Homestead on Nature Preserve for Sale with Solar System
Sadly, Christina and I must sell our homestead in Dade City. We will definitely miss the place. Most of the year the weather is amazingly pleasant and the year round subtropical growing season is a huge plus. Many features of the property were designed with permaculture principles in mind. Although we just began a few years ago, it is a good starting base and has much more potential. I would be happy to walk the property and point these out upon request. Highlights include:
- 1 year old food forest with passively-irrigating swale on contour and overflow pond.
- Regency F2400 75,000 BTU woodstove with cook top and 2.3 cu. ft. firebox.
- Kitchen greywater system with valve to feed septic tank or irrigate sunken garden bed on contour.
- Approximately 1000 sq. ft. of raised garden beds with numerous perennials and self-seeding annuals. Drip irrigation installed in approximately half the beds.
- Fruit trees: ‘Rajapuri’ banana, ‘Ice cream’ banana, ‘Hood’ pear, ‘Home’ pear, male & female melonberry, jaboticaba, ‘Li’ jujube, ‘Norris’ jujube, ‘Florida Sun’ peach, ‘Tropic Snow’ peach, ‘Gulf Blaze’ plum, ‘Gulf Rose’ plum, ‘Windsor’ blueberry, ‘Gulf Coast’ blueberry, goumi, pineapple guava, cattley strawberry guava, ‘Wonderful’ pomegranate, natal plum, ‘Southern Home’ muscadine grape, ‘King’ mandarin orange, ‘Ruby Red’ grapefruit, ‘Chickasaw’ blackberry, ‘Illinois Everbearing’ mulberry, ‘Brown Turkey’ fig, loquat.
- Perennials/self-seeding annuals: purple mustard, galanga, tumeric, ginger, impatiens, rosemary, tatsoi, sweet potato, plumbago, ‘Kai Kea’ taro, moringa, chaya, water yam, Bolivian sunflower, night-blooming jasmine, pinecone ginger, pineapple, lemongrass, tilo, Florida cranberry, Okinawan spinach, edible violet.
- Wild species of value found on the property: slash pine, St. John’s wort, muscadine grape, wax myrtle, beautyberry.
- Home is well-insulated and in part-shade with young deciduous fruit trees planted along east, south, and west sides of the house. Open floor plan allows for cross-breeze.
- Pond with significant surplus deposits of peat in NW of property.
- 24 Sunwize 100 Watt panels for 2.4 kW maximum output, Outback GTFX3048 inverter 3000 Watt capacity, and 8 Concorde Sun-Xtender AGM sealed maintenance-free batteries with 9 kW backup capacity.
- Inverter is grid-tied with auto-switching to battery backup upon grid failure. Battery bank wired to power kitchen and master bedroom.
- In 2010 the system produced enough for all our household needs and a 750 kWh surplus that was sold to TECO energy company. We received a $15 check from TECO for the surplus.
- NE corner of property is adjacent to the state-owned Green Swamp Wilderness Preserve. Together with the adjoining Richloam tract of the Withlacoochee state forest it makes for over 100,000 protected acres and miles of hiking, biking and equestrian trails.
- The 50 acre Withlacoochee county park with facilities, paved trails, and events is 1 mile east down River Rd.
- Boat ramp and popular local fishing spot for Withlacoochee River is approximately 1 mile east of the property.
- Trailhead to 1,400 mile Florida Trail is 1 mile east of property down River Rd.
- Trailhead for the 46 mile paved Withlacoochee bike trail is 10 miles NW of the property.
- 5 minutes to shopping and historic, quaint downtown Dade City, 20 minutes to St. Leo University, 45 minutes to Tampa, 1 hour to beaches. Many local residents commute to Tampa.
