Hi all
With the troubles getting more prevalent in Africa, and to give our young son a chance at a better life, we are contemplating leaving Africa to carve out a life somewhere else. Our list of potential countries is Australia, New Zealand and the USA.
I have known or talked to three people/families that have moved to my area of NC from SA. One family was a good 15 years ago who bought a small store. Recently, one of our kids has a friend who just moved from SA. The friend has very good manners. The third family I met while working a public event a year or so ago. The woman was a US citizen but she had ended up living in SA, marrying a South African and had some kids. The security situation was so bad they came to the US. I have seen many people who were very concerned/scared about their personal safety but this lady was beyond cautious. After hearing how she had to live I can understand her behavior.
Her kids were pretty awesome too. Young but very articulate, educated and polite. They were about 6 and 8. :thumbsup::laughing::laughing::laughing:
Actually, I just remembered we met another family while waiting on a bus at Disney World. They were having trouble figuring out the bus system so I was helping them out and it became apparent from their accent that they were not from around here.
When I asked where they were from she said England but she could see that I could tell they were not from England.
Their accents were Englishy but not really English more SA but not really. She said they were from Zimbabwe. :laughing::laughing::laughing: Very nice people who left Zimbabwe and moved to the UK. She said that they just say they are from England since so many people do not have a clue as to the location of Zimbabwe.
We had a nice talk on the bus but I wish we could have talked more. Her father was with them and he was a hoot. He was in a wheel chair but it did not slow him down at all. Zoom Zoom he went. :thumbsup: Afraid to ask how he ended up in the wheel chair....
Sitting at home and looking at pictures on the internet is all very well, but it only tells a little of the story abut a place. I'd like to get opinions from people of what they consider suitable areas we should look at with respect to climate, distance to markets, education, stability, way of life etc
I am a farmer, and produce blueberries (southern high bush and rabbit eye) Passion fruit, row crops and cattle. so Id like somewhere I could keep doing what I know best.
My wife is a professional show jumper and coach and has been on the national team, and would like to keep doing what she loves and knows.
Our son is 2, and needs years of good schooling, friends, university, and the opportunity for a career based on merit.
If you had a reasonable amount of money to get started, but would still need some pretty big loans where would you recommend we look at, and why?
Your wife's requirement is going to be the driving factor on where to move based on what you have said so far. My area of NC has quite a bit of horse facilities but it is fairly urban which will make farming very difficult. I would guess to farm and make a living with horses, she is going to have to travel due to land prices. Furthermore my area is mostly clay and rock soil and there has never been much row cropping. Ranching, orchards, and diaries but not much row crops. I only know of one farm that has planted a row crop and he was small and has not planted in years.
In my small town, there seems to be quite a few people growing Blueberries and selling at the local farmers markets. I really don't know how they make money at it and I suspect they are just selling the berries they have left over from their own use. Growing is the easy part, making money is what is hard. There are a couple of You Pick it strawberry farms and orchards around. They seem to do well but I think they have owned the land for generations and do not have a loan payment hanging over their head.
You can check out the Raleigh, NC area for equestrian facilities as a start. For farming I would think you would have to head east or south. South is called the sand hills because, surprise, surprise, the soil is sand. :laughing: They do seem to have larger farms that way and there are some equestrian facilities in the Sanford, Pinehurst, Aberdeen areas of south, central NC. There is quite a bit of money down that way due to the golf courses and where their is that kind of money there is often horses. I suspect the land would be much cheaper once away from the towns since it is very rural.
East of the Raleigh area, say in the I95 corridor, the land gets flat and sandy and there are many larger farms down that way. That is where I see the row crop farms. However, I suspect your wife would have to travel to the Raleigh area for work.
Kentucky has a huge horse culture and that would be another likely place to go. Lexington and Louisville are the big cities to check around for the horse work. I used to live in Louisville decades ago and once away from the cities there was a lot of rural farm land. I don't remember much large row crops like corn and soybeans but they were there. The big crop in Kentucky and NC was tobacco but that is all but gone now. So many of the old fields have been abandoned to grow trees and houses....
Ocala, Florida is also a big horse center in the northern part of the state that might be interesting as well.
Ocala is going to be hot during the summer and wonderful in the winter. NC and KY can get cold during the winter but it does not last long. Both NC and KY do get hot in the summer but not as bad as Ocala.
I think Virginia is also a big horse area but I suspect that would the area near Washington and is very expensive real estate up there. Worth a look though.
As you head north of KY, NC and VA the winters get colder, snowier, and last longer. Taxes also can get very high in some states. One of the factors you should investigate is the cost of taxes. Some states like FLA do not have state income taxes but they have higher property taxes and house insurance can be unreal. Check out the cost of living in the state/areas you consider. There are websites which makes it easy to compare.
The US farmer demographic is an aging population. Often the kids do not want to take over the farm when the parents die and the farm land is sold off or just sits there. This could be an opportunity for you if you can find a place to work and take over ownership of the farm...
I was reading a Belfast newspaper recently that had an article about a farmer in Ireland who went around talking about farm safety. When the man was 12 years old he got caught in the PTO shaft and lost his arm. He had been told to be careful, but it was at the end of a long day, sounded like he wanted to finish up so he could eat and he got careless.
He was danged lucky he did not die since his arm was tore right off. :shocked: Anyway, the reason I mention him is that he said that you were born into farming and I think there is quite a bit of truth to what he said.
We were recently watching a travel show that was down in Tasmania. They were talking with a father and son who were harvesting sea weed of the west side of the island. They were from SA.
We badly want to visit/live in Australia and New Zealand not to mention Tasmania. I have actually looked at worked visas. :laughing::laughing::laughing:
Down in Australian and New Zealand I would think you will have the same US problem of finding affordable farm land near the equestrian centers that are often near/in cities. I have read that Sydney and Wellington have exceedingly high house prices. Flip side is that New Zealand is pretty dang small so maybe travel time from a rural area to equestrian areas near the cities would not be so bad.
Later,
Dan
