David Gruenberg

I'm looking (from afar) at Tennessee, but find it hard to figure out without going there, which I intend to do, but it's hard to leave the farm here (in Oregon).  I want to be at least 1.5 hours away from a city, to the south between Nashville and Memphis.  Any suggestions or leads would be appreciated.  You can also tell me I'm crazy and need to be living there already to find a proper homestead.

I'm looking for land that can support sheep on grass without grain.  Twenty to 50 acres with a pond or stream would be great.  Want to avoid problems like crime, flooding or tornados etc.

Hi

I'd like to get rid of the riding mower I purchased before I became aware of permaculture.  I'm hoping to purchase a scythe this year, but the weeds are growing faster than I can do my research. We started using a small sickle, but its too much work for big jobs.

I'm put off by what appears to be hype about "european" scythes working better than "american". The sharpening of the "european" seems too time consuming to be practical.  The sharpening tools seem expensive for "european".

I don't feel I have figured out what additional questions I need to ask. I'm trying not to get overwhelmed.  I'd like to figure this out, but I don't have much time as I spend it working and feel guilty taking time off to write this.

Here is what I want to do: I'm 6' and so is the other user of the scythe, but I'm left handed. The main use will be grass and pasture for rabbit and sheep food but not heavy weeds.