Where to find cheapest land that is best for growing food?

7 years ago

My wife and I are looking to get 5+ acres in California. We want to put a small house down on it and grow our own food, vegetables and fruit / nut trees. We love Avocados, Limes, Lemons, Figs, Nectarines, Pineapple, Cashews, Pistachios, Cherries, Apples.

We have grown veggies in a bunch of parts of California in the past 5 years: Sonoma County, San Fransciso Bay Area, and Sierra foothills El Dorado County.

Our budget is not huge (<$50k) for the initial land, so this has us looking in the Sierra Foothills region, or east side of the San Joaquin Valley (SJV). We've lived in the intense summer heat of Zone 9b before, but nothing like what we see for highs in the SJV. But, we have spent this summer growing in the 2800 ft. elevation in El Dorado County, and love that it is 10 degrees cooler than the valley. Winter my change our minds, though. Thinking it might be worth it to deal with the heat vs. dealing with the freeze.

What are your suggestions? Would love to hear from those of you in the SJV or elsewhere you think we might like it.

Oh, one other big thing. Let's see if you are reading down this far, lol...the place has to have (high-speed, wired or wireless) internet, as we run a business from home that requires lots of video conferencing / VOIP (sounds stupid, but it makes us lots of money and we have like 30 hrs. a week to garden, do hobbies).

Cheers!

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Comments (3)

Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
If it's cheap, there is a drawback. Good luck finding what you seek.

Be sure to check water rates. That can blow the roof off of growing anything if you aren't zoned ag., and even if you are, water isn't cheap. You want land? That is rural. Rural lacks internet mostly because there aren't enough customers to support the cable expense.

We are semi-rural, and still, they won't bring high speed Fios here. So we are stuck with DSL. It is in and out and sometimes totally gone.

Check out the local pest population. Gophers and Deer can drive you nuts! Also check out disposal regulations.

We grow everything you mentioned here in zone 9b plus many other fruit trees. Good luck to you.
parker25mv
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Land in California is not cheap, at least the parts with a milder climate. There are 40 million people in the state now, and a lot of the best farmland has given way to urban sprawl.

Maybe somewhere around Butte County.
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Humsi
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Just as a note, the 9b hardiness zones you're talking about is only winter temperatures, you probably want to look at the Sunset climate zones for areas you're looking at as it gives you a better idea of what you're looking at year round. 9b in Southern California is a completely different growing environment than 9b in Florida, and if you're living in areas with practically no winter, the hardiness zones are almost useless. Sunset climate zones are going to tell you a lot more useful information.

No advice on your original question as we're planning on moving out of California (for many reasons, but cheaper land and adequate water are up there) when we're ready to start our hobby farm. I think around here (SoCal) you're looking at living way out in the desert at your price point. Which kind of defeats the purpose as it's likely too hot to grow much of what you what to grow (or too cold in the winter).

Really, though, good luck.

*edit* I just got curious and looked at some land around here, looks like a 4.5-5 acre lot of cleared land will run you between $225-$290k. Land you have to clear seems cheaper but still in the 150k+ range. Probably going to cost an arm and a leg to get water to it as well. Granted, this area is a prime agricultural climate - lots of commercial nurseries here - but phew. Phew.

Where to find cheapest land that is best for growing food?

Comments (3)

Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b

parker25mv

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