Shawn, Most of your questions depend soley on what YOU and your family want and your financial resourses. I highly recommend country life but livin off the land does take time, money and lots of work to become a reality. The rewards are infinitely better than anything money can buy! I have 4 kids 4-16 yo here in central Arkansas. Our children are flourishing here,they are much healthier and happier than they were in St Pete, FL 2-1/2 years ago. They are very active in 4-H, FFA, church' and school. There is nothing else for them to do around here (ie. getting into trouble) I'm not very sociable so I love staying in my "lil hole in the woods" while the best half works in town and has many friends. Acres of land isn't required unless you are planning on raising large stock like cattle. We prayed for 10 acres with a house on it in the country. Now we have 10 mostly wooded acres with a house on it in the country with no mortgage. You can do alot with a couple acres of pasture. Of course more is better, it's really just what you can afford. when looking for land you should know the installed value of the improvements. Fencing, barns, other outbuildings and most importantly a good exsisting well can cost more to add later than the land cost not to mention work you to death. Most homesteaders tend to go for a fixerupper house on a real nice piece of fenced property. Some,like me, never seem to get around to fixin the house past liveable cause thy're too busy adding more fence and doing other "more important" projects. Everything ends up costing more than you thought it would when you started so DON'T spend all your money buying the place. A strategy that works is to get by on as little as possible and get/stay out of debt. It's alot harder to make money out in the sticks but it can be done in time. Animals are one of the best parts of homesteading especially for the kids. Some laying hens are the easiest and most productive to start with. Once you are comfortable with your husbandry abilities dairy goats are the greatest critters to have in the family. They more than pay for themselves with white gold (milk) a great base for science experiments (cheese, yogurt, soap and butter) that lead to food for the family and maybe some income too. I don't know how you feel about killing animals (IMO a very natural thing) but, free ranged chicken does taste at least a million times better than storebought Frankenfood and processing them is a great anatomy lesson To make money on the homestead you really need to find a market for value added products that you can produce. I have found that when I start making decent money from something it turns into a job and I don't enjoy it anymore which is fine for most folks if they are raking in the bucks. To me homesteading is more about making do with what you have and making what you have do more. Yeah I am a weirdo but I'm happy. To make money from animals start with good registered breeding stock and have a long term plan. Think small to start with. Rabbits breed like bunnies and can produce income in a relatively short time if there is a processing facility close enough. Goats take awhile to break even but you get milk and kids to sell. Raising cows is very expensive. GOOD LUCK OH YEAH, Think REAL HARD before moving over an hour away from a Wal Mart

You've already received your answer in the affirmative that native persimmons grow in TN. I thought I'd address the rarity issue. It isn't that persimmons are rare, but for a long time they demanded a high price as timber and people hacked away at them with wild abandon. Unfrotunately, once you take them all, it is difficult to get them seeded. Additionally, development, cultivation, etc have all taken their toll on forest trees...especially those which are hard to get back. A clearcut will populate quickly with maples and other fast growers while hickories, walnuts, persimmons, and other trees with very deep roots and slow growth tend to lose out. Additionally, when an if these areas are replanted, people usually plant fast growing robo-trees...maples, ash, pines, etc. Another problem is that replanting persimmons takes great care. They are easily damaged beyod repair...especially if there is extensive root damage and drying of the roots. I've seen hundreds die from a single planting due to poor planting practices and poor stock handling. myrtleoak - sorry to see you've not had a decent persimmon. I can attest to the fact that raw persimmons are quite good...and persimmon pudding and other cooked products run a close second. I must eat my weight in raw persimmons, fresh pulp, etc when the harvest is coming in. BTW, many of us who also forage persimmons appreciate the fact that the misconception about needing frost to ripen continues. Persimmon trees ripen the entire spectrum from early to late. The fact that they ripen late in the year has led to the misconception that one needs frost in order to ripen. The fact is, that in much of its range, they rarely if ever see a frost. In much of its range you might normally see a frost before ripe persimmons. The timing is happenstance and depends greatly on where you live, the individual tree, the microclimate, etc. Those of us who keep close watch on trees...especially the early ripeners, enjoy a much longer harvest while people wait for frost. Wait...what am I saying?! All kidding aside, texts as far back as the mid-1800s have tried to dispel the myth of needing frost but it persists. Many in my extended family are firm believers...but I'm the one making persimmon pudding early! ;) Here is a link that might be useful: persimmonpudding.com

Dear Betty and Daisy , welcome to the beautiful Upper Cumberlands. The climates can be different. Crossville is z6 and Cookeville is z7 and Sparta perhaps a degree or two warmer than Cookeville. When its raining in Sparta or Cookeville in winter , its most likely snowing in Monterey or Crossville. Enjoy the valley ! You can grow cold hardy palms in Cookeville and Sparta if you think you may miss them in your old home places. Sable Minor and Needle Palm do very good here , both are smaller bush like palms . Musa Basjoo (Japanese Fiber banana) are great banana trees that can live here and needs no winter protection except for perhaps some mulch over the clump when it falls down in dead winter during the first couple of years you have it planted. Winters are mild , damp and short with a couple of good hard freezes thrown in for good measure ( kills the bugs and insects..lol) The Chinese Windmill Palm (not chinese fan) does great here and its a trunking palm but you must mulch the palms here in winter. If you do decided to plant these tropicals , come back here next fall for proven proper winter protection . You wont be planting tropicals now , its too late. The Sabal Palmetto x Birmingham is another hardy trunking palm tree for Cookeville and Sparta areas , Hardy Camellias, Hardy Gardenias and Hardy Lantata strains will survive here. The old people around here say ; you can just about plant anything around here if yer willing to throw a box over it during cold / bad spells..LOL. McMinnville ( west of Sparta on the US 70s turnpike ) is the nursery capitol of the United States. There is a nursery on every corner , dont miss that place next spring . Im from Livingston about 15 minutes north of Cookeville on the 111 and one of my favorite nursuries closed recently due to retirement of the owners....I sure would have liked you to see our favorite here in Livingston. We have a day lily farm with over 1500 varities here , maybe in the spring you can visit it. Nashville has a few great nursuries... one of my favorites ( but a bit pricey) is Bates. You can see their complete inventory on-line by going to www.batesnursery.com and a good tropical nursery , yet again a bit pricey and 3 hours south of us (North Atlanta) is Randys. www.randysnursery.com Closer would be Savannah Nursery in Columbia,Tennessee (just south of Nashville on I-65. They have tropicals priced fair and have what you need for this cimate. Here is a photo of my Sabal Palmetto , the state tree of Florida and South Carolina but seems happy here : Here are two that are trunking that were planted out several years ago from 3 gallon pots: Here are some Chinese Windmill Palms that you might like in your yard: Here is a favorite windmill that seeds alot every fall: Desert Yuccas can live here if planted on mounds , here is a bad pic of Yucca Elata , state flower of New Mexico: and here is a photo of my moms Washingtonia Robusta (Mexican Fan) palm . It has to have protection from the winter dampness but seems to do well........Thats right , I throw a box over it...LOL. Sorry to tropical you'all to death but having lived in Miami for many years , I needed something to remind me of changes in latitudes and changes in Attitudes.......its 5 oclock somewhere :)

Yep David and dlynn, I'm looking forward to the cooler weather!! Since it's in the valley, the winters are generally pretty mild though this year was a record breaker for snow. The good thing about being retired and not having kids at home.... we can just watch the snow fall and not be worried about work, school etc!! In Louisiana today it will be 101... 102 tomorrow... and the humidity!!! We just got back from VA and while they thought it was hot it felt like spring to us!! Here's a picture of our new land and the homesite with DH Joe pretending to be a house. our back porch and deck will facing this view. Seems like we're out in the middle of nowhere, but we're a 5 minute drive from the center of town. We just got home from 5 days in VA where we brought up a load of "stuff" and put it in a storage pod. The estimate of 25K (!!!!) o move us to VA (not including our barn and outdoor things) got us so shocked that we decided to start combining our visits with bringing up a load of things in the horse trailer. We had the 3 horse section of the living quarters trailer full with things that we won't need even in a rental... extra garden tools, workshop things, outdoor decorations (birdfeeders/houses etc). It isn't a drop in the bucket, but it's a start! Grace