I would  like to introduce you to the Western  Kentucky area, and try to give you an idea of what it is like here;  what  sorts of advantageous connections and opportunities  there are here for a sustainable community, and what you could expect  from this area generally.  
Actually, this is a very optimal  region for anything to do with growing crops.  We live in the USDA  Hardiness Zone 6, and just about everything  does well here.  We have a very temperate growing season with very mild  winters, and only get 1 or 2 light snows each year.  The  growing season here is actually long enough that you can do 2 or even 3  plantings of some food crops, especially tomatoes and greens, and also  some others. 
USDA Plant  Hardiness Zone Map
http://www.sunlightgardens.com/hardinesszones.html 
With 88,000 farms, Kentucky is fourth in the                                  nation in total number of farms and  second in                                  number of family farmers per capita.   Kentucky currently has 88 certified organic farms, and at least another  100 uncertified organic farmers.
Kentucky's certified organic  sector has been                                  growing faster than those of all but one  neighboring                                  state.The Ky Dept. of Agriculture  has recently                                  published or helped sponsor a Farmers  Market Directory,                                  an Organic Producer Directory, a Farm  Direct Food                                  Products Directory and a Fruits &  Berries Producer                                  Directory.
The soil here is not  especially rich and loamy.   We have red and even blue clay, which turns into cement around the roots  of your plants and suffocates them. So the soil needs building up with a   combination of manure, mulch, compost, and sometimes sand, along with  fertilizer.  We are usually low on selenium and/or potassium here, and  the soil is rich in calcium and phosphorous.  So the soil must be  amended accordingly.  It is almost a given that you will need to have  your soil analyzed and go from there, if you want to succeed at farming  here.  The local Cooperative Extension Office can help out here:  
McCracken County Extension  Office
http://ces.ca.uky.edu/McCracken/http://ces.ca.uky.edu/McCracken/
Paducah, Ky Farmer's Market     
There  are some plants that just plain can not be grown here - the ones  that I know don't thrive here, are blueberries, lilac bushes,  rhododendrons, and any kind of lavender  (which breaks my heart, because  I had dreams of a lavender farm!)   Rhubarb does not seem to like it  here, either.  We can, however, grow beautiful peaches, wisteria,  azaleas, hydrangea, and pecans!  
Farmers here can grow just  about anything, and do!  Some major crops grown around here are  corn, soybeans, sorghum, tobacco,wheat, barley, tomatoes, alfalfa, oats,  and many  other vegetable and fruit crops.  We have large tomato farms, strawberry  farms where  people pick their own berries (they are quite popular here!), and there  are several farmers' markets where farmers can take their produce and  sell it.   Many local restaurants and other businesses rely on local  produce.  
Produce usually sold around here at the markets is  quite varied - including all types of vegetables such as:  yellow  and green zucchini, broccoli, cabbage, turnip, collard, and mustard  greens,  cauliflower, eggplants, tomatoes, green beans, black-eyed peas, okra,  pumpkins, cucumbers, cabbage, sweet potatoes, and other fresh greenies.   
Some of the fruits that do best around here are: apples,  peaches, strawberries, plums, and pears. There is nothing better than  eating your  first sweet, juicy tree-ripened peach at the farmer's markets here!   We  also have a lot of nice  wild blackberries here that grow on their own everywhere - they make  wonderful blackberry cobbler!  
Farmers  here bush-hog and  round-bale their sweet grass and use it themselves or sell it to horse  owners.  If you have a tractor and a bush-hog, you can usually find a  job cutting  someone else's fields for half the sweet grass, or get paid to do it. 
We    have a lot of blue fescue here, which although pretty, is not very good  for some livestock, especially pregnant horses!  You have to be careful  about that!  Some minerals also need to be replaced as far as your  grazing critters...
There is a lot of invasive Japanese  honeysuckle here, and also kudzu.  It doesn't much bother anything,  though.  And the honeysuckle smells divine!  It is one of the things I  like the best about living down here.  
We have an annual Dogwood  Festival here, with a Dogwood Trails route complete with lights, that  people enjoy every year.  It is a very beautiful time of year, with so  many trees blooming, both dogwood blossoms and redbud trees.  Also  prevalent here are the Bradford Pears, which are the first trees to  bloom each Spring.
The Dogwood Trails are beautiful!     
Pink Dogwood Tree     
White Dogwood     
Redbud     
Wisteria     
Bradford Pears - These trees are the first to bloom in the 
Spring - they always keep their perfectly round shape!     
To get a real good idea about how people  think around here, a town close by, in Benton, has an annual "Tater Day"  celebration, complete with parade, good food, entertainment, contests  for the kiddies, even "best groomed pet", and "best trained pet".  (My  little 4 year old niece won first prize one year for her beautifullly  groomed lamb and her cute little costume!) 
"Tater Day" started  way back in the 1800's; and on that day each year, all the settlers from  the farms in the area would bring in all their produce to barter for  the things they needed.  It was harder to travel back in those days, so  it was a time to visit with friends and family not seen in months, and  to stock up on needed items not produced on their farms.  It is a  tradition that has been preserved all these years.  
Paducah, in  McCracken  County, also hosts an annual "Barbecue on the River" at the riverfront.   You've never seen so much barbecue, and they zealously guard their  "secret recipes", hoping to win the "best barbecue" title.
People  here are down to earth and not snooty, as a rule.  They are pretty  self-sufficient and hard-working, have tradtional values, go to church  and love their families.  Most activities around here are  family-oriented.
We have two fairs here every summer in McCracken  County.  Other outlying counties have additional fairs and festivals.   There is quite a bit of local participation at these affairs, with  livestock judging, jam and pie contests, tractor pulling contests, and  lots of other good stuff.  
We have a harness-racing track here,  with a training facility, at Carson Park. They board, train, and race  Standardbreds there.  You can go and look at all the horses there - this  is  one of my favorite past-times.  Carson Park is where I also go to  shovel up a load of horse manure for the garden, too!  You can go get a  load of mulch dumped into your truck bed for about $5 at the city  shredding places. There are a couple of places where you can get sand.  
There    is also a racetrack,  where you can go to watch thoroughbreds racing  and bet on the outcomes of the horse races.  
As far as  livestock, the kinds of  animals raised around here are beef cattle, sheep, goats, chickens,  ducks, rabbits, and turkeys. Shorthorns and Jacob sheep are a big thing  here, as are  Boer goats, Barred Rock and Domenique ("Dominicker") and Barred Rock chickens.  
Mostly everyone who  lives in the country and has the room, has horses.  People here like  their Quarter-Horses, and quite a few breed Tennessee Walking Horses.   Shelbyville, TN, is not that far from here, and there are quite a few  breeders here who show their Walking Horses there.  And of course, we  have the trotters, the Standardbreds, Saddlebreds and Foxtrotters - and  some  thoroughbreds, but mostly you see the thoroughbreds east of here, closer  to the Kentucky Derby track.
We have lots of good farm supply  stores around here, and lots of greenhouses where you can buy plants,  trees, and bushes.  I have a particular favorite where I get all sorts  of very hard-to-find herbs at very cheap prices!  I loved their orange  mint and variegated oregano plants, among other stuff that makes me  drool when I find it...
Every year around the third week in  April, McCracken County hosts the National Quilt Festival, visited by  quilting  aficionados from all over the world, coming to look at the beautiful  quilts, and to vie for the coveted First Place Quilt title of the year. 
And    of course, we have the river and the accompanying barge industry.   Lots of people here work for the barge companies - they call it  "working on the boat" - there are several barge companies here that hire  pilots, cooks, and deckhands.  They usually work 30 days on and 30 days  off the boat.  It takes a little doing to get hired, but it's well  worth it,  because they pay exceptionally well!  (With the economic collapse, it  is  probably pretty hard to get hired there at all right now, though.)
And    then there is Kentucky Lake, and Land Between the Lakes,  which is a UN protected biosphere, a peninsula, a strip of land between  the long legs of Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley, which are man-made  lakes built by the US Army Corp of Engineers after the Big Flood down  here in 1937.  It was made by diverting the flow of the rivers via locks  and dams, which also serve to accomodate the passage of river  transport. 
Kentucky Lake hosts several very important Bass,  Crappie, and  Catfish Fishing Tournaments.  You can see more about the fishing around  here at my web site about the topic here:  
Western Kentucky  Fisherman 
http://WesternKyFisherman.bravehost.com   
You can also see a video there about Western Kentucky,  Kentucky Lake, Land  Between the Lakes, and the Paducah area.  There is definitely a lot of  fishing going on around here, whether at the lakes, or in the rivers.   We are the home of the Largemouth Bass and the Striper, we have the best  crappie fishing in the world, and bumper crops of catfish.
Land  Between the Lakes, as mentioned, is a National Park managed by the USDA,  and is a designated UN Biosphere area.  You can camp there, go fishing  along the entire length of the lake, and go hiking, ATV riding at the  trails at Turkey Run, horseback riding.  There is a Nature Station for  the observation of local wildlife and plants, and you can join in guided  field trips and plant  and animal identification classes.  There is the Golden Pond  Planetarium, a  real 1800's working Homestead Farm to visit, a Fallow Deer Sanctuary,  and an Elk and Bison Prairie that you can visit and see the animals. 
Worth   mentioning is Hematite Lake, where there are hematites all over the  place,  and many other things you can do around here.  And of course, there is  the the Kentucky Opryland where you can hear aspiring country singers.  A  big thing for young people here is the Talent Search contest each year,  where winners get to go on to Nashville!
Kentucky still leads the nation in burley tobacco production, even  though the federal tobacco price support program was discontinued in  2005. The state is second in the U.S. in total tobacco production and is  in the top 20 in corn, soybeans, and winter wheat.
 Kentucky is the leading beef cattle state east of the Mississippi 
River and is eighth in the nation overall.      
Jacob Sheep & Baby     
Boer Goats (Raised as meat goats)     
Nubian Goats - Nubians are milk goats.     
Barred Rocks     
 
People  here are not fancy - they are "country folk".  They don't care much  about fancy clothes and such.  They are set in their ways, good-hearted  and friendly, but full of piss and vinegar if you tangle with them!   I've never seen a Kentuckian yet who would back down from a good fight!   In fact, I think they really enjoy a good knock-down cussin' fest.   They will respect you more if you sling it right back to them.  They  will grin at you and shake your hand later, if you do.  It's some sort  of a "cultural" thing here, a rite of social passage.
Most people  down here will tell you  they are Rebels, and even though Kentucky actually was officially  "Yankee", many Kentuckians fought in the Confederate Army for the  Southern cause, making Kentucky a divided state in those times.  But  nowadays they are proud of being Rebels, and are insular about  "Yankees".  If you are from the North, you will always be a "Yankee" to  them.  You should not let that bother you too much, but if someone calls  you a "DAMN Yankee", this is an indication that they think you should  vacate the area.  (Might not be a bad idea, either!)
I know it  sounds complicated, but despite all their idiosyncrasies, they will  always help their neighbor out when needed.  It takes a while to "learn  them", as they themselves will say.  Hospitality and family loyalty and  pride are very big things down here.  So are the "social graces".   Southern hospitality is still very much alive here.
Things just  seem to move slower here.  No one is in a big hurry to do anything.  It  might take you a while to get used to it at first, if you have been a  person who has been punching a clock, rushing to meet deadlines, and  running back and forth.  But, after you settle in, you will feel the  tension, and all your anxieties and depression start to melt away...   You can start to enjoy your life for the moment, and not be so pressured  to "hurry, hurry, hurry".  You will be so relieved to be able to shed  the "city trappings" and the pretensions, to just be yourself, and let  the day be whatever it decides to be.
This is not to say that  people here are lazy or not ambitious.  Because they are really hard  workers, very conscientious and punctual, and strive to excel in  whatever they are doing.  But they just don't "look" like they are  beating the hell out of themselves while they are doing it.  And they  take time out for quality time with their friends and families.  People  here spend time at home with their families, much moreso than they do  out "running the streets".  
I hope this kind of gives you a  picture of what things are like here.  
I wrote it from off the  top of my head.  I have been here for thirteen years - I guess that  makes me a Kentuckian now.  (Of course, a native Kentuckian would not  agree with that statement!)
I don't know if I have missed  anything or not.  I am sure I have.  If anybody from Kentucky reads  this, add whatever  you think of, and I'll appreciate it if you do!
Beautiful  Kentucky!
Helpful Links:
McCracken County Cooperative Extension Office
McCracken County Office 2705 Olivet Church Road Paducah, KY 42001-9755
http://ces.ca.uky.edu/McCracken/
Kentucky: A Guide to the Bluegrass State
Kentucky Department of Agriculture Home Page
Everything you want to know about agriculture in Kentucky, KY Proud, Ag Marketing, farming, horticulture, NAIS, alfalfa, Buy KY, animal monitoring
http://www.kyagr.com/2010-2011
Kentucky Organic Program
http://www.kyagr.com/marketing/plantmktg/organic/index.htm
Kentucky Farmers' Market Manual
Click here to download the entire manual. (pdf 692kb)
National Arboretum - USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map
A complete clickable zonal map indicating temperature ranges down to individual counties.
http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html
"Quick-Key Guide to Wildflowers," by David Archbald, Rosemary V. Fleming, ... and other useful information regarding planting and growing the wildflowers ... Kentucky Wildflowers of Western Kentucky
http://gardeninglaunchpad.com/WF.html
Western Kentucky Flowering Plants | Garden Guides
Gardeners in western Kentucky are in a warm, temperate zone where the average lowest night-time winter temperatures range from -5 to -10 degrees, ...
http://www.gardenguides.com/97805-western-kentucky-flowering-plants.html
Purchase Area Master Gardener Association
Located in Western Kentucky, our members live in the 7th District which includes Ballard, Calloway, Carlisle, Graves, Lyon, Marshall, and McCracken Counties ...
http://www.pamga.org/
Planting Schedules
Each USDA planting zone has its own schedule for sowing seeds. ... 1, Zones 1-2 Planting Schedule. 2, Zones 3-4 Planting Schedule. 3, Zones 5-6 Planting ...
http://www.thevegetablegarden.info/planting-schedules
USNA - USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map
http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/hrdzon4.htm