My wife and I own a home in CA and we are going to move to the Ozarks to start a homestead. We have a total budget of 100k and would like to get 20-40 acres, a two-bedroom old home (in need of work) and the necessary equipment to vegetable farm (walk-behind tractor, greenhouse, etc.).

If you know of anyone selling land in that area, especially an abandoned farmhouse in need of work, please let me know. Or, if you have any tips for us, let us know!

-- (system@secondwivescafe.com), March 31, 2002

Answers

Check www.morealestate.net

-- CJ (cjtinkle@getgoin.net), March 31, 2002.

You might do an internet search for land in Arkansas. The mountains there are absolutely beautiful and land (with an old home) was reasonably priced, at least it was a few years ago.

-- Carol - in Virginia (carollm@rockbridge.net), March 31, 2002.

I have a homestead in the Ozarks and I don't have an answer for you but I do have a little advice. The Ozarks are beautiful, BUT... If you think we have good soil here you are wrong. CA. has deep rich soil I am told but in the Ozarks we have very,very shallow soil that tends to be very acid. The result of our beautiful Oak and Pine trees I am sure. I have a wonderful garden that now has rich soil about 8" deep with clay under that. My PH test last spring came out 7.3 The agent said he couldn't beleive it came from this part of the country. It took lots of hard work and time to get it there. You can do it too but be prepared to do that and don't expect to have that beautiful vegtable garden right off the bat. I have farm animals and I compost their manure and bedding. Grass clippings and all the non Oak leaves I can get my hands on. I also use my fireplace ashes but you have to be very sure your soil needs them as they work fast and you can over correct quickly. Good luck finding your dream homestead and have lots of fun with it.

-- Corky Wolf (corkywolf@hotmain.com), March 31, 2002.

Hello I have for sale a 30 acre farm in East Tennessee, Hancock County. It is 5 miles from Sneedville, about 20 miles from Morristown and about 80 miles Northeast of Knoxville in the small community of Treadway. The house is 24x44 and has a full basement, with 12x44 covered porch. It is 5 years old with a spectacular view of the mountains from the porch. It has floor trusses, so no support post in the basement. The basement is partially finished and heated, both the house and basement have thermostat controlled propane heaters. Currently there two bedrooms, but with a full basement you could have what ever you needed. The house has a water well and submersible pump, but there is a year round stream on the property. The taxes are $250 and there are no zoning laws or building permits needed to build. On the outside there is a mature apple orchard with about 20 trees and a large garden. Also there are 2 outbuildings, one is a workshop and the other is ½ chicken coop and ½ garden shed. The price has been reduced to $74,900. If you have any questions or would like to see some pictures, Please feel free to contact me by phone: ( 423) 733-2889 or e-mail me. Don www.donschwartz2002@yahoo.com

-- Don Schwartz (donschwartz2002@yahoo.com), March 31, 2002.

Hello,

Where about are you interested in living? Are you in your senior years and looking for good medcial facilities? Do you work or do you draw some kind of a check? Do you plan on argriculture or livestock to supplenment you homesteading expenses? Are you looking for a "hobby" farm or a fully operating farm with pasture, barn, etc? Does it matter about whether your land in on top or in the hollows? Do you have a vehicle that can access backroads? Do you want to live remotely, or near a small community? These are some of the questions you should decide on before you move to the Ozarks. As this area can be quite perplexing with anyone that lacks some of the right requirements.

Land is still reasonably inexpensive here but, the reason that it is because there is not a lot of industry. The nearest Airport is in Springfield, which is three hours away from me. Jobs are scarce and even more scarce in the winter. Location of your land may prove to be a bargin at first but, if you have to commute a 100 miles a day to work and back you may not think so after a few years.

It is true about the soil. I have worked my soil for a couple of years and it is just now near the right pH for a good harvest. I have about 12 inches of good soil but, underneath that is clay. If I do not properly grow my gardens in hills, I sometimes get so much run off from the rain that it washes the seeds and soil away. So I do what is called contour gardening and work with the slope of the land so that water will drain off without flooding.

Most of the old houses do not have septic systems and now a lot of the counties are requiring septic systems. They are expensive as the ground is very rocky and requires much backhoe work to dig deep enough to put in the tank and lines. Also, accessibility of one's house could cost you more money in the long run if you do any major renovations. Example: One lady I know had to pay $70 per cubic yard of concrete mix because the road to her house was so steep that the concrete truck could only carry 3 cubic yards up her grade at a time. Their minimum was six cubic yards per trip at $30 a cubic yard. But, since it was more driving and less concrete per trip they more than doubled the price.

Medical facilities are in short supply in the area I live in. The nearest hospitals are over an hours drive. If you need them you may want to move closer to those towns. Mountain Home Arkansas has a wonderful hospital but, the cost of living there is higher as it has become a haven for retired folks. Mountain Grove, Missouri is nice and it has a wonderful hospital near it in Houston, Missouri. Where I live we have two dentist and a medical center but, when my wife delivers our second child she will have to go either to Springfield, which is three hours away or Houston, Mo, which is two. The reason being that Houston, Mo. is not equiped to deliver a premature baby. Since our first was premature we may have to be prepared to go through that again and deliver at Springfield.

I left a high paying job in Orlando, Fl to move here and build a house and homestead. We have done all this but, as employment is more difficult to obtain, I have resorted to taking any kind of work that I can get. Examples of work that I have done here outside of my field have been, tree planting, brush hogging, wood splitting, leaf raking, furniture moving, trench digging, carpentry, woodworking, painting, and a whole lot of bartering. If you have a marketable skill that is useful here in the Ozarks you will have a good chance of avoiding these kind of labourous positions.

Around here many people raise cattle, horses, goats and a few misc. houved animals, (llamas, etc). MOst people have chickens, ducks, turkeys, rabbits also on their homesteads. Nearly everyone I know has a garden and cans most of their harvest or sells it at the local markets.

MOst folks around her fix their own vehicles, do their own construction of out building and repairs themselves. A few, like myself even build their own homes as there is no restrictions on building in this county.

If you can not do these things yourself you will have to pay someone to do them for you and that could become very expensive over the years. Shoot, sometimes just getting your vehicle to a mechanic that is not busy is tough. The few that are any good around here are so busy they can not look at you vehicle in less that several days after you drop it off.

I hope that I have given you some insight on what to expect here in the Ozarks. I would much rather tell you everything is all wonderful and glowy but, that would not be helping you too much and I think you would appreciate straight forwardness instead of rosey colored glasses.

Sincerely,

ERnest

-- http://communities.msn.com/livingoffthelandintheozarks (espresso42@hotmail.com), March 31, 2002.

The Ozarks is a beautiful place to live in, however, there are a few drawbacks as mentioned already. I think Earnest covered some of them. The ground is rocky and its hard to grow a garden, you have to basically do raised beds because the ground is so rocky and hard. If anything there is a bumper crop of rocks here!

The lifestyle in the Ozarks is wonderful if you like prefer a slower pace (like no food chain grocery stores, small town, no malls nearby, etc) and life a sit was in the say 1970's. We moved here to northern AR last may to begin a Grade A Dairy with our goats. good medical care is difficult to find, yes, Mountain Home does have a nice medical facility and hospital and is in addition to having a growing retiree community, has a growing college town too with the expansion of the Univ of AR there. I am not sure about the cost of living in Mountain Home being anymore expensive than in the surrounding town near us, but it may be. Good tax accountants are also hard to come by as I found out if you ahve complicated taxes.

Real estate is cheaper here, but for a few reasons. Its expensive to get ph and electric to those who build out in the country and away form the lines. Many folks have bought land then abandonded it for that reason. The website mentioned above is excellent, I used it a lot. I would also recommend the realtor we used to find our farm here, its www.ozarksrealty.com in Flippin Arkansas.

I don't know if this piece of property is still available or not, it was a yr ago we seriously thought about purchasing it, it was 40 acres with fencing, 2 huge hydroponic greenhouses and a pond, barn and a house site, garage and a older but in good condition mobile home. I forgot the realtor's name, it was in MO. It was listed in that website above mentioned.

Good luck and hope you find your dream place.

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), March 31, 2002.

Thanks to all who answered. I sent a number responses via email. I'm a software engineer and all I need to do my job is a satellite dish and some power (a phone would work, but it's not essential). I can use an off-grid solution with batteries, so power is not a big issue. I'd like to be within 50 miles of a reasonably-sized town, though -- I have a 10-year-old 6th year violinist who still needs a teacher. Ideally, he needs a weekly lesson, but can get by twice a week. I imagine I'd have a hard time finding a good violin teacher out in the boonies.

Anyway, the type of property we are looking for is an abandoned farm. I suppose we will head out there with cash and start our search. We have found a few through the internet, but I imagine if the farm is abandoned, the marketing for it probably isn't all that great.

I understand about the soil problems. Dropping the PH and improving the organic matter in the soil is definitely an issue.

Does anyone know if conditions are better in the valleys rather than on the hills? Or is it all too washed-out from runoff?

-- Ron (system@secondwivescafe.com), March 31, 2002.

Hi Ron! Lots of good advise here! I just wanted to add a friendly note, please don't take this the wrong way. You will need to drop the "I imagine I'd have a hard time finding a good violin teacher out in the boonies" attitude. It's not accepted out here in the country. You will make your new neighbors mad real fast! Remember, in the country you will have to drive to get medical care, drive for groceries, drive for entertainment, and most country roads aren't paved. The people that already live in the country don't want paved roads. You will have to give up a lot of things you are used to having at your fingertips. The trade off is quiet, peaceful country living. I hope you find out that it's worth it! Also, some of the best violin players I've heard were from the Ozarks. Best wishes and I hope you find your perfect homestead.

-- cowgirlone in OK (cowgirlone47@hotmail.com), March 31, 2002.

Hi,

No offense at all! I reread it and found it obnoxious too... I must have been tired!

What I meant to say was that I understand I have to give up a lot, but I'd still like to try to find a Suzuki violin teacher for him somewhere. I know there are LOTS of them in the Ozarks but being near a town might make it easier to find one.

I also meant to say "twice a month" instead of "twice a week"... now I know I was tired!

-- Ron (system@secondwivescafe.com), March 31, 2002.

Hi, I don't have land to sell ya ,just alittle info.I don't know if you have a job waiting or not or retiring,really look closer to the bigger cities if ya have to work.We moved to Bolivar,Mo. 93(from calif) we had talked to the Carpenters union many times,well there wasn't that much work once we got there.Branson was booming but they were making 7.00 a hr.Out in Calif.3 times that.It's very hard to cut your income if your living at alot higher one. The only thing that saved us was no bills. Another thing try and find a place not too far back on a dirt road. We got stuck a couple times.LOL It had iced over and our truck couldn't make it up the little hill and we slid back in a ditch. If you can make some trips out there and see if you'll like it.Summer is a good time. We miss it there,the people were great,we loved the fall,the auctions were fun.Don't miss the thunder storms though and tornado warnings. Good luck on your search

-- Tammy (rose3713@aol.com), April 01, 2002.

Hi! We are also interested in moving to the ozarks(MO). Our thought was that before we sank any money into a place and chance a big lemon of a mistake, we would rent in the area for a year or so. I would also suggest this, especially if you're not from a rural area now. It is a huge culture change. We both have always grown up in a rural area and still moving from central wisconsin will be a big culture change. Luckily my husband's family is from KY, I'll be the crazy northerner running around like a crazed chicken!Ha Ha. If anyone from the Springfield or Houston, MO area would have any info for us, we would be very appreciative, especially on a job(husbands a factory worker now), and rental house w enough room for a garden(at least 2 bdrm.) Thanks and hope this helps!

-- Rachel Caudill (nelsoncaudill@operamail.com), April 04, 2002.