COLORADO - Roll Call

[rockymtngirl]

Born and raised here - a true native (few of us left anymore). Still in Denver Metro but trying to head to the hills this year.

[arrow62]

Hey rockymtngirl
Glad to know there is more people from colorado. Moved here when I was 1 back in 63'.
Have my garden and like to can and hunt and fish.
Live in the northern part of the frontrange.
Arrow62

[kctibs]

Born and rasied in Southern Colorado. Another true Colorado native

[AlyBlu]

Born and Raised. *This place is in my blood - I can trace back eight generations of us in southern CO and northern NM. *Living in an overgrown suburb at the moment.

[machinemaker]

Well I wasn't born here, but I have been here for 23 years. We live just west of the metro area up on the top of squaw pass, between Evergreen and Idaho springs. Up until this last Dec. I was self employed out of my shop here at the house. Returned to the corporate race as a maintenance mechanic down at Purina. Seems like a good employer, above average pay and excessive over time.
We attended a church retreat down in southern Co last summer and I thought that it was beautiful. We are a few years away from retiring and are looking for someplace lower in elevation where we can garden and keep some animals; any suggestions? Right now we are at 9500' elevation and even with our green house gardening is difficult. we would be currious to hear what you have found in your part of the state.
kent

[rockymtngirl]

Hi Kent - I've been checking land prices in the state - seems the most affordable is southern - definitely lower elev than where you are at. I've been wanting to move into the mountains for awhile now - but your comment on gardening is giving me second thoughts.

[machinemaker]

rockymtgirl,
We have ample sun light, maybe even more sunny days than the metro area, but we are atleast 20 degrees colder year round. We have looked around the western slope, but land prices are still fairly high. We try to get out and explore, but still have not found the right spot. Sorry for not getting back, I've been working lots of days.

kent

[zeke]

Not born here, but came here when I was five in 1960, lived in grand junction till 69, moved away lived in montana for awhile and still miss it, lived in wasington, arizona, wyoming, been back to colorado on and off through the years.
Moved back to Junction the last time in 05, still here work in the oil fields up in parachute and rifle for now, many are getting layed off so I may be next.

Still know where to run a trout line, and skin a buck, wild turkeys are plentful, and wild plants, and berries are there to be found, love the country of colorado but long for the old days, because colorado hasn't changed for the better.

Zeke.

[logansackett]

Native here as well. I would like to stay here but its getting kinda crowded, and a little expensive.

[rockymtngirl]

Hey Logan! Haven't seen you around for awhile - glad to hear from you.
I think we all see that our beautiful state is not as it was - some places are still like we remember. But good to know we all have that same though/memory - rocky mountain high always.

[STORM_SHADOW]

Born and raised in Golden Colorado... I rawwwk ;D

[Kelly]

Im alittle late to this thread, but atleast i made it :P

im not a CO native (AZ native) but i was stationed here with the US Air Force.
as soon as i could get out i came back to colorado.
I have lived in the springs for the main part of my 8 years here, but now i am up in the boulder area.

anyone have any info on the farming communities in colorado?
loveland
greeley
ft collins
alamosa

are the main ones i know of. there are alot of small farms around the boulder area, but im mainly interested in a place that a normal person can afford.
i am looking for a place to move and become self reliant, and so far it seems like you have to be rich to afford land north of pueblo...


any suggestions/feedback?

[rockymtngirl]

Hey Kelly - glad you are here! I would agree with you on the land prices. If you are looking for reasonably priced land you pretty much have to go south. I have seen some pretty good prices in the Westcliffe area occassionally (but that would be more mountain than farm). Land in Hartsell can be found pretty reasonable - but this still puts you in a mountain valley vs. on the plains. I'd say with the growth in Loveland, Ft Collins and Greeley you'd be hard pressed to find anything affordable there - although I do like the Loveland area - it still has a small town feel about it.
Alamosa and surrounding areas - yea you could get some cheap land down there - have you been there before? Not my cup of tea personally but you might make a trip down if you haven't been before.

BTW - I'm currently in Denver metro but still looking to get to a mountain area in the next few months or so.

Again, welcome!

Rocky

[machinemaker]

I second the views on the San Louis valley or the Alamosa area. Yes cheep land if you don't like trees. I have thought about some of the edges of the valley to the west at times. Going south towards NM can be interesting, visited some villages in the mountains north and east of Toas and thought I'd dropped into northern Mexico a hundred years ago.
kent

[Kelly]

Hey Kelly - glad you are here! I would agree with you on the land prices. If you are looking for reasonably priced land you pretty much have to go south. I have seen some pretty good prices in the Westcliffe area occassionally (but that would be more mountain than farm). Land in Hartsell can be found pretty reasonable - but this still puts you in a mountain valley vs. on the plains. I'd say with the growth in Loveland, Ft Collins and Greeley you'd be hard pressed to find anything affordable there - although I do like the Loveland area - it still has a small town feel about it.
Alamosa and surrounding areas - yea you could get some cheap land down there - have you been there before? Not my cup of tea personally but you might make a trip down if you haven't been before.

BTW - I'm currently in Denver metro but still looking to get to a mountain area in the next few months or so.

Again, welcome!

Rocky

thanks for the reply Rocky.
i actually own a few acres alittle east/northeast of hartsel,
and while i think you could farm on that land, i dont think the growing season is very long. my property is ~ 9600 ft altitude, so cold nights (in the low 30s) happen even in august, which could make growing alittle hard.
a green house would be a must to even be able to produce enough food for a 4-5 person family.

i havent been to alamosa, but we are planing a trip. from what i understand it looks like the hartsel area (very few trees and pretty flat).

i cant seem to find an area that is private, good growing season, views and enough rain/well water in colorado.

kent-
i havent been where you are talking about, but it sounds like fun :)
my only problem with a place in a little village is finding a job until i can become completely self reliant....

are there any off the grid or self reliant people in colorado (i know there are some, but do they post here?)

thanks for the replies,
the hunt continues.....

[rockymtngirl]

Hey Kelly - pcrowder (member here) lives up in NE Colorado - pretty near WY border I think. There was also one down in Rye - I can't remember his nam, but will see if I can find it for you.

Keep us posted!

[machinemaker]

I don't know if they are involved with this forum, but there are quite few people just out side of fort collin that have an off grid community. If you search for magnets, wind power, and I think that there is an alturnitive energy fair that they put on this month up in fort collins.
kent

[Kelly]

fwiw,
my girlfriend and i took a trip to durango / alamosa over the holidays

the views are amazing! but that comes at a price.... no trees.
im not sure how fertile the soil is in the SLV, but they seems to have potatos/barley/alfalfa growing there.

the land is cheap, and the elevation is ~7500 ft up.
we plan to go back down there in the summer and see how different it is (plus we want to climb the dunes)

i thought i read about a few earthship/strawbale homes in the valley. anyone know about this? i would really like to talk to someone that has done something like that at altitude

ill post a few pics later :)

thanks

edited for pictures:

edit2: pictures are tiny... if i have time, ill rehost them later when im not behind a nazi firewall....

[pcrowder]

Moved to Colorado from Washington, DC in 1974. Lived in Golden till 5 yrs ago. We now live in extreme northeastern Colorado (you can see Nebraska on a clear day). We live on a 40 acre farm and raise everything from poultry to 2 milk cows and Angus and Charlois cattle, and have Belgian draft mules and pigs and dairy goats. We had planned on moving to the mountains, but found out that land prices were extremely prohibitive, alot of them had land-use restrictions and covenants, and alot of the places made year-round access mostly impossible. We are pretty rural here, but only have occasional issues with leaving the farm due to weather/road conditions, and that's only for a day or two (maybe three on the outside) at a time.

[Cil]

Hopefully within the year, I'll be the newest citizen of Colorado. With my dad gone, I can no longer afford California.

[machinemaker]

pcrowder, We are up in the mountains, but are looking for land in eastern CO and western Ne. We want to get down to a lower elevation to have a real growing seasson. I like the area along the republican river around McCook. What has been your take on living where you are and any advice for us?
kent

[arrow62]

We (wife and I) work around the Ft Collins Greeley area. We have a place off grid on 40 acres at about 7500' and hoping to purchase another 40 acre lot a bit lower in elevation so we can have year round access. For the first few years we plan on driving to and from every week to get another cabin built. Fortunatly we work 12 hours shifts on a 3/4 schedule.These properties are located around the Craig, Co area.
Arrow

[pcrowder]

pcrowder, We are up in the mountains, but are looking for land in eastern CO and western Ne. We want to get down to a lower elevation to have a real growing seasson. I like the area along the republican river around McCook. What has been your take on living where you are and any advice for us?
kent

I absolutely LOVE it out here! We looked down around the southwestern part of the state, but found lots of covenants, no water available (would have had to drive 15 miles on dirt roads year-round to haul water --- didn't wanna be trying to do that when I'm 80!), so I looked out here. I love it! All of the farmhouses around us are abandoned (due to age) except one, and they are just lovely people with children. Everyone here has been so wonderful and helpful about helping us/teaching us anything we needed, and there is a true sense of "community" here, even though the neighbors are pretty far apart. Be forwarned about Nebraska - they have extremely HIGH property taxes there, and that's the primary reason we did not move there. The land was a tad cheaper, but the taxes would be outrageous! We are due north of Paioli, and I can see Neb on a clear day. We have corn fields on all sides of us, and have been allowed to put our beef cows out on stalks there, so we don't have to travel so far to check cows every day. The weather is good, and we don't seem to get as bad/heavy of snows as you get a little further east in Nebraska. If you want, go ahead and pm me, and I'll send ya my home email address if you have any more questions!

[johnny]

We spent a lot of our 'fishing time' up around your area pc.
We lived both in Colo Spgs and between Midway and Florrisant just off Hwy 24 and about 45 miles west of the Springs. High altitude and late wifes blood pressure didnt mix so we had to sell out and leave in 78. Loved it and missed it but life just didnt work out for us there. Wow--where has over 30 years got to------
If memory serves me right--we fished the S Platte right near you as we had friends over in Ogallala and camped in our MH around Julesburg. Caught some major league catfish up there.

[arrow62]

Hey PC,
Could you tell me about the best way to find land for sale out that way? I've looked in The Fencepost and several Real Estate sites but don't seem to come up with much. I have seen about 80 acres for sale around Briggsdale and a 120 acre section in Sterling but other then that not much.
As I stated before we are looking at 40 near Craig but now I'm thinking I might be able to get something closer out your way, maybe around Sterling. I really need to get out of the City....
Thanks
Arrow