One thing no one has mentioned in this thread is quality of life in the area. My family has about 150 acres of nice attractive riverfront farmland in north eastern Louisiana near Natchez MS, , think Duck Dynasty not Swamp people (zone 8a to be a bit on topic) on the banks of the Ouachita river, it is technically in a flood plain although thanks to sitting about 8-10 ft above river level, and the dams and flood diversion canals along the river it has not flooded in 45 years. The land is typically planted in either cotton or soy beans, and is farmed by a cousin that farms several thousand acres, and lives only next door.
Land and houses in this area is very cheap, which may sound attractive to some of you, however when it comes to quality of life the region is plagued by extreme poverty, the nearby parish seat (county for those of you outside Louisiana) depopulated by nearly 50 percent between 1990 and 2010 and is now down to just 338 people as of 2014, the school system has already closed nearly half of the schools where were open 10-15 years ago, and are talking about more closures and building a single centrally located K-12 school for the entire parish (of course they don’t have any money to do it). City Data shows the median household income is $27,400 (state average is $47,000), the nearest hospital with an ER is nearly 40 miles away (Natchez, MS), the same the the nearest big box store of any kind (Wal-Mart, Lowes, etc.), for that matter the nearest chain fast food place is probably 30-35 miles away.
Yeah, here is one of those potential deals 77 wooded acres for $173,000 https://www.trulia.com/property/3247212225-Lot-Land-Harrisonburg-LA-71340 This location is about 3-4 miles north of our place, ours is in the traditional river flood plane, just north of our land there is a sudden uplift hilly area with bluffs overlooking the river, in fact there was once a confederate fort on one of the bluffs perhaps 75-80 feet above river level. (Fort Beauregard), although honestly the soil conditions in those hills make them good for little other than growing pine trees.
I’m considering it since taxes have steadily went up. Love my property but now developers have built all around me and my once dream property is no longer as private. If I move it will be to a very isolated area.
Ever heard of Terlinqua Texas? It’s about 100 miles south of me. Weather about like Tucson, poor soil, and little water. Thousands of land owners most of which probably haven’t been there twice. AZ would be a better bet IMO. Some place like Skull Valley which actually looks pretty nice and much better climate than the humid south or south of me. Far enough away from the drug dealers and off their routes. It’s just west of Prescott.
Las Vegas, NV… mild winters, but still perfect for stonefruit…hot as hell summers. The strip for nightlife Actually for growing fruit…that area north up into Utah would be awesome i would think==although i wonder if they get hit with late frost?
I think i could do Omaha or Denver ===cold doesn’t really bother me, but i hate snow.
Property taxes here aren’t bad, especially for families like i have that use the public schools (which are very good). Very little crime–although heroin has moved in. The job market is very strong locally…like everyone seems to be hiring…and the housing market has been red hot for a few years (which has led to house prices rising).
Hawaii sounds pretty good to me, though I bet they have some bug pressure. My wife isn’t keen on that though, so I bet we’ll head somewhere continental and warm in 10-15 years instead. A place with a record low around 40F sounds pretty good though…
Most of us aren’t doing this for a living, nor even growing enough to feed ourselves more than a small piece of the year. The challenging economics of growing fruit really hit me when I got into making a lot of cider, and found that cider-quality fruit could be bought for $50-$100 per bin - not drops, picked apples with just cosmetics or minor defects, majority being apples I would be happy to eat. It seems that even a lot of the commercial operations are doing it in good part out of tradition or love of the craft - this article by the USDA indicates that 70% of farms with gross income below $100k have profit less than 10%, and in aggregate these farms lose money.
So it stands to reason that family, other professional work, or a place that feels like home is going to matter more than the price per acre or how the weather behaves around bloom time. It’s amazing to me though how no place is perfect but folks manage to grow good fruit of some kind or another in just about every part of the country.
As I see it, so much is about planting the right type of fruit for your region, which often has little to do with what the big box store nurseries sell. For where I live in SW Louisiana that means planting a lot of variety when it comes to chill hour requirement as we may get as low as 300 or as high as 1,300 chill hours, with an average year being around 500-550. It also means that while there are many varieties of blackberries we can grow, I don’t even think about trying to grow raspberries, or non muscadine grapes. There are of course some advantages to this climate though, we do get enough chill hour that various low chill versions of many fruits will grow, yet it is also warm enough to grow some in ground citrus (with active winter freeze protection)
Very familiar with this area! I’m only 20 minutes from there. I believe that this land has been for sale for a while. It is definitely in an area where an orchard could do well, but the land itself may not be conducive to orchard development if it is too wet and it might take a lot of work and $$$ to clear a wooded area if there are no existing fields. There is an orchard very close to this location as well: Redirecting...
The Waterville area itself is decent. It used to be a booming community back in the manufacturing/railroad era. It has lost jobs and population over the past couple of decades but still remains a fairly thriving community thanks to Colby College which is investing a ton of money into the downtown area buying up buildings and building new ones. It’s also serves as a regional retail, dining and entertainment center for quite a large area of Central Maine. The beautiful Belgrade Lakes are 15 minutes to the West, Belfast/Coastal area is 45 minutes East, Bangor is 1 hour North on I-95 and Portland is 1.5 hours South on I-95 so it really is very centrally located.
My recent trip to Florida reminded how bad the cost of living is elsewhere, I’m not going anywhere!
A year ago my son bought an extended trailer with a 40x20 addition, property has a pole barn too. On 40 acres, for under 100K. It is in Kalkaska though, so if you like to hunt deer, you’re cool. Zone 4 a solid 4, I swear the whole state is dry and it’s snowing in Kalkaska. I want to move a little north, but hug the lake and stay in zone 6a.
Prices around the Punta Gorda, Fl area aren’t bad. Some cheap lots. Depends on if you want to be on a canal or not. My brother was just down at his buddy’s house. Lots of Michigan folks down there by the sounds of it.
I couldn’t handle a Florida summer. Maybe when i’m old. I can hardly handle a summer in Wisconsin when the humidity kicks in. Up here we can still get cold fronts moving through in July/August that drop the humidity and cool us back into the 50Fs at night…you don’t see that in Florida for 9 months of the year.
Me either, but if I retired there, i would be here from April 1st till January 1st. So only 3 months there a year. That is what I need. I might just stay, I like it here better anyway. Too much trouble for only three months. Maybe I’ll just vacation a lot in the winter instead.
Talking about peaches I’m in zone 6 and we get 32 inches of rain, This warm late winter isn’t hurting me either. It’s pretty good conditions, I just need more land. Not for commercial, I’m keeping all of them! I would like about an acre, and I would be good.
Yeah…you can rent down there all over. I know this guy i know actually has his house rented this entire month. I think a lot of homes just sit vacant all summer. Give me a week in Cozumel every winter and i’m good.
This winter has been nothing…Dec was cold, but Nov and Feb were very warm and Jan was decent… no complaints. Piece of cake.
I was just checking some peach buds and they still look good (this is on outside growing trees)… An acre would be more then enough for me. I just hate cramming everything in like i’m doing now. Its a jungle. I have a lot of variety which i like, but some of the good stuff i’d like more of just to give more away or even sell some (Flavor Supreme, Flavor King)…
La Crosse had 44.76 inches of rain in 2016…which is a record …avg is 33 inches.
What are the most labour intensive / time consuming / repetitive tasks you (anyone in this thread) experience running an orchard? (I realize this can vary wrt what specifically you’re growing but I mean in general) Just curious - it’s been mentioned a lot how the work will “grind you down”.
Actually for growing fruit…that area north up into Utah would be awesome i would think==although i wonder if they get hit with late frost?