Anyone living off the land?

[newbie32]

YES! well lets hope they grow so I can have good soil! As far as routation goes, im not really learned in that matter. I know you need to plant different things each year but I want basically the same plants to keep growing-if I can get them to grow

 

[newbie32]

Anyone have crops or garden plants that don't need to be reseeded-replanted? I would love a minimal fuss veggie or fruit that I don't have to keep buying seeds for

 

[sarahsunshine]

I don't know your area, but what you are looking for are perrenial edibles. What you need to do is find out your local growing zone, and then you can look up 'perennial edible'.

Really, you should google a local Permaculture group, and likely you could find someone (student or someone starting up) who could help you out in exchange for something. That's how permaculture groups generally work.


You can probably get someone to design a whole edible landscape for you that is low maintenance, Then if you provide a bunch of food for a day or two, you can probably get a "Blitz", which is when a bunch of people get together and put in the design. Then you yust watch it grow!


Here is someone yo could contact:
http://www.permies.com/t/27153/introductions/California-Desert
And another:
http://www.sonoranpermaculture.org/members/barbara-rose/

 

[newbie32]

Thank you!!!!!!! I will contact to see. I was thinking how my grandma never seemed to do much for her raspberries that faithfully grew ever year-in Denver. Of course I could've just been blind to the work she put in since I was a teenager lol

 

[sarahsunshine]

I don't know, but raspberries probably came back with a vengence in Denver! They do at our place. I think that what you probably need to do is set up a system that will hold water in your soils (have guuters send water into a bunch of soil that will hold it - could build a hugulkultur- type bed (http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/), keep everything hugely mulched so water doesn't evaporate and it creates more organic soil, and you should be able to grow a bunch of stuff.

Here are some strategies to growing in desert:

 

[newbie32]

How would this affect mosquitos? We get West Nile in the area because of the Salton Sea every year

 

[sarahsunshine]

I may be mistaken, but isn't west nile one of those things that most people have had but don't know it, and once you've had it, you won't get it again? Personally, I wouldn't worry about West Nile unless I was in one of the high risk populations.

But more importantly, mosquitoes generally breed in standing water. If you are storing water in logs, soil and organic matter, you won't be increasing mosquito population. You may, however, increase soil bacterial communities and fungi which are great for improving soil and decomposing matter! You might get an increase in other bugs (which are good for the soil too - slugs, millipeds, etc...)

Teh thing is, you want to keep your soil as covered as possible with mulch and vegetation (overseeding is a tactic in permacultue), so that water doesn't evaporate. It makes for a very lush but messy looking garden (the plants tend themselves, most weeds are considered soil enhancers and left, not pulled, true weeds are pulled and left as mulch, not put on a compost pile or thrown away). It's low maintenance that way. Personally, I like the look of things (anything) growing, especially if it has the side value that I can eat it! If I was really worried about neatness, and what the neighbours thought, though, it might not be for you.

Here's another...

 

[Baymule]

Newbie32, I hear your dreams and feel your yearning for a better life. Go for it. Since you work at a hospital, you can go anywhere you want to. You may have to get licensed in another state.

This is a good site to troll around on to see the different cost of land and what the land looks like. Most of the postings have a google map location that gives you an idea of how far to town the land is. It might be a good way to look around without having to go anywhere.

http://www.landsofamerica.com/america/

I live on a small lot in the middle of my small town. I have hens in the backyard, no roosters because I don't want to disturb neighbors. I have a small garden in the front yard between the driveway and sidewalk. I also have a bean garden next to the other side of the driveway that is about a foot wide and 12 feet long. Here is a link to the green bean garden at BYC's sister site, TheEasyGarden.com

http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=33860

And this link is about growing sweet potatoes

http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=33974

This is my 2013 potato garden failure and success

http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=34797&p=1

Go look around on TEG, also scroll to the bottom of the page and click on SufficientSelf, there is lots of good info there. If you want to learn how to garden, there are lots of nice folks on TEG that will be glad to help.

I don't live on acreage, but I manage to grow a LOT of food in small beds. In our climate, I can grow all year around. I am planting the fall garden now-broccoli, cauliflower, mustard greens, tomatoes in my tiny greenhouse, green onions, lettuce and beets.

Look around the country to where you would like to move to. Maybe go visit and look the job situation over, get a feel for how friendly the people are. What a shame you feel discriminated against because you are a Native American. You can even do a demographics search state by state, county by county on things like crime rate, population (broken down by race) school ratings and jobs. And don't forget to ask on the forum what people like best and least about their state. Look over things like property taxes, state income taxes, cost of living, auto insurance costs, utilities-water and electricity.

For instance, Texas has lots of jobs, no state income tax, but some of the highest property taxes in the nation. We have good schools and sucky bad schools-pick one. Crime is on the down side, auto insurance costs less if you live in a rural county. Texas has semi-tropical (along the Mexican border in the Rio Grande Valley), forest (east Texas) desert and almost mountains (west Texas) the Gulf coast where seafood is awesome, the weather is hot and humid, the panhandle sticks up into the Great Plains so it gets blistering heat and freezing snow. Just an example, even in the same state, there may be wildly different weather and terrain.

Moving to another state is a big adventure. Life is what you make it, so get out there and live life and do what makes you happy.

 

[newbie32]

Baymule-thank you for the links to the other website! I will hunt around. I have looked in a few states already. My main concerns are schools and natural disasters. I WILL NOT LIVE IN TORNADO VALLEY for example. That cuts out 5 states right away. My hubby ( he is the native American not me) will not move to the most eastern states. We do not want a border state either. So basically we are looking Midwest or northern states. I love the rain and was highly considering Oregon and Washington but the suicide rates are extremely high and that is not an environment I want my kids in. Yes I am picky

. I am adding the Website to my favs list for easy access.

On another note-After reading The Backyard Homestead I realize I don't need 2 or more acres. It would be nice but I can do all I need to do on just 1 acre-I could do it on 1/4 acre but I really really want dwarf milking goats!

 

[newbie32]

Sooo I want to talk about dwarf goats if anyone has any. How many quarts do you get from 1? how often? Do they cost a lot to feed? Male goat to female ratio, ect ect