Introduction

Hi there!

I'm Sandi... been a member since 2023, but have lurked and learned. Been a city dweller and world traveler for the first 58 years of my life and moved to the 'country' on 10 acres of land in north Florida in 2023. And only leave the property to go to Costco once a month and down to see the grandkids in south Florida every 6 weeks or so. I love it that much!

My plan is to homestead, I've been researching and purchasing as I can. I still work full time running my business and retired (this week!) from 25+ years of teaching at the college level. I would love for my property to be as self-sufficient as possible with solar & wind power and harvesting rain water. Growing my own food and reducing grocery costs. I already ferment some things, like Kombucha and Kimchi, but would like to do more.

An arborist friend of mine came from the UK to help evaluate and clean up trees in late 2023, and I know that the work he did in the fall of 2023 resulted in me not having too much tree damage when Hurricane Helene came through in the fall of 2024! From research on here we found Mosswood Farms in Micanopy, FL and made a visit. Inspired by our trip there we ended up creating a hügelkultur bed, that is settling quite nicely! If you are ever in the north central FL area, I'd recommend popping in. They are just south of Gainesville. They also have a lovely cafe.

I am brand new to gardening/farming, but did get about a dozen garlic bulbs, 4 onions and some baby lettuce (3 plants) harvested 😁and I was right proud of myself! I also have a knack for growing green avocados from pit and am currently nurturing 8 of them, 5 potted and 3 ready to go to pots. I found out the hard way that Zone 8 isn't very avocado friendly and lost 2 that I put in the ground last fall to the third freeze. So these babies will be in the house on my breakfast counter, where they get full sun for around 6 hours a day, and will go to the teeny greenhouse I have 8'x6', during the winter.

I'm a lover of dogs and have a lot of them. Labs, mixed labs, and a rescued Frenchie who thinks he's the boss. I have a couple of stray cats that hang around the property, which I don't mind, as they keep the rodents under control. I also have a deer family, turkeys, possums (my favorite tick control!) and the occasional coyote. I have 2 folks staying on the property as work campers presently and open to having one or two more.

And that's about it. I love how much I learn from this forum and look forward to continuing to learn.

With Gratitude,
Sandi

Hi Sandi! Welcome!

Welcome!  Your place sounds lovely

Glad to see another new poster!

If you have not checked it out prior, the Permie Dog Picture Thread is one of my favorite threads related to dogs.

Welcome to posting, Sandi!
I'm looking forward to hearing how the avocados fare in the greenhouse, from a fellow Zone 8 resident (though a fair bit north of you).
We let our garlic flower this year - I so enjoyed those little bursts of flavor this summer! They really drew in the pollinators, too.
My favorite garlic post (so far) in my favorite garlic thread (so far) is this one (link).

Thank you for the warm welcome Thom and Anne! And thanks for the links, Timothy and Sara! I will check both of them out.
Here's a few photos from my property.  I'll add these are older pics and where there is sand (besides the driveway) it is all now grassy. I added a pic of the hugelkulture bed, as well.
Sandi