After my now second hurricane down here in Cajun Land, I am preparing to move back to God's Country (western Carolinas) and start an organic farm and nursery within 1.5 years. I have a partner extremely interested in providing financial support for the purchase of land and greenhouses. My home is now valued at or over 200K thanks to Katrina and now Rita, so I should have a good start, especially as there are very few homes or apartments for sale or lease down here.

Couple of questions:

Can anyone recommend any good media (print or internet) to find available properties in western NC and SC? Looking for at a minimum of ten acres, but my partner would likely prefer 20.

In your opinion, do you think there would be much of a demand for an operation selling high quality nursery plants and organically grown vegetables, herbs, fruits, eggs, honey, etc? Obviously my operation would have to be located near a large town or city on a major or secondary road.

Are there any types of operations of this type that you are familiar with in the western to central Carolinas? Down here in south Louisiana, we have a number of nurseries, but they only sell garden and landscaping type of plants and nothing too diverse. There are a few you-pick blueberry, muscadine, and strawberry operations, but that is about all they sell.

My only regret would be that I could no longer grow night-blooming jasmines, citrus, bananas, bird-of-paradise and other tropicals outside my home. Unfortunately yall don't do crawfish boils and suck heads. That may take some getting use to!!

If any of you want to move down here, give me a call or email in approximately 1.5 years or less. In that time, my edible and tropical landscaping of my home should be complete and my home ready to put on the market.

Need some firewood???

Here is a link that might be useful: North Leighton Gardens