Adirondacks feasible?

grunyon · #1 08/12/13, 01:57 AM

Any opinions here on the the climate around or near the Adirondack mountains in upstate New York? There seem to be lots of land possibilities there for me but it's starting to sound like I am going to have an extremely short growing season and some brutally cold winters. I keep reading about some "lake effect" and snow and arctic winters and such.

Thanks for any advice!

Nimrod · #2 08/12/13, 11:05 AM

I have relatives that live in Buffalo. They get snow from regular storms but added to that Is the lake effect snow. Wind coming across the big lake picks up moisture from the open water and dumps it on the land as snow. They get several a year. Little lakes freeze over and can't cause this problem.

As far as arctic winters go, if you are seeing caribou you have moved too far north.

rharper · #3 08/12/13, 11:33 AM

Folks farm in the Adirondacks, and have done for quite awhile (John Brown, of Harper's ferry fame--or infamy--homesteaded and farmed a piece just outside Lake Placid back in the 1850s). In any case, folks farm in Vermont and New Hampshire, and over in Quebec, and up in Maine, so if all the neighbors can do it ... I expect you'll have to adapt expectations to the growing season.

Yes, it's mountainous, but it's not a deal-breaker at all. And the Lake Effect snow is not that big a deal, in agricultural terms. I lived in Rochester for years, and it's pretty serious farm country, despite the yearly snow dump (and I expect Rochester gets it much worse than the Adirondacks). Plus, the Adirondacks are tourist country, with winter and summer visitors, which means part time and seasonal off-farm work will be more available than in most places. All in all, that might be the glue that holds it all together ...

I would love to get a place in the Adirondacks myself, or even just west/central NY, but the wife won't hear of it--so we live in Virginia instead.

Harry Chickpea · #4 08/12/13, 12:02 PM

A lot of Adirondack land has restrictions - some imposed by man, some by nature. One thing to take to heart is that the original farmers avoided the area while still attempting to farm in such unlikely spots as Vermont hillside farms. IIRC, the soil is acid from the softwood forest and thin. As with any land in those latitudes the hills can effectively cut sunlit hours in half or more - especially in winter when the sun is low in the sky.

Services in the area are not nearby, and from driving through and around when I lived in Vermont and upstate NY, not particularly good. It is probably in the lower 1/4 of places I would consider moving.

adkpete · #5 08/12/13, 04:00 PM

As a resident of the Adirondacks I can tell you that homesteading is possible but not all that easy. Land use laws are draconian (Google Adirondack Park Agency) They are not farm friendly. Yes, our growing season is not as long as other area's, (around 100 days) but we usually can grow ripe tomatoes. I don't plant frost susceptible crops until June 1. The better area to homestead would be the Champlain Valley to the East and the St Lawrence Valley to the North.
Dairy farming and Apple growing are big here. There are some smaller operations that do well (google Assgard Dairy Farm, Fledging Crow Vegetable)
Schools are generally very good and good Hospitals can be found in Plattsburgh, Saranac Lake and Malone. We are pretty tolerant of non-natives as long as they are not like the citiot transplants and try to change everything when they move here
Job prospects are not great, Essex and Franklin Counties have an unemployment rate about 11% Clinton county is about 8%.
We are still part of New York State so our taxes are relatively high and our politics are dominated by NYC. But it is home to me and I love it and would not move anywhere else.
We also have the best hunting and fishing east of the Mississippi.

FarmboyBill · #6 08/12/13, 08:20 PM

Is the reason the weather was so bad there a reason J Brown came to my home state?

rharper · #7 08/12/13, 08:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FarmboyBill

Is the reason the weather was so bad there a reason J Brown came to my home state?

Kansas? Aren't your winters pretty bad out there as well?

Shygal · #8 08/13/13, 12:00 AM

What part of the Adirondacks? People come on here and say that, but don't seem to realize the Adirondack area is HUGE

I live just south of the actual Adirondack park and I have a good growing season, not brutal cold winter, one year it didnt snow at all

the soil is clay....pottery type clay lol It will take a lot of amending. But you can have pretty much any kind of livestock you want to raise, apples, peaches, berries, etc

rharper · #9 08/13/13, 06:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shygal

What part of the Adirondacks? People come on here and say that, but don't seem to realize the Adirondack area is HUGE

Fair point. My own comments were based on the area in and around Lake Placid, at least in term of potential tourism jobs. Other areas could be completely different on that count.

FarmboyBill · #10 08/13/13, 10:12 AM

Pretty bad, but we got no lakes for cold air to turn to snow, Kansas is WAY below NY so it should be for an easier winter. I live around 100 miles from the Kansas line, and 450 from NE Kansas where I came from now in Okla, and Its WAY different winters here than they had up there. IF 450 miles makes that much difference, I cant imagine what 1,450 miles would make further north.

mikec4193 · #11 08/13/13, 01:00 PM

Hi everyone

Both my mothers side and my dads side came from the Southern Adirondacks....neither mom or dad stayed but as I have aged I have started looking back there as a possible place to call home when I retire. My son is in NE Kansas so I would love to move there but my wifes kids are all local with one in the Schroon Lake area. I can tell you in the Stony Creek and Hadley area they grow a lot of rocks...but I can just about bet with raised beds they might not be such a problem. Finding steady work is still a problem tho....has been like that for 100 years.

thanks for posting this up here.

MikeC

P.S. My grandpa lived out of his gardens until he was almost 80 years old up there. He never complained.

kwagner21 · #12 08/13/13, 01:50 PM

And in regards to all the lake effect snow, don't forget that insulates the ground and helps plants. We seem to have more of a problem with plants in the years we don't get the snow.

rharper · #13 08/13/13, 06:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FarmboyBill

Pretty bad, but we got no lakes for cold air to turn to snow, Kansas is WAY below NY so it should be for an easier winter. I live around 100 miles from the Kansas line, and 450 from NE Kansas where I came from now in Okla, and Its WAY different winters here than they had up there. IF 450 miles makes that much difference, I cant imagine what 1,450 miles would make further north.

I've heard mostly horror stories about the wind throughout the plains--not that there's more snow, or colder temps than in NY, but that the wind piles the snow against anything that stands still, and the wind chill is brutal.

In Rochester, we could get some nasty winds, but much of the snow actually tended to float straight down--in bulk yes, but without the windy bite. In the city, our biggest wind problems were the "funnels" on certain streets--it would be calm for five blocks, then you'd turn onto another street and all of a sudden you could feel every bone in your body.

There were times when it got so cold that school would be cancelled 'cuz they were afraid kids might die waiting at the bus stop if they weren't properly bundled ... but you get used to it.