Looking to get out of Iowa

Hey Guys,

I am looking to sell my urban home in Iowa and get out of this state and setup a family farm with the rest of my family who lives in Colorado.

I would like to setup a 4 - 20 acre farm with greenhouses, aquaponics, vermicompost and permaculture.  I am wondering where we should look for land?  My family wants Colorado or near mountains and I would like to be able to collect our water to use for aquaponics and other farming endeavors.

I am 28 years old and just closed my first business in renewable energy.  I plan to setup and completely independent farm, food, energy, water, shelter and FISH!! 

Where should we look?  The only thing I don't like about Colorado is the inability to use their rain water, unless you would setup some kind of underground drain collection system that was hidden from any officials.

Thanks for your advice and comments in advance. 

Personally I would avoid Colorado because of the rainwater issue, even though it is a beautiful state.  But there are other states with mountains! 

Like West Virginia!

Joelle

www.cobbedinthemountains.wordpress.com

H Ludi Tyler wrote:
Personally I would avoid Colorado because of the rainwater issue, even though it is a beautiful state.  But there are other states with mountains! 

Whats the rainwater issue?

    Rain that falls in Colorado legally belongs to Las Vegas and California. Nothing weird about that

what building style are you looking at using?  At least some sections of Colorado are pretty friendly with regard to "alternative" styles.

I still own 35 acres about 20 minutes northwest of Ft Collins up in the first line of foothills.  We had planned on building an earthship style house (there is one just up the road from our property).  Unfortunately jobs pulled us east and now family needs have pulled us further west.  So I will probably be looking to sell the property in the next year or so.

I think so long as people aren't making a big deal out of harvesting rainwater, no one is really looking to bother you.  At least, none of the folks I know have had trouble

H Ludi Tyler wrote:
Personally I would avoid Colorado because of the rainwater issue, even though it is a beautiful state.  But there are other states with mountains! 

I've been browsing but had to register to answer this. Colorado now allows you to catch rainwater if you're not on a system. NY Times did a story on it:
http://water.state.co.us/DWRDocs/News/NewsArticles/Pages/RainwaterHarvesting.asp\x

And I used to have the link to the changed statute but can't find it now. In this case, I doubt there would be a problem with catching rain water.

I went looking for that article, and got this:

Error

The following file(s) have been blocked by the administrator: /DWRDocs/News/NewsArticles/Pages/RainwaterHarvesting.asp

Troubleshoot issues with Windows SharePoint Services.

I'll suppress my irritation that my tax money has been wasted on Microsoft products....


Anyway, yes, that is the current regulation.  You can collect rainwater if you are not hooked to municipal water.  I'm sure that's all about water, and not about money or control or anything.... 

i love michigan and there are a lot of lovely places for low prices here

Hey,

I don't know if this would interest you, but there is a 10 acre piece for sale with a home already on it.  The 10 acres are in commercial orchard.  Mostly peach, some cherries.  It is on East Orchard Mesa, which is adjacent to Palisade, a big fruit growing region.

I'll post a little more about it in case someone is interested.  Out here we have shares in irrigation water.  Most irrigation companies have a higher priority call than the down stream megalopolises with their many golf courses and car washes.... Means if there isn't much water in a given year, the farmer with the irrigation shares gets it.

The property belongs to an elderly woman who is ready to be done with farming.  The property comes with all the equipment (ladders and shed, probably tractors and pumps)..... I don't know a lot about that.  She and her husband have been there about 50- 60 years.

I have been looking to find a buyer because I dont' want them to tear down the producing orchards just to be able to sell the property.

It is not likely organic,  a person could transition to what ever they wanted.  As the producing orchards went past prime, they would not have to be replaced with more fruit trees.

It just seems to me that someone who wanted a farm, would be able to live in the house and tend the orchards, a ready made income, there for the work, while they made the place into what they wanted.

I think she wants $425,000, or there abouts.  I know it's a lot, but because it is developed property, it would qualify for a mortgage, where raw land would not.

I guess I ought to post this with its own subject as well.

good luck.  Another place to consider, with a bigger population of alternative and such is the Hotchkiss  and Paonia area of Colorado.

happycobber wrote:
Hey,

I don't know if this would interest you, but there is a 10 acre piece for sale with a home already on it.  The 10 acres are in commercial orchard.  Mostly peach, some cherries.  It is on East Orchard Mesa, which is adjacent to Palisade, a big fruit growing region.

I think she wants $425,000, or there abouts.  I know it's a lot, but because it is developed property, it would qualify for a mortgage, where raw land would not.

Yikes.  At that price, I can't imagine being able to cash-flow that.  In order for it to be viable economically, the purchase price couldn't be any higher than 10x the annual net... the way I do my math, anyway.

I dunno about the 10x ratio.  Someone will want this place, and it may sell for less.  A person might have to have an outside job for awhile too.  42,000 dollars is a lot of peaches and cherries.  Peaches, the seconds, at the orchard, sell for $20 a box.  They EASILY get 2,000 oxes of peaches, and a lot of them are presold, and shipped.  This is a well known peach region.  check out Palisade Peaches.  They're a big deal, and it is a small town which still is unified by the common venture of growing world class peaches.

but, it is a lot of money if you don't have it

Thekla