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Would appreciate recommendations on rural areas with affordable farms/land. I am looking for 50-100 acres that I can farm on. Pastures for grazing and haying, water source, ideally wooded area as well. Prefer no zoning. Currently in southern New England. Expensive, no farm land left, restrictive zoning. Would like to have more privacy, a little warmer temp, area large enough to quarantine sick animals, and neighbors far enough away that we can be civil but people stay out of my business, don't poach on my land or complain to authorities about how I operate. I was all set to move to the Knoxville, TN area but dont feel I would be welcome now due to being left of center, politically. I am a single female and don't want to be where I dont fit in or have to worry about nonsense. While i want my property to be set apart, i do plan on becoming active in church and community.
Are there any left-leaning pockets in rural America south of New England? Thinking I'm going to probably have to suck it up and go north to MA, VT, NH, maybe ME or even Canada.
Canada would welcome you with open arms IF YOU HAVE MONEY AND LIKE SOCIALIZED MEDICINE
How many similar tales of unrealistic dreams turned out like that?
Just off the top of my head, I know two right near my home. One was going to sell a few greens for which he said he had lined up (verbally and informally, of course) local customers, once he actually built the structure and grew the plants. That was after the first project, which died out within a few weeks because he stopped watering. It was only a small area to water! So Project 2 might or might not happen; the first step in making it real has not been done yet. Meanwhile, he started working on Project 3, which has been a flop. I wonder what other poorly-planned projects are being hatched. Seems like he gave up very soon on the first two, and they are better prospects than the third. But he’ll probably continue living there regardless, so no real loss.
The other couple would not surprise me if they moved out. They’ve lived there less than 2 years, after a lengthy and expensive land purchase and home build. The veggie gardens they were so excited about seem to have been left to die out, and the weed eradication efforts apparently were given up on as too much work, also only a few months after discovering how much work was required. I remember hearing the complaints and thinking, “Just wait—that kind of work never goes away!†(Every property owner here has to deal with it.)
There was also a young couple in another part of the county who bought a farm with big dreams of organic farming. Their blog reflected their surprise at how much work there was to do, and they also then had a baby on top of all that. However, although they had to scale down some things, I think they are still farming and catering. Either that, or someone else bought the place and took over. They had a little food truck and then, temporarily, a tiny eatery that made some really good food, especially homemade ice cream. I hope they are still at it.
Yep, I suspect the GreenAcres dream is alive, somewhere down deep in all of us. Over three decades ago, we escaped from Los Angeles onto a small ranch in the mountains of Colorado where we found our footing. Over the next decades, we kept exploring, and moving to rural lands in different states, and learned how to work land on our own time, vs some arbitrary schedule we decided to set. We recently retired "smart enough" to understand what is in store for owning land, and purchased 10 acres with some "wouldn't it be nice if...large garden, yada, yada" dreams, but with no intention of having to do them. We will just consider adding them if we have time. Tailoring down expectations to having to do nothing, while still keeping options open for dreams happening when and if they occur makes living here just great. And the dreams are coming true.
Yep, I suspect the GreenAcres dream is alive, somewhere down deep in all of us. Over three decades ago, we escaped from Los Angeles onto a small ranch in the mountains of Colorado where we found our footing. Over the next decades, we kept exploring, and moving to rural lands in different states, and learned how to work land on our own time, vs some arbitrary schedule we decided to set. We recently retired "smart enough" to understand what is in store for owning land, and purchased 10 acres with some "wouldn't it be nice if...large garden, yada, yada" dreams, but with no intention of having to do them. We will just consider adding them if we have time. Tailoring down expectations to having to do nothing, while still keeping options open for dreams happening when and if they occur makes living here just great. And the dreams are coming true.
Such wise words!
And one of the nicest things about retiring with enough money to at least cover the basics (and without any family obligations) is not being forced to keep to any schedule one doesn't want to keep.
In fact, I once saw a T-shirt that said, "I don't have to, you can't make me, I'm retired", which pretty much describes my general attitude right now.
Yep, I suspect the GreenAcres dream is alive, somewhere down deep in all of us. Over three decades ago, we escaped from Los Angeles onto a small ranch in the mountains of Colorado where we found our footing. Over the next decades, we kept exploring, and moving to rural lands in different states, and learned how to work land on our own time, vs some arbitrary schedule we decided to set. We recently retired "smart enough" to understand what is in store for owning land, and purchased 10 acres with some "wouldn't it be nice if...large garden, yada, yada" dreams, but with no intention of having to do them. We will just consider adding them if we have time. Tailoring down expectations to having to do nothing, while still keeping options open for dreams happening when and if they occur makes living here just great. And the dreams are coming true.
Not sure OP's budget, but 50-100 acres in the KNoxville area would not be cheap. I have to also wonder if she ever actually visited Knoxville, because after electricity and flush toilets, we do actually have zoning regulations (both City and County ((two separate governments)).
While TN is a Red state, with lots of Red leaning elected officials, its still a pretty much live and let live community, where unless you have a Trump2028 poster,or a Trump is an idiot poster in your front yard, no one is likely going to know or care where you stand.
Since she hasn't been back, I'm guessing she got bored and left.
The fact that the OP considers the Knoxville TN area to be too conservative certainly raises some red flags. Knoxville has a population approaching 200,000 while Knox county has a population approaching 500,000. If a metropolitan area of this size is too conservative, then it's unlikely the OP would be comfortable in any US rural area. Once you leave the metropolitan areas, liberals become minorities.
I met somebody just last month in that situation in Minnesota. An artistic liberal couple from Minneapolis had purchased a run down farm house on some 30 acres and had been there about 2 years. They were over it and done, underwater on costs, and not getting along. She wanted to move back to Minneapolis immediately, he wanted to sell the place first. No dairy cows, but goats, rabbits (a lot of them) and chickens he needed to sell.
The dream of the self sustaining farm where they could paint (him) and sculpt (her) while feeding themselves and their young son turned out to be too much work without enough return.
Farms are a lot of work. Not sure what "self-sustaining" means, exactly; the farm harvests its own produce and takes it to market, while the owners paint and sculpt?
Farms are a lot of work. Not sure what "self-sustaining" means, exactly; the farm harvests its own produce and takes it to market, while the owners paint and sculpt?
We have written custom programming for our computers to do all the work here instead of us. Of course, nothing seems to be happening, so I have named our code AI. Artificial Indifference !
The fact that the OP considers the Knoxville TN area to be too conservative certainly raises some red flags. Knoxville has a population approaching 200,000 while Knox county has a population approaching 500,000. If a metropolitan area of this size is too conservative, then it's unlikely the OP would be comfortable in any US rural area. Once you leave the metropolitan areas, liberals become minorities.
Not in Massachusetts. Or Vermont even (they hardly have any metro there anyway).
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