Rose Gardener

How about buying a ghost town as a start? Like this: http://www.ibtimes.com/seneca-california-your-own-private-ghost-town-sale-craigslist-1471780 Not sure what it will take to incorporate but as your own town, one can insist on one's own planning and building dept.?

But I the biggest problem is demographic, folks that likes permaculture are more likely to be on a tight budget.

This is a continuation of my thread under Greening the Desert: (https://permies.com/t/47370/desert/Coachella-Valley-green-desert). My objectives were:

1. A retirement gig.
2. Be self-sufficient energy and water, ie solar plus well.
3. To start a hydro or more likely an aquaponic farm so I would be self-sufficient with leafy greens. No intention to grow grain, raise livestock etc.,
4. Be close to a major metropolitan, say within 2 hours, be close to an true international airport is important, like LAX, SFO etc.
5. Optional but would like to operate a farm to table eatery on site.
6. Optional too but supplying greens to some neighborhood markets or eateries would be a plus.
7. Love to have around 3-5 acres, and I don't mind land price say $30k per acre. I don't mind working with over reaching planning/building depts.

I spent a month going up and down the west coast from San Diego to Vancouver BC., Quite like Vancouver Island and Seattle, but not sure about the grey sky. Love the Bay Area but land are quite expensive even 2 hours out. In SoCal, I was thinking of Coachella Valley, but am open to other locations. Lately, I found these two:

Mountain Center (USDA zone 8b): This is sort of in the center of Idyllwild (20 minutes), Palm Desert (35 minutes) and Temecula (45) minutes, it's woodsy with lots of horse ranches and quite isolate. Pop 200 or so. About 2 hours to major airport or Hollywood.
Murrieta (USDA zone (USDA zone 9b): This is next to Temecula, Murrieta is a growing city nevertheless. It's 90 minutes to LAX and 60 minutes to San Diego. One can still get 5 acre lots for $30k/acre or so.

Anyone got knowledge of these two places? Thanks.

Couldn't agree with Jami more, luckily the title was 4 words.

Any shade crops recommendations? With 10" annual rainfall, I am also looking into aquaponic which claimed to use about half the water.

If one would to supply salad green to a population of say 200 people, growing in zone 9b, how much land would it take? open to growing aquaponic or hydroponic Thanks for helping.

USDA Hardiness Zone:
Zone 9b: 25F to 30F
PlantMaps Hardiness Zone:
Zone 8b: 15F to 20F
Days Where Temp Exceeds 86°F:
181 - 210 days
Ecoregion:
Freeze Data:
Average First Frost December 1 - 10
Average Last Frost: February 11 - 20
Local Climate Data
Mon Min F Max F Precip In.
Jan 35 59 1.78
Feb 36 59 1.72
Mar 38 63 1.33
Apr 40 68 .37
May 44 74 .24
Jun 50 83 .03
Jul 57 89 .78
Aug 58 89 1.01
Sep 54 85 .87
Oct 45 75 .29
Nov 37 64 .6
Dec 34 59 1.04
Ann 44 72 10.06

Laura Ciesla wrote:I have two lush riverfront acres in a remote area of Northern CA. I tried to find people interested in homesteading it with me, to no avail, a few years ago. I still have it, but the dream is more complicated because now I am only part owner, and I've relocated to a little plot in a rural area of Florida. I've lived completely off the grid, and it takes some planning, especially if moving off for the first time. I'm not a prepper, just seek an alternative, self-sufficient, sustainable, low-impact/cost lifestyle.
Where in Canada do you dream of homesteading?

Where is your land in Calif?

http://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/Oakland-s-only-straw-bale-home-hits-market-3162560.php#photo-2294526

It was $1.125 million in 2009 when property value was almost at the bottom for Bay Area, this house could fetch almost $2mil in today's Bay Area market. Not sure if the claimed N. America termites eat only wood is true? What about absorbing heat during the day to warm the house in cooler evening?

It thus show that traditional, in this case SB, method does not 'destroy' property value. It's down to location, location and location.

Why is straw-clay superior to straw-bale? I can see that SC walls aren't as thick as SB, so some space saving. Probably less opportunity for pest to invest. But the building process seems to be a bit more complex, building forms, mixing clay+straw instead of just stacking large bales. Does SC provide better R value or sound insulation?

Since I am planning to live in warm country, winter 65F+, does SC provide anything SB couldn't under that kind of climate?

Thanks again for educating this ignorant.

How did you come to $2.29 per ft2?

Thanks Jay!! Learned so much. What were you referring to when you said "better straw based methods than SB itself" and why are they superior to SB?