Bryan Elliott

You could ask yourself if you like where you live now better than the place that is for sale?  Are you able to make it into what you want?

Is it worth what they are asking or what you can buy it for?

Do you think it will be worth less 3-5 years from now?

Now a story from 50 years ago:  A neighbor had rented a house and farm for 20-30 years.  The owner didn't want to sell it.  The neighbor told my uncle that he'd been saving his money to buy a big farm in one spot.  He said he'd passed on a quarter section (160 acres) here and there along the way waiting on what he really wanted.   He said that if he would have bought them along the way and paid them off he could have sold those properties and bought what he wanted.  The owner of the property he lived on died and the heirs put it up for sale.  He said that now with the increase in land prices the money he had saved wouldn't buy the old house he was in and the land it was on.  He moved to town and got a job of some kind.  He was fairly old so I'm guessing it wasn't a great one.

Bottom line is good luck making your decision, I'm not qualified to say anymore.

Years ago I was told to put a capful of chlorine bleach in with bathwater and it would repel ticks or keep them from attaching to you.  I did it if I was going to be in tick areas and didn't have a problem with them.  If the other solutions don't work I think it'd be worth trying.

It's practically impossible to give a quality answer to that question without knowing where you live.  Climate, rainfall, and soil type have a lot to do with that if you want to keep them on pasture.  If you are going to dry lot them and haul feed in it will work  practically anywhere.  Short answer-maybe!

Tori,

When we lived down in NW Oklahoma we had soapberries on our place.  Deer really liked to bed down and hangout in the grove of soapberry trees.  

In my opinion you can't have too much knowledge or too many skills.  Your fourth paragraph answered your own question.  It's not a bad thing to get paid while you learn.  I've jumped back and forth between jobs using my degree and welding pipe and then oilfield.  I made more money and enjoyed life more while working outside in less than perfect conditions than I did inside.  It might be a curse!

It never occurred to me that prickly pear might have a rooting hormone in their leaves.  It's possible though because if you mow or plow over prickly pear it spreads.  Many of the leaves or pieces of leaves will root down and you have more clumps started.  We once had a neighbor chisel a pasture on contour to help water infiltration.  It worked but in a couple years it had a terrible prickly pear infestation.

Deane,
You don't have to wait until your offer expires.  If you prefer the first place I think you could withdraw your offer on place #2 and buy it.  I've always been told an offer stands until it's been refused or withdrawn.  If I could buy either,  I'd get the one I wanted.  You are the only one who knows.

It would be nice to know what part of the world you are in C Oakes.  It might help you in getting better ideas and answers in the future.  

I've looked at a lot of them on various sites.  The ones that make the most sense to me are the greenhouses designed by Cord Parmenter in Colorado.  I'm going to use his ideas when I get to build mine in about a year.  They have classes every year at the Denver Botanical Gardens.  If you want to see some examples of his designs they are at pennandcordsgarden.com

I didn't realize this was an option.  I don't think I've ever seen a foot of snow without a windstorm.