Welcome to the forum jgelt. I disagree with your realtor abt Hobby farming. You'll find a lot of people on this forum that farms. My DH and i did it for our own veggies and gave a lot away.But today with all the recalls more and more people are wanting local grown produce and i think the demand will keep getting larger.Plus i have to add the tasteless tomatoes that are sold in supermarkets help the cause too.

Yes, it is hard work and most people seem to use raised beds. Which can be costly to begin with. After initial costs you can save money useing organic farming methods,ie farm litter,composting your own soil,using open pollinating plants and saving your own seeds.
DH and i found a place where farming had been done before and all rocks had been removed from garden site. There has to be plenty more out there. When you buy look and see if there had been a garden site on the land previosly. You did'nt mention rocks so that may not be a problem. Poor soil can be amended as mentioned above. It takes WORK but does'nt have to cost a fortune. I know there will be more informative people respond to your post. We don't think of our gardens as hobbies, this is serious stuff. LOL
Wishing you luck and lots of fun ,because it's that too.

As to markets there are some around most of the area There are two in the town nearest us. It seems the biggest problem is getting local farmers to bring in their excess produce.
vickie

Thank you for that update. Can tell me what county you are in?

I'm not a stranger to mediocre soil. I'm curretly in Colorado prarie soil. 1/4 inch of good topsoil and then clay to the mantle of the planet. I spent years breaking up and enriching my soil with manure and compost. My garden is now nice dark soil that will grow anything, as long as there's water, which we are in short supply here.

I don't like the term "hobby" either but if you say "farming" everyone assumes you mean row crop farming.

My goal is veggies and fruit trees. Maybe a handful of animals later on.

If you or anyone else has some experiances clearing rock, I'd be interested in hearing your story.

Also if you have good sources that give info on soil types and araes I'd love to find them. I haven't found the information from the extentions too useful yet.

jgelt, I'm in Johnson CO. AR almost in Newton CO.
Sounds like you have good experience already in gardening and what to do. I'm trying to think....
someone has been digging rocks out big time. I think it's pauln. For my raised flower beds i used a pickax and shovel, then used the rocks as walls for my flower beds.

I bet you hated to leave that good black soil after all the work you did. We had to do the same when we left TX. Though this is where we wanted to be.

Wow! Thanks for the mention Vickie! I've got lots and lots of rocks. I use the sandstone to build up my raised beds. The shale I just leave where it is, or move to a lower spot. In Missouri, you'll be having limestone and chert mixed with lots of orange clay. Look for land with some bottom mixed in, and your success with veggies/fruits will be much greater than an upland site. Make sure you're not building or farming in a floodplain. Although, up there it seems most of the creeks dissappear into sinkholes to emerge as springs somewhere down the line.

There should be some excellent sources for farmer's market and veggie and fruit growing in your area. There might even be grants available for truck stand production. One thing to remember about fruit trees is we get burned about once every three years by late spring freezes. Especially peaches.

If you do end up with an upland site, you can consider wine grapes. Cynthianna or Norton is a red grape that makes the best local wines. Grapes can make tasty wines when they struggle for soil and water.

Farmer's Market is always an option, but you may have to travel a ways to find buyers. Here in Little Rock we have some farmers who travel about 1 1/2 hrs each way to our market. I have no problem paying extra for their food because I know how they grow and know that it will be top quality. Other people at our market just go to the local wholeseller and you know it when you buy a tastless tomato.

If you can't find any information for Missouri, let me know, and I might be able to look up some sources for you.

If you enjoy gardening and don't expect to make a living, go for it. Moving here from another state expecting to support yourself by farming might prove to be a disappointment. I love living here in SW MO, but you need to be careful. Make sure you want to live here. I would rent for a year and then buy. Talk to people who have truck farms or orchards before you jump in.

If I wanted a traditional vegetable garden and had to till it, I would have a LOT of rocks to remove. I have mostly flower gardens and have planted a few veggies here and there. The only raised bed I have is a little one in front of my porch. In my other beds, I added quite a bit of compost but left most of the rocks there. Sometimes I just add compost in the planting hole or I might get ambitious and put some over a larger area. It seems even more important to keep the weeds away and give plants enough room to spread. I might just be lazy but I've decided the rocks help with drainage in our clay soil so I leave them there. lol
I think you can tell whether the soil is too poor by just looking around. If there seems to be a healthy variety of weeds and grass, I'm sure you can grow veggies and flowers as well, especially since you're an experienced gardener. If you see bare ground where nothing is growing, that's a bad sign.
The University of Missouri Extension Center is a good resource for information on growing fruit trees and many other things. I think someone else mentioned late frosts make some fruit trees unreliable but not impossible.
Keep us updated on your move. Good luck and welcome to the Ozarks forum.

I live in Newton County and had a problem watering my veg garden until we had a farm pond put in, and a pump to pump the water through plastic pipes to a shutoff that I hook my hoses to. I no longer grow the vegs, but still use the pond water for my flowers.
Our soil is not nearly as rocky as some around here, but very poor and shallow. Except for trees, shrubs, and bulbs, I do most of my flower growing in containers now.
One of our biggest drawbacks to gardening is the many many whitetail deer!! Raccoons are also a problem.
I am originally from Idaho, and didn't have any of these problems there. My garden was irrigated there.
Good luck, jgelt. I agree with helenh. Check it out thoroughly before committing yourself.

Hi I am just outside of Ava and yes the soil is difficult at first. I used the back to eden garden method and have had excellent results. Like others have said. You will want to fence your property very well and very high due to Deer in the area. Good luck!

David, did you realize this thread is nearly 10 years old?

WOW!!! Yes almost 10 years old. Wonder if there is a second chapter to this story???

We got lucky about 5 years ago and found a small place without rocks. We got sand and that too has it's problems but each year we have raised more beans, tomatoes and corn than we know what to do with.

Love it here.