A Map to find decent & Cheap land

James Landreth wrote:I think this map is a great start, and you clearly put a lot of thought into it. You bring up some excellent points on other limiting factors. I have some thoughts:


I made a major oversight in my search for land. I wanted to be more remote, not less. But luckily my partner wanted to be closer to town and we compromised. Even so, we’re still pretty far out. It can get pretty lonely, and finding services (including farm-related services like tractorwork) can be hard sometimes, or expensive. It really is impossible to do everything yourself. I’m 23 and in decent shape in every way measurable, and even I can’t and don’t do everything on my farm. It can also be lonely. People are busy and get caught up in their own things.


We often dream of self sufficiency as homesteaders, but the reality is that it took a whole village to really do things and live comfortably back in the day. If I had time there are all sorts of things I would get into like mushroom cultivation and clothmaking. But my time is limited, so I don’t do those things. I focus on other things. It is true, back in the day people had a wide range of skills, but they often specialized in a few certain things and didn’t have in depth knowledge on specialized trades. The average person didn’t know about advanced herbalism or blacksmithing, for example. Pioneers did “make it” in small groups and families, but life was very, very hard and their hope was that that was only temporary, and that life would get easier as things got more “settled” and more people moved out.

James Landreth wrote: It really is impossible to do everything yourself.  

James Landreth wrote: I’m 23 and in decent shape in every way measurable, and even I can’t and don’t do everything on my farm. It can also be lonely.  

James Landreth wrote: We often dream of self sufficiency as homesteaders, but the reality is that it took a whole village to really do things and live comfortably back in the day.  

James Landreth wrote: If I had time there are all sorts of things I would get into like mushroom cultivation and clothmaking.

Timothy Markus wrote:You Americans don't know how lucky you are.  Cheap land and decent climate.  Anyone want to marry me?

Luke Furgason wrote:AN UPDATE TO THIS POST:
While most of Missouri is great, the southern central portion of Virginia is probably my top pick. It's just far enough away from people to have access to stuff while maintaining privacy, security and affordability. Check out the areas in and around Charlotte County, VA. As of writing this I am preparing to live as a nomad, I'll be doing vlogs on that over on my youtube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM8TD3xOXKFaguSmZJWxCTQ [/quote

My farm is on the Southside of Virginia in Halifax County. If anyone has any questions or specific concerns about the area, I will be glad to try to help you.