West Texas opportunity

Hi y'all,
Just going to share with you my experience here in west Texas in hope someone might find this useful.

I first moved out to a small west Texas town in 2015, I was 26 at the time, for a short construction project, and did not really pay much attention to the area as I was focused on work and did not plan on staying more than a month or two.

But one project lead to another and 7 years later I'm still here (I did spend about 2 years in KY in the middle).
If you ever been out here you know it's not a very attractive climate, very dry (10 inches a year) very windy, extremely hot summer and cold winter.

One the other hand, this is truly a land of many opportunities!!
For example:

the town I live in is unincorporated so you can really do almost anything on your land.

Land is cheap, once you get to know the community you can find the people that will sell you land in town or out for farming and so. It will be much cheaper than what you will find on a real estate listing. The key is to be part of the community.

Jobs. Oil and gas is all here and the jobs are with high pay, you can live here for very cheap and save up money to start your farm operation or anything else you want to do.

Farming, this region used to be all farm land, water quality is not very good but with some creativity you can find lots of farming options that would work here just fine (fish farm, no till dry farming, salt water tolerant crops at)

The main key is taking the time to know the place and people, I have done that work around my little town so If you find this appealing I'd be happy to answer questions and would be glad to see more people move out here.

Strangly enough I am actually looking at this post because I was looking at your post in the singles forum. Not for dating purposes, I am just always curious which kinds of people in Texas are noticing the possibilities in permaculture. Now I am really curious what kinds of things grow well with 10 inches of rain?

I can think of three possibilities off the top of my head but I don't know if they are realistic. Of course I now have to see if olives, pistachios and nopales can survive such conditions.

Just a note, pistachios are rather needy.  I thought it was a desert tree but they need more than 40 inches per year.  And though the tree can survive with less, it looks like 35 inches is close to the minimum for good olive production.. so other than the prickly pear have you found more crops or maybe targeted water catchment?

it is defiantly tricky, you can grow some crops such as sudan grass but i mostly razie sheep.

Daniel said, "If you ever been out here you know it's not a very attractive climate, very dry (10 inches a year) very windy, extremely hot summer and cold winter.

Our land may be more to the east than where you are, though I love the climate.

We never go there after Easter though our daughter has a business so she goes every so often year-round.

That area certainly gets more rainfall than we get where we live.

Daniel! I meant to get in on this thread several months ago, and got busy, and never got to it......ugh. As an east Texan, I'm kinda always interested on what is going on and how things are out in the western half of the state. I've made it down to the Big Bend area twice, but have never been down into south Texas, nor out into the other regions of far west Texas such as the Davis Mountains, Guadalupes up by Dell City, Dell City itself, El Paso, etc.

Well dang man, I don't know where you originally hail from, but eight years and counting, and you've been out there a bit now........Awesome (I mean, I guess, if you have grown to like it over time, haha).

Well, since you offered, I think I will check back in and hit you up with some questions pertaining to the area, plans, possibilities, building, water management, food production possibilities, how your sheep are doing, possibility for fruit trees, etc. I really prefer more water and trees such as in east Texas (even just down to building materials, we just have soooooo much more potential for wood supply, timber, lumber, etc), but still, it's Texas out there, and things and times and prices of everything are changing, so I stay open to different areas, just in case. I bet the sunrises and sets are somethin else again.

Sorry you do not yet seem to have found the right caliber woman to join you in your plans and homestead vision.

Take care man,
-Cody

Hi Cody and Daniel,

We have lived in the Odessa/Midland area for a decade now.
It's been an adventure and we are here because husband's mechanic skills can earn a lot.
But I will tell you honestly, this north Florida girl is just done with the heat and the dry and the lack of grass/trees, etc.

We have a microfarm on half acre and a RV mancamp type place with 12 spots.
We get 2 gallons per minute from our well (good water) and have (2) 300 gal holding tanks and water management is very key for us.
The Big Sky is on my top five things I will miss when we go along with HEB and a few friends.

We hope to be where we can move to south Georgia by next spring (2024).
We currently have pigs, chickens, rabbits and a mid size Jersey.
We grow stuff but it is not easy. We use shadecloth and containers.
Happy to provide any information I can.

If anyone does come to the oilfield for opportunity, be prepared to work hard, SAVE MONEY, and make do living arrangement-wise.
Some people do settle here but most want to go back home.
It's really easy to lose your head over the money, buy a new truck, etc.
You HAVE to remember BOOM and BUST.
The Boom seems like it will go on forever but the Bust WILL happen.
So make a plan. It does depend on exactly what you are doing but a bust gets around to everyone eventually.

~Karen

Thanks for sharing this info. I'm hoping to get some land in Texas this year & have been debating between east and west. I love the trees and grass out east, but I grew up in west and the desert has it's own beauty too. My concern with west texas is the lack of water. Do most places have the option to drill wells? Any tips of where I could go for some great info for a newbie would be great. Thanks!

Josiah Dowdy wrote:Thanks for sharing this info. I'm hoping to get some land in Texas this year & have been debating between east and west. I love the trees and grass out east, but I grew up in west and the desert has it's own beauty too. My concern with west texas is the lack of water. Do most places have the option to drill wells? Any tips of where I could go for some great info for a newbie would be great. Thanks!

Josiah, welcome to the forum.

I know of several folks that have had wells dug in West Texas.  What might be informational is that the wells are deep.  I am on the verge of West Texas in the Hill Country and our well is 350 ft. In West Texas, the well might be a lot deeper.

Most folks in West Texas do rainwater catchment. That is what we do on our West Texas property.

Our daughter has an AirBnB business and rainwater catchment works for her business except during a drought like last summer.

Of course, it depends on what county you are looking at. As you probably know, West Texas is a big place.

Anne Miller wrote:

Josiah Dowdy wrote:Thanks for sharing this info. I'm hoping to get some land in Texas this year & have been debating between east and west. I love the trees and grass out east, but I grew up in west and the desert has it's own beauty too. My concern with west texas is the lack of water. Do most places have the option to drill wells? Any tips of where I could go for some great info for a newbie would be great. Thanks!

Josiah, welcome to the forum.

I know of several folks that have had wells dug in West Texas.  What might be informational is that the wells are deep.  I am on the verge of West Texas in the Hill Country and our well is 350 ft. In West Texas, the well might be a lot deeper.

Most folks in West Texas do rainwater catchment. That is what we do on our West Texas property.

Our daughter has an AirBnB business and rainwater catchment works for her business except during a drought like last summer.

Of course, it depends on what county you are looking at. As you probably know, West Texas is a big place.

Agree! Our well is 300ft. I think most wells around here are fairly deep. Definitely going to depend on specific area. I would ask and ask and ask some more about the experience in the area and get as specific as possible.

With proper landscaping to keep as much water on your land up in this area you can really start to grow more up here with our little rains that we get.  I have been slowly working on 30 acres here and have 1.5 acres that is a total different microclimate now with the basins that capture more water and put it in the ground.  I am just ready for these basins to start changing even more land over the next few years as they get water and soak into the ground.

Thank you for sharing! Yes, we looked into doing something like that. We have only 2 acres in Odessa but we bought 40 acres in Imperial.

Eventually, though, we have decided we want/need to be closer to family in the north Florida area.

This particular area is a difficult place to build community. I know a lot of good people but they are all spread out.
I have moved quite a bit so I am fairly skilled but it has resisted my efforts.

Definitely capturing the rain that does fall would be the way to go!

Not sure what we will do with the 40 acres in Imperial lol.

Wishing you continued success with your land.

I've been here full time for three years now. I'm fully off grid. And doing it all alone. It's pretty easy if you've got your ducks in a row, i.e. power, water, and shade.
I plant trees each Fall and have pecan, pear, apple, pine, mesquite, acacia, crape myrtle, and several others. I've had a number  of perennials and shrubs for a couple years now, too. The added shade and wind break will help the plants. Just getting in a garden wall now to keep out the javelinas and occasional rattlesnake.
The community is active if you can avoid the baddies here. Land is cheap and consistent tourism allows anyone with initiative and elbow grease to earn income from the land. I recommend west Texas if you're strong and want peace and survivability.

Jadine are you anywhere near the space station effort?
I've been interested for awhile, at one point I was actually going to drive down for one of the oaks, I had a notion to learn how to make apache acorn flour

Jadene Mayla wrote:I've been here full time for three years now. I'm fully off grid. And doing it all alone.

Jadene, very good to hear that you have been able to plug away and that things have been chugging along fairly well. West Texas is a huge place. Whereabouts (I don't mean exactly, just in general) are you doing all this, and what are the topographical features particular to your piece of land? Is your piece of land fairly flat and open? Or some elevation change, washes, basins, etc? I'm guessing by the reference to consistent tourism that you are somewhere down near either the Big Bend national or state parks, because that is the west Texas I can think of (that I've been to) that would involve tourism, as vast other expanses of west Texas would have very little to none of that going on.

Jadene Maula wrote:The community is active if you can avoid the baddies here.

Out of curiosity, what is the nature of the "baddies" you mention in this area? Are we talking more subjective politics/inclinations? Or are you referring more to issues with drug and alcohol abuse, and/or a general lack of desire to self-engage in meaningful projects, endeavors, and the general betterment of the area in one way or another? I ask this because if we are talking somewhere down in Brewster or Presidio county, I have long looked at this area as a place to eventual acquire "the right" piece of land and slowly chip away (or rather lay up, haha) at building some manner of earthen house and a general "homestead" of some sort, whatever that ends up looking like, but haven't squeezed the trigger on anything yet, and am just waiting and looking and considering, wanting to make the best choice possible, especially trying to look as far down the road into the future as I can, to eventually consider the factors that would pertain to building and raising a family, etc. It's so very much to consider and make the wisest choice.

I have 5 acres with very good access right outside of imperial tx. I don't have any plans for the property for the next few years and would be happy to rent it out (for a very reasonable price) to anyone who might be interested in putting it to good use.
You can be off grid or fully on. Jobs and school near by.
Please pm me if interested.
Daniel