Permaculture and homesteading? (Phoenix, Yuma, Prescott: rent, neighborhood, to buy)

[oracle31]

Anyone in AZ homesteading or doing permaculture? I would like to buy some land in AZ and I'm figuring out where I would like to buy. Any success stories or things to look out for in the AZ climate.

Some things I would like:

To build a well, be near a spring, or use natural source
(along w/ water catchment)

Wooded area

slopes and change in topography

I want to:

Raise chickens, goats, fish, ducks, sheep, maybe more

Bees

Pretty much do a setup with some influence of permaculture.

[dusky_beauty]

Tonopah is pretty inexpensive and pretty homestead-able. We have Tonopah Rob's Vegetable Farm, a successful organic farm/CSA, and many of my neighbors have goats, cows, gardens and great wells.

You'll have to amend the soil a bit, and filter out some rocks (or do raised beds) for root produce but I have pretty impressive veggies for my first year plantings.

When you're looking at property though, avoid Salome hwy (Eastern end), there's an egg farm there that smells horrific, also keep away from N. 411th and Bethany home area, I know that area has valley fever in the soil. When you're looking at ANY land in arizona ask the neighbors if they have had ANY Valley Fever in humans or animals in the neighborhood. A realtor will try his best to be ignorant of those facts.

[gemstone1]

Check out Yuma...it has all but a wooded area...but even then, I have 3 huge Pecan trees, 2 huge Chinese Elms and more citrus trees that we can keep cleaned of fruit! Get into beekeeping big time and you can rent 'em out to the farmers. We see hundreds of hives used to pollinate Broccoli for seed production. Over 100K acres in agricultural production in Yuma county...all of it grown with Colorado River water.
Dome Valley, North Gila Valley are places that come to mind, good soil, access to water...abundant sunshine and almost no frost.

Regards
Gemstone1

[Urbangardenaz]

Prescott Valley is woody and the soil is awesome. Great weather too. Cottonwood is good for animals and permaculture. Good luck.

[oracle31]

Dusky: thanks for the tips! Whats Valley Fever btw? Amending the soil is not to bad, that would be the least of any worries I may have. How is the wind if any?

Gemstone: I'll check out yuma for sure! So would I be able to use the river for irrigation, and is it potable, whats the rights on it? How is the wind if any?

Urban: Thanks a lot, I will checkout Prescott. And of course, how is the wind if any?

I plan on planting as many trees as I can to shade ponds, but wooded area would just make things move along faster, not totally in need of woods. I saw this video on youtube about this guy who had ponds from a natural spring somewhere in AZ.

[dusky_beauty]

I'm pretty sure most any areas have periods of heavy winds I got the same wind at my place as friends up near Prescott and the SE of the state get from time to time. The only real precaution I've had to take is to stake up my tomatoes REALLY good and my corn stood up to 60 mph gusts we had off and on for a couple weeks no problem. (Best thing for the tomatoes is to make cages out of the heavy box "wire" used for concrete work. It's very sturdy stuff.)

In my neck of the valley anything will grow if you throw enough water at it. If you need to plant trees I have both poplars and some mesquite trees that drop a lot of saplings and thrive on the heat. the Mesquite I literally have to weed out thousands of baby trees from my yard and garden, they grow insanely fast (with just 2 mature ones in the back.)


The long and the short of Valley Fever: In the SW states we have fungal spores in the soil, if you inhale them they take root in your lungs and cause a host of health problems as they multiply throughout your body. It can infect people as well as animals, and it is something you MUST be aware of as a homesteader in Arizona. There is antifungal medication you can take to minimize it, but it can be expensive and not exactly a sustainable resource. My sister caught it when she was 16 from attending a high school across the street from a farm field in Surprise.

I have friends that live in the neighborhood I mentioned (North of Tonopah near Bethany Home Road) and the husband, the wife, and all their animals have it, and several of their neighbors have it so I wouldn't touch that spot if you paid me.

My sister's illness manifests in flu-like symptoms and intense fatigue when she came down with it. She hasn't had a relapse since and has been off the medication for 2 years. Here is the wikipedia on it. Coccidioidomycosis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I live somewhere between Buckeye and Tonopah south of the freeway and I've had good luck with the soil, excellent ground water from my drilled well (tasty too! and my cold water is actually cold unlike my mother's place in Surprise was.) I crave seasons though, so I'm going to be heading to the Ozarks when I finish my obligations here. On the upside, we're close enough to Phoenix to have access to all the "city amenities" and several farmers markets to choose from if I ever need to sell produce.

Edit: Oh, if you like mountain views, check out South Buckeye along the Maricopa 85 HWY. Theres a lot of big scale farms (dairy and fields) out that way with lovely views. I presume if professional farmers can make a living growing there, you'd be able to find a productive niche too.

[gemstone1]

"So would I be able to use the river for irrigation, and is it potable, whats the rights on it? How is the wind if any"?....

Water depends on the piece of property you'd buy. Our property came with access (water rights) to the irrigation district canal system, which comes from the Colorado River....we flood the yard twice a week at least....Yuma has a summer transpiration rate of 17" per month...It would be potable with adequate filtration/treatment, people here reportedly do that....we have a well for potable water....but potable is really stretching the description....it needs a lot of conditioning.
Wind....we're in the desert here, we do get wind, but not those horrific winds that Phoenix gets...

Regards
Gemstone1

[oracle31]

Originally Posted by gemstone1

"So would I be able to use the river for irrigation, and is it potable, whats the rights on it? How is the wind if any"?....

Water depends on the piece of property you'd buy. Our property came with access (water rights) to the irrigation district canal system, which comes from the Colorado River....we flood the yard twice a week at least....Yuma has a summer transpiration rate of 17" per month...It would be potable with adequate filtration/treatment, people here reportedly do that....we have a well for potable water....but potable is really stretching the description....it needs a lot of conditioning.
Wind....we're in the desert here, we do get wind, but not those horrific winds that Phoenix gets...

Regards
Gemstone1

Your information is very helpful, thanks. So you live in Yuma?

[LemonYellow]

There is a large permie group in the Phoenix Metro. And if they can do it in the Sonoran it's possible everywhere!


Do you have a basic section (N?S?E?W) that you are looking at?



Also an awesome thread on permaculture in the extreme desert: http://www.permies.com/permaculture-...extreme-desert

[oracle31]

Originally Posted by LemonYellow

There is a large permie group in the Phoenix Metro. And if they can do it in the Sonoran it's possible everywhere!


Do you have a basic section (N?S?E?W) that you are looking at?



Also an awesome thread on permaculture in the extreme desert: Permaculture in Extreme Desert? (Permaculture Forums: permaculture)

Ya if people are doing it in the Sonoran, it is possible anywhere!
Im looking in Cochise, Navajo, Apache, and maybe pima and santa cruz counties.

I would like a place where building codes won't be too much of an issue. Not that I will build some crap shack, but just having to do and pay less on inspections and permits etc. I live in CA now, generally speaking the building laws here are a bit strict, also higher fees.

I would like a well along with water harvest
I would also like to spend less than 2K/acre and get 5-40 acres

Thanks for the link, I'm also a member of permies.