Hello from sunny California

[thomasd]

Dear simple living community,

Let me introduce myself! I am Thomas. I live in California and work as a history teacher at local high school. I love my job, but do not feel happy about this modern lifestyle trend - hence, I would like to find some reasonable piece of land somewhere (not in Cali) and start living from scratch. Start living simply...that's why I have joined this forum.

So, let me get into some frugal discussions with you ;).

[catherine]

Great! Nice to meet you, thomasd! Looking forward to hearing more about your simple living journey!

[SteveinMN]

Welcome! I'm looking forward to seeing your process for simplifying. What have you done so far to get the wheels turning?

[dado potato]

Welcome, thomasd!

I see you teach history. I consume lots of historical books and documentaries, but I like to think the best is yet to come. (We will know the future is better, because we have some history to compare it to!)

Up in the upper right corner on your screen is a search box for this forum. You can look up what has been discussed here (historically) by typing in anything from aardvark to zygote.

[thomasd]

Thank you all for warm welcome and reassuring words :).

Well, Steve, so far I have joined this forum and started to look into my possibilities - e.g. research some suitable locations where I could get some bee hives and start a permaculture garden. I am also looking into going off-grid with some solar PV setup - a factor that affect the choice of location as well.

[thomasd]

Do you know by any chance how to upload a profile photo? It announces me that the upload has failed repeatedly. Is it because my profile pic is too big?

[SteveinMN]

Do you know by any chance how to upload a profile photo? It announces me that the upload has failed repeatedly. Is it because my profile pic is too big?
It could be that the file is too big; in light type near where you add the picture it says

The maximum size of your custom image is 80 by 80 pixels or 19.5 KB (whichever is smaller)
But if you know your file is smaller than that, there may be a restriction around the number of posts you have made. If you've checked the file size and it's okay, it's probably best to ask one of the Moderators here why it's not working.

[Float On]

Welcome Thomasd!
It will be fun to watch your journey if you make some big changes in your life. Have you researched the bees much? We use to have bee hives on the farm I grew up on and the bee partner fell in ill health and abandoned the project. The honey was so good and we've missed it these past few years. We're currently got a neighbor doing a few hive traps to move the remaining bees into new hives and we hope to be back in bee business. We like the easy side of it; providing the hives, land, variety of food plants and water sources (creeks and ponds) and reaping the benefits of setting out jars by the patio and magically having them replaced with clean jars of honey by the beekeeper.

[dado potato]

A while back I was in the Stockton area, and noticed the almond groves ... beehives in every one. Are you located near agricultural producers who might permit you access to their land to experiment with hives, bees and apiary practices? I see that you are thinking elsewhere than California for a final destination. I wonder if perhaps you could make your first thousand beekeeping mistakes in CA, while you have a regular salary from teaching to offset any losses. My old Dad used to say, Don't be embarrassed to make your first thousand mistakes. You gotta make them. Then you can get started on your next thousand!

I don't know if your regional/local beekeepers association is as generous as say, Blount County Beekeepers in Tennessee (which grants equipment and bees to new beekeepers and pays for their inspections)... but I note that the Mount Diablo Beekeepers in California have a mentorship program going, and it looks like honey extraction equipment can be rented from the association on a daily basis by their members. Maybe Mt Diablo is typical.

[rosarugosa]

I love that, Dado! Sounds like your Dad was a wise man.
Welcome, Thomas. We live on a small suburban lot, but if we had more space, I would love to try beekeeping. I look forward to hearing about your journey.

[thomasd]

@Steve: Ok, thank you for your advice. I will try it now. I am still learning to find my way around the forum.

@Float On: I haven't had chance so far to get to know anyone who keeps bees personally. I have done some reading around and definitely want to give it a try. Guess, all I can do right now is to plant some bee friendly native plants in my tiny yard. I just enjoy seeing that buzz around. Bees for me represent spring.

@Dado potato: That's a great insight and advice. Well, I don't where I will find my piece of land yet. I am open to pretty much anywhere - would prefer a place with four seasons, though.

@Rosarugosa: Thank you for your kind words. I am happy to be a part of your community.

[mschrisgo2]

Not sure where you are currently, though I'm suspecting southern California, since you referred to "sunny CA", lol.
There are 4 seasons in the northern part of the state and even areas where small pieces of land can be had for reasonable prices, or course, the farther away from the cities, the more reasonable. It's a good time of the year to look, as most rural properties are listed in the Spring.
You might also want to peruse the ic.org pages, people looking to sell, buy, permaculture, bees, etc.