Indeed, the natural gas fired power plant is real; its location to be less than 1/2 mile from my place, may be 1/4 mile. It hasn't been approved by the County Council yet, but I am sure it will be an uphill fight to oppose it. What I am finding in SC is that what is best for families is always trumped by the promise of revenue. (What do I expect? I am sure it is the same everywhere.)
John Tesh came on the radio with an interesting bit of intelligence for your life. He discussed the plant based lifestyle of the Blue Zones which would be a mostly vegan/vegetarian diet combined with gardening. The combination of healthy eating and exercise was touted as chief reasons for the health and longevity of Blue Zoners. I realized that I was accidentally living this lifestyle. The vegan diet came first, but the backyard garden came when I abandoned my homestead fantasies and settled into a conventional home in a working class neighborhood. That pivot was a consequence of my traumatic brain injury which makes the idea of working a large piece of land a nightmare now. I am no longer up to that task, and I don't think I ever will be.
The accidental genius of my pivot from wanting to be a homesteader to becoming a backyard gardener comes from the reality that I no longer see homesteading as a viable option for myself or anyone else. This comes from the threat to rural land from real estate developers, power companies, and AI data centers. They never wanted this land before. Now, they do. When Big Money wants it, Big Money gets it. You can cry and holler about zoning and "there ought to be a law" and all of that. The simple fact is that the law and the lawmakers can be bought. This leaves families, farmers, and working people to figure out how to live in a world subject to the threat of eminent domain and development. The little guy is just a bug that can be stepped on.
I can recreate my backyard garden anywhere that has a backyard and no HOA. I recommend finding a working class neighborhood of people with like-minded aims as yourself. This is a viable option because I think anyone can do this and achieve similar results. The large homestead with animals of the four legged variety will always be under constant threat from development.
Some will make the argument that you can simply sell the property for the market price and move somewhere else when this occurs. The problem with this argument is that it doesn't account for the sweat equity that a homesteader puts into developing his property. How do you put a price tag on amended soil, fencing, and fruit trees that took years to grow? Additionally, when they use eminent domain, they don't use the same accounting as they do when calculating your property tax. When it comes to taxes, they go high. When it comes to taking your property, they go low.
The bottom line is that acquiring and retaining any large piece of property for the purpose of homesteading and farming will be akin to winning the lottery for the foreseeable future. It can be done, but it will be difficult and precarious. Things shouldn't be like this, but I always point out that reality has the last word on these things. I am on the side of anyone wanting to live an alternative agrarian lifestyle. Unfortunately, that alternative is now in a precarious position. It is sad and sick that things have come to this. The moral victory belongs to the homesteaders, but Big Money will be the final winner.
