esmith, the land in So. Cal. sucks. It’s all rocks and sand.
You have to irrigate and fertilize which is very costly and labor intensive. We’re not talking Imperial valley type agriculture here. For survival, you need to have everything on your land. You need fruit trees that will produce year in and year out. You need grass for grazing. You need worms and junk for the chickens to eat. You need ponds for fish and ducks. You need humidity and mulch to fertilize the land.
My cousin’s apple trees in Ohio produce a healthy output every year.
As a child, I spent a lot of time in my grand mother’s garden. I could easily live off the land like Little House on The Prairie. And I’m not afraid to kill a chicken for dinner, if I need to.
In CA, the Sacramento River area might be a good place to buy land.
I like Florida because it’s nice and warm and if you live inland, you don’t need to worry about tornadoes. You can live by a lake and stock some ponds with fish and you can easily subsist there.
