Pn: you assume I am willing to take a very large financial risk ffrom wich I could never recover if it went south :) Your idea has crossed my mind though; maybe, if my banker and I could agree on a piece of land he wouldn't mind owning if I couldn't sell it we'd be able to deal. I already live in the middle of commercial ag but in a very small town, there is an elevator 2 blocks away and a spray service 2 blocks away also. Right now there are combines, grain carts and semi trailers hauling grain parked in town and going to and through it. My neighbor is a custom harvester. The mad dash is on to get all the corn, soybeans and milo harvested as well as the winter wheat planted. Yep, anhydrous is used here on corn, it is knifed in under ground. Being a gas at atmospheric pressure, it wouldn't do any good to try and pour it anywhere, knives work very well if the soil has the right amount of moisture in it. Nacyjane: there isn't really any empty land around here unless you count the creek bottoms, everything is in crop production in this county and every county around it and more. Happyday: good point, I suspect there are no zoning restrictions on subdividing within the county. On a less serious note, I don't think there are any laws in the county at all, 1 sheriff and 3 deputies to cover 24/7/365. what do you think? You can not pay your property taxes for in excess of 5 years and not have to worry about the county auctioning off your property.

@greentree - I basically had the same goals as you three years ago after getting a free yard audit from Audubon but on an even smaller scale (about 2500 sq/ft for my front/side/back yards that consisted of either weeds or pavement at the time), and my initial plan was to go crazy with planting large native trees to create an "instant" canopy. Fortunately, I asked a lot of questions in this forum to supplement my own research, and I ended up capping it at about 12 trees of varying sizes (mostly b&b) with more understory than I originally planned and I can say now that I don't think I have any room for more - thanks in large part for a better appreciation for native shrubs and wildflowers/grasses/groundcover to fill in the rest of the space. Three years out, I couldn't ask for much more as far as attracting wildlife is concerned. The neighbors' large, established trees play a large part, but the bird traffic is amazing. My meadows and rain gardens are swarming with bees and butterflies, and if I take 5 minutes to explore, I can pretty much find a new insect I've never seen before. Frogs, toads, small mammals, and the occasional fox/raccoon knocking over plants in my barrel pond... all regular visitors to my little "oasis" of biodiversity. The trees are one thing, but it's the perennials that allowed me this instant gratification. And the great thing is that it's ever-changing as the trees grow as areas shift from full sun to eventual shade - more opportunities for different plants. Just my $.02, but I'd definitely recommend saving $ and starting small on the trees and putting more into the shrubs/perennials/water features to start things off fast. For reference, see one of my project threads here.

Hi seemit22 As posted above, The Newbie Seed Swap is season and runs Winter-Spring. We are soliciting for seed donations for this year's Newbie Seed Packs. Without all our generous donors, we could not do this! Please note; For all those requesting newbie seed packs, we will ask for 6 Forever or 49 cent stamps and a mailing label with your name/address. We provide the bubble mailer. I Just took over this Newbie Seed Project this summer and hope to help alot of newbies. When I receive enough donations to offer the seeds to newbies, I will post under a new thread and let everyone know I'm going to start mailing these out. I cannot promise for fall planting, as this is generally a winter project when i will have more time. This thread is misleading as the heading is "newbie seeds available", but it's an old thread from Jan 2015 and I dont want to mislead anyone.

Hi Val, not sure if you have many free seeds left, but if you could add me to the list, it would sure be a blessing to me. I empathize with your loss, but so glad to hear you are able to get back into gardening, as it is my happy place, too. I am recently divorced, lost my home in the divorce, which I had spent many years planting so as to be more self sufficient. So starting over again. Has taken me a few years to recoup from my loss, but I know that gardening is going to be good for me, too.