We are a little further along than this now. 5+ac in Ohio. A family tree nursery had fallen on hard times and had to split their property to cover their debt. We bought it pre covid after looking for about a year and a half. I chose 5 acres because it was the smallest land that I thought could reasonably support a family resiliently long term and in Ohio unincorporated land is excluded from county zoning laws on agricultural use if it is 5ac or more, including buildings for agricultural use. Land is zoned for rural residential by the county. The covenants of the land restrict my use from dog kennels and from having more than 2 cattle nor 2 pigs. I’m thinking smaller livestock anyway (poultry, rabbits, and maxing out at sheep) Plus some sqft requirements on the house etc, which I wasn’t thrilled about but all of which I believe are manageable with my plans. The house itself will be fairly conventional with some resilience built in from the start, (A bit thicker walls for additional insulation, a propane generator with a large propane tank, and tornado safe room) I’ll try to add solar shortly after the build. We considered a “Certified Passive House” But in the end the cost was a bit too much and the design restrictions we chose based on keeping the house cheaper to build resulted in a design my wife wasn’t happy with. #homesteading #permaculture #grownostr