Tim Jones

Hi!!! I'm looking for ways to connect with other Permaculture people on a weekly basis during covid. Looking to discuss various techniques, or what projects we're all doing.

If there aren't any groups, would anyone want to start one?

I would love to just have a weekly discussion with a handful of people (probably close to the same Ag Zone). I could facilitate and pole the group throughout the week to see what discussion topics we could chat about.

Thoughts?

Peter VanDerWal wrote:Perhaps someplace near Tucson, but away from Phoenix.  Phoenix is crazy hot.

Thanks for such  detailed response! It’s very helpful. Here in norther California we have rattle snakes also. Snakes aren’t a problem for me. As long as I stay away from them they are fine. And I don’t plan to have my house be open to wildlife :) I like a good tight structure.

I hadn’t considered your area before but now, I’ll have to look into it a bit more. some of the youtubers I follow have started farms and homesteads near you. So they share a similar feeling about the area

Kyrt Ryder wrote:

Tim Jones wrote:9. No more than an hour drive to a major city

How are you defining 'Major City'?

Less than an hour from a metropolis [Seattle, Portland or San Francisco  is going to be very hard to find at a low cost. If smaller scale cities are on your radar you can do better.

was hoping for a major metropolis such as SF, Seattle, Sacramento, or something similar. I live in Monterey wich is a bunch of small cities and mostly nature. This wasn’t that big of a deal for me. So not 100% necessary but it would be nice to get a bowl or ramen from time to time.

Mike Jay wrote:Are you sure you want to limit yourself to zone 9a/b?  Unless I'm misreading the zone map, that limits you to a bit of central Florida, southern Louisiana, south Texas, south AZ and the Pacific coast.  My assumption is that those line up with either your hurricane or scorpion avoidance criteria or are pretty costly (Pacific coast).  

If you stretch yourself to zone 8a (which is still terribly hot in my opinion), you open yourself up to many places in the southeast and over to central TX.  

What are your feelings about humidity?  What is your max and min temperature desires?  

I just picked a random big city on the north end of zone 8a (Little Rock, AR) and did a Realtor.com search.  I limited it to 5+ acres, <$150K, 2+ bedrooms and 20 miles from town and got a few interesting places.  Here's one that sounds interesting: 10 acres, $85K

It has fruit trees, a log home shell that needs to be finished, outbuildings, mobile home for the short term, etc etc etc.  It is kind of near to a freeway though.

Land with houses can be pretty affordable if you expand your search range.

Thanks for the reply. I guess all of my requirements are flexible as long as most of them are met.

I have a very huge fascination with tropical/subtropical plants. For this reason, 9b would be great but not necessary.

Humidity isn’t a problem for me at all.

I would say the most important on my list are cost, house on property, proximity to a major city and temperature.

As for temp, no snow if possible, mild winters, and enough sun so I don’t get depressed.

stephen lowe wrote:With your hardiness zone request you've pretty much got the coastal west or the dessert as your 'closest' options to your folks place. So if you really want to be near a city that means you are looking at SF bay area (unlikely to find the price range you want), Portland (seems possible to find something there within an hour), or Seattle-Tacoma (from what I hear, increasingly difficult to find affordable housing around there). Otherwise you're moving pretty far away from family. I would suggest you keep an eye on the northern coastal counties of California, you won't exactly be an hour from a 'Major' city, but land prices are lower and generally falling and you're only a days drive from the bay area. Del Norte is the furtherst and already quite cheap, Humboldt is getting cheaper and is slightly closer and has more private land than Del Norte, Mendocino or very far norhtern Sonoma are going to be the closest and will definitely offer the most city access however they are the most expensive and most drought prone of these options. But you might be able to scoop up land on the cheap that was just burned out by the fires last year. You might also look into Lake county.
Best of luck with your search.

Thanks, I would say the lowest priority requirement is the proximity to my parents. If need be they can move closer to me eventually. So considering that, how about other states?? Anything out there?

Hi, I have had a huge dream of slowly becoming self sufficient with a plot of land that can feed me. I have some requirements and they might be completely unrealistic but hope you can help me find the area that best suits my needs. Here’s my story.

Im 32 years old. My wife (high school sweetheart) of 12 years has decided to leave me. Country living scares her to the point of being in tears, and I am very very depressed and anxious living in the city. Too crowded for me! Along with that she wants kids and I don’t. She knew who I was before we married but she has recently changed her mind... long story short I’m completely broken and figured this is the time for me to leave and start over; and why not start working towards my passion.

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area about 40 minutes south of SF in a suburb which is now neighboring Facebook and google and all the other tech stuff. I lived in Monterey CA for a short while as well. I love this area and I wish I could stay but the $17 cheese burgers and housing costs of $3,000/month for a 1 bedroom apartment is rediculous. When someone is walking with an autonomous robot on downtown sidewalk, it’s time for me to leave.

I have been scouring Zillow for about a year looking. At potential slots. My search starts in my area and I spiral outwards and it seems most of California (unless I move to the desert) is too expensive for me. I have checked other states as well but not sure of the living conditions and all the details.

I’m looking for basic areas to look into. So if you have some ideas about certain regions that might meet most of my requirements please let me know and I’ll continue my searching in those areas.

Staying close to my parents would be nice, in case they need my help eventually,  but to be honest my life is pretty much turned upside down right now so I’m willing to me anywhere so I can forget this mess and start over....

here is a list of my requirements for moving. Thank you to everyone for your help!!! If you need more info or something else from me let me know and I’ll clarify.


My requirements

1. 4+ acres
2. Square/rectangular property (not a thin narrow strip)
3. Slight hills for better water catchments
4. Agriculture zone 9a-9b
5. No alligators or scorpions
6. No natural disasters as dramatic as hurricanes, floods or tornadoes. (Fires and earthquakes are fine with me )
7. Inside the USA
8. Under $150k
9. No more than an hour drive to a major city
10. Internet and city power grid connection.
11. A house currently on the property (doesn’t have to be perfect condition. A small fixer upper is fine)
12. City sewer hookup or zoned for septic

N Hansen wrote:Scientific study?

I saw this a few years ago on the topic. They found an 80% water savings by using mulch.

See here: http://www.recycledh2o.net/2015/05/16/thinking-of-re-landscaping-consider-using-mulch/

Yup scientific. You know, hypothesis, experiement, control, conclusion. That type of thing.

Hey just thought this was a really cool little experiement done to try and quantify the amount of water that is saved when using mulch.

https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/newsletters/hortupdate/hortupdate_archives/2006/nov06/ScienceFair.html

I think it has some holes in the testing such as, temperature of the climate, and thickness and variety of mulch, but overall it seems like a great study on the effect mulch has on evaporation.

Anybody have an opinion? Or have other articles they can post of quantifiable water consumption measurments?

Hey I just wanted to quickly chime in. I grew up in California (s.f. Bay Area) and am desperate to stay in Cali. Every day I scour Zillow, realtor, Redfin etc... for some land that is big, cheap and livable.

My experience after 12 straight months of daily online searches and also visiting about 10 properties: you’re looking at needing to spend at least $100k to find anything worth buying. The good areas of a (easy access to a nearby bigger city) is completely booked. You’re looking at 20-30 miles out usually 2-7 miles of windy dirt road in order to get something.

Now when you look online quickly it is deceiving. As mentioned above there are plenty of 5 acre properties in Santa Cruz mountains (like Boulder Creek) but my first hand experience of visiting properties is 4.75 of those acres will be dense redwood forest on the side of a near vertical cliff. With a .25 acre flat spot that isn’t all that flat.

So I went looking further south in San Diego county. The only land that’s bug and cheap is rocky (by ricks I mean boulders) hills and deserts.

Google maps 3D feature is a great way to get an idea of the Terrain. find the property, click the 3D button then click it off and toggle back and fourth.

I eventuallly set my filters to less land and before you know it I’m looking at .5 acres for $150k or more realizing that just isn’t worth it!

So for the cheap areas that aren’t hillside cliffs...they exists very far north beyond Mendocino for coastal, inland areas in the foothills of the Sierra mountains like grass valley (or dry grassy areas with very little water and major fire danger), or inland in the Central Valley (but at that point might as well move to Arizona).

So conclusion: is there land? Yes! Is there cheap acreage? Yes! Is the climate and surrounding nature worth the price compared to neighboring states (such as oregan)? No. In my opinion going to Oregon for a grow zone of 8a-8b or jumping across the country to Florida for 9b-10b is a way better option, unless you have $300k to spend on land...

(That said I’m still vigorously looking lol, I’m determined to stay in Cali! But in 6 months I make a choice and it’s most likely gonna be oregan or Florida...)