“What would it take for you to sell your farm, bro?” That was was question Jake posed to me, back in May of ‘18. I was visiting his Cedar Springs Farm, above Hotchkiss, Colorado.
“Boy, it would take a lot.” I replied. HawkTail Farm, our place in Fort Lupton was coming into the third season, and just beginning to gather steam. Fruit trees were beginning to produce, the garden soil had a healthy biome, and the asparagus was cranking. At that moment, I could scarcely imagine walking away from all we had done to establish our homestead. I had knitted my very soul into the soil, and had realized life-long dreams in so doing.
“Well,” Jake said, “the 40 acres above me is for sale.” When he told me the price (which later turned out not to be the price) it got my wheels turning.
For a time, Barb and I toyed with the idea. We quickly realized that the place adjoining Jake was over priced, but we contacted a broker, and set up MLS criteria for new listing alerts. We looked at a few possibilities ranging from built farms to commercial properties. Nothing ticked enough boxes to inspire us to uproot, but we were not in any hurry (or even convinced we would move). For the next year, we looked at the new listings as they came on market.
In August of ‘19 an intriguing listing came on the market. In the high desert, water is everything. The parcel in question had not only river frontage, but a live stream running through it, 12 acres of beaver ponds and marsh, and a spring, but also irrigation water rights dating back to 1890. The property was 21 acres with staggering mountain views, and an established 3 acre alfalfa filed. There were mature trees, a level, private building site, a water cistern, septic, and power on property. All of this, and the price was in the range that we needed.
Here’s the thing: in order to justify the chaos of a move, and starting over from scratch, the financial side would need to work out such that we would be unencumbered. With the strong real estate market in the Denver area, and all of the improvements made to our farm, we were in a position to sell farm number one, and buy farm number two with cash. This was important for us for many reasons. Not only would this allow us earning flexibility in a rural, remote region, but it would also allow us to build with cash saved from not making a payment. Everything looked good, on paper. The real test would come down to how the place felt, once we were on it. Last September we made the five hour drive to Hotchkiss for Jake and Meghan’s wedding. While in town, we looked at that place. It was amazing! It had such a quite, privet, and peaceful feel. We knew instantly that it would be worth everything to own it.
Once we had made up our minds, we set about making it happen. We made an offer, and negotiated acceptable terms on the new place. With winter closing in, we had to move fast. Our long time real estate broker, in Denver, is Tyson Mullis, of Ford and Associates. He is super talented, and helped us devise a strategy to sell our farm for a good price, quickly. I buzzed around checking off the punch list things pushed aside like painting window trim, and the like. We listed the place and spent a couple weeks loading all of the dogs in the truck and driving around during showings. 16 days later, it was under contract. From that point on, we plunged into the arduous adventure of moving. Moving sucks. Moving a farm, a wood shop, and a household into storage, five hours over mountain passes, in November is next level suck. We toyed with buying a cargo container to fill and have hauled, but the costs associated with having cranes on both ends, and the $1,000 freight charge, ruled that out. Fortunately, our community generously volunteered to help. For a month I did little other than drive in caravans of trucks pulling trailers, over the Rocky Mountains. Our farm family on the western side offered to store much of our gear, and livestock. We gave away the chickens, and three pigs. Three more pigs were slaughtered and processed. The sale of two of these paid all moving expenses, including a new exhaust manifold for the Dodge. The goat and the sheep were sold, and the cows joined the Cedar Springs herd for the winter.
We bought a 30 year old RV for $5K. Once everything was off the farm I hauled the RV over to Cedar Springs, and we closed both deals in the first week of December. Barb remained on the front range, with her sister, so she could continue earning some money while I get things set up on the western slope. She has now given notice, and will be joining the dogs and I in mid March. One difficult event has been the passing of her beloved Maltese, Precious. She has not been well, for some time, and congestive heart failure finally got the best of her. It was quite hard for Barb to be five hours away when that moment came, but fitting that one of the first things to go into the ground, on the new farm, was her sweet friend.
So here I sit, in the RV, with super dicey internet connectivity, on the precipice of a wild adventure. Since my 20’s I have yearned to build my own home. I have set out to do this several times. The first time, the cost of bringing in power (back before solar was even really an option) was prohibitive. Another time, my huge lake house was basically finished, but became a casualty of divorce. So now, just prior to my 52nd birthday, I will begin, again!
We picked Delta County for many reasons. We have dear friends already farming, over here. These people are like younger siblings/children to us. They are starting to have babies, and we want to be around them. As mentioned previously, property costs are lower. One of the main draws, however, is the fact that Delta is one of the last remaining counties in the country free of building codes. The state requires septic and electrical inspections, but there is no such thing as a building permit, here. If I want to build a house out of bubble gum and pine needles, no one can stop me. There will be no one from the Department of Making You Sad dropping by to tell me that (even though I have a 36” inseam) I’m not “allowed” to have 9” high steps on my staircase. I will not have to pay the king a portion of the value of the home for permission to build it. I will not be forced to build with wasteful, expensive, and toxic products just because the companies that make them write the code. More on that in a future post.
So begins a new chapter for Radical Gastronomy! Keep an eye on the blog, as well as instagram (@radicalgastronomy), and YouTube, to watch me turn an amazing vacant piece of land into a regenerative homestead paradise. I will be documenting all of it. New gardens will be established using pigs and chickens. Earthworks will direct the movement of water across the landscape. Natural structures from chicken coops to our small home (with a BIG kitchen) will be designed and erected using primarily materials on site, for a fraction of conventional costs. My vision is for a place that is highly productive, extremely energy efficient, non toxic, breathtakingly beautiful, and completely debt free. \
Once I have a more reliable internet connection (there may be fiber, at the new place) I will upload all of the pig processing videos I’ve promised you guys, and keep you apprised of every development on the new farm. As my regular readers have come to expect, I will also get into some philosophy of social organization as it relates to not just food production, but also issues of shelter. If you are interested in natural building, permaculture, homesteading, and manifesting a voluntary society, there is great fun, ahead!