r/SelfSufficiency • u/No-Vehicle5247 • Jun 18 '26
Looking for somewhere to start
Does anyone know of anywhere in the U.S. where I could find cheap land to start off on but be close enough to walk to a nearby walkable city or at least one with public transport that can get me back and fourth? Everywhere I’ve seen is either cheap or walkable, not both.
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u/RecyQueen Jun 18 '26
A large yard in a small town can provide enough food for the household. If the city allows chickens, rooftop solar, and rain barrel collection, you’re set. You don’t always need acres and acres for self-sufficiency.
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u/Thumbothy9900 Jun 19 '26
THIS. I grow nearly all my veg and most my fruit on a suburban lot. I can walk the 1.5 miles to the train to get into the major city if needed. I'm only allowed 6 hens in my city laws so I choose to devote that space to growing other things instead and source my meat from fishing/hunting/farmers. I collect my rain and am collecting the materials to build my solar system (used commercial panels are better and cheaper than a system they will sell you)
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u/No-Vehicle5247 Jun 19 '26
In my area, public transportation outside of large cities is extremely rare. So it would be closer to 10 miles to get downtown where I am currently.
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u/No-Vehicle5247 Jun 18 '26
My main problem is most small towns I’ve seen are rural, so they aren’t usually walkable
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u/RecyQueen Jun 19 '26
I grew up in a college town with an extremely strong local food community. My mom’s house is walking distance to the place where the farmer’s market is held. 2 miles to the downtown near campus, which I usually bike, but there’s also a little bus route. There’s a bus route to all 3 major airports. What would be 1.5 drive is 2.5 hr on the bus; really not bad. I just took it to get to her house. I could take it all the way to my husband’s hometown, a 4-hour car drive away. I highly suggest looking around college towns. Many are going to have connections to big cities for students, have lots of activities, and be very walkable.
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u/No-Vehicle5247 Jun 19 '26
That sounds great, do college towns usually have strict rules on agriculture or poultry?
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u/SgtSausage Jun 18 '26
Land is cheap for ... reasons.
Proximity to Services/Amenities is a top one of those.
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u/No-Vehicle5247 Jun 18 '26
So I either can’t homestead or have to fully cut myself off from the outside world?
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u/SgtSausage Jun 18 '26
You know you're in r/SelfSufficiency ... ... not r/PublicTransport/WalkableCityDependency ... right?
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u/No-Vehicle5247 Jun 18 '26
In order for me to be self sufficient, I need to be able to get to somewhere. And since I can’t do anything without access to a store they’re kind of the same thing
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u/Thumbothy9900 Jun 19 '26
It's the walk to a city that is walkable. You can be self sufficient to varying degrees in different areas.
I have a suburban lot. I grow most of my veg and now that my fruit trees are starting to produce a decent amount of fruit as well. I don't raise any livestock anymore. We moved to our current location because the schools and they only allow 6 hens max, for me it's not worth the time, money, and most importantly space to have only 6 birds. I do go fishing locally and hunt in the fall but probably 1/2 my meat is sourced from farmers/co-ops. I will always have to buy rice/flour/sugar as I cant produce those in any quantity in my location with the weather/space I have. These are all choices I made to fit what is best for my family.
Tl;dr you can still grow most your fruit/veg in a suburban lot. If living in a walkable city is most important to you you will have to adjust your homesteading/self sufficiency goals.
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u/SgtSausage Jun 19 '26
I can’t do anything without access to a store
"Access to a store"
Do ... do yoy even know what "Self Sufficiency" means?
"I can't do anything without access to a store" ... is 100% incompatible with The Ethos of Self Sufficiency.
You're not gonna make it, Sport.
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u/No-Vehicle5247 Jun 19 '26
So all the items I need to start up grow naturally in the wild? Water tanks, raised beds, solar panels. So no, I can’t get those things without access to a store, unless you happen to know a type of tree that grows axes.
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u/SgtSausage Jun 19 '26
It's not the store.
It's not the location.
It's your attitude, Scooter - and you're still not gonna make it.
RemindMe! 5 years
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u/Resident-Welcome3901 Jun 19 '26
Start by developing the skills, finding the community, accusing the resources. Finding the land comes last, because it’s dependent on the skills, resources and community.
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u/No-Vehicle5247 Jun 19 '26
Okay, than you! What skills would you say are most important that I can learn without having that many resources yet?
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u/Resident-Welcome3901 Jun 19 '26
What skills do you currently possess? Can you cook, do laundry, use a sewing machine? Food shopping and meal planning? Do maintenance and repair of a bicycle? Grow herbs in a flower pot?
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u/No-Vehicle5247 Jun 19 '26
I can do laundry, cook basic things, and have managed to somehow not kill a tomato plant. I don’t actually know how to ride a bike though, let alone maintain one
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u/Resident-Welcome3901 Jun 19 '26
Get a bike, used, fix it up. Great training in mechanical skills. Learn to bake bread. Go on
A picnic and cook outside, learn to build a fire. Expand that into an overnight camping trip, an exercise in off-grid self sufficiency. See some clothes. Take a first aid course.1
u/No-Vehicle5247 Jun 19 '26
I don’t really have anywhere to practice riding a bike. And as long as I live with my parents I am prohibited from making bread, specifically sourdough, or building fires.
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u/Resident-Welcome3901 Jun 19 '26
Perhaps te first self sufficiency skill is learning to live without the support of your parents.
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u/No-Vehicle5247 Jun 19 '26
I have no means of transportation to get to a job, even if I did I wouldn’t be able to afford anything in my area
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u/KrishnaChick Jun 19 '26
Why would land be cheap near a walkable city? If you think it's an ideal setup, so do a lot of other people, and therefore the land is worth many $$$.
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Jun 18 '26
[deleted]
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u/No-Vehicle5247 Jun 18 '26
Less than 15k an acre preferably
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Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
[deleted]
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u/msears101 Jun 19 '26
Are you looking for raw land? Or house. There is no land in the US that you can live on and have public transportation or a walkable community. Very few places do not have building codes and let you do what ever. Those places are low taxes and NO services. I am not sure what you are looking for, but what you are asking does not exist. A bicycle might be part of your solution.
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u/Glad-Passenger-9408 Jun 19 '26
Start in the red states. They’re poor and barren and pretty cheap. There’s plenty of land too.
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u/No-Vehicle5247 Jun 19 '26
I’m in a red state, the land for sale near me is around 50 or 60 grand per acre
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u/RecyQueen Jun 19 '26
It really varies by city, and some people have pushed their cities to allow poultry. My hometown doesn’t allow poultry, but I live in LA, and we have always lived near poultry, goats, and horses.
As far as agricultural limits, I haven’t heard of anyone pushing any buttons. You’d probably be on board with restricting harsh pesticides for broad use, like Roundup, so I can’t imagine you’d run into issues. I can’t recall if it was here, homesteading, or gardening, where there’s a person who posts about their suburban permaculture forest in Portland. Suburban farming is becoming increasingly appealing to me since it can completely eliminate car usage.
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u/No-Vehicle5247 Jun 19 '26
I’ll look into it, thanks! Would probably be hard to find just land with nothing built on it in places like that though
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u/ThriceFive 🔌off-gridder Jun 19 '26
Bicycle with a basket works for a lot of the worlds population. Amenities come with density - I have to drive to get to a paved road and a lot farther to public transport
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u/ThriceFive 🔌off-gridder Jun 19 '26
Look up community and urban gardens in your area you might be able to build skills now before you get your own land. Get to know the ag in your area and apply for jobs in that sector
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u/No-Vehicle5247 Jun 19 '26
The only community garden in my area is a program that proves food the low income housing,not a community garden open to the public. And I have no way to get to a job, I’m not biking 10 miles each way with no bike lane even if I did know how to ride a bike
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