South Florida?

So I'm interested in a tropical climate, and in the US that us only available in Southern Florida, in the contiguous US of course.

However, I have reservations about hurricanes, and floods, etc. It seems they have floods or hurricanes every other year now, but that is likely just how it seems.

Anyone have experience or knowledge in this department?

Also, anyone have knowledge or advice on cheap, very rural areas of southern Florida? I would appreciate as little population density as possible. Preferably undeveloped or almost undeveloped, if that makes sense.

I'm shortly leaving the Gulf coast of Florida, have been here over a decade. I'm moving even more tropical, and resonate to your post. I'm curious if you considered Puerto Rico and/or Hawaii.

Hurricanes are a thing, yes. How well you fare during a direct hit depends a lot on the infrastructure. The home we're leaving is in a well-engineered development a dozen miles or so from the beach. We've had a couple of direct hits. The last one, Ian, took half of 2 trees out, but otherwise we were fine. The thing that amazed me is I awoke at 4 am (when the lights came on and everything beeped), and our streets were already dry, because of the well-maintained ponds and drains that gather the water. Older areas with poor planning flooded.

If you're looking inland, planning for hurricanes is doable. The horrible pictures you see in the news are typically close to the coast. Your structures should be built to code or retrofitted. Don't have big trees where they can fall on anything you don't want them to fall upon. Hurricane winds go 360 degrees -- even if the storm comes from the south, the winds may be from due north, just depending on whether it hits you to the east or west side.

Something to be aware of is the politics. This is Proud Boy country. If you're BIPOC or a sexual minority, your kind are not welcome in rural areas. The state has zero incentives for alternative energy, and actually disincentivize. E.g., I have solar and pay retail for electricity I receive (at night), but only get credit at wholesale for surplus during the day.

For permaculture, like anywhere there are some blessings and some challenges. There's a good amount of rainfall in season. Dry season seems to be getting drier and drier. Sunshine State nickname is true. It hasn't frozen since.... can anyone remember? The main challenge I see is that the soil is so poor. That's common in tropical soil, but is worse here because we have mainly sand over a limestone base, very little loam or clay. All the fertility is in the trees and plants. Abundance can be found easily, because that's what tropics do. If you're from the North, you'll be amazed how much biomass you generate. And you'll be shocked how brutal full sun is. For example, when I first got here I put tomatoes in full sun, right? Ya, nope.

The UV is remarkable here.

99% of vegetables you read about online are applicable to the lower 48, except Florida. Full sun often means part sun and generally from, say, end of summer to start of winter, or from middle of winter (since no freezes) to late spring. Summer is a no go for the vast majority of crops, even many mature in-place crops... Something like okra or cassava are your only real hopes during the brutal dog days of summer here, besides all the fruit trees of course. My pigeon pea is skyrocketing.

I wish there were more vegetable trees.

Any reason you make these relatively similar posts then never respond, OP?

Thanks for all the info.

I have looked at Puerto Rico and Hawaii, but a big plus is Florida is drivable. Have to fly to those.

Hawaii is the better option, just much more expensive. Which is fine, but it limits me. However, the better social climate also does play, so that makes cost acceptable.

I forget to respond because I am busy with life, and check up on these a few weeks or months, because answers sometimes take a while here. I ask similar question in different areas to get more results.

Riley Smith wrote:Thanks for all the info.

I have looked at Puerto Rico and Hawaii, but a big plus is Florida is drivable. Have to fly to those.

Hawaii is the better option, just much more expensive. Which is fine, but it limits me. However, the better social climate also does play, so that makes cost acceptable.

I forget to respond because I am busy with life, and check up on these a few weeks or months, because answers sometimes take a while here. I ask similar question in different areas to get more results.

No problem, just curious.

I can tell you with 100% certainty there is no "non-developed" portion of Florida's coast that you can homestead on, unless you have millions of dollars.

Very occasionally you can find something like a corner 0.25 acre, or perhaps even up to an acre, surrounded by development and commercial zones, for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Zoning restrictions out the wazoo.

Again, if you're very rich, then by all means it might be possible, but generally, you can push your dollar many magnitudes farther in places that aren't Florida (and probably Hawaii which I can't claim to know about).

Hi Riley, we are a 54acre permaculture farm in punta Gorda Florida. We use to have the same cautious stance with the hurricane's but after living through one I can say it wasn't that bad. If you are still interested in Florida let us know.

Housing
If your house is made of cement block, then even if it floods all you have to worry about is getting a new sofa and bed, everything else will be fine.
The other options is to build your house on piers so that it is 8ft above the ground and you can just use the space under your house as a garage/workshop/etc. Or maybe even turn it into a seasonal rental, idk.

Water/Gas/Electric/Internet
If you are on a well, your water will be fine,
If you have propane tank that you fill up at the start of the hurrican season you are okay.
It's possible that electricity might go out, but thats nothing that a few temporary/emergency solar panels can't fix, for the 7days or so after a hurricane, there is also a propane genny.
It's always possible that internet could go out, but you could always get a mobile Beacon HotSpot via T-Mobile or You can get a pricier StarLink for $110/month.

Food
As usual, stock up your rice+beans+pasta+oil at the start of the hurrican season and you will be fine in a worse case senario.
If you grow your own food then lots of squashes and root crops will still be harvestable and in the ground just ready for harvest.
Your milk-goats and egg-chicken and honey-beehive and tilapia-fish will still be waiting for you right outside your kitchen.

Trees/Garden
There might be some damage, but if you plant from seeds, less than 20% of the plants will be damaged.

Jeff Steez wrote:I wish there were more vegetable trees.

Check out the trees with edible leaves book: https://perennialagriculture.institute/2023/01/10/trees-with-edible-leaves-pais-latest-publication/

and perhaps this thread on tropical fruit forum: https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=51143.0

To OP - you may want to look at my recent thread on moving to pursue gertness.

The trouble with south florida is two fold: there is no such thing as the middle of nowhere. It is all developed. And property is expensive, especially now. As others have mentioned, if you have deep pockets, you can get a few acres. And two, windstorm home insurance is very expensive.

Best spots to consider that are less unaffordable are loxahatchee on the east cost (maybe around port st lucie and areas south of melbourne where you are at the southernmost end of zone 9b, depending upon how coastal you are) and golden gates estates and punta gorda on the west coast. Another option (which I expressed I am considering in my gert post) is moving to an area in central florida in the southern half of zone 9b but on the southeast side of a lake. Being more central, windstorm insurance is lower.

Good luck. Let me know if I can help you with anything else.