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I'm on the prowl for some homesteader-friendly acreage. My goal is to live off the grid -- and off the land -- in a travel-trailer; grow organic produce, goats and chickens; and use alternative power. I'd also like to get a well drilled, and build my own septic system.
My question to you locals is twofold:
1) Does Deming have zones which would allow for this?
2) If so, are there any other issues you can think of which might hamper my plan?
Just what Luna County needs . . . another trailer parked in the desert, without sewerage and water infrastructure, growing organic produce with limited water supply, goats and chickens, too. I can't think of a more wasteful use of our limited resources. You picked the right place.
Do you have any idea how many acres of desert chaparral it would take to sustain a single foraging goat in NM? Unless you plan on purchasing land in ranch-size proportions, a goat farm is just not feasible. Overgrazing is a serious problem in the desert soutwest resulting in erosion and further desertification.
Before we all get in a twist, I want to chime in. While homesteading as it's known in the rest of the US is virtually impossible in the desert, it *can* be done in a fashion. Water catchment, gray water systems and I forget what the clay pots dug into the ground that seepage water the plants is called.....
But my point is, you will have to buy feed for the critters, don't even think they'll be eating off the acreage. We know we'll be buying hay for our horses and any other critters we obtain. We know we'll be using a combination of raised beds/green houses to raise our food and we intend to utilize caught rainwater and gray water as much as possible.
My take on it is for any potential homesteader in the desert to take allll the information you know about homesteading and pretend you're on another planet and it doesn't apply. Formulate a SHTF scenario and think about how to obtain what you need, with the knowledge that what you're used to won't be readily available.
Here's a site you may like. It spans the continents and it's a great group. I have the same user name on there:
I say if this is something Nitefly wants to do, then he/she should be able to without pause. I wish you all the luck in the world in your endeavor! Sounds like it will be quite an adventure!
Luna County has deterring restrictions newly in place for setups like you are describing - I know this because I have looked into myself. I also want to buy some acreage and live off the grid (but without livestock). As far as I understand, if you want to build a house in Luna County you need to have at least 2 acres and you must install a septic tank. This is both good and bad, depending on who you ask and what their motives are.
Living in a trailer...are you planning to have a composting toilet? Or what?
Groundwater is extremely scarce and drilling a well is both expensive and not guaranteed. There is not enough annual rainfall to harvest and save for irrigating a garden.
The simpler one wants to live, the more expensive it seems to be.
Thanks so much, Domino; I sure hope we'll be neighbors.
Fortunately for me, I came here for info, not for approval. Thanks for playing.
Anyone else?
How about not homesteading in the desert? That environment is so fragile goats can destroy it. Don't get me wrong, I love New Mexico and I grew up in the desert. And today I am homesteading....but I am doing it where there is water, where you can grazed a few head of livestock without having to have a hundred acres per head, where you can plant and not have to worry about irrigation......where rain can provide the majority of what water you need. I have half a dozen head of Dexter cattle, horses, fainting goats, sheep, dogs, chickens and geese. For enough land to carry that load in New Mexico, you are talking more than a quarter section.....unless you are talking about the lower Pecos valley (between Roswell and Artesia) or the Rio Grande Valley.....then you have to have the water rights or ditch membership.....neither is cheap.
For homesteading, look at central or eastern Oklahoma, central or east Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, anywhere in the mid west or the south.......land can be had for very little in some places and you can get all the water you need and you can graze a few head on a few acres. In Oklahoma I can graze my stock year around on 10 acres, my well was not too expensive, and although I am on the grid for electricity, I use propane and wood for heating and cooking. To operate at the same level in Deming or any other desert area, I would be feeding all year with graze being a marginal supplement. I would be buying and hauling water........
When I was a teenager we had a couple of horses on 10 acres in Roswell. By midsummer the Bermuda was gone, so we had to buy hay from August to March.....that 10 acres just would not support two horses. And we had 9 acres of water, so we kept it irrigated.......and we had to spray it regularly to keep the weeds down....those two horses kept it over grazed.
We are not trying to express disapproval and Domino wasn't trying to express disapproval......he was sharing cold hard facts. Frankly none of us care if you try it. But that country has been occupied for more than 400 years. There is a reason there are few "homesteads" in the desert. Can you do it? yes. Is it easy? no, Is it cheap? he!! no. If you have the money, patience, and the energy, you can do it. Just make sure you bring enough money with you, because you aren't going to make enough locally to support that kind of lifestyle out there.
Thank you for your candid, informative response, GoodPasture. Farm animals apparently require more resources than I initially estimated; I'm definitely not in the business of wrecking havoc on the environment that sustains me or further straining an overtaxed aquifer. Thanks again for fully answering my initial question and providing geographic alternatives, which I will look into.
- Ido
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