SOLD: Grand Junction Colorado Property

2.6 acres of soil teeming with live soil food web organisms

nine ancient apricot trees, here is one loaded with ripe fruit.

Also: Nectarines, apples, plums, cherries.  ~ 6 years old and bearing abundantly.

        Elderberries, Hawthorne, black- rasp- and strawberries

There are perennial medicinal herbs harvestable by the pound, lemon balm, mullien, hops (centennial and cascade), peppermint, spearmint, chrysanthemum to name a few I can think of right now.

Here are echinacea blooming under ripening santa rosa plums.

Outbuildings include a small "barn/ animal shelter", with milk room or tack room, pictured below.  There is also a spacious chicken house with fully fenced and predator proof outside run, as well as less secure enclosure options.  The chicken house has a cob greenhouse attached.

It's clear the setting is incredibly beautiful.  Those are the cliffs of "Colorado National Monument" visible from every place on the property.  An official trailhead into the monument is less than 1/2 mile from the door.

I have used the extra bedrooms in the house for a guest business.  In Colorado, the laws re farm stays are different from B&B's, but the guests don't distinguish...  the main thing is with a farm stay, a commercial kitchen is not required.  To serve paying guests food from a farm kitchen requires that the guest stayed the night.

People visit to ride bicycles, both road biking and mountain biking.  Hiking, bird watching, and photography are other popular reasons to visit the area.  If you have ever traveled, you don't need me to tell  you how tiresome the standard hotel motel and cafe accommodations are.  My guests have appreciated being served organic and fresh prepared food, and clean quiet private accommodations.

Another destination is Grand Junction's down town, with a year round sculpture display that stretches over many blocks, and fine dining.

It's a potential income source for future owners, which can offset the cost of the property.

Looks nice Thekla, I lived in Rifle for four years and we spent a lot of time in the "big City". We especially loved all of the orchards, farms and wineries in the area.

So I would like to add that this is a great opportunity in a large farming area for someone who is looking!

Thanks for the endorsement Miles.

I am slow getting all the info up.I hope to get photos of the earthworks and gravity flow irrigation today.  I would prefer this go to a perma culture practitioner, or sustainable farmer or soil food web aficionado who will appreciate the work already done.  Many people are looking for the cheapest land possible, but I am hoping a pair or group that see the advantage of close proximity to affluent buyers, to medical community will jump at the chance.  Maybe a hybrid permie couple. One needs the town for their professional pursuit.  The other wants to be a diversified farmer, and/or herbalist.Also a great place to raise a family.  

I'm putting it on Landwatch soon, maybe listing with the local MLS.  For the buyer who contacts me directly, we won't have support the real estate industry.

Thanks again

Thekla

I have been in the Grand Junction area a number of times and as a small farmer my impression of the area is favorable.
There are a lot of small irrigated farms growing a wide variety of crops. I have noticed a good number of roadside farm stands. The climate is fairly mild and dry with 4 seasons. It is at a lower elevation with a longer growing season than the rest of Colorado. It is a regional shopping and medical hub that draws people from small towns for at least a hundred miles in every direction.  The downtown appears to be on an upward spiral.
It is in close proximity to millions of acres of public land with 14,000 foot mountain peaks and huge expanses of wild slickrock desert canyon country.

The property currently has 3 income streams.  The guest business.  I don't advertise, and have not actually encouraged people to come stay when I do get an inquiry.  This is because I am "old",  I live alone, and when I do have guests, it is difficult to get my other things done.

That being said, I have one repeating guest. For years I had a website, and got inquiries regularly.  The scenery, & location make this an excellent location for a "B&B".  In Colorado, the laws for a "B&B" are more restrictive than a "Farmstay".

Here are photographs of the part of the house used for guests.  There is a private entrance, and this part of the house is separated from the rest of the house.

I used to serve dinners for an additional charge, breakfast I included in the $200. per night charge.  I charged a little more for double occupancy of one bedroom, and significantly more if they had a group large enough to occupy both bedrooms.

Another way to do it would be to use the upstairs as the guest area, and keep the old part of the house private.  I have had people ask ab out having their wedding here, and the house and lawn ARE wedding worthy, it was just beyond anything I felt like taking on. If people WERE to have their wedding and their reception, Ialways thought they might like the use of the "master suite".
It is a large room high above the gardens, with views East South and West.  As you see, I never furnished it with that in mind.  Just one more project I did not follow up on.

The "wake up" photos are the view lying in bed.  In the moonlight or bright starlight, the color of the rocks is faintly visible.

Here is another photo taken at sunrise from the pillow.

Here are some additional photos of the house.

I also want to show the irrigation set up.  The irrigation supply canal (Gunnison River water) crosses the property at the highest (SW) corner.  The property has 2 headgates and a pipe to fill a cistern.  There is a pump which pumps out of the cistern to water where I can't reach by gravity flow.

The first headgate fills the pond, and furows take the water east and north.  The second headgate fills a ditch that parallels the road until it crosses the driveway and reaches the apricot orchard, from there water runs east and south.

That brings up the second income stream, more steady than the guest business.  I graze goats on the pasture I've established, with the help of those goats.  (The third income stream is bees.  I don't keep hives, but a beekeeper friend does.  The proximity to the National Park lands makes a great and clean foraging area for bees.  Beekeepers in this area are not struggling with hive collapse.)

I have a herdshare dairy.  Currently I maintain 7 full shares.   The share holders get kefir, aged and fresh cheeses, yogurt, cajeta and milk.  I started out supplying dairy products with 6 months a year, but could go to year round if I want to milk year round, and want to add buying alfalfa to my fertility plan.  

Just realized that I have posted this place as 2.6 acres.  For 30 years that's how much I thought there was,but the county assessors office shows it at 2.09 acres.  

I'm all for truth in advertising!  

Thekla McDaniels wrote:

2.6 acres of soil teeming with live soil food web organisms

I don't see a price on your fabulous property?

I just listed with a realtor today.  It is priced to sell at 349,900.00, way below what I think it is worth with the combination view,proximity to amenities, privacy& soil development I've done, but realtors and bankers reduce it all to number of bedrooms, bathrooms  and square footage of the house. They don't believe in these kinds of things.  That creates an opportunity for someone who values real soil the ability to water deep through gravity, food and herbs, it is a great deal.  It is a perfect set up for a guest business, a Farmstay booked through Air B&B or the like.

I would love to have a permie have it, it would make my day, .  At this point, it all goes through him. I can tell you what ever you want to know, but have very little  lee way in the price, because the realtors will get 6% (= roughly $20,000.)

Hi Thekla, beautiful property! Just stumbled upon it and am wondering if it is still for sale. Would you be able to post a link to the listing if it is still available? Thank you!

I sold the house and property July 27.  sorry I did not update this to let you k now!