Starting new zone 8a homestead! Looking to make connections and friends

Hello all!

I'm about two weeks in on the new homestead here just east of Panama City, FL. Wanting to make permies connections in the area. All kinds of things I could use advice and such on. Some questions I have are:

Anyone with permaculture experience want to come here and make suggestions on how to go about planning a permaculture farm and food forest garden?

Anyone want to trade plants that you know do good in a similar environment to here? Looking for all things berries, fruits, perennial veggies, perennial herbs, medicinal herbs, annual veggies and herbs, and even easy to maintain tropical edibles via a greenhouse.

Anyone willing to give us a tour of your permaculture set up?

Anyone to get us started with chickens, goats, and other useful farm animals?

Anyone into reptiles around here especially snakes that collects wild reptiles?

Anyone into edible and medicinal mushroom growing and hunting?

Anyone into wild foraging plants in the area?

Anyone into foraging wild animal foods such as quail, ducks, turtles, frogs, pigs, deer, crawfish, oysters, fish, etc?

I have some knowledge to offer as well as identification skills for wild animals and edible plant life to offer. Also a significant amount of edible plants to trade.

Please leave a message here if you wanna meet up!

Thanks! Derrick

Hi Derrick! Congradulations on getting set up in your new area! I can't help with much, too far away, although I do recommend getting goats an chickens if you have a place for them... And especially if you have children....  For me, the goats and few chickens I keep pretty much pay for themselves. I do sell goats/kids every year and don't make big money on them but in the big picture the meat, milk and eggs I get from them plus the few hundred dollars I make pays for the food and minerals I have to provide for them... The infrastructure for them can get pricy if you have heavy predator problems but electric fence works well for my goats and so far done fair at keeping fox/coyote/coons away from chickens... I raise a goat or two, a couple pigs, and a dozen or so Cornish cross birds for meat every year... (and a beef occasionally) Process them right here at home...  also fish, forage, and even dumpster dive for produce sometimes. (you'd be supprized...)  I don't hunt but trade with my neighbor who does...  My food forest still looks like a yard at this point but it feeds me fairly well... Just finishing up collecting over a dozen qt baggies of cattley guavas for the freezer...
I have a friend that lives in Youngestown and next time I'm heading out to see him I'll see if we could hook up... You had bunch of things on that list that interested me.....  

Peace.

Cool let me know!

Sure love them cattley guavas! Brought 2 up here with me of the red type. Supposedly cold hardy to 20°f or so. Should be able to microclimate them enough to do OK here. Hear the yellow is a bit more hardy maybe I should get some of that type too! Grew my red ones from seeds and they reached maturity this this past season while still down south so at least of they cannot handle here I got to get a few from my own seed grown plants!

Another shout out to anyone local to Wewahitchka. Lots of plants to share, trade, etc. Brief list includes:

Cuban oregano (2 types)
Lemongrass
Loquat seedlings
Lesser galangal
Thai pepper leaf
Opuntia cactus pads
Shampoo gingers
P. viridis plants
Sugar apple seedlings
Miracle fruits(fresh as of now on plant)
African blue basils
Bay leaf trees
African pea eggplants
Turmerics
Culinary gingers
Various herbs cuttings
Piper betel cuttings
Black pepper cuttings
B. caapi cuttings and rooted plants
Thai pink guavas
Various types of dragon fruits
Cuttings of various tropical spinaches(not true spinach)
Always a bunch of odd stuff!

Let me know!