Wanting to move to WY, but need some advice please (Casper: custom home, landscaping)

[ChrisMT]

Thank you!

If anyone has insight on living in these communities I would love to hear it.

Is Wyoming mostly BLM land open space like Nevada? I love how the BLM let's you do whatever as long you aren't hurting anything I noticed ALOT of 'side by sides' in the Bighorns...looks like a big pastime in Wyoming?

How do people grow gardens with the cold weather? Greenhouse type coverings?

[NW Crow]

Wyoming is almost 50% federal land. (NV at over 80% leads lower 48, then UT, ID, OR, WY, AZ, etc.) A bit more than half of that is BLM, mostly in central and southwest WY. NW WY is mostly Forest Service and National Park.

[rya700]

Lander - super dog friendly town. Lots of places (including BLM land close to town) to let them run/swim in rivers and lakes. Gardening is difficult not just b/c of short growing season but the soil is poor quality. We have had pretty extreme winters the past few years.

[sunsprit]

Originally Posted by ChrisMT

Thank you!

(snip)
How do people grow gardens with the cold weather? Greenhouse type coverings?

They don't.

Tunnel type greenhouse structures are popular, but they only help a little bit to mitigate the very short growing season here. If, for example, the vegetable garden growing season in a locale is 100 days, then one may expect a week or two at each end of the season to either start vege's in a protected environment or be able to harvest a bit later for the hardier items.

Even with that, with a late hard frost/freeze, early season vegetable garden starts may be a total loss. This year, our tomatoes and peppers starts were done in ... as were a lot of open space "hardy" plantings.

A big choice to be made for a vege garden here is selecting the varieties that are more cold tolerant and fewer days to maturity.

As well, careful management and application of water is a big factor. We use drip tape irrigation on timers and adjust as needed during the growing season for adequate but not excessive water. An above ground sprinkler in a greenhouse is not good practice; keep the water close to the ground where it gets to the roots.

[sunsprit]

Originally Posted by kwester

Hello there! We are wanting to move to real America and had our eye on WY, but need some advice. We were looking in the western side of the state because my husband loves the mountains and trees. We have 2 small kids (4 and 1) so I am really looking for great schools. Is the Sun Valley area (Smoot, Afton, etc) good? We are looking for a great town to raise our family in, but also don't want to pay a million for the property. Is there shopping over there or do you have to travel for items or Amazon packages in? I would appreciate any advice you have! Thank you in advance!

With thousands of posts and input from many people over the years, may I suggest 2 things?

1) Put the effort in to research what has been asked and answered time and time again in this forum. Use the search feature and you can get a lot of your concerns answered in depth.

2) Plan on extended visits to Wyoming to the areas that appeal to you. Especially winter visits, and view the area as a resident, not as a tourist. One's perspective on what presents is entirely different when the realities of life are not a momentary whim but a full-time reality. IOW, there's a lot of things here that are way different than most of the rest of the USA; it's one thing to visit as a tourist and know that you can return to "normality" there, it's another to accept that the compromises you will make to live here are full time reality. Things that you take for granted in normal life "back home" and don't appear to be deal-breakers may take on a huge different significance here and not be acceptable to you.

[DufferDave7]

I've lived in a number of more "normal" places throughout my life, and have been in Pinedale for last decade or so. Like many places in Wyoming, Pinedale is very different than most places.

We chose Pinedale as it fit the outdoor and mountain scene we wanted, the community amenities are ridiculously nice for the population base (thank you oil and gas), and a fairly major airport and city is only 3.5 hours in SLC.

Pinedale is just about the nicest place in the world in the summer. Summer vacation isn't really a thing here. Everyone goes on vacation around Christmas, school spring break, etc. The winters are long, cold, and dark. However, for most people, if you have a positive attitude and make an effort to be active it's not too bad. And it is pretty sunny here. If that combines with no wind, the low humidity can make it feel not bad even if the ambient temperature is 20F.

If you need large social circles, good shopping options, more than a handful of restaurants, or choices in things like schools, sports programs, etc. then Pinedale would not be a good fit. But on the flip side, its small size makes it very easy to get involved in the community and get to know people.

I will also echo sunspirit's comments that life an expectations during a week or two vacation are very different than a place you are going live full time. The "charming" grocery store becomes annoying with its limited selection. Shopping is not a concern when you just need a souvenir or fishing tackle, but can be a grind when you quickly need running shoes or a new computer or something more specific and your options are to drive 100 miles or order online. But it's certainly improved from ordering from a catalog.

[ChrisMT]

Thank you for the observations about Lander and Pinedale...I really like that area of Wyoming...we camped at Boysen Reservoir for a few days and it reminded me of the desert lakes we have in Northern Nevada...plus the mountains around and sagebrush, pronghorn herds and vast solitude....love all those things! And the city I live in now is super dog-friendly and relaxed about leashes on the trails, it is something I really love about my town so it's good to hear Lander is a good place for pet lovers.

Lander is a bit pricey, Pinedale is very interesting because of nice properties that I can afford. We actually didn't get up to Pinedale because that early cold front with snow over the pass outside of Lander was coming in and we were trying to beat it...that was in mid-September.

Can you still get out and hike, X-country ski and fat bike in the winter in Pinedale? We have some rough winters where I live now, but it's sunny usually and the snow melts off...we are out in wind, freeze, snow...but I know Pinedale would be more extreme...

Gardening can be rough in Northern Nevada as well, we either wait until after Mothers Day to plant or start indoors, sometimes we can get away with planting tomato plants outside earlier and covering them at night. Pretty much just grow tomatoes, squash, green onions and hardy grapes and berries where I am. Everything else gets eaten by deer or is too high maintenance ....and we grow in raised beds because the soil isn't always good here either.

[Wytempest]

Pinedale is very nice and we would have considered it or possibly chosen it if our grandbabies weren't so far away. We use to own property in Bondurant which is also very nice area. I've always wanted to take a snow machine from Bondurant to Dubois over union pass. I think they are still able to do that..?

[rya700]

ChrisMT - Pinedale and Lander have similar real estate prices. Affordable housing is an issue in both locales. you might consider Riverton, Shoshoni or Thermopolis.
substantially cheaper and close to Boysen reservoir

[nowhereman427]

Originally Posted by rya700

ChrisMT - Pinedale and Lander have similar real estate prices. Affordable housing is an issue in both locales. you might consider Riverton, Shoshoni or Thermopolis.
substantially cheaper and close to Boysen reservoir

How about Casper, Powell, Greybull, Dubois, Worland or Gillette?