Searching for homestead community in or near Texas

[cdjack]

I'm recently divorced and looking for a homesteading community in or near Texas. I'm currently near Austin but water scarcity and the heat make it less than ideal so looking for the closest area where there is good water, not too much snow and a community of other homesteaders. I only need an acre and preferably one already established. I will also be looking for a roommate so looking for a 2 BR 2 BA house. I'm a retired acupuncturist/herbalist so have holistic health knowledge to share along with a medium amount of gardening skills. Any help is appreciated.

 

[Amish Heart]

Welcome to the forum, cdjack. It seems we've had a lot of newbies lately, people leaving the big cities. I can't blame them. I don't know anything about Texas, but if you only want an acre, I'm sure you could find something on zillow. A community of homesteaders would have more land than that. How did you want the acre established?

 

[Alaskajohn]

When I was looking for a place to "homestead," I considered the hill country from Johnson City out to Rock Springs, down to Uvalde, then northeast to Hondo, Boerne and Blanco. The last time I actively searched in this area was about 15 years ago, so I am not current with how far out San Antonio is encroaching on the hill country. You may want to look at the northern and western edges of the area I listed. Lots of streams that flow year round in the area. Lots of communities that looked amenable to homesteading in this area. There are some spots in Eastern Texas from about Lufkin up to Texarkana that are worth exploring. I know several who have developed good farms/homesteads in the hill country and along the north eastern edges of Texas and they are happy with the area. Water shouldn't be a problem at all in eastern Texas. I enjoyed the climate in the higher elevations of the hill country, but it was getting pricey 15 years ago and was a bit crowded by my standards. I know nothing about western Texas so I won't offer anything here. About 20 years ago I looked south of San Antonio and saw some promising land. Might be worth a look there.

Good luck.

Oh, and welcome from Alaska!!!!

 

[phideaux]

Welcome to the forum.

I'm a KY country boy,

Can't help you that hot , uuurr I mean far south.

Jim

 

[Bacpacker]

Welcome from Tennessee

 

[cdjack]

Welcome to the forum, cdjack. It seems we've had a lot of newbies lately, people leaving the big cities. I can't blame them. I don't know anything about Texas, but if you only want an acre, I'm sure you could find something on zillow. A community of homesteaders would have more land than that. How did you want the acre established?

Thank you, Amish Heart. Yes, I am a fairly recent convert. Had been a progressive democrat my whole life until several years ago when I realized that only the Republicans in the Texas legislature would commit to supporting the organization I was a part of, Texans for Vaccine Choice. And then Covid happened and with further research into propaganda (mainly via the CorbettReport.com), I realized how utterly corrupt our country is and again that only the conservatives and freedom lovers are willing to resist what's happening to our country. I'm more afraid of the globalist technocrats' vision for the world than most others are afraid of this virus so I need to find a community of like minded people to weather the storm. My husband and I had moved out to Lopez Island off Washington state last year and grew almost all our own food but the isolation and a difference in our views of the virus caused the end of our 40 year marriage. I'm too old at this point to develop raw land so need something mostly already with house, well, and a plus would be gardens and chicken/rabbit coops. I've been looking on Zillow but also want to have a community. I've already made the mistake of moving to an island with 99% lefties and it was pretty awful.

 

[cdjack]

When I was looking for a place to "homestead," I considered the hill country from Johnson City out to Rock Springs, down to Uvalde, then northeast to Hondo, Boerne and Blanco. The last time I actively searched in this area was about 15 years ago, so I am not current with how far out San Antonio is encroaching on the hill country. You may want to look at the northern and western edges of the area I listed. Lots of streams that flow year round in the area. Lots of communities that looked amenable to homesteading in this area. There are some spots in Eastern Texas from about Lufkin up to Texarkana that are worth exploring. I know several who have developed good farms/homesteads in the hill country and along the north eastern edges of Texas and they are happy with the area. Water shouldn't be a problem at all in eastern Texas. I enjoyed the climate in the higher elevations of the hill country, but it was getting pricey 15 years ago and was a bit crowded by my standards. I know nothing about western Texas so I won't offer anything here. About 20 years ago I looked south of San Antonio and saw some promising land. Might be worth a look there.

Good luck.

Oh, and welcome from Alaska!!!!

Thank you, Alaskajohn, for all the suggestions. I was pretty spoiled by the Pacific Northwest climate where I spent the past year plus the ease of gardening there compared to Texas. The summers here in the hill country around Austin are brutal, getting hotter every year and the droughts more frequent so may consider East Texas. But as important to me is finding a community of like-minded people.

 

[Amish Heart]

OK, I see why you're looking. You've been through alot! I really don't know Tx, but know that Austin is liberal. We have family in Denton, Tx and have visited. There is ranch land there. Husband's uncle has a ranch there. I'm in Kansas, and there are conservatives and one acre places here. And people that support vaccine choice.
Seems that the viewpoints of the virus are causing alot of division everywhere.

 

[Peanut]

I know a good herbalist near San Antonio. Has a school near there, teaches herbs but a lot more. Has classes in off grid living, sustain ability, the whole gambit. Anyway, he or his wife would know that part of the country really well. They run free a clinic in San Antonio and do disaster relief, usually for hurricanes around the Caribbean.

Here is Sam's website... Home - The Human Path. Years ago Sam was a special forces medic, his start into plant medicine actually. He's not the usual herbalist.

 

[Alaskajohn]

cdjack, thanks for the additional perspective. In my previous response I limited my response to include areas close to Austin. In my several decades searching for the perfect place to unplug from society, the wife and I visited and lived in some nice places we considered. How far away from Austin can you go? The Ozarks of Northweast Arkansas certainly offers a more favorable climate (less summer heat but maybe a not of snow) and a really good mix of political viewpoints in NW Arkansas. Fayetteville, and the area about 1-2 hours in any direction would give you access to a university town, farmland, and bigger hills than the hill country and like minded folks who value some self sufficient, decent lifestyles.

 

[viking]

Hello and welcome from S.W. Oregon. I grew up just north of Bremerton, WA on Erland's Point, foster parents had waterfront property on Dye's Inlet, I learned that a lot of the small island dwellers had different views of life, you'd think they would be conservative, it's a shame so many are actually snowflakes.

 

[cdjack]

I know a good herbalist near San Antonio. Has a school near there, teaches herbs but a lot more. Has classes in off grid living, sustain ability, the whole gambit. Anyway, he or his wife would know that part of the country really well. They run free a clinic in San Antonio and do disaster relief, usually for hurricanes around the Caribbean.

Here is Sam's website... Home - The Human Path. Years ago Sam was a special forces medic, his start into plant medicine actually. He's not the usual herbalist.

Wow, thanks Peanut! I checked out Sam's website and it is extensive. I'll call them tomorrow and see if there's a community near them.

 

[cdjack]

Hello and welcome from S.W. Oregon. I grew up just north of Bremerton, WA on Erland's Point, foster parents had waterfront property on Dye's Inlet, I learned that a lot of the small island dwellers had different views of life, you'd think they would be conservative, it's a shame so many are actually snowflakes.

Yes, Viking, it's also sad and frustrating that so many Democrats that are professionals are almost impossible to convince that they've been duped by their party. I follow Mark Crispin Miller of News From Underground, a 27 year tenured professor of propaganda at NYU and the university is actually trying to boot him out because of his views on wearing masks! And what saddens him the most is that all his leftist colleagues have also turned against him. I've noticed that the only progressives that can be woken to what's happening to our country are the ones that are in holistic health, have a vaccine injured child or have already been studying propaganda. I've (mostly) given up trying to convince them and am just focusing on solutions and showing by example. I hope my family members will eventually wake up and follow me to wherever I end up.

 

[cdjack]

cdjack, thanks for the additional perspective. In my previous response I limited my response to include areas close to Austin. In my several decades searching for the perfect place to unplug from society, the wife and I visited and lived in some nice places we considered. How far away from Austin can you go? The Ozarks of Northweast Arkansas certainly offers a more favorable climate (less summer heat but maybe a not of snow) and a really good mix of political viewpoints in NW Arkansas. Fayetteville, and the area about 1-2 hours in any direction would give you access to a university town, farmland, and bigger hills than the hill country and like minded folks who value some self sufficient, decent lifestyles.

Thanks, Alaskajohn. I'll check out NW Arkansas. I'm also looking at central Tennessee.

 

[Peanut]

@cdjack I posted a bit more about Sam and his book here...

https://www.homesteadingforum.org/threads/snake-bite.10580/
I put something in the library also.

Ahh... Central Tennessee, better have a big wallet if you're looking at anything within an hour of Nashville. Its a very pricey part of the southeast. A little further away and prices get more reasonable.

 

[Alaskajohn]

Thanks, Alaskajohn. I'll check out NW Arkansas. I'm also looking at central Tennessee.

I lived in in the upper Cumberland gap for about 5 months after I retired from the military. The area of north central and north east TN is really nice. The area above I-40 from the red river (just east of Clarksville) over to about Kingsport is perfect, as is much of the area along 127 from Pall Mall down to about Dunlap. I probably wouldn’t be in Alaska if the wife didn’t say “no“ to us moving to a nice spread in the upper Cumberland gap area not too far from Pall Mall. There is a slight cultural difference between the upper Cumberland gap and north west Arkansas where the wife was perfectly happy with NW Arkansas and not the upper Cumberland. Regardless, NW Arkansas and the central TN/upper Cumberland gap areas are perfect for what you want. In the end, we just felt the low population density of Alaska was a better fit for us.

I apologize for injecting so much commentary into this thread. It’s just that these three areas discussed are areas the wife and I lived in while searching for our permanent live in bug out location before we pulled the plug on everything and escaped to the north.

 

[Patchouli]

@Alaskajohn nobody minds that you shared all that stuff. I'm glad to read it. I've been thinking about going to NW Arkansas or northern Arkansas myself. I've been in Texas a little while and love the people and the culture but the heat...I have seasonal affectiveness disorder in reverse here. Spend all summer inside some years and have yet to get the hang of gardening here.

 

[MoBookworm1957]

Welcome from Missouri.

 

[cdjack]

@Alaskajohn nobody minds that you shared all that stuff. I'm glad to read it. I've been thinking about going to NW Arkansas or northern Arkansas myself. I've been in Texas a little while and love the people and the culture but the heat...I have seasonal affectiveness disorder in reverse here. Spend all summer inside some years and have yet to get the hang of gardening here.

Patchouli, I can't agree with you more about the heat here. SO many of my patients when I was an acupuncturist had SAD in the middle of the summer because you really are stuck in your house just like the people in snow country. And I agree also on the gardening- I thought I was a terrible gardener all these years in Texas then move to the Pacific NW for 10 months and suddenly was a genius gardener! All the people moving to the Austin area from California crack me up. I give 'em 2 summers tops before they move on.

 

[Patchouli]

I had started getting some medicinal herbs growing where I lived back east and then we ended up moving. I'd dearly love to get myself set up on a property that is good for gardening.
Good luck on finding what will suit you best.
humidity combined with heat is not good either. Looking for paradise. Actually, Tennessee seems like it would have what I'm looking for too. And western North Carolina.

 

[cdjack]

We should talk, Patchouli. It sounds like we have a lot in common. I'm looking for a roommate. I'm not very tech savvy-is there a way to talk privately?

 

[cdjack]

@cdjack I posted a bit more about Sam and his book here...

https://www.homesteadingforum.org/threads/snake-bite.10580/
I put something in the library also.

Ahh... Central Tennessee, better have a big wallet if you're looking at anything within an hour of Nashville. Its a very pricey part of the southeast. A little further away and prices get more reasonable.

Thanks, Peanut! Super interesting snakebite info. A blogger I follow, Marjorie Wildcraft, who was east of Austin but now in Colorado, got bitten by a Copperhead and treated it herself with numerous paddles of prickly pear poultices and herbs. Good to know about the high real estate prices in Central Tennessee.

 

[Peanut]

A blogger I follow, Marjorie Wildcraft,

Thanks for the name, I found both of her websites, didn't find the account with the prickly pear use. It's a medicine I'm aware of through Sam (and others), but I've never used it even though it's fairly common here. I wish I knew more about it (along with a few hundred other herbs).

I came to herbs late in life through necessity. I'm not a herbalist but happen to live in the same state as 2 of the worlds foremost experts on appalachian folk medicine, learned much from them. Even though I grow quite a few herbs here on the farm I love wild plants. I also happen to live in a state that has over 1200 species of medicinal s that grow wild. They are my hobby or passion, amazing how those lines get blurred sometimes.

Glad you found us, a few folks here know some plant medicine. A few more are always welcome.

 

[Patchouli]

We should talk, Patchouli. It sounds like we have a lot in common. I'm looking for a roommate. I'm not very tech savvy-is there a way to talk privately?

We can private message here.

 

[Meerkat]

from N.Florida transplant,from Atlanta and Stone Mountain,Ga...
My mother got bit on the calf by a Diamond Back Rattler in Stone Mountain,not many of those left.

 

[Duncan]

Thank you, Amish Heart. Yes, I am a fairly recent convert. Had been a progressive democrat my whole life until several years ago when I realized that only the Republicans in the Texas legislature would commit to supporting the organization I was a part of, Texans for Vaccine Choice. And then Covid happened and with further research into propaganda (mainly via the CorbettReport.com), I realized how utterly corrupt our country is and again that only the conservatives and freedom lovers are willing to resist what's happening to our country. I'm more afraid of the globalist technocrats' vision for the world than most others are afraid of this virus so I need to find a community of like minded people to weather the storm. My husband and I had moved out to Lopez Island off Washington state last year and grew almost all our own food but the isolation and a difference in our views of the virus caused the end of our 40 year marriage. I'm too old at this point to develop raw land so need something mostly already with house, well, and a plus would be gardens and chicken/rabbit coops. I've been looking on Zillow but also want to have a community. I've already made the mistake of moving to an island with 99% lefties and it was pretty awful.

Greetings, cdjack, from Twin Falls County in southern Idaho -- the state everyone's heard about but no one can find on the map!. Dawn and I moved here in 2018 after living in Arizona for 40 (me) and 28 (her) years. Like you, we didn't like the 218° degree summers, as well as the ever-encroaching drought and population growth. The rural southern part of Idaho has four seasons, excellent soil, a huge and productive aquifer, a very small (in comparison to its land area) population, and --if such things are of interest to you -- it is one of the politically reddest states in the country.

We found that, although we moved here with the intent to homestead (which we did), that there aren't many homesteading networks here; not that there aren't a lot of homesteaders, but homesteaders, tending to be more individualistic people, might not want to advertise their capabilities and interests whether to invite attention from Californian wannabee transplants or the gubbmint. Of course, you could check out homestead magazines like Mother Earth or even the local Craigslist to get some good inputs.

Either way, welcome to the forum and good luck with your searches; if you have any other questions, post away; there's a lot of folks ready and willing to help!

 

[Meerkat]

Patchouli, I can't agree with you more about the heat here. SO many of my patients when I was an acupuncturist had SAD in the middle of the summer because you really are stuck in your house just like the people in snow country. And I agree also on the gardening- I thought I was a terrible gardener all these years in Texas then move to the Pacific NW for 10 months and suddenly was a genius gardener! All the people moving to the Austin area from California crack me up. I give 'em 2 summers tops before they move on.

A lot of that is from 'climate change' not the popular one but the one we accustom ourselves to inside our homes.Its not easy to go from our house to our yard with such drastic change,inside is cool outside is hot ,humid and it hits you instantely."
I had to sit in the van last month at parts store and rbeath the fumes of two trucks.They wanted their truck to stay cool. Peopel in drive thrus same thing.Sit in a line for 5 minutes with heat or air going.
We use fans and weaar warmer clothes most of the time.We do use AC and heat too ut try not to get too extreme.

 

[Spikedriver]

First, welcome from Iowa!

Second, you might look a bit to the north. Oklahoma has a lot of like minded people, as does Southern Missouri. If you don't mind being on the flat plains, Southern Kansas could be an option.

My ex wife was from the Austin area, and we vacationed in the Hill Country. I wouldn't want to try farming anything in that territory. It may be a bit easier to grow stuff if you go east from Austin, toward College Station. But if I was you I'd look north first...

 

[cdjack]

Thank you, Spikedriver. I've decided after much trying that I'd better stay in Texas closer to family. I have tried to garden in the rocky caliche hill country west of Austin and it was brutal so trying now to find something east of Austin where most of the farms are. I don't look forward to the summers but I have to be practical at my age. Thanks for your advice.

 

[cdjack]

Greetings, cdjack, from Twin Falls County in southern Idaho -- the state everyone's heard about but no one can find on the map!. Dawn and I moved here in 2018 after living in Arizona for 40 (me) and 28 (her) years. Like you, we didn't like the 218° degree summers, as well as the ever-encroaching drought and population growth. The rural southern part of Idaho has four seasons, excellent soil, a huge and productive aquifer, a very small (in comparison to its land area) population, and --if such things are of interest to you -- it is one of the politically reddest states in the country.

We found that, although we moved here with the intent to homestead (which we did), that there aren't many homesteading networks here; not that there aren't a lot of homesteaders, but homesteaders, tending to be more individualistic people, might not want to advertise their capabilities and interests whether to invite attention from Californian wannabee transplants or the gubbmint. Of course, you could check out homestead magazines like Mother Earth or even the local Craigslist to get some good inputs.

Either way, welcome to the forum and good luck with your searches; if you have any other questions, post away; there's a lot of folks ready and willing to help!

Duncan, you're in the exact place I would be if my circumstances were different. Lucky you! Alas, I'm going to stick it out in Texas to be safer and to be closer to family. Wish me luck.