homesteading in colorado?

Interesting...I grew up there. Not many jobs. No zoos. Lot of ranch land, few families. Land isn't cheap because it's becomming prime hunting area. But it IS a beautiful area with the Cleache and the Red hills and canyons.

OP, if you want to move to SE Colo, Water will be a major issue. My SIL and her husband and my BIL and his wife bought property SW of Colo Springs. 5 acres will run you close to $50,000 and most is undeveloped. Water has been an issue for them. BIL had drilled for water 3 times. Dry wells every time. They have also had to deal with a lot of permits and issues with building codes They are high enough that gardening is an issue. That part of the mts are fairly arid, not a lot of rain. They are off grid, but they've all struggled for the past 2 years. They are around the Fairplay Hartzel area. Not saying it can't be done, but most assume that because of the mt's, colo has plenty of water...it doesn't.

any particular place in W-Tx i should be looking? odessa area mabe?

i should have mentioned, im hoping to have a SMALL orchard, a SMALL veg garden and goats.

id also like chickens both meat and eggs, and would like to raise a pig and rabbits to butcher each year.

id like to grow enough "food" to provide the primary nutrition for most of my animals (of which i dont plan on having many) and myself, which i dont eat much.

sorry, double post

The problem we face the most is the front range. The larger cities have the money to buy up water rights from the mountain ranches, they have been doing this for generations, so a lot of their water rights are older and have priority. We get our ditch shut off more years than not in late summer, that water goes on down the river to Pueblo, which holds older water rights than we do. It's called a "water call" whoever has the oldest established water right gets the water first.

A lot of Colorado's water also goes to Kansas.

Here's a good place to start learning, if you are seriously looking to move to CO.
http://www.waterinfo.org/rights.html
Water in Colorado is treated as a private property right that is bought and sold and, at times, can be separated from the land on which it is used. The owner may sell or lease the water rights to others, separate from the land. Sale transactions are recorded at the county where the sale occurs and tracking the ownership of the rights is done through title and deed research, just as with land transactions.


You will find in most areas that water is much more expensive and valuable than the land. An old saying around here is, "You buy the water and views, and they just sort of give you the land."
Our ability to keep cattle in grass is that our property is bordered by a major stream that subirrigates two pastures. Our place is cross fenced into 5 pastures, so I can rotate my cattle while letting the irrigated fields grow as long as the water holds out. This is all separate from our well, and does not affect it (at least not yet, although there is always someone who wants to put meters on all the rural wells). We have a 75' deep domestic well for household use and by law can water up to 2 acres with it. I don't water that much with it. We have a greenhouse, garden, and I water some trees, flowers and shrubs with a drip line, and keep the stock tanks full in the winter.

It makes me sick to my stomach to see ranch lands and farms drying up while the front range is loaded with green lawns, parks and golf courses.

Interesting thread.
I was born and raised in Denver. Still there. I bought 15 acres 5 years ago in the mountains 60 miles directly west of Pueblo. It has a well, electrical service, septic, a garage, and the remains of a burned down house. The price was less than 50K. There are some small homesteads in that area. And since a small homestead is one of my goals, I have confidence it can be done in many CO areas.

That you are alone will have an influence upon your search. Money is another factor. It is a buyer's market now and there are many properties that could help you accomplish your goals. I recently looked at properties for sale just east of Pueblo. There were several small community properties with a few acres, house, electrical, water (some well) and close to 100K. If you are more flexible regarding property without improvements, the prices can be much lower. Excellent buys may be available about everywhere, not just CO. Good luck on your search.

Try the Farmington NM area, and look for irrigated land but be careful what ditch--some run dry.

...........Odessa\midland is just plain ugly country , UNless , Of course you happen too own the minerals and are getting a big fat check from the royalties ! The high desert country around Alpine is very scenic and hot and dry during the summer months . About 4,000 feet
MSL so it isn't too high .
...........The area around Chama,NM is beautiful and maybe a little cheaper than further north around Pagosa , and check out Cortez as well ! , fordy

if you buy property in colorado buy a minumum of 35 acres so you are guaranteed a domestic water well permit from the State water office. You can water livestock and yards,gardens,etc. with it. there is quite a few areas that you could do good in. Forget the eastern slope. Best in the South western areas I would say. 35 acres that are not developed in the rural areas runs about $75,000 to $150,000 right now, but it varies greatly depending on what you want. Farm Land with full fledged water rights runs around $4,000-$8,000 per acre,up to $10,000 per acre. in the valley areas of Montrose, hotchkiss, Paonia areas. I have seen water shares for sale for $500 per share in the area. a share will irrigated usually one acre.

Yet another reason to go just a hair east, into western Kansas (or Nebraska).

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~*~Erin~*~
SAHM, ranch wife, sub and quilt shop proprietress
the Back Gate Country Quilt Shop

People love the Colorado land, west of I-25, but it is so expensive, they often gladly settle, for what they can get on the Eastern Plains (east of I-25). It's still is very expensive for what you get (and don't get).

Never could see the attraction, as it looks like this most of the year. No problem trying to figure out how to make a tire swing.

Shelljo , I was talking about Dodge City , but after re-reading what I wrote it did kinda look like I was saying Ashland had everything. Your right not alot there , but very friendly people and so beatiful.

Talked to Ex's uncle that lives down in Buffalo Ok. today and he told me same thing it's getting a little pricy around Ashland because of Prime Hunting Area , but like he said "When the state record Buck and several very close to it in size come from that area , ya kinda see it coming" Now I wish I had of bought the house and 1 acre I had the chance to 5 - 7 yrs ago $15,000 , but ex thru such a fit about it being to old of a house and she absolutly didn't want to live in that God Forsaken Place , But maybe Woodward , Ok or Dodge City thats when I said forget it.

If the OP doesn't like the humidity of CT I think Kansas or Nebraska would make her melt. I've been to both states in the middle of the summer and the humidity is insane. I have a lot of trouble with heat and while land is killer cheap there is no way I could ever make it work without staying inside for 6 months out of the year in the AC.

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Eastern CO and Western NE and KS are not humid. They are not too hot either. Very windy at times. Snow drifts.

I was down there in May. A cousin and I sat for 3 hours at 90 degrees beside a river and chatted. To me 75 degrees is air conditioner weather. It was hot but not uncomfortable. I really really needed a fishing pole though.

I was in all of those areas late August of this year. Trust me it was quite humid when I went through there. I went down to AZ this August and everyone was talking about how the heat is so much different because it is a dry heat. Well to me heat is heat. Got heat stroke a couple of times while I was down there this August and haven't been the same since. I drank gallons of water a day, avoided doing anything too physical during the middle of the day, and still got it anyway. I've come to the conclusion that this Wisconsin polar bear has no business being farther south than the Wi/Illinois border.

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It definitely gets hot.

But humid??
Again, the difference between central/eastern CO (which is what the OP is looking at) and western (you've caught that we're talking about the western parts of these states, right?) KS/NE is not very different.
They're only a couple hundred miles apart!

__________________
~*~Erin~*~
SAHM, ranch wife, sub and quilt shop proprietress
the Back Gate Country Quilt Shop

I wouldn't let a single visit determine an area's weather, especially humidity. It could have cracker dry weather most of the time, and if a weather system just moved thru, (rain the day before) with a low pressure system, it could be humid as heck.

As a general rule, when you get west of the 100th meridian, the humidity drops drastically.

Most of Colorado is 'technically' desert, till you get into the mountains proper. And the price of acreage in the mountains get pricey quick... unless you're a millionaire, your going to be 'homesteading' amongst lots of neighbors. If you don't have unrestricted use of water, homesteading is a bumpy ride.

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

thats a shame about the water issues, because i realy like the look and what i read about pueblo and the area surrounding it...
but i need to be able to water myself and my animals and some crops to feed us all.

texican, i noticed that, i found some absolutly STUNNING properties in the 3-4million range...LMAO...

Most of southern CO qualifies as high alpine desert.

And it is VERY windy. Not normal windy, but very windy. Nothing to block the wind.



Denver has a very large zoo. Colorado Springs has a high altitude zoo in the mountains which is very cool. And Pueblo has a smaller zoo which is quite nice, but it's pretty small.



Walsenburg is a popular homesteading area. Small town and hospital, "cheap" land. Bonus is that there is more scrub and pinyon pines to give it more "color". And if you can get closer to the southern mountains that will help too.


Just realize most of southern CO is dry, windy and very brown year round. But I think if you are willing to work around that, build smart, be water wise and can plan ahead... you can do just fine there. Many people do already!


Oh and watch out for the natural gas drilling. You need to know if the land you want has already been drilled or is in the "warpath" for it!




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