed to weather and the landscape varying widely in different areas of a state, so it will be a unique experience to visit a state that's more or less hills, trees and lakes one end to the other.

At any rate suggested routes and sights would be appreciated.
I would like to avoid:
-Yuppy towns-- the kind with 8 starbucks? don't need them. Don't want them. If So-cal transplants like it 'cause it's just like home, I won't.
- Retirement living black holes. Hubby and I are late 20s and will be barely 30s by the time we make the move. I think our kids would appreciate us choosing an area with some growth and other young families.
- Hicksville. Hubs and I both come from a county in Oregon where just about everyone has one of two last names. Sometimes a small town really is *too* small, and even if you wanted to integrate you couldn't do it w/o a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon, a crowbar and some arranged marriages. At least give us a Hick town with 6 different last names and a choice of three church denominations

[tambre]

List of hospitals in Missouri - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Good luck with your search. Here are some places that might have an EMT job for your dh...perhaps find the job, then find the land...better than moving and having to move again for work.

[dusky_beauty]

Originally Posted by tambre

List of hospitals in Missouri - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Good luck with your search. Here are some places that might have an EMT job for your dh...perhaps find the job, then find the land...better than moving and having to move again for work.

Thanks, that's very helpful! The idea of the trip is to maybe eliminate some areas (I'm leaning towards SW still, but the entire state is pretty attractive), and from there do as you suggest, apply at all possible locations and go where the best job offer comes from-- rent month to month for a bit unless the right place is just sitting there, staring us in our faces and ready.

Does anyone have an "in a nutshell" ideas for counties that you'd describe as good rolling farm hills, light forest, and least catastrophic weather? (fewer storm patterns?)
Someone steered me to Green/Webster/Christian counties and I was wondering how accurate that was?

[kshe95girl]

Originally Posted by GunnerTHB

I stand by my recommendation of the SE part of the state. As I stated before, I believe your best bet would be to pick a few areas of interest & take a trip out here & come check them out!

I second that recommendation, I would recommend my hometown, but it can be very insular.
However, it does have that Main St feel, as well as the sense of community, history, and a plethora of great festivals.

[dusky_beauty]

Which town is that, Kshe?

[kshe95girl]

Originally Posted by dusky_beauty

Which town is that, Kshe?

Whoops, my bad, I'm sorry!
That would be Sainte Genevieve.
Its an hour from STL, an hour from Cape Girardeau, overwhelmingly rural.
I wont overwhelm you with info about it right now, but if you're interested, I would be glad to fill you in.

[ozarksboy]

I was at a local farm tour run by Extension a few years ago; one of the participants from Chicago told us that he was there to learn about farming because his doctor told him that to save his health he should "quit your job, move to the Ozarks and start farming." He did that. I don't know whatever happened to him. Farming may have killed him. Read: Don't buy the farm. (http://www.mofb.org/NewsMedia/Articles.aspx?articleID=179 - broken link)

[dusky_beauty]

Thanks for the site Ozark, I'll be interested in the articles, but that's not the sort of farming arrangement I'm looking for. I'm more so hoping to raise more of my family's food at home than to make real money at it.
I would be pleased as punch if I was able to sell just enough of what I don't need to cover a chunk of my livestock expenses and tools.
Tractor? I think the most ambitious equipment I'll be buying is a rototiller and a side can milker.
I'm not in it to make a living, I'm in it to put more living into my life.