Good place in Hill Country for homestead? (live in, highways)

[die Eichkatze]

My family has been in the Hill Country since the mid 1800s. It is not easy, but you can grow a good variety of food for yourself...I don't think you are planning on implementing some massive farming operation, just enough for yourself so you can do it. You will fail at first, but just learn from it. Some areas of the Hill Country have good soil, you just have to research a little. Plenty of horse and cattle ranches in the area. Here is a famous thoroughbred ranch from back in the day: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_Ranch,_Texas
Some areas have good water, just research a little. We have multiple wells on our ranch (we run cattle just fine) and recently had one drilled to a depth of 200 ft for about $3,000. We installed the solar pump and equipment ourselves for about $3000. We were quoted $4500 by a pump installer. Fredericksburg and Kerrville both have great medical facilities. However, the land value is going to be very expensive. You might be able to find a deal if you are patient enough, but they are few and far between these days. Thankfully, I don't have to deal with that problem.

Having said all that, I think it would be much easier to homestead somewhere between Austin-San Antonio-Houston. Yes it is more humid, but everything would be much easier when it comes to being self sufficient.
Brenham, La Grange, Columbus come to mind.

I agree with Doss1 on the Hill Country boundary...(love the name change by the way...my family ranch is near there). If we include everywhere that has hills/trees/cedar then we might as well include places like just west of Waco, Glen Rose, and the Mineral Wells/Possum Kingdom area. The Hill Country is not just a place, it is a state of mind.

[doss1]

I'm currently out of state working a job and can not stop dreaming about the hill country. I don't know how I did it, but I purchased 10ac of land in Stonewall on a river a few years ago by scraping every penny I had.I knew I had to do this before I made the next big change in my life--and it was a long standing goal of mine to own land in the hill country.

[Westerntraveler]

Originally Posted by die Eichkatze

My family has been in the Hill Country since the mid 1800s. It is not easy, but you can grow a good variety of food for yourself...I don't think you are planning on implementing some massive farming operation, just enough for yourself so you can do it. You will fail at first, but just learn from it. Some areas of the Hill Country have good soil, you just have to research a little. Plenty of horse and cattle ranches in the area. Here is a famous thoroughbred ranch from back in the day: Morris Ranch, Texas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Some areas have good water, just research a little. We have multiple wells on our ranch (we run cattle just fine) and recently had one drilled to a depth of 200 ft for about $3,000. We installed the solar pump and equipment ourselves for about $3000. We were quoted $4500 by a pump installer. Fredericksburg and Kerrville both have great medical facilities. However, the land value is going to be very expensive. You might be able to find a deal if you are patient enough, but they are few and far between these days. Thankfully, I don't have to deal with that problem.

Having said all that, I think it would be much easier to homestead somewhere between Austin-San Antonio-Houston. Yes it is more humid, but everything would be much easier when it comes to being self sufficient.
Brenham, La Grange, Columbus come to mind.

I agree with Doss1 on the Hill Country boundary...(love the name change by the way...my family ranch is near there). If we include everywhere that has hills/trees/cedar then we might as well include places like just west of Waco, Glen Rose, and the Mineral Wells/Possum Kingdom area. The Hill Country is not just a place, it is a state of mind.

La Grange is really nice.I was there earlier this year when my family was looking at retirement places and I liked it.

[die Eichkatze]

Originally Posted by doss1

I'm currently out of state working a job and can not stop dreaming about the hill country. I don't know how I did it, but I purchased 10ac of land in Stonewall on a river a few years ago by scraping every penny I had.I knew I had to do this before I made the next big change in my life--and it was a long standing goal of mine to own land in the hill country.

Wise move.
FBG got hammered by a storm Thursday night...well the northside did. 2-3in size hail knocked out a lot of windows and car windshields. Know several people whose vehicles were totaled by the insurance company. Spent all day Saturday cleaning up my mom's yard which was about 6 inches deep in live oak leaves...found several doves killed by the hail. Stonewall area also got hit pretty good...what little peach crop that was left from the late season freeze is gone now.

Edit: that pic looks like crenwelge rd in the doss area? Or Maner...

[doss1]

Originally Posted by die Eichkatze

Edit: that pic looks like crenwelge rd in the doss area? Or Maner...

Definitely doss, but don't remember the road! That area is my favorite area of the hill country.

[High_Plains_Retired]

The best farming soils in Texas are unfortunately in areas where there is little water. Early settlers to Texas made the same mistakes in judgement that I see going on in this thread. They too assumed that where there are a lot of trees the soil must be rich. Actually, tree canopies tie up soil nutrients for many years before they ever give it back to the soil. On the other hand, annual grasses such as in west Texas, give up their nutrients to the soil each year. Nutrients in top soils tend to accumulate faster than where the soil has to wait for years for trees to give them up.

Some of the richest farm soils in Texas are right here on the Texas High Plains. Unfortunately, we are fast losing the necessary water resources to support large scale irrigated farming.

In order to farm successfully, you need both water and good soil among a lot of other things beyond the scope of this thread. Anyhow, best of luck in your farming endeavors.

[BCHTX]

Fredricksburg

[doss1]

I'm in the Tetons, probably one of the most beautiful places on the face of the earth...yet...I still yearn for the hill country. Too bad John Denver never visited the Hill Country...he'd be singing about places like Doss, Tx.

[kitty0889]

Thanks so much for your information, everyone! Very helpful. I'll start looking east of the 35 then.

[Westerntraveler]

Originally Posted by kitty0889

Thanks so much for your information, everyone! Very helpful. I'll start looking east of the 35 then.

Anytime...I wish you the best of luck and welcome to Texas.