Where to move -- Santa Fe/Taos Area?

[MD1223]

Originally Posted by madrone

"I understand that NM isn't northern CA, and that's both a positive and a negative. Our growing season is longer, but our orchard and gardens are seriously challenged by the extreme sun and summer heat. (Oh, and we're used to hard labor, putting in fences, grading old logging roads, splitting wood, etc.)

I agree with jazzlover (not that you are yuppies, don't know you so I won't make assumptions based on a CD thread) but life is rough here. Not hard-working kind of rough, but it looks rough, it feels rough and you are constantly battling some sort of seasonal thing. The roughness of life here is struggling to survive - people here have been making there living from the land, and while its enchanting, it can be unforgiving. If you are retired, or selling a house in Sonora, then it might not be so rough for you, but the number of beer bottles and liquor bottles that line the sides of the roads are an indication of the struggle that many natives go though.

Oh, and the extreme sun and heat? As you get closer to the sun (ie higher elevations) it gets more extreme and intense. And hotter, or at least it seems like that. The thermometer says 80, but it feels like 98.

And the orchard might have some problems with water - its scarce here and its a touchy subject...

Visit - A LOT! and at different times of the year!

[debbie at bouontiful]

I have llive in California and many other States too. I love Northern New Mexico but it will not be a piece of cake living. We too are at the retirement or approaching the retirment age and will not be working in Northern New Mexico if we move there. But...I know the social situation will not be like where my parents just moved to in Northwest Ar. They will have a lot of network of friends and things to do. Now my husband and I are outdoor types being we own a cattle ranch. I stay in Chama for a week every year. I also spend a week in other places in Northern New Mexico each year like Taos, Santa Fe, Ghost Ranch... I love it all. Just know that it will have stunning scenery but will be like on a different planet from Northern California.

[debbie at bouontiful]

Originally Posted by Cathy4017

Good questions, for which I don't have the answers. My point was....if they had not developed these varieties suitable for higher elevations, shorter growing seasons and colder nights, there would be no chile grown in such areas.

Sounds good to me after boiling to death in OK. I've lived in the mountains of Utah and in the upper midwest before husband being transferred here in Eastern OK> We have a long growing season but I can tell you I grew more on less in the shorter upper midwest. It is really weird because I have worked that garden to death.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by debbie at bouontiful

Sounds good to me after boiling to death in OK. I've lived in the mountains of Utah and in the upper midwest before husband being transferred here in Eastern OK> We have a long growing season but I can tell you I grew more on less in the shorter upper midwest. It is really weird because I have worked that garden to death.

Wind and intense sun in the southwest can do a number on plants, so that may have had something to do with getting more in a shorter growing season. The season may be shorter, but the conditions not as harsh.