Best climate in Norcal or Colorado for outdoor grows

[Hemphrey Bogart]

Sucks about losing your job and having to move, ob. At least you'll be leaving with some cash in your pocket (hopefully tax free since I assume you've lived in your house for more than 5 years...That being the case, I think you and the wife can get the first 500k of profits tax free, which is huge).

Anyway, I was looking at properties in WA the other day and it seems relatively cheap compared to some of the other stuff I've been looking at in the Santa Cruz mountains and some other areas of California I've been watching.

WA might be the ticket, but I'd totally understand you not wanting to move so far away from Cali. I saw some real nice properties on craigslist, but I know nothing about WA state at all. Might be worth a look.

Maybe you could open up WA's first Medical Marijuana Drive thru dispensary!

Good luck with everything, ob.

HB.

 

[Backyard Farmer]

Santa Cruz is over priced and the weather is far from the most ideal for outdoor marijuana, but it's a cool place.

The place to go is the Sierra foothills if you want the best balance of water sun laws etc if you want to start from zero

 

[OrganicBuds]

I think that you might want to make up a list of the amenities and general infrastructure of where you want to live. Northern California has a wide array of options, but they are mostly wildly different from where you are used to living. If you are from the Bay and would even think of Yuba City as an option, you very likely wouldn't be happy in a lot of very rural NorCal. If you have school age kids, if you are planning on either you or your wife working, if you need to be close to ANY cultural events, if "shopping" is important to your wife, etc, etc, etc, etc.....if any of these apply, you might be very unhappy longterm in the bulk of the small towns off the beaten path.

I've lived all over northern California, and in most of the counties that you would think of for what you want to do - Mendocino, Humboldt, Trinity, Siskiyou, Nevada, Tuolumne, Butte, Plumas. Every one of them had places that would be great for what you want to do, but the trick is going to be finding the one that also works for you and your family. I would bet that well over 90% of the communities in those counties have a population of less than 3,000 people and most are a hell of a lot smaller than that. If you live some place like Covelo or Hayfork the nearest hospital is 75 miles away, on roads that are a paved goatpath. Try and be realistic about your lifestyle and what you consider to be important to have access to - there are many people that move into the little town that I live in, but the vast majority of them soon find that it isn't what they expected and move on, usually at a loss.

Sorry to hear about your job, but it sounds like it might turn out very well for you.

Yuba was just throw out there, and I believe I would be happier with some place in the mountains. You make a bunch of good points, the wife does like to shop, we do want to be fairly close to the bay because our family lives here, and we want to live fairly close to a hospital considering we have a 9 month old girl.

At the same time, we want room to grow pot with no neighbors near by, have space for livestock, and farm our own fruits and veggies.

My wife has a friend that lives in Sonora, so Tuolumne county sounds like it might be an option. My parents also co-own a cabin in Arnold, so Calavares county might be an option as well.

Thanks for your post, it has really helped.

Sucks about losing your job and having to move, ob. At least you'll be leaving with some cash in your pocket (hopefully tax free since I assume you've lived in your house for more than 5 years...That being the case, I think you and the wife can get the first 500k of profits tax free, which is huge).

Anyway, I was looking at properties in WA the other day and it seems relatively cheap compared to some of the other stuff I've been looking at in the Santa Cruz mountains and some other areas of California I've been watching.

WA might be the ticket, but I'd totally understand you not wanting to move so far away from Cali. I saw some real nice properties on craigslist, but I know nothing about WA state at all. Might be worth a look.

Maybe you could open up WA's first Medical Marijuana Drive thru dispensary!

Good luck with everything, ob.

HB.

I have some family in Washington and your not the first to suggest the state. Seems like they even have good spots for outdoor growing. The first Med drive through doesn't sound like something I would want to own, but I would shop at for sure.

 

[rives]

A 9-month old puts an entirely different perspective on things. Aside from access to medical care, you have to consider schooling if this is going to be a permanent relocation. Most of the schools in rural California are terrible, even more so than what they've done to the urban ones. There is always home-schooling, but that it a long, long conversation all it's own.

Another thing to think about is snow, which may be infrequent in the foothills but is still something that needs to be dealt with occasionally. Even if you get relatively light amounts, and rarely, most people that live in it think that a 4-wheel drive is mandatory. Snow blowers, the frustration of having to clean out your driveway EVERY DAMN TIME the plow goes by, etc. It is also a major factor when considering your site and the roads that you need to travel for supplies, school, etc.

 

[OrganicBuds]

My wife is certified in early childhood development and is getting her teachers credentials. Home schooling is an option, and the friend in Sonora talks about opening up their own day care.

I want to keep my altitude below 4000ft so I don't get snow all winter, 2000ft is ideal in my mind. However, I am not a lazy guy, and shoveling snow sounds like a bitch, but not a deal breaker.

 

[rives]

It's just something to be aware of and factor in, some people love it and some hate it. Snow belts do not run like you would necessarily expect - I currently live at 3,300', and during a "normal" winter, I get almost exactly the same amount of snow as my brother does at Lake Tahoe. Less than 25 miles away, it is high desert and almost unheard of for them to get snow, and their elevation is actually a bit higher. Looking around during the other seasons can be pretty deceptive.

 

[Backyard Farmer]

My wife is certified in early childhood development and is getting her teachers credentials. Home schooling is an option, and the friend in Sonora talks about opening up their own day care.

I want to keep my altitude below 4000ft so I don't get snow all winter, 2000ft is ideal in my mind. However, I am not a lazy guy, and shoveling snow sounds like a bitch, but not a deal breaker.

just because you're at 2 or 4k ft doesn't determine how much snow you'll get ...each area around here has its own micro climate and some places that are at 2000ft will get as much or more snow than places that are higher up. Just depends on where you're at. plan to go look at many places, at least 20 , more like 50 before u find a perfect one.

 

[Double F]

nevada county grass valley!!!

 

[Yes4Prop215]

damn OB sucks to hear about the job loss, but trust me man if you set up shop right you will be headed in a good direction and probably wish you started earlier!

theres alot of stuff to consider when starting fresh, i would say the 3 main things for trying to balance outdoor growing for a living while maintaining a comfortable lifestyle.

#1 most important thing is WATER. make sure your property has good access to it, hire a well company to inspect everything. AG water would be awesome, but a good solid well or two, plus decent access for a water delivery truck if needed is important. City water can be used as last resort but its capable of supplying enough for a small to medium sized grow.

#2 good county laws, make sure you end up somewhere where the voter base is predominantly pro growing, so this narrows it down to certain select counties in norcal. so basically most people always say the triangle, which makes sense i have alot of friends out that way who grow big, but i got a few things i dont like about it, 101 is a chokepoint and its a little hotter to move things around in terms of police activity. also most good growing properties are way off the main road, and they dont have many creature comforts like good grocery stores, home depots, and other suburban aspects. thats why ive been preaching my neck of the woods for a long time and have many good ICmag neighbors up here too. you can grow big like the triangle but im only 15 minutes away from walmart, restaurants, casinos, and its not too remote. we also have a whole bunch of different freeways back to the bay so its easier to move herb down to the cities.

The place to go is the Sierra foothills if you want the best balance of water sun laws etc if you want to start from zero

pretty much echo this as well, butte has some good things cooking this year with positive outlook in the referendum battle. but anything up and down the gold country section of the eastern sierras is the best, from butte down to nevada, calaveras. just check your laws to make sure you arent in a place like kern, shasta, tehama that all restricted grows.

#3 proper cost management, setting up an outdoor grow from scratch can be very costly especially if you want to do things professionally and BIG. so gotta make sure you have enough money for the main expenses like soil, water storage/irrigation, and most importantly the processing and trimming will be a huge expense. i thought i could get away with under 10k to do a 90 plant grow but it quickly ballooned into 30k to simply set the damn thing up and maintain through harvest, with trimming costs running close to the initial setup numbers.

good luck man, it would be dope to have you out here as a neighbor, i can check around and see if theres anything that will fit your needs. its surprisingly affordable here in butte especially if you have a good sized down payment from a previous home sale. depending on your budget you can find something very nice. drop me a PM if you ever got Q's.

 

[OrganicBuds]

I love this site, so much great information. Thanks for sharing so far you guys, I am really starting to see my options, thanks you.

Another question, I know I want a fair amount of land, but how much does one need? I would hope for a place that the neighbors can't see my grow, but how much land does that require? 1-2 acres min? 5-10 acre min? I know I will have to actually go and look at these properties, but to get a good starting point.

 

[Backyard Farmer]

Depends on the property. Could be 1 acre or 30.

 

[rives]

You know, it might be interesting for you to check out Sierra County. While part of it gets a LOT of snow at times, the lower portions might work very well for your needs. I love the Downieville area, and while I haven't been there in years, the area around Alleghany might be worth checking into. There are barely 3,000 people in the whole county, so I can't imagine that their enforcement toward whatever mmj rules that they do have could be too rigorous - shit, they can't afford to plow snow.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

ideally, 20+ acres is the best for butte, if the referendum wins you will be good for 66 plants. properties of 5-10 acres are still good for 48 plants, most of my homies have properties between 5-10 acres and paid around 120-150 or so, and they came with pre-existing buildings.

ive seen some really cool 5 acre properties too, its all about that flat land. even though my property is 20 acres i only have maybe 2-3 acres of flat usable land so that factors in too. a full flat 5 is better than a hilly 30.

 

[StanKDanK]

check out grass valley in nevada county and hayfork in trinity.

 

[25ftGreatWhite]

sorry to hear about the job situation OB. gotta like mendo for its proximity to the city, but im partial. like Prop said its all about water, sun, local ordinances and the capital needed to get you through the season.

anyone want to chime in with boots on the ground experience in nevada county and how they are enforcing their grow ordinance, which maxes out at 1000sq ft.

 

[Backyard Farmer]

For what OrganicBuds wants, hayfork sounds like the worst choice. Super remote, shitty winter access, far from the bay etc. also prices in trinity are ridiculously taxed for no reason.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

heard they banned all OD cultivation in shasta county so make sure you stay away from there.

if price was no option i would get something in laytonville because i got homies in that area, or somewhere in the south 707 like covelo, redwood valley, down to ukiah even, the closer to SF bay the better. but those properties are easily in the 400k+ range usually and the police presence is a little hotter. ukiah and willits are like the only areas that have suburban like feel everything else is pretty smalltown/rural.

and stay out of lake county they are pretty strict about grows and theres barely anything to do in clear lake.

 

[StanKDanK]

For what OrganicBuds wants, hayfork sounds like the worst choice. Super remote, shitty winter access, far from the bay etc. also prices in trinity are ridiculously taxed for no reason.

It all depends if you need to commute for work or plan being a full time grower. If going "pro" then it will be a full time gig and it wouldnt matter if you are snowed in in the backwoods of trinity. But if you still want to work the 9 -5 and have convenience of malls and grocery stores within 5 miles then you might need to be closer to town. I chose to live deep in the woods and it takes me just under an hour to my closest grocery store and almost 20 miles to the closest gas station so you plan your trips to town and make lists of shit you need so you dont have to drive into town more than once a week. I prefer living in the middle on nowhere for the beauty and remoteness. I found my place by doing months of searching on realtor.com and checking local laws on canorml.org. Goodluck and good vibes OB !

 

[Backyard Farmer]

The best advice I can give the op as well is don't put all your eggs in your first year on the farm. Do 25 big plants and do them well ...if you sell your place in the bay for 400k buy a place in the sierras for 300k(you'll get something sick) live off the 100k u have left, and upgrade after u harvest at least 120 units your first year.

You can do 25 5 LB plants for under 10k and get your feet wet in the pool.

 

[OrganicBuds]

Got to admit, that sounds about right Backyard Farmer. We are putting our house on the market April 1st, so I hope it sells quick and I can get to a new garden early in the year.