If I had all the money I needed, I still need help with the 'where' part..

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Comments

  • erikawinterton
    erikawinterton Posts: 98 ✭✭✭

    I live in NE Utah. Rural. Dry. Airid. We have really hot summers and below 0° winters. The worst bit is access to water. Water shares here are few and far between. We also boarder the tribal lands. Which means we do have land feuds, mixed regulations, and areas we just can't access. I can't really say what we pay in taxes, but we have incredibly low living expenses (which isn't all the state).

    With all that said, I absolutely love it here. Where we are entrepreneurs we really dont face the same sort of taxes (aside from sales tax). We homestead outside city limits with no problems. (Inside the city they do not allow livestock).

    I also love anywhere south east from us. I have traveled through every state from here to Georgia and back.

    Kansas and Missouri are pretty pain Jane. You can drive for miles without ever seeing anything but flat land. Where I grew up in the mountains this was rather a strange phenomenon experience for me. I felt like the world had shrunk because the horizon seemed so close.

    TN is very humid and has terrible bugs (chiggers) but beatuiful, rural, and low taxes and living expenses.

    Texas is likely my favorite state, but has different cultures in different areas. Is super hot in most areas and the bugs are also really bad around Dallas. North East is incredible.

    The north west side of Texas and New Mexico are basically desert. But closer to the coast you have mountainous regions too.

    Georgia, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi are hot, humid, and pretty rural. Alot of wet lands.. But I really love the southern culture and appeal. Just don't try alot of their back roads you might get lost.

    Arizona can be very hot, but there are beautiful Mountainous areas like Toas that are more moderate in temp all year round. It is also semi coastal so they have really nice weather on the West side.

    North of us...

    I also love Montana. It is a tourist state. But beautiful crisp and in alot of areas seasonal due to the snow and mountain terrain. Huckleberry and Raspberry grow wild there, just like in WA!

    Wyoming is windy. Mountainous. Good farm land.

    Idaho is more forest land and farm land. It also has one of the most prominent alternative health clinic in the western US.


    I would definitely suggest traveling all over the state that has the most appeal to you for the specific reasons you want to move. Then check with local governments, and select the area that has the climate you are after. Most states have a mixture of different things in different areas.

  • RustBeltCowgirl
    RustBeltCowgirl Posts: 1,403 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Thanks @Marjory Wildcraft another reading assignment on my pile😋

  • burekcrew86
    burekcrew86 Posts: 248 ✭✭✭

    What a great thread. We live in a Pennsylvania. I’m not a big fan of the winter weather but love the changing of the seasons here. The taxes are crazy in my opinion and we pay a lot more for gas for our cars here. They say it has something to do with the pipelines. I’m not sure if I buy that. But the mountains, rivers, forests and natural areas here are stunning.

  • vickeym
    vickeym Posts: 2,134 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Depending on the type of climate you are looking for you might consider Alaska as well. While our state does have property taxes in most areas, there are some boroughs here (same as counties elsewhere) that have no property taxes. If you are out away from the cities it is pretty much a homesteaders dream. There are many, many folks here who homestead. Being off grid is fairly common. Self sufficient outside of the cities is fairly normal here. And a surprising fact to many, is that the winters are often harsher in the northern parts of the lower 48 states than they are here.

    We don't get blizzards, our ice storms are typically very mild compared to what I have seen in other states. We have less daylight in winter (in some areas, no daylight. But they are much further north than I am.) That is made up for by much more sunlight in the summer. My brother used to play softball in a league. They played sometimes around 2:00 am without lights.

    If you look up the Alaska state fair, you will find information and links to some of our giant produce...especially pumpkins and cabbage, and even hold world records for some or have held them in the past.

    It does get very cold, but surprisingly summers can be very hot, though most areas have little if any humidity.

  • Voodoo Flóra
    Voodoo Flóra Posts: 258 ✭✭✭

    @Marjory Wildcraft thank you so much I'm going to research this information about allodial title. I've read your article on what to look for in finding a homestead and it was excellent. Thank you for the knowledge you provide, TGN is the best community out there I know about. You have brought together such a diversity of people with very good values about the land and environment who don't want to blindly rely on the state. There is a happy medium out there and we'll find it!

  • Voodoo Flóra
    Voodoo Flóra Posts: 258 ✭✭✭

    @vickeym thank you we are researching more about Alaska as well. I traveled there once. It is a beauty like no other.

  • Voodoo Flóra
    Voodoo Flóra Posts: 258 ✭✭✭

    @erikawinterton thank you for all of your thoughtful comments! You should write your own road trip / journey / homestead guide about the southwest. It could be a fun book for travelers and also a practical go-to for homesteaders. Include lots of photos!!!

  • Voodoo Flóra
    Voodoo Flóra Posts: 258 ✭✭✭

    @burekcrew86 I went to school out east and made the road trip from DC to upstate NY more than a few times. Also I had a boyfriend in Friendsville, PA back in the day. What a blast from the past. The history, geographic diversity, and pure beauty of your state is breathtaking, thanks for adding to this discussion. I got lost in Amish country after dark once and had to fight for a last room in a hotel along the PA turnpike. I lost my way back to the stunning hostel I was at, and it was so sad. Good lesson for me about paying attention to directions LOL. Pearl S. Buck's homestead / museum is in Buck County, no relation to the name. A nice surprise. You could spend a lifetime in PA getting lost and found again.

  • judsoncarroll4
    judsoncarroll4 Posts: 5,490 admin

    I am very fond of PA. Honestly, it may be one of the best food states in America. The past decade or two, Ohio has been on everyone's list for honest regional and ethnic food... Appalachian to Italian to eastern European, etc. PA has it all, with better weather and fresher seafood. Lots of history and wild areas. I don't have a desire to move farther north, but PA is really nice.

  • rbusby01
    rbusby01 Posts: 115 ✭✭✭

    You've gotten great suggestions! I've lived in Texas, Alaska, Tennessee and Hawaii. I've been back in Texas now for 8 years as I moved back for my daughter's medical issues difficult to address in Alaska. I would say it's necessary to look for low cost of living/taxes. There are still 7 states without state income tax. Central Texas is getting quite crowded so I am looking at moving over to East Texas. Hopefully, I can make it back to Alaska some day. It is very beautiful and easy to live off grid although more expensive. I prefer states with more freedom and less government regulation so Texas and Alaska fit the bill. Also, it's interesting to meet people from all over and both have interesting histories. Good luck finding your dream place!

  • rbusby01
    rbusby01 Posts: 115 ✭✭✭

    I love Alaska! I used to live there and hope to move back some day at least for the summer!

  • rbusby01
    rbusby01 Posts: 115 ✭✭✭

    Great advice! I've traveled all over too and enjoy experiencing different places. I'm currently in Texas, but who knows where I'll go next!

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    This is a very positive thread with a lot of helps. I am enjoying learning a bit about each one's states. Hopefully, one day I can visit a few mentioned.

    I was in Texas once, and only briefly. I had to cross a bridge over a narrow, but wide gully. I drove over, stepped out, then back in to my vehicle...that is all I had time for that evening before dealing with a difficult situation that I was down there to deal with. Once that was done, I headed back north.

    So...I can officially say I've been in Texas. I only wish that I could have done more there!

  • vickeym
    vickeym Posts: 2,134 ✭✭✭✭✭

    rbusby01 What part of Alaska were you in?

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited August 2020

    I want to thank all of you that have posted. It has been a very fun and informative read. I will have to go back to page 1 and re read as I still am sorta undecided on the where to.

    @Marjory Wildcraft I'm going back to read the ebook you listed above..I have heard of the no dl thing, and even more is the fact that taxation is also illegal...there was a book written about that long time ago and I have yet to find it but I know it exists because a friend loaned me her dads once, right before a move and I never had a chance to read it so if I do find it I will post it here.

    I have lived in a few states but the ones I know like the back of my hand are: Okla, part of TX (briefly), South Dakota, and my very fav of all the places I have ever lived is ALASKA ! ! !

    I got to see more of Alaska than most people that have lived there in the under 10 year time frame I lived there. I remember being at a car wash once and watching the AK Train go by and thinking like it was just yesterday... I am so happy I am not a 'touristo' and that I am a resident as I dreamed of living there for 25 years by the time I actually made the move.

    I did not like Anchorage for a variety of reasons although the 'bowl' was a beautiful place/the nature part of it, but it was more like 'Los Anchorage' is what the sourdough's called it and it didn't take me long to understand why..sleeping lady was beautiful.. I have seen: Seward, Homer, Anchorage, Fairbanks, Valdez, places all along the AK hwy, and the Glen Hwy and the 8 hour drive hwy that I can't remember the name of at the present.. poss the Denali hwy I think. I flew with civil air patrol, took lessons from Eielson AFB, Watched fishermen clean their catch at harbors... halibut, salmon off 'The Spit' in Homer.. did some 'battle fishing' for salmon in Anchorage, and on the Canadian side of Eielson, actually north of Eielson in a river that was so stunningly beautiful...oh, and put my finger in the Yukon as the last on my list of things necessary to do to end my 'cheechako' title and graduate to 'sourdough'...and got eaten alive by squitos on our trip to the Arctic Circle on the..Haul Road...oh, and took a course on 'arctic survival' at the Fairganks college presented by two AFB guys..and got to 'fly a blackhawk...umm in the simulator..I killed us twice but it was so life like and fun I will never forget it. My life in AK was the best life I ever had and would go back in a heart beat ex for the cold because some of my fav places and my fav people lived in the north and that is where my true home on this earth will forever be... not matter where I am.

    OH, and Denali Park..but one of the most beautiful things I saw was the night I was driving from Anchorage to Fairbanks, around midnight, in the winter, cooollld...I noticed just as I was North of Denali on the hwy away from the road side lights/businesses in that small community of tourist trap..(Lynx Creek Pizza..if you ever go there try their restaurant...huge pizzas, same huge pans are their nachos and their home made root beer awesome!!!) anyway, For the first time I watch the Aurora Borealis dance across a very wide birth of the sky so beautiful I could not believe what I was seeing.

    Thank you again for all your comments, more are welcome if anyone has more ideas/info or remembers additional stuff.


    Oh Soldotna and the Russian River..not too long after a grizz with her two cubs attacked a chechako with a stringer of salmon at midnight/dusky light going up the staricase to the parking lot from the river...she charged him from where she was with her cubs just at the foot of the staircase as he barely had a chance to hit the second or third step he was mauled, almost killed but was young and acturally survived it to learn and live another day, but without his eyes..it would have paid to pay attention to the BEAR signs all over the place as they appear when bear traffic increases with the fishing season and more..note..the bear were laying down in the brush and he never saw what was coming until she got him... later story in the paper told of how a bear at the top of the steps he got mauled on, on his way up to the parking lot...another bear, maybe the same one was seen chasing a man across the parking lot and with profound luck he found a vehicle with a back hatch that was open and he jumped in and was not mauled as the bear continued to chase others...they seem to be very territorial during eating season...😶

    There is no other place on earth like AK...

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @vickeym What area are you from? Are you growing those beautiful huge cabbages?

    When I was there I also raised gardens. Two of the things I just wanted to grow to see if I could was okra and cotton...I did manage to grow some maters (Fairbanks), and my okra put on ONE POD lol rof...

    But borage, calendula and dinner plate dahlias were among my fav's also the beautiful and very easy to grow there the floribunda roses...beautiful and very fragrant unlike many rose species that either have beauty or scent but not often both..

    The moose really enjoyed something I was growing becaus I caught them walking across the garden and then one night I heard this loud and unfamiliar noise so I went to the front door and to my surprise was a full grown moose with a large calf, the mom had her front hoof on my screened in porch and seemed to have every intent to step up into it albeit was not very big but big enough for her...she changed her mind when I appererd at the door...it's a wonder she didn't charge me since she had her calf with her..

  • vickeym
    vickeym Posts: 2,134 ✭✭✭✭✭

    silvertipgrizz We are down in Talkeetna, in southcentral Alaska. I have not tried the giant cabbage, but do have several regular cabbage growing right now. My tomatoes are doing fairly well, considering the late start I got with them. The sweetie pie pumpkins will be ready for harvest very soon. We are getting much cooler at night now. Low 50's to mid 40's have been seen already. My pickling cucumbers have been quite abundant. Broccoli and cauliflower have not done well in our area for anyone this season. ever set a full head, just lots of smaller single flowerettes.

    The moose can be a challenge for sure, had a momma and baby come through one year at our old place and eat half of every head of broccoli and cauliflower I had. Left the other half of each for us. no thanks, not gonna share half eaten. lol There was so much snow last winter the moose had a very bad time. Couldn't get to food sources, many died, especially the yearlings. First year on their own, and not tall enough or strong enough to forage the deeper snow to get to food. many folks took down willows or birch trees or branches and piled around outer areas of property for them to eat as well as keeping them further from living areas. Had a young one hanging out right outside our door. Charged my husband and dog a few times.Husband finally used one of the dogs trails in the snow, packed it down more and hauled branches and stuff out to the back of property. Encourages moose not to be two foot outside our door.

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @vickeym I love Talkeetna. I've been there a couple times but passed it often on the hwy back and forth from Fairbanks to anchorage and so on. One of these days I'll pull up my pictures and share with you if you want. I just have to figure out how to get them here on this platform. It might be easy but I have to have the time to see what will work. Please share all pix you want. I know you must be aware that moose are typically more dangerous than even brown bear. One charged a man standing on one of the outside entrances to one of the hospitals in anchorage and he wound up going straight to surgery with a hoof or horn or both through ribs I think..and I think he died...that was 2003.

  • norabelehcim
    norabelehcim Posts: 58 ✭✭✭

    Some expats happily relocate to other nations where food grows easily, people are generally friendly, and weather is good. But with COVID-19, there are travel restrictions and quarantines even between states (DC and Delaware for example) right now.

    I would look for mountains, fresh water and maybe coastal access, arable soil or capacity to grow plants on some scale, accessible foraging if possible, good people, and fresh air. Depending on economics, many places named above would suit--the US is an amazing nation, full of natural wonders, as long as we take care to preserve them.

  • vickeym
    vickeym Posts: 2,134 ✭✭✭✭✭

    silvertipgrizz You are correct, moose can be very dangerous. Unfortunately, in many cases the person who gets injured was just unlucky enough to walk into a bad situation. I have seen many situations where the moose charged or injured someone, but prior to that happening another human or multiple ones had been harassing the moose and got it all worked up, afraid and agitated. Then the injured person happened to walk into the situation unaware.

    I have been up close (sometimes with just 2 or 3 feet) with moose many times, in areas where I knew the moose had not been harassed and as long as I made no sudden moves and talked calm and soft as I backed away, there was no issue.

    As mentioned, we have also had issues with some who had not been harassed to our knowledge at least. The one who charged my husband and dog several times this pat winter wanted to hang out right outside our door. All the moose were badly stressed and agitated due to lack of food and limited areas they were able to get around in.

  • nicksamanda11
    nicksamanda11 Posts: 755 ✭✭✭✭

    TN is all that!

  • Grounded
    Grounded Posts: 153 ✭✭✭

    I used to think that moving to the country would be an easy proposition, but I now feel that it would be rather more complicated. There are so many issues to take into consideration, not that it is not doable, but rather something I would no longer take lightly. Good land, low taxes, moderate weather, good neighbors, amenable community, healthcare support network, proximity to travel hubs and family are all factors we would have to consider.

  • erikawinterton
    erikawinterton Posts: 98 ✭✭✭

    @aprilbbrinkman I am definitely considering that! I actually just came back from Southern Utah yesterday. It is so breathtaking down there, and crazy how it differes so much from Northern Utah and the Wasatch mountain range we have, all in the same state! I was also noticing that in different areas there is such a different level of social behavior. For example, We broke down in our car near a little town called Anna Bella. We had local help who got us a ride with a local police officer. Then our local contact offered to lend us his truck and trailer to transport our car back home. So generous and unbothered by alot of the social insecurities we face in my community. You can't leave home without locking your doors.


    Just goes to show there is alot more to a place than taxes, and governmental oversight.


    I think I'll take your advise and start a travel blog. Lol

  • erikawinterton
    erikawinterton Posts: 98 ✭✭✭

    @Marjory Wildcraft I have heard of individualls who have become sovereigns of the land in the US. They do not have drivers licenses, social security numbers, and they own their land outright. They have rights to transportation, just not "motor vehicles". They are "soverens" not "citizens". It is my understanding that because there is a lot of terminology within our justice and governmental systems that allows loopholes. Apparently many of the legal terms themselves are just for documentation tied to an "offshore goverment" that rules the people of the land.


    In feel being a citizen means that you are never truly free. You are taxed heavily by overseeing government bodies. What I call being "leased out" by the government to entities (aka employers). We are tracked by our social and DL numbers, rated by our credit score, and oppressed into our living situation. Even if we make more money we are taxed more.

    We can own "entities" which allow us more leveraged access to less taxation, more income, and some freedoms outside being a citizen. But we, ourselves the citizen are still slaves.

    I have seen similar things happen to the native nations. But the process of controlling and oppressing them as sovereigns comes through a check. They are a sovereign nation and still are oppressed by backworkings with dividends, federal police oversignt, and controlled tribal rule. They cant even make improvements on their houses because they are owned by the tribe. Federal officers patrol their lands, along with some tribal officers. But so many of them are content with staying where they are and keeping quite because they recieve plenty to live on each month.

    It is just baffling that our system is still this way!

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @nicksamanda11 Tell me about TN, what you like about it and what you don't and where you would go in times like these to be free to grow your own food and be around like minded people for the protection of all in the area. I ask for more info from you because TN is one of the 3 places I am strongly considering and I do so hope to be on that journey soon...So thanks for any and all info you share..

  • annflancan
    annflancan Posts: 84 ✭✭✭

    Songcatcher really is a great movie and I too would recommend it.

  • Suburban Pioneer
    Suburban Pioneer Posts: 339 ✭✭✭

    Forget SW Idaho, Boise in particular. Property taxes just keep climbing to support all the new "social infrastructure" among other things. And here's where it really gets bad (I can't make this stuff up). Back in 2014, the city made a secret deal with the owners of the oldest and one of the largest irrigation canals, to begin alleviating the growing human waste problem by dumping partially treated sewage into the canal water to dilute it. Apparently that would be a back-door way of satisfying Federal municipal clean water guidelines by re-designating our clean canal water (taken from upstream of the first sewage treatment plant on the Boise River) as "recycled" water. Some citizens found out about the plan, and raised such a fuss that the plan was "paused" (their word) by our City Council for over a year, now. There has since started a general info campaign and we're fighting this ridiculous plan. Our CIty Council is scheduled to vote on "whether to move forth with prudent plans to insure clean water for City residents" in a few days. Our Marxist mayor is all on board with it though she's running a disinformation plan to fob people off until the deed is done. She and City Council are figuring mightily about how they're going to try to keep this monstrosity hidden from effective public challenge until they can unleash it on us in a way that prevents us from challenging it further or stopping it. In other words, they're using our tax dollars to spend their days figuring out how they can enrich the city and their own salaries by quite literally dumping poison (all the leftover chemicals and toxins they can't get out of sewage after basic treatment) in our irrigation water! The water will contain several toxic chemicals including PUFA's, so we don't know how that's going to affect property values, let alone our health. So, for anybody out there still looking for a place to go, be advised to stay away from the Boise area. It was still so nice even just 15 or 20 years ago. Not any more.

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Suburban Pioneer Thank you for the info. Do you think most if not all the citizens could get a powerful lawyer to stop them in their tracks, and how about a class action lawsuit to stop them from spending your tax dollars to stall and destroy, as well to stop the entire health endangering project? If not, why not get everyone to chip in and start running in neighboring newspapers your story....to humiliate them and show them you will not be silenced? I wonder where they are getting their drinking water...I wish you the best regarding this threat..

  • Suburban Pioneer
    Suburban Pioneer Posts: 339 ✭✭✭

    Hi, Silvertip. Thanks for the suggestions. Yes, sadly, getting lawyered up is probably the only way to put this monster in its grave, so just another strain on our tie and budgets but we'll all do what we have to because the consequences are too dire to not fight. on the brighter side, I understand the Boise City Council is showing signs of feeling the heat from bombardment with citizen rage. Judging by the feedback I've gotten from the Mayor's office and City Council spokesperson, they're WELL aware that we are angry about this. However, they're trying to pretend and obfuscate while refusing to commit to a clear and simple "NO". The group has placed "Canal In Danger" explanatory signs all along the canal, and hand-posted flyers to residences all along the canal's area of use. I don't know if anyone has spoken directly with the press, yet, but we've been encouraged to write Letters to the Editor of our local newspapers. I've taken the step of letting others know through social media, and I suspect that others have, too. It's so sad that Boise COULD have gone down a very different, much more healthy, path of development that respected its past and capitalized on its unique opportunity to integrate semi-rural, western heritage into the more modern urban ethic. The city leaders TALKED a great game about responsibility and sustainability, but the last several regimes, both Dem and Repub, have given liveability the big middle finger in the interests of pleasing the developers and making the fast buck. Much of what we had has already been ruined, real estate prices and crime are both rising, and, as the canal issue shows, sustainability has been thrown out the window. We're kinda' stuck here until my husband retires, but for others who are thinking of moving, I'd say stay away, We're here, so this is going to be our fight, but there's no sense in others coming here if they know what they're going to be in for in the future.