Michelle Latham

Looking for a community or a house to rent in the south west knoxville area that has land and is dog friendly!

Thanks!

Hey Elise

I know exactly how you feel. Right now land is pretty expensive, the price of land is probably going to peak in a few years and then drop again. We purchased land in North Georgia near the border of TN. Its great land in a nice town. And the price has gone up $50k-$70k since we purchased.

We are looking to keep the land for as long as we can pass it on to someone who is looking to have a permaculture farm.
It has a 1940s home with several updates. And even a new roof and siding.

I hope this helps you get an idea of what youre into! Also if you have Instagram, let me know ill send you my username and i post photos of our farm on there! And we can keep in touch easier!

<3
Michelle

May 2018

Fannin County Georgia. 2 hrs from Chattanooga, 2 hrs from Atlanta.
First listing this on Permies for any dedicated growies and homesteaders.


Home details:
1940s Home with several updates/expansion in 1960s. New Lopi wood burning stove. New wood floors. Beautiful wood walls from the 1940s. "Bungalow" or Cottage style house. aproximatly 950 sq feet. Large front porch. Easy access to highway. Unpaved driveway. Opportunities to build a new home on the land. Growing progressive community. Lots of opportunities for social life in the nearest towns of Mccaysville, Ga and Blue Ridge, Georgia.
Purchased in 2015 and restored the house by historical archaeologists. Minimalist style, no cabinets, mostly bare walls in the kitchen. Comes with stove, industrial sink, no refrigerator.



Land details:
RICH HEALTHY SOIL.
Over thousands of trees. With great diversity. Large crops of native trees.
Large producing Black Walnut 140 year old (delicious). Large producing Native Mulberry 90 years old (so sweet). Over 50 muscadine, scuppernongs, and other various grape vines. Native and non native.
Large 100 ft x 50 ft fenced garden. Selectively located and planted trees for regenerative agriculture. No watering necessary. Lots of chop and drop. Great for single family farmers.
Excellent for farmers market sales.

100 Year old LARGE 4 compartment Barn. Lots of excellent barn wood. Beekeeping supplies. Etc. Beautiful barn could use work.

Excellent rolling hills.
A number of swales.
Lots of naturalized wild flowers. Thousands of Plantain, dandelions, dozens of types of mints, etc.

Name the plant, it is growing here already.
Elderberry, sumac, carolina all spice, wild ginger, blackberry, large cherry trees, large persimmons, american chestnuts, chinese chestnuts, service berry, red and black mulberry, dogwoods, tons of apples, dozens of blueberries, raspberries, currants, honeyberry, seaberry, buckthorn, crabapples, hawthorns, evergreens blocking the road, passionfruit, black cherry, cedar, huge holly, birch, white pines, a section of wild woods. Beautiful pond view. Sourwoods, beekeeping equiptment comes with the house. Lupines, black locuts, honey locust, english walnuts, hardy pecan, ETC. Wild pears. Mountain mints, bergamont, bee balm. Devils walking stick, mimosa (medium/large). Sunchokes, Jerusalem artichokes.

Backs up against 200 aces of undeveloped woodland with a beautiful creek. Historic "Deer feeder" from 1950s.

Brand new well pump. TWO WELLS.


More pics will be posted soon.

Christopher. Great method to create from. I would take into consideration the micro climate of your landscape when planting first, from my experience. See where the moisture and shade sits in the land. Some fruit trees want more water, some require less. Some soil may be richer in certain areas for tender root structures. Also the height of each will create shade and canopies all across the land. Check out the “Permaculture design” group on Facebook. They would love your ideas and  questions too. Seems like a good experiment to try planting via harvest times on a slope. Have you see any who have similar methods? Would like to see where your inspiration came from.

I think this would work well in forest gardens. Both annual and perennial areas. I have trees and annual crops growing together, you do have to organic material compost or mulch more often in my experience. We seed annuals under our trees all year round, and we have annual and perennial ground covers and understory type canes and berry bushes in the same swales and mounds as nitrogen fixing trees such as black locust and mimosas.
Keeping the nitrogen fixing trees topped short is sometimes necessary to regulate sun exposure.
Check my Instagram for pictures of us planting garlic around our figs and such.
@nativeforestgardens instagram
Nativeforestgardens.wordpress.com

Hey I wanted to spread the word on my new land I am working to build a food forest with mostly native species. Everything from pawpaws, persimmons, and some rare chestnuts.
Thanks, any help is needed.

We are a team of two, aspiring to use our time and physical labor to build a sustainable, 3-acre food forest in the southern Appalachian Mountains of Georgia. We purchased this land in 2015 with the intention of re-establishing a variety of native fruit and nut species while encouraging the growth of the many wild trees already present in the landscape. We focus on building soil health, strengthening native plant populations and providing habitat for wildlife.

Soon, we will be able to begin propagating native trees and shrubs from our own diverse collection. With your financial help, we will be able buy more seeds and plant more trees, setting us closer to our goal of becoming a source of knowledge, heath and food  to the local community. Dollars will go directly to improving soil health, re-establishing native plants and wildlife, supporting local nurseries and establishing a sustainable permaculture market garden. Thanks for your time!

https://www.gofundme.com/nativeforestgardens
Nativeforestgardens.wordpress.com
Ig @nativeforestgardens

Great to hear Appalachian permies in the group!!! Keep the trend growing. We need more beekeepers around here. We have 3 acres in north georgia, working on self sustaining abilities and selling quality trees.
Youtube Channel

Emily Smith wrote:We're looking at new properties, and things being what they are, likely a small garden will be all I can manage for now.  If I have a clearing in the middle of tall, mature hardwoods, do I want a plot off to a particular side?  Downhill?  Uphill?

Property 1 is raw, long (236ish ft. x 811ish ft.), western facing slope at about 30 degrees.  5 acres--the world is your oyster.  But you have to build a 4 bedroom, 2000 sq. ft. house on it...
Property 2 has about 1/2 an acre cleared, but part of it slopes 45 degrees, west by northwest.  There are high and low spots that are relatively level, though.  It has an small existing plot at the highest point, which is the southeast corner.
Property 3 has a little .1 acre clearing on the eastern side, relatively level, high ground.  There's also about .5 acres in the back, that is on a lake, but pretty gently sloping.  

We're in Georgia, so I think we typically want morning sun and afternoon shade, right?  So isn't putting plots along the northwestern side of a woods-edged clearing best?  
Is low ground a big deal as long as drainage continues downhill?

So for #1, I'd want to terrace a plot in the middle?
For #2 a plot in the northwest part of the clearing (which is also downhill)?
For #3, it's harder to tell.  The little clearing seems pretty shaded, so maybe the northern edge of the property?  It would get eastern sun for sure, but maybe a little western shade.

Am I thinking about all of this right, or do I have it all backwards?  I welcome any input!

I’m in Georgia (North Georgia). Im on year three of my food forest. My land has a southern sloping exposure (getting the most sun year round) and I have my fenced annual garden terraced into the hill side, in the middle of the 4 acres where there is the best amount of moisture and good drainage. The well is next to the garden and  the house (2b1ba) is terraced below the fenced annual garden. Our soil vaies throughout the 4 acres, very rich organic to rocky dry clay. Choose based on soil quality, and my garden happened to be where the moisture and drainage was optimal.
Shade can be built with canopy trees and windbreaks and hedges even.
We have rolling slopes, and a few hundred acres of creeks and woods adjacent on one side that bring lots of wildlife and diversity on to my property. So keeping the  garden and some favorite blueberry bushes  close to the house is a good idea.
Hope this helped you!
I would focus on soil quality around the area and begin to select native wild trees already established and fill into the spaces with contoured swales to feed the soil  “where water runs make it walk”, and soil building with free local mulch. My telephone company has free wood chip piles.

I just planted bamboo a few days ago. Free bamboo is seems to be the best bamboo, in my area. It is imported and over priced at my local nurseries (Copperhill tn zone 7a) , and there is usually a neighbor willing to allow you to trim and propagate from their own crop. I am growing the non-clumping variety, and decided to plant them under a black walnut tree. The clumping variety is to be more expensive and promoted as more aesthetic. The soil I’m planting in is moist and rich and it came from dry clay soil. I assume the transplants will take.