We moved back to Missouri recently (from NC) to be with my family, since we almost never visited (too much $ and time involved for the trip). So here we are, and I'm tying to figure out if I should consider homesteading here. I love my family, but hate MO - the weather sucks, the economy sucks, the cultural diversity is nil unless you live near a big city - and I mean a BIG one, and it's just not where I want to spend my whole life.

On the other hand, it's cheap and I will be here for an indefinate period of time - maybe a few years, maybe many, many years. Hard to tell how long from right now, and I'm not sure when I will be able to tell.

I loved NC with a passion, but the land is more expensive, the laws are stricter and the homesteading areas are shrinking in the face of development, etc. But if I put down roots here, however temporarily-minded, I fear it will lapse into permanency through sheer inertia and the fact that once planted, things like orchards, community roots, and the like are not movable. On the other hand, to stay in a holding pattern on my dreams indefinately is just as heart-sickening a proposition.

Any advice?

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), April 27, 2002

Answers

Are you going back just to be near them, or because you are taking care of ill relatives?

If the latter, you will rest much easier at night knowing you were there when they needed you, even if it should be years. You can't buy peace of mind like that.

If the former, I would advise living where you want to live, but just planning for one or two (or however many) visits a year. With telephones and now the internet, it is easy to keep in touch with people. Depending on the relative, it is also perfectly proper to remind them that "the roads (and phone lines, I might add) go BOTH ways".

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), April 27, 2002.

Bloom where you are planted, someday maybe never seems to get here.

-- Ed Copp (OH) (edcopp@yahoo.com), April 27, 2002.

Your plans need a GPS reader??? I've lived in the same place for 30 years and it has changed a lot. Perhaps if you start somewhere perfect it will end up being a miserable place to spend you old age. At least starting somewhere with so much you dislike can only improve, heck even the climate is changing!! Smile Soni, think positive and you'll have more control over your happiness. MO must be a great place they named a battleship after it! :^)

-- Ross (amulet@istar.ca), April 27, 2002.

Lots of people move with thier homestead. No reason you can't put down some roots there and homestead and when the time comes to move somewhere else, you just go. Just like you would if you lived in an apartment. It just takes a bit more planning. When the time comes, lots of folks here can give some pointers on moving with a homestead. Who knows if any of our places are permanent? In the meantime, you could gain some great knowledge and have all the necessary equipment when you move to your "permanent" homestead.

-- Karen (mountains_mama2@hotmail.com), April 27, 2002.

Well...... we've only got two big cities.....Dont care much about "cultural diversity" either your an adult or your not...those that aren't dont last long... the weather is about the same as anyother locale ive been in especially after living all over the world..If it is really that bad or maybe your just homesick for NC...have a safe trip back.....

-- Doc (thisisdoc@aol.com), April 27, 2002.

try thinking of it as making a little place better than you found it. with improved soil, fruit trees, snug houses for people & livestock.

i have tried to follow mr. copps advice and have left behind 4 gardens for other people to enjoy. it is the process of homsteading that feels good to me.

but i guess if you ask me again when i hit 92 i might say the pride of ownership & accopmlishment is'nt too bad either! ;)

-- bj pepper ,in central MS. (pepper.pepper@excite.com), April 27, 2002.

If your doing the "homesteading philosophy" most of your time will be spent on your homeplace anyway , so the "diversity factor" is of minimal importance. The world will be as it is. So give more weight to the other factors to make your decision easier.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), April 28, 2002.

Keep slamming on missouri and maybe no one will want to move here, it is too crouded now. On the other hand, if you don't look at the good side of things, you'll never like it here.

-- randy in central missouri (rwybrant@coin.org), April 28, 2002.

randy, don't you folks have several hundred cottonmouth snakes per acre? Or is that Mississippi?

-- Joe (CactusJoe001@AOL.com), April 28, 2002.

Actually the ticks are killing off the snakes. Boy do I wish. The climate is humid but then with the rain we get it sure helps things to grow. I like it here as we do have four seasons but I don't think that any are really severe. The land is cheaper than many places which is fine if you can pay for it before you move here. I think that land appears to be cheap in many areas only because we don't realize how low paying the jobs are which explains the price of the land. Soni I would suggest if you are going to be here anyway why not try to homestead and later if you do decide to leave you will have had more experience using homesteading skills. And if you end up with a homestead you just don't want to leave maybe you have made it home.

-- gail missouri ozarks (gefozarks@centurytel.net), April 28, 2002.

yeah, yeah, it is mississippi w/ the huge snake population, took a large cottonmouth/watermoccasin out of my backyard last year. [no pond here either!]

seen a few copperhead & various black snakes along the road this year but only grass snakes so far in the yard. :-) btw. i follow an old family custom that is said to come from a cherokee ancestor, i walk the properties boundries dragging a piece of clothing & make verbal contract w/ the local snake population, 'harm none of mine & i'll harm none of yours.'

so far so good, plenty of snakes, no bites, low rodent & slug populations!

-- bj pepper ,in central MS. (pepper.pepper@excite.com), April 29, 2002.

They named a battleship after it so that there'd be something worth shooting at ;)

I just don't care for Mo and would hate to put down serious roots only to end up getting "stuck" here due to sunk costs, getting too tired to start over, inertia, etc. Orchards and the like take so long to establish that one feels compelled to bloom where THEY'RE planted.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), May 02, 2002.