Hey folks, I've lived in Virginia most of my life, around Dale City mostly. It's not very urban here anymore, DC is slowly swallowing the area into part of a metropolis sprawl. I live closer to the edge of that sprawl and would like to escape to somewhere less stressful, probably more rural. I have a decent sized backyard and a love for biology; I like making small changes to my backyard and seeing what happens.
I've lurked on permies videos and the forums to a degree for a while now, today for some reason I decided to join.
So... yup. Hi

Welcome!

I am likely less than 10 minutes from you with plans to move out of the area in the future

Howdy Patrick, welcome to permies! Lots of stuff to learn here! Dig in.

Hey, I'm also in VA (southern VA that is, the real virginia, since NOVA is NOT VA )

Considering the abundance that a small, urban/suburban lot can produce with good design, there are MAJOR advantages to being on the edge between RURAL/SUBURBAN.

That's a huge market that could be tapped into and being close to the population center is a huge advantage.

Don't feel like you need to flee for the hills. I have ~30 rural acres to manage, and right now I'm literally only focusing on about 1.5 of it. The resources required to go beyond that right now is beyond my current ability.

Check out Geoff's most recent video on the food forest in the small urban lot in Canada. Big inspiration there.