New to HA - general questions

Hello all. I a new to HA, but not so much to IoT. I am making the transition from “amazon knows everything via Alexa” to living in the country with little to no internet and a desire to get more and more off grid. So - some questions:

  • Is this the right forum to general questions so I can get my bearings on how to utilize HA?
  • I’ve had my eye on the Sense product for several years, just never pulled the trigger as it is cloud based. What non-internet monitors are available that work with HA?
  • Are there any HA plugins that allow for (simple) voice commands? (As a last resort, using google/amazon to trigger IFTTT routines that then trigger a monitor in HA so I can try to keep a separation!)
  • I will be gaining in a full aquaponics system with the new house - any suggestions for HA integration on that front? It will be separate from the house so pushing network out there will be a priority. (I use a mesh network so can get another node and place it out there.)
  • Central Florida so weather monitoring is NOT as important as it was back in Colorado. We do get some frosty nights during winter but rarely.
  • We are on a well and septic - anything in HA to monitor those aspects?
  • Eventually we will be adding a large workshop and solar - just not sure in which order yet or how quickly.

TIA
-kb

Yes, just make sure to take a look at this post

There are a few non-Google/Amazon voice-assistants at various stages of usability:
Rhasspy
MyCroft.ai
Genie/Almond

There are a variety of ways to connect Alexa to HA:
Home Assistant Cloud (also works with Google)
Custom Alexa Skill/Haaska
Node-Red

There is no need to use IFTTT as an intermediary. With HA Cloud or Custom Skill (and maybe NR) you can limit Amazon’s access to a specific subset of entities such as scripts or buttons an have your routines fire those.