Missoui Ozarks "unintentional" community

    Last year we started over at our new homestead in the Ozarks of Missouri.  We landed into a wonderful "unintentional community".  Very few people live here in this 2 mile pocket between the state forest and a river.  We love our neighbors.  One neighbor in particular.  She and we grow organically and would be very interested in getting like minded people into the 3 properties for sale near us.

    My husband and I are building an earth sheltered home and are living off grid.  We started using the no-till method recently.  It would be nice to have neighbors to trade goods with.  I am an herbalist so my big focus is food and herbs (besides building a house.). My neighbor's energy goes towards organic gardening, farm animals and homeschooling a child.

    We help each other out and have been talking about how we can split up the areas a self-sufficient homestead needs to focus on.  Such as one focus on bees and the other on goats milk and cheese, etc.  In this area also is a solar installer and a few other families most of whom we now know.  Within a short time of moving here, most of the neighbors had introduced themselves.
   
    The properties for sale in our immediate area are expensive to me, but come with a lot of property, a house and one with a huge metal barn.  They are in the $200,000-$400,000 range.  There may be a family that wants to move right into a farm house and land and has the money to do that.  We'd love to have you.  The road we are on meets up with a state highway, but we are on a beautiful tree lined, short dirt road.

    I also heard this morning, that the property on the corner is going up for sale and has a well, pond and an auto-waterer for cattle.  There is no house there, so it's probably much more affordable.  We purchased our land at around $1,400 per acre.  It's probably about a 20 acre chunk. 

    There is another property that is much cheaper on the other side of the river, about 6 miles away.  The woman that lived there before the current seller grew medicinal herbs and there is a year round creek.  There is no power though, so it would be a good choice for someone going on solar.  The man selling that land is our friend and his brother is our neighbor that does solar panels.

    There is a town 30 minutes away with most of what you need and a hospital.  There is a gas station/diner/ mechanic about 4 minutes away and the owners live in this area.  The taxes for us on 30 acres right now are $15 and when the house is built might be around $450 per year.  There are no building codes either.  The closest town has 2 farmers markets that we plan on selling at in the Spring.  The winters are short and not that bad (compared to upstate NY where we moved from).

    It would be wonderful for someone interested in sustainable agriculture and/or herbalism and self-sufficient living to be our neighbors or at least close by.  If you are interested in specifics, please let me know and I'll try to line up the online ads for these properties.

We live is in springfield now but are looking at purchasing land this year near Mark Twain National forest.  In Shannon county.  I would be interested to see if the properties available are some of the same I am already looking at.

The properties I have in mind are in LaClede and Wright counties.  We live in LaCleded are close to the Wright border. 

We drove all over Missouri about 7 months ago looking for property, but we realized we didn't want to be all alone in trying to establish a self sustaining farm. So what you are describing sounds more interesting, neighbors helping each other. We too are organic gardeners and would like to live a life more connected to the land. So we are looking for a piece in the $100,000 to $120,000 range. Can you point us in the right direction to listings of the properties you know about??

Thanks so much..

Hi, I"m so sorry for the delay in responding.  I don't remember being notified.

Yes there are properties in that range here.  The two with homes on it might be out of your price range though.  The one with land and NO power might not be the best for gardening according to the owner, but we though it was since there is bottom land near a creek.  It has a lot of medicinal herbs.  There is really high hill top for a house.

In addition to that one; if someone isn't going to run cattle, breed pigs or dogs or clear a bunch of land for horses AND doesn't use pesticides and herbicides, another property just opened up behind us.  It's not on the market yet.  There are herbs and mushrooms too.  It's such a wonderful piece, but we want to reserve it for someone permies special.  Maybe that's you?  It has power, about 2 acres cleared, wooded, next to the state forest, very few neighbors, 2 minutes from a mom and pop store and 30 min from town.  There is a wet weather creek.  It's high enough it'll never flood and there are possibly springs in the wet weather creek.  There are three ways out in case the low water bridge is flooded.  The locals that have been here forever are friendly to new people and it's the best community we've been in (about a 6 mile radius).

I'll email you specifics. 

Just found out the land behind us is going for $1,350 per acre.  About 2 acres cleared.  The rest is wooded, well I've described it already.  We'd really love to get another organic gardener/ permie out here!!!  Lots of wild herbs and right across the street from the state forest.  Another neighbor also is an organic gardener. 

Hi folks,

Sort of new to the region. Don't know where many of those towns are. I'm interested in an urban ecovillage in the city of Springfield. (Why Springfield? MSU, bus system- no car needed- not too big, not too small, pretty darn cheap, pretty darn safe, etc.) Especially interested in setting up a toolshare, carshare, and yardshare.

I am an MSU Film school student who is planning on sticking around awhile. Currently waiting out my apartment lease (this crappy landlord has turned me off of apartments for the rest of my life, methinks) and planning on renting-to-own a small house, or asking my folks to help me secure a loan. (Mortgage on a $30k house/30 years ~$150, current rent $450, assuming I spend the first year working on the house to trim and/or eliminate utilities, the second year I could start putting >$150/month towards mortgage and be completely paid off by the end of 2022... keep in mind these are simply rough estimates. Could be paid off earlier if I take in renters or if my income increases.)

Relatively new to the idea of permaculture, however am not so new to farming. (Dad is a manager of a chemical fertilizer plant, and has worked in plant genetics... ahem) Planning on taking a number of courses at OTC. They are offering some interesting things... "Urban Chickens," "Permaculture and Organic Gardening," plus stuff like "Plumbing and Electrical," "Tools for Women," etc. One-night-a-week special interest classes, from $25-$69 each.

I know I'm probably rambling in a slightly unintelligent manner, so just to wrap this up- anybody want to start something, get ahold of me.

You posted on an old dead thread.  You might want to start a new one so that it'll grab the attention of someone that might be interested in Springfield area.

Good luck, I'll bet there are people looking for the same thing.  The land I'm talking about here is around an hour from Springfield. 

Hi!

I realize it's been quite while since you posted this original message...

I am reaching out for any leads or advice about acquiring some land in the Ozarks where my family and I can homestead. 30 acres-ish is what we're looking for, with water and plenty of forage for my goats.

I'm living in coastal northern California now and prioritize living with community close by when I move back home to Missouri. It seems there is quite a bit of homesteading going on in the Ozark area. I'm hoping to get plugged in somehow...

Thank you