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Hello all, I've been searching all year for a warm place to move to before winter hits again here in the Great Lakes area.. (actually, I've been looking for several years but heavily this year.) I've had enough of the ice and snow and am moving one way or the other in the next month or two.. I am looking for suggestions, any and all are welcome.
Among the criteria are warm weather (to grow food year round), low cost of living, low traffic, good live music.. there are many more factors that I'm considering but I will just start with those four.. So, if you would please, post your thoughts and ideas. Thank you!
Your desires are mutually exclusive.
Most folks are heading for warm places, preferably near water - which means that the COL is escalating, and in most places already prohibitive. Also, where there are more people, there are more control freaks/ordinances, which means that the weather might let you grow anything, but the population will probably have ordinances against it. Also, where there are more people seeking out warm places, your traffic will increase. As for 'good live music' - if you can't make your own and are looking for entertainment, then the more people, the better venues for better music. The fewer people, the less opportunity to be around/experience live music. Big-name bands won't come to a town of 5,000 people. If you are looking for local performers, they can be found everywhere... it depends on what type of music you want; bluegrass, hard rock, country, etc.
You might think about Missouri, Mississippi, upper Louisiana, upper and eastern Georgia, southern Tennessee, or even southern Kentucky or northwestern North Carolina, Texas near the Gulf, etc. However, your criteria is too vague to really pinpoint a good location... and warm weather doesn't mean good fertile soil or plenty of water, much less good neighbors, a minimum of ordinances, or lower COL.
Thank you for your prompt reply SCGranny, I suppose I was a little vague, it was just a place to start the discussion. Are there really ordinances prohibiting growing your own food? I'm just talking about a few fruit trees and a vegetable garden to help sustain myself. (Up here in the northern cities, they're tearing down abandoned houses and starting community gardens all over; it beautifies the cities and feeds the neighborhoods.)
In years past I've visited some ecovillages but none were just right for me, I'd still like the ability to make my own choices and even with consensus voting it seemed like a few were making the decisions for the many in those groups.
In the spring of this year, I hit the road and visited a number of southern states, however they seemed like they would be too hot to grow veggies year round. The dilemna is that the states in the middle of the country still get cold half the year and I would like to not have to wear a coat and be bundled up, or shovel snow, or scrape ice anymore. I've just had enough of winter, sigh.
On the subject of music, I like most all genre's but I'm the most fond of jazz and blues.. local is fine, I just can't live without any live music, it feeds the soul and contributes to general joy and happiness.
Since you've pointed it out, let's add some of those to the criteria, fertile soil, clean water, and good neighbors.
Thank you for your prompt reply SCGranny, I suppose I was a little vague, it was just a place to start the discussion. Are there really ordinances prohibiting growing your own food? I'm just talking about a few fruit trees and a vegetable garden to help sustain myself. (Up here in the northern cities, they're tearing down abandoned houses and starting community gardens all over; it beautifies the cities and feeds the neighborhoods.)
In years past I've visited some ecovillages but none were just right for me, I'd still like the ability to make my own choices and even with consensus voting it seemed like a few were making the decisions for the many in those groups.
In the spring of this year, I hit the road and visited a number of southern states, however they seemed like they would be too hot to grow veggies year round. The dilemna is that the states in the middle of the country still get cold half the year and I would like to not have to wear a coat and be bundled up, or shovel snow, or scrape ice anymore. I've just had enough of winter, sigh.
On the subject of music, I like most all genre's but I'm the most fond of jazz and blues.. local is fine, I just can't live without any live music, it feeds the soul and contributes to general joy and happiness.
Since you've pointed it out, let's add some of those to the criteria, fertile soil, clean water, and good neighbors.
You're gonna have to go pretty far south to get all of that. Have you looked in and around Savannah? I don't know what you consider low traffic to be but I found it less than most other cities that far south.
There are many rural areas across the south that would accommodate your requirements but for the live music, you might have to drive 1-2 hours.
Yes, there really ARE ordinances that prohibit any type of farming or self-production. I have often spoke on here about living between a forest and a small town, and spending 20 years developing a year-round fruit and vegie sustainable garden down south, as well as chickens - only to be told that I had to root it all out and discard it, as such practices were frowned upon by the rapidly-expanding area of people. Now I live where the county is losing population, where my vegies and new fruit trees are admired, and where my neighbors are looking forward to me putting in apiaries this year to not only pollinate my production, but theirs too.
Do not even think about Savannah; they and surrounding areas are ordinance-crazy and are all about 'sustainable' grass, 1/4 of an inch high, and actually pay their police departments to write you tickets if your plantings exceed that. You can go further out - south and east - but bear in mind that Savannah and most of GA in that area is primarily dependent on the Floridian aquifer for their water, and water rights have been severely restricted there - plus they have a lot of problems with river pollution (look up "Ogeechee Riverkeeper" for more info on that). There's no sense planting something that you can't water.
"Too hot to grow vegies year round"? Um - have you ever grown your own vegies? Most summertime vegies like it hot, and you can usually do two plantings of summer crops instead of one. Not to mention that cool-weather crops like lettuce and peas can be planted in February, harvested in April, replanted in September and harvested in December, as long as you have good soil, water, and rotate your crops.
Another thing to remember is that if you move south to get away from any cold, you also have infestations of bugs and molds that you simply don't see further North - and since it never gets cold or is almost always humid, they infest everything, everywhere. Know what bugs draw? Snakes. Yes, you'll have a lot of them too; all kinds, the further South /closer to water you go. You'll spend half your time fighting the bugs, and the other half trying to keep your crops from molding and rotting. Not to mention that wild plants will take over your garden in a heartbeat - weeding is paramount in the south. Everything from kudzu and wisteria to wild thorny raspberries and bindweed will move in, and within a month's heat and humidity's time, can overtake everything you've planted.
Every place you go will have it's own particular problems; from dry and sandy soil in TX to swampy lowlands full of roaches that buzz through your windows along the coast. Just moving south for warmth has a lot more considerations than 'no snow'.
I think you are going to have to decide which points on your list are most important because you're going to have trouble getting all of them, I think. First thing that came to my mind was someplace in Florida... but then you'll be lacking some of your list there too.
Thank you for the replies everyone, please keep the ideas for locations coming.. I'm normally very decisive but I've really had a tough time making up my mind where to go next.. it does seem like there's no one place that has everything that I'm looking for, I just know that I'm not spending this winter in the snow again. I have lived in a number of states around the great lakes over the years, and South Dakota, and western Montana twice, but I don't have much experience with the south..
As for Savannah Scarlet, I just visited there for the first time in my life earlier this year.. it seemed like a nice enough place, I only spent a day there though on my way to visit someone a couple of hours inland.. And that's where the comment came from 'too hot for veggies' Granny, ha! It was so sweltering hot in Augusta that I actually used an umbrella to shield myself from the sun when I was out hiking, man, was that some oppressive heat! I would think most things would just burn right up in those temperatures.. (it was ~105 F most of the days that I was there). I had heard about the bugs and snakes although I didn't see any when I was there..
I realize I have much to learn about the different climates and environment down there, but it's all part of the adventure too.. I'm looking forward to expanding my horizens and knowledge. ; ) I'm not looking to be too far out in the country just yet though, I still have another decade or two before retirement, however, I will not live in an HOA community, that's just crazy letting other people tell you what you can and can't do with your house and property. Thank you for the heads up on city ordinances though, I'll have to make a point of checking them out for each prospective location now.. it's really not an issue up here, in fact it's the opposite, community gardens are welcomed and encouraged.
My largest personal garden was ~50' x 50', that was a bit much for me to keep up with weeding and harvesting though, I do smaller areas now. What about raised bed gardening? Do many ordinances prohibit those too? It doesn't make sense to me why they would, growing food is a good thing.
Hello all, I've been searching all year for a warm place to move to before winter hits again here in the Great Lakes area.. (actually, I've been looking for several years but heavily this year.) I've had enough of the ice and snow and am moving one way or the other in the next month or two.. I am looking for suggestions, any and all are welcome.
Among the criteria are warm weather (to grow food year round), low cost of living, low traffic, good live music.. there are many more factors that I'm considering but I will just start with those four.. So, if you would please, post your thoughts and ideas. Thank you!
South Florida is where we lived and still own a home that is being rented out. You can grow a lot of stuff 8-9 months of the year (except for the summer months). In the summer you can grow okra which loves the heat and extra humidity and water. The soils are mostly sandy so the water goes through it easily. This means it will take away most of the nutrients so you will need to supplement a lot in the rainy season.
Most people hate Florida in the summer but that's because most of them have day jobs and never get to cool off in the ocean and just chill out. There is the possibility of hurricanes too. You can also look into northern Florida, cheap land can be had in the Live Oak area between Tallahassee and Jacksonville, an hour from beach but very rural. We once passed on the opportunity to buy 40 acres of a foreclosure "one lot over" from Osceola National forest - the bank was askin $65K for it, it was half pasture and half trees. I am still kicking myself for not doing it - we were not in FL at the time and a realtor called us out of the blue, two days later it was sold.
Thank you for the replies everyone, please keep the ideas for locations coming.. I'm normally very decisive but I've really had a tough time making up my mind where to go next.. it does seem like there's no one place that has everything that I'm looking for, I just know that I'm not spending this winter in the snow again. I have lived in a number of states around the great lakes over the years, and South Dakota, and western Montana twice, but I don't have much experience with the south..
As for Savannah Scarlet, I just visited there for the first time in my life earlier this year.. it seemed like a nice enough place, I only spent a day there though on my way to visit someone a couple of hours inland.. And that's where the comment came from 'too hot for veggies' Granny, ha! It was so sweltering hot in Augusta that I actually used an umbrella to shield myself from the sun when I was out hiking, man, was that some oppressive heat! I would think most things would just burn right up in those temperatures.. (it was ~105 F most of the days that I was there). I had heard about the bugs and snakes although I didn't see any when I was there..
I realize I have much to learn about the different climates and environment down there, but it's all part of the adventure too.. I'm looking forward to expanding my horizens and knowledge. ; ) I'm not looking to be too far out in the country just yet though, I still have another decade or two before retirement, however, I will not live in an HOA community, that's just crazy letting other people tell you what you can and can't do with your house and property. Thank you for the heads up on city ordinances though, I'll have to make a point of checking them out for each prospective location now.. it's really not an issue up here, in fact it's the opposite, community gardens are welcomed and encouraged.
My largest personal garden was ~50' x 50', that was a bit much for me to keep up with weeding and harvesting though, I do smaller areas now. What about raised bed gardening? Do many ordinances prohibit those too? It doesn't make sense to me why they would, growing food is a good thing.
Try focusing on hardiness zones 8a and 8b.National Gardening Association Savannah is in 8b as is northern FL. I agree with OD to look there too.
I live in 8a (SC). I don't spend half my time fighting bugs and the other half trying to keep my crops from molding and rotting. In fact, I don't spend any time at all doing that. It hasn't happened in the 10 years I've lived here. If I don't tend it, of course weeds will grow just like they did every place I have lived outside of the south, and it happens at about the same rate here as it does everywhere else I've lived. We now use raised vegetable beds which don't require much tending but it's easier when they do need it. We built them nearly 3 ft high (we're tall).
I grow vegetables beginning in late February through at least October and often well into November, depends on when the first frost comes. Also have peach, plum and pear trees, strawberries, blueberries, and other berries. There are no bizarre ordinances here but then I live around a lot of farms - the type of folks who live and let live.
Temp is in the 90s the better part of June, July until mid-August. Only you know if you can withstand 3 months of heat to get 9 months of great weather. Typically we get about 3 days of 100 in the first week of July but we can have it more days than that. In 2010 we had about 10 days of 100+ and it was in the 90s through September. It's low 80s now which is typical, but some people would think that too hot. It snowed once here in the last 10 years. We got about 3-4 inches overnight but by noon the next day it was completely melted away. It would have been nice if it had lasted a few more hours, but once in 10 years was enough for me.
What I won't do is stereotype the entire south and tell you it's all just like where I am. It isn't. If you don't do your due diligence, you could end up in a very different kind of place. I can go 20 miles from here and be in a different climate. There are varying soil types within a 5 mile radius; we have very rich soil while a few have too much sand. If you allow stereotypes and sweeping generalizations to influence you, you won't be looking closely enough to find your place.
Last edited by scarlet_ohara; 08-22-2012 at 10:58 AM..
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