looking to share land and build community in New Mexico

just throwing this out there....I own 5 acres in the high prairie in central New Mexico and would love some help/company/inspiration and muscle. I'd love to find someone that wants to park their tiny home or RV on the property while we build another living structure. lots of crazy ideas but overwhelmed with the work load and loneliness. There's currently a large rebuilt home, composting outhouse, 3 acre horse pasture, indoor and outdoor gardening area, rain water collection, place for chickens, and a baby food forest that may or may not have survived last year's grasshopper attack.
the property is 50 miles from Albuquerque and 75 miles from Santa Fe. It's in a very poor county, meaning land is cheap and taxes are low. there aren't really any decent jobs nearby so you'd need your own income stream to feed your self and such. this may be a good opportunity for someone that wants to get their permaculture feet wet without the commitment of land ownership.
there is a working well on the property, electricity(though I'm striving to be off grid), wireless internet, and homemade solar hot water heaters. I'm a single woman, 58 with a strong back and good health. My son owns half the property but works in Albuquerque and stays in town. He does come out regularly to build, create,and enjoy the sunsets.
you can see photos of the work we're doing on the Facebook, my user name is Deb Diz Fearon, the photo album is Broken Shovel Ranch. those photos are available to the permies.
Let's discuss the possibilities.

Hi Deb, How far is your property from Abiquiu? I have a little acre there that has an electric box and nothing else. I live in CA and hope to make a go of it in NM with in a year or two. I'll be in NM in June of this year. I'd like to visit your homestead for a day or two, maybe we could be eventual support for each other? I'll be studying papercrete building techniques for the good part of the month and putting some swales in and will be available during the end of the month. Hope to hear from you Catherine

Abiquiu is approx 95 miles away. I've been interested in papercrete construction for some time and would love to talk to you about it! Let me know when your passing through and I'll make a place for you. would love to have you come visit. the landscape in Abiquiu is vastly different than my place but breathtakingly beautiful. good luck in your endeavor!

Hi Ladies,

My husband and I recently moved to NM as well. I'm definitely the permie nut, (and my husband is just the supportive, sometimes swale digger) it appears we are all on the same wavelength/journey-so I wanted to say hi. I live right in the heart of the Espanola Valley (15 minutes from Dixon, 36 from Taos, 39 from Santa Fe) and have only been here about 8 weeks. (was in the lower Hudson Valley outside of NYC before) I'm pretty up to my eyeballs in work (running about 8 hours in permie research/planning, and also working my (unfortunately) unrelated white collar consultant job via satellite that funds my contribution to the movement) but I am most open to any type of help/support/network that could be opened up, and that I could provide myself- (and vice versa) whether that is tool sharing, ideas, education/resources, etc.

*I suppose since I haven't post much in any of the forums, my greeting in general is to all the permie individuals out here in the high desert.

Let's stay in touch! I am just getting my feet wet, and my bearings concerning community around here-I'd love to get to know others in my area.

I've actually been looking through property ads down that way as well as a few other places. It's good to know there would be others around if I decide to head down there!

Hello ladies!
My husband and I own 10 acres by Morphy Lake State Park, a stone-throw away from national forest, in Mora County, NM. We live and work for now in a Buddhist hermitage in Big Sur, CA, and are looking for someone to be a  sitter for our land indefinitely. We built a yurt there and spent a winter with our children. We loved it, but could not earn money there: we are Waldorf teachers. The land has an acequia that runs year round: the lakes are right above us, so we get very clean water. We have a nice Jotul wood stove that worked very well for us.  It is just beautiful there, peaceful, fertile. Our neighbor is a writer and journalist, and she is away half of the week. She might be able to pay someone to care for her cats, or barter. The road is very rough, though, so it takes someone with 4WD and some guts (like us- LOL) We do have a phone line up there, and satellite internet is possible. We took our solar panels and batteries with us because we were concerned they could be stolen. We have a couple of apple trees, oaks, aspens, pines, etc. Many medicinal herbs and edible mushrooms. I miss it!
Do you have any ideas for me? The sitters would just have to support themselves, but would get a free place and the opportunity to garden and experiment with permaculture as much as they want. I appreciate any thoughts, and I wish you the BEST with your projects!
Marls

Any of you all on New Mexico with Internet access with electricity,water and high speed internet?

Vicki Marie wrote:Any of you all on New Mexico with Internet access with electricity,water and high speed internet?

Sorry for the tardy reply.  I'll be moving west of Taos to a small subdivision that has what you're asking for depending on how you want it.  The lots are 2 and 4 acres but there is a property owners association and rules but so far they appear tolerable.

You didn't ask but there is landline telephone available but since the subdivision is nearby Taos Municipal airport where a few of the cell towers are it's probably not necessary.

There is electricity to a bunch of the lot lines but if you choose one where it's not there yet you'll have to wait for it to be run there.  In the meantime you can have a pole set up.  I have a certified residential electrician friend that will be coming out to set up a mobile home pole when I close on the lot I want then do my electrical when I get my house built.  The only reason I am hooking up to the grid is because the evil utilities companies require being an electrical customer to hook up to the fiber optic internet when they start doing the residential drops.  I'm seriously considering eventually powering a single outlet on the grid and hooking up the rest of my property to solar just because.

There is a community well there that is tested regularly.  One of the residents there says it tastes okay.  It's not "potable" so if you're a stickler for clean, safe water you'll need some way to add chlorine and filter it out, infrared or reverse osmosis filtration.  Considering some of the stories I've read here I'm setting up something because I don't want to risk being sick, miserable and wishing for death for weeks.  There is no limit on water but you'll need a truck and tank OR hire one of the neighbors to haul a load to your tank for you.  If you choose to drill the water table is about 800ft down.

Right now there is wireless internet or dial up available.  The repeater antenna for the wireless is up the hill from the subdivision somewhere so it gets a good signal from what I've been told.  A good portion of the subdivision is wired for fiber optic but it could be some time before they start residential drops there.  I'm assuming the installs are done on a priority basis and if enough requests are triggered it will generate a work order for the area.  The downside is if you are expecting cable internet speed wireless internet won't provide it and I have no idea what kind of latency I'll be getting.  My friend there isn't big on interwebs and uses the same wireless internet from the cafe in town 4 miles away.  I did talk to the company and told them what I need and they said I'd be able to do it with their system but I have to admit, I'm spoiled on cable internet.

If what I've described may be tolerable to you fire me off a PM and I'll give you more info.  There is much more real estate in the area that has modern amenities but I can't afford it so I have to go the piecemeal route and don't know much about the rest of it.

Marleny Alf wrote:Hello ladies!
My husband and I own 10 acres by Morphy Lake State Park, a stone-throw away from national forest, in Mora County, NM. We live and work for now in a Buddhist hermitage in Big Sur, CA, and are looking for someone to be a  sitter for our land indefinitely. We built a yurt there and spent a winter with our children. We loved it, but could not earn money there: we are Waldorf teachers. The land has an acequia that runs year round: the lakes are right above us, so we get very clean water. We have a nice Jotul wood stove that worked very well for us.  It is just beautiful there, peaceful, fertile. Our neighbor is a writer and journalist, and she is away half of the week. She might be able to pay someone to care for her cats, or barter. The road is very rough, though, so it takes someone with 4WD and some guts (like us- LOL) We do have a phone line up there, and satellite internet is possible. We took our solar panels and batteries with us because we were concerned they could be stolen. We have a couple of apple trees, oaks, aspens, pines, etc. Many medicinal herbs and edible mushrooms. I miss it!
Do you have any ideas for me? The sitters would just have to support themselves, but would get a free place and the opportunity to garden and experiment with permaculture as much as they want. I appreciate any thoughts, and I wish you the BEST with your projects!
Marls

Marls, I sent you a purple mooseage!

This is one year ago listing. I've built a mobile solar energy system on a cargo trailer and custom RV and am real interested in relocating to the high desert of NM. Is the OP still looking for partner. Or anyone else? Any projects looking for a hand?  I'm a 55 yo guy, likes nature peace, adores permaculture, polite, helpful. I've met some great folks when passing through NM on my way to jobs. I'm good at crafting a life. Would love refining needs to the minimum and make time for permaculture art, social, music, nature, wildlife, and so on. I'm traveling around the SW this whole Winter. Contact me at childscrick@yahoo.com if you have a cool project you would like to share.
More great ideas on finding or sharing land are welcome.  Thanks

Is this thread still open? My wife and I want to move to high desert NM within a year... Random internet ads for land sale don't earn my trust... Any hints how to start?
D

Hi Darek,
After many years of research I recently made my high desert land purchase in New Mexico. It is 20 minutes outside of Deming, NM with amazing views. I purchased the land from https://www.landio.com check out the available properties and the other client testimonial. There aren't a lot of listings, they are very selective about what they sell. Hope that helps. I am deep into planning my permie design for the land.
Best,

Nina Ruley wrote:Hi Darek,
After many years of research I recently made my high desert land purchase in New Mexico. It is 20 minutes outside of Deming, NM with amazing views. I purchased the land from https://www.landio.com check out the available properties and the other client testimonial. There aren't a lot of listings, they are very selective about what they sell. Hope that helps. I am deep into planning my permie design for the land.
Best,

THANK YOU!! :)

Make sure to check out Landwatch. You can narrow down by area, county, price, type etc.

Good luck!

James Whitelaw wrote:Make sure to check out Landwatch. You can narrow down by area, county, price, type etc.

Good luck!

Thanks again! ;)

Marleny Alf wrote:Hello ladies!
My husband and I own 10 acres by Morphy Lake State Park, a stone-throw away from national forest, in Mora County, NM. We live and work for now in a Buddhist hermitage in Big Sur, CA, and are looking for someone to be a  sitter for our land indefinitely. We built a yurt there and spent a winter with our children. We loved it, but could not earn money there: we are Waldorf teachers. The land has an acequia that runs year round: the lakes are right above us, so we get very clean water. We have a nice Jotul wood stove that worked very well for us.  It is just beautiful there, peaceful, fertile. Our neighbor is a writer and journalist, and she is away half of the week. She might be able to pay someone to care for her cats, or barter. The road is very rough, though, so it takes someone with 4WD and some guts (like us- LOL) We do have a phone line up there, and satellite internet is possible. We took our solar panels and batteries with us because we were concerned they could be stolen. We have a couple of apple trees, oaks, aspens, pines, etc. Many medicinal herbs and edible mushrooms. I miss it!
Do you have any ideas for me? The sitters would just have to support themselves, but would get a free place and the opportunity to garden and experiment with permaculture as much as they want. I appreciate any thoughts, and I wish you the BEST with your projects!
Marls

My family lives just down the hill in Las Tusas. That is a gorgeous area good people. Also Desertgate internet the place I worked for until retirement has great Internet available up there.
Brian  

Hi- If anyone is still following this thread, my husband and I would like some general info about climate, people and general living conditions in NM.  We are retired and probably not going to be able to start a huge permaculture project but we would like to find somewhere we can connect with like minded people and do what we can at our age.  We have looked at the Silver City area and are considering the Taos or Los Alamos areas as well.  What would be really nice is to know if there were people younger, stronger and more knowledgeable about permaculture that we could hire to get us started with the heavy work.  Does anyone have any input?  Currently we are living in Northern Idaho and would like to find somewhere with more sun and a longer growing period but not super hot in the summer.  Thanks for any help you can provide

Hello K,
What are you calling "super hot" for the summer?
I am about 4 miles from the CO border and about 25 miles from Durango, CO. I am on the river. The cooler weather flows out of the mountains with the river. Not too shabby here, but it still gets into the upper 90s for a bit in the summer.

Hi, is this thread still active?  This may be slightly off topic but my husband and I will be moving to Albuquerque in a few months.  We both have jobs set up and will be working full time.  We have always loved the idea of downsizing and living more simply.  We plan to stay at an apartment first to get an idea of the area but would ultimately like to buy a tiny house and try to growing most of our food (we have absolutely no experience in this!).  We would love to stay on someone's land (preferably with access to electric and water) and rent for 500-600 a month.  Can anyone point me in the right direction?  We also have two small dogs.  Thanks in advance!

Marley Alf,
Are you still looking for someone to steward your property?
Shawn

Another way to find properties that I have used is https://www.cheapacreageforsale.com

I hope you find what you are looking for..

Good luck

Interested.

I have 80 acres with water rights in southern New Mexico, newly updated electric, domestic well in use. Located off main highway, Irrigation well needs work, dry pond used to be used for irrigation and fishing, small shed, and a new pressure tank. Clean slate to start the homestead of your dreams. $100,000. Possible owner finance with large down payment. Land has not been farmed in 20 years due to health issues.  Just outside Lordsburg New Mexico

575-997-7259