North Carolina

[lisadme]

@slantrhymesWe moved here from Washington state less than a year ago. It'll be one year at the end of June. We love it so far. We have a good size garden that has done well for us. We have just over an acre and three sheds. One for the coop, one for the tools, and one for home brewing. We got very lucky with our house though. We have a small stream at the back of the property and there were mature pecan trees and a grapevine when we moved in. North Carolina is beautiful and I love our little piece of it.

 

[slantrhymes]

Ten years ago my husband and I moved to the farthest northwest corner of NC, in the Appalachian mountains.
My husband died 2 years ago. 
I have just started my journey to homesteading.
I find the weather and culture here both pleasant and challenging enough to keep me learning.
I have almost 2 acres but most are very steep and heavily wooded.
I just got my first eggs today. I will be setting them later this evening. 

If you are looking for more flat-ish land you'd need to move to the lowlands, but here in the mountains, we get almost exactly 3 months of each season. A patch of a few weeks in both summer and winter can be periods of extreme weather, high 90's and dry in the summer, single digits with wind chill in the negative temperatures. But we also get seasonally temperate weather that is delightful and the exuberant display of the return of spring and the exit of autumn.

I love it here better than any other place. If G-d allows I will create a small sustainable homestead that I will be able to handle as I age that will provide me most of what I need to live pleasantly.
To that end, I am starting with chickens this spring and hopefully a garden this fall, with 3-4 goats next spring. I'm still deciding whether they will be dairy or meat goats.

We are looking more towards the Piedmont region (if I'm getting my lingo right); my partner is a disability rights attorney, so he will more than likely need to be nearer a city (Wake Forest is sort of my coveted area at the moment) to continue in that field of law.

Congratulations on the eggs! You should join the April Hatchalong thread...I have some eggs set to hatch tomorrow, so I'm on there.

@slantrhymesWe moved here from Washington state less than a year ago. It'll be one year at the end of June. We love it so far. We have a good size garden that has done well for us. We have just over an acre and three sheds. One for the coop, one for the tools, and one for home brewing. We got very lucky with our house though. We have a small stream at the back of the property and there were mature pecan trees and a grapevine when we moved in. North Carolina is beautiful and I love our little piece of it.

We're currently in far northern California, so the climate is something I'm most anxious about (though I've lived in Chicago, and my partner in Minneapolis, so we aren't total strangers to winter). I'm glad to hear you're enjoying the move--what prompted you to leave the West Coast, since that's my situation?

For us, it boils down to housing prices. Land/housing in California is so ridiculously expensive...none of our friends throughout the state (mid 20s to early 30s) are homeowners, and until we started looking at the market in other states, I thought we would never be able to afford it either. I love California. But we want our little farm, and I don't particularly want to be renting an overpriced apartment when we start a family.

 

[megdarling]

We are looking more towards the Piedmont region (if I'm getting my lingo right); my partner is a disability rights attorney, so he will more than likely need to be nearer a city (Wake Forest is sort of my coveted area at the moment) to continue in that field of law.

Congratulations on the eggs! You should join the April Hatchalong thread...I have some eggs set to hatch tomorrow, so I'm on there.

We're currently in far northern California, so the climate is something I'm most anxious about (though I've lived in Chicago, and my partner in Minneapolis, so we aren't total strangers to winter). I'm glad to hear you're enjoying the move--what prompted you to leave the West Coast, since that's my situation?

For us, it boils down to housing prices. Land/housing in California is so ridiculously expensive...none of our friends throughout the state (mid 20s to early 30s) are homeowners, and until we started looking at the market in other states, I thought we would never be able to afford it either. I love California. But we want our little farm, and I don't particularly want to be renting an overpriced apartment when we start a family.

I live in the piedmont triad area, born and raised here. Our winters are mild, we get 1-2 snowfalls and it gets a littlle cold but nothing too extreme. I think the biggest difference you will see climate wise moving from Northern California to NC would be the humidity during the Summer. It's a great place to live.

 

[moomoodiddy]

We are looking more towards the Piedmont region (if I'm getting my lingo right); my partner is a disability rights attorney, so he will more than likely need to be nearer a city (Wake Forest is sort of my coveted area at the moment) to continue in that field of law.

Congratulations on the eggs! You should join the April Hatchalong thread...I have some eggs set to hatch tomorrow, so I'm on there.

We're currently in far northern California, so the climate is something I'm most anxious about (though I've lived in Chicago, and my partner in Minneapolis, so we aren't total strangers to winter). I'm glad to hear you're enjoying the move--what prompted you to leave the West Coast, since that's my situation?

For us, it boils down to housing prices. Land/housing in California is so ridiculously expensive...none of our friends throughout the state (mid 20s to early 30s) are homeowners, and until we started looking at the market in other states, I thought we would never be able to afford it either. I love California. But we want our little farm, and I don't particularly want to be renting an overpriced apartment when we start a family.

My best friend moved to NC from Cali, their house here is three times as big as the one in Cali. Everything is cheaper here, although summers are hot and humid and seem to last forever.

 

[Tikkijane]

Ooh, hi! My s/o and I are looking at moving to NC in the next year or so to start a small "homestead" on a tiny parcel (probably an acre or less--we're first time homebuyers and will need to reestablish our careers upon moving). How do you all feel about living, farming, and flock-raising in NC?

LOVE IT. We've been here 4 1/2 years now, and I have zero plans to leave. We're NE NC, 2 hours from the beach we like or 1 and some change from another; 30 minutes from Va, and 2 from the mountains. We are very rural, but can get to everything in 25 minutes. 1.5 hours from great medical at UNC.

 

[Tikkijane]

We are looking more towards the Piedmont region (if I'm getting my lingo right); my partner is a disability rights attorney, so he will more than likely need to be nearer a city (Wake Forest is sort of my coveted area at the moment) to continue in that field of law.

Congratulations on the eggs! You should join the April Hatchalong thread...I have some eggs set to hatch tomorrow, so I'm on there.

We're currently in far northern California, so the climate is something I'm most anxious about (though I've lived in Chicago, and my partner in Minneapolis, so we aren't total strangers to winter). I'm glad to hear you're enjoying the move--what prompted you to leave the West Coast, since that's my situation?

For us, it boils down to housing prices. Land/housing in California is so ridiculously expensive...none of our friends throughout the state (mid 20s to early 30s) are homeowners, and until we started looking at the market in other states, I thought we would never be able to afford it either. I love California. But we want our little farm, and I don't particularly want to be renting an overpriced apartment when we start a family.

Hunny is a Ca boy and I'm a Mi girl. Prices are crazy high out there! We've had so many job opportunities out there, but we need acreage for the horses, too. We'll never move there. And traffic sucks.

The housing market here is fantastic.

 

[Tikkijane]

I live in the piedmont triad area, born and raised here. Our winters are mild, we get 1-2 snowfalls and it gets a littlle cold but nothing too extreme. I think the biggest difference you will see climate wise moving from Northern California to NC would be the humidity during the Summer. It's a great place to live.

Chicago and MN do have the humidity. Not necessarily the same summer temps, though. The humidity doesn't bother Me, but my NM desert-born-and-raised kids {less the youngest, who is almost 13 and doesn't remember a whole whole lot} don't much like it and think it stinks.

You could not PAY me to go back.

 

[Tikkijane]

​My best friend moved to NC from Cali, their house here is three times as big as the one in Cali. Everything is cheaper here, although summers are hot and humid and seem to last forever.

That's perspective, lol. In NM, we'd hit triple digits by the end of April and stay there until September. The wind would blow hot enough to burn you. We used to say we had 2 seasons- windy, and hot and windy. I survived there for 17 years. NC is my nirvana, lol.

 

[moomoodiddy]

That's perspective, lol. In NM, we'd hit triple digits by the end of April and stay there until September. The wind would blow hot enough to burn you. We used to say we had 2 seasons- windy, and hot and windy. I survived there for 17 years. NC is my nirvana, lol.

 

[slantrhymes]

​

True! I live in the very climatically mild far north, "behind the redwood curtain." It's beautiful country, but still has CA land prices...just less access to services.

Always a shortage of every stripe of medical professional, which isn't great for those of us with chronic health concerns. I grew up in the hot and dry central valley of CA, where temps routinely get in the triple digits in summer, so I'm not too concerned about wilting... though of course humidity is a different beast altogether.

What about the culture? I know we can get along wherever we go, but I haven't ever lived in the South. Bluntly, I'm a California liberal and I don't know how much of a challenge that will represent. I don't want to rely on stereotypes. With that said, we're both friendly and open-minded. We like to talk to people and learn. Hopefully that means the adjustment won't be too difficult.