# Family Living Off The Grid In South Texas



## txplowgirl (Oct 15, 2007)

I would Love to do this. I wonder how long before the government comes after them? 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/family-life-off-the-grid-abe-connally-vela-creations-144054081.html


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## solsikkefarms (Jun 1, 2013)

Would love to live like that.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

If I'm not mistaken I have corresponded with these folks. I believe they moved to northern Mexico when they left Terlingua. Much more hospitable climate in that area. It is not at all unusual for people to live off-grid in that part of Texas as there is very little grid to hook up to.


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## solsikkefarms (Jun 1, 2013)

20 acres for $1,000... I could live very nicely there if I could find a deal like that.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

It's not quite that cheap there now. What you need to realize is that the gardening pictures they show is after they moved to Mexico....not SW Texas. Terlingua is in the Chihuahuan Desert. In order to raise anything you would need a greenhouse or rather a shade house. Not just any old flimsy structure either. The wind is vicious out there...not to mention some really impressive grapefruit sized hail from time to time. 115 in the summer is normal. 10 inches of annual rainfall in a good year. Nearest grocery store is 90 miles away and it is expensive and tiny. Another hour or so past the grocery store is the nearest Wal-Mart. Of course for cheap land you aren't going to get anything near pavement, so you can add on 30 miles or so to the 90 for the dirt road you'll have to travel down before you get to pavement. You will have to haul water. On the plus side....it doesn't get any better for solar!

I just so happen to have a place for sale down there....on pavement, with city water, electricity, an RV parking spot, house shell, large garage and a huge seasonal creek


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## LoonyK (Dec 12, 2009)

That person is frequently on the http://www.permies.com forum, not sure if on this one.


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## *rusticdreamer* (Jan 29, 2014)

I am interested. Any acreage? What are you asking? Thank you
. 



TxMex said:


> It's not quite that cheap there now. What you need to realize is that the gardening pictures they show is after they moved to Mexico....not SW Texas. Terlingua is in the Chihuahuan Desert. In order to raise anything you would need a greenhouse or rather a shade house. Not just any old flimsy structure either. The wind is vicious out there...not to mention some really impressive grapefruit sized hail from time to time. 115 in the summer is normal. 10 inches of annual rainfall in a good year. Nearest grocery store is 90 miles away and it is expensive and tiny. Another hour or so past the grocery store is the nearest Wal-Mart. Of course for cheap land you aren't going to get anything near pavement, so you can add on 30 miles or so to the 90 for the dirt road you'll have to travel down before you get to pavement. You will have to haul water. On the plus side....it doesn't get any better for solar!
> 
> I just so happen to have a place for sale down there....on pavement, with city water, electricity, an RV parking spot, house shell, large garage and a huge seasonal creek


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## hawknest (Nov 15, 2013)

If you are lucky you can drive down to Presidio-Ojinaga to shop instead of Alpine/Marfa.
At least the medical services are less expensive there, if you have a passport and cash.


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## hawknest (Nov 15, 2013)

TxMex said:


> It's not quite that cheap there now. What you need to realize is that the gardening pictures they show is after they moved to Mexico....not SW Texas.


I was looking at the gardening photos and then the lake - that's not near Terlingua or even West Texas - at least not when I lived down there. The interior of the house is all Mexican construction.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

hawknest said:


> If you are lucky you can drive down to Presidio-Ojinaga to shop instead of Alpine/Marfa.
> At least the medical services are less expensive there, if you have a passport and cash.


Not only are the medical services less expensive....they are much better quality than what is available in Alpine! I totally miss my Mexican Doctor now that I live too far away to driver over. 

When I lived in the state of Veracruz my personal physician was not only an Internist, he was also a specialist in childrens cardiac surgery. Absolutely the best Doctor in the area. My appointments were often an hour long. The fee was $30 US. He made house calls.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

hawknest said:


> I was looking at the gardening photos and then the lake - that's not near Terlingua or even West Texas - at least not when I lived down there. The interior of the house is all Mexican construction.


I'm pretty sure those were taken in Mexico.


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## hawknest (Nov 15, 2013)

TxMex said:


> I'm pretty sure those were taken in Mexico.


Then the premise of the article is false and/or misleading. Some will actually go there to find their nirvana, only to be :umno:


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

That was my take on it as well. 

While I think that area is breathtakingly gorgeous....it is some extreme desert. Though some folks blog about gardening and raising animals....it is generally done at great expense of time and money. It is not somewhere you'd want to live and try to garden. To get away from most of mankind...in places....yes. I did love that about that area. Also, while the land prices are cheap, everything else is triply expensive. Just gas alone is a mind blowing expense there. I know many people that went there with well padded bank accounts, finally gave up and begged relatives to send them enough gas money to get back to civilization.


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## hawknest (Nov 15, 2013)

That's what happened to many who moved to Wyoming. 

Sometime during their first winter, I gave a couple of propane tanks to a "neighbor" - ten miles away b/c they didn't account for the high winds in a semi-arid/desert plateau that is Wyoming. It is bitterly cold and windy for 8 months of the year and then it's just blazin' hot. They barely survived Summer and Fall, able to put up some crops and bag a deer. They got smart and moved into town for jobs, but by the following Winter (yr 2) with no food in the larder, out of gas/diesel I gave them a lift to a local church who collected enuf $$ to get them back home to Conn!!!

Wyoming land is dirt cheap for a reason - no water. 

Our ranch, that I inherited from my grandparents had live water - full time stream and springs. We had sage brush 10 ft high in places and cottonwood trees all along the springs. We were just 10 miles from our Conn neighbors.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

I spent a large chunk of this last summer in Wyoming. Beautiful country! I can see where it would be difficult to live there though. LOL....everyone was complaining about the heat and I told them they were all crazy. It got up to 90 and I thought folks were going to start passing out.


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## hawknest (Nov 15, 2013)

TxMex said:


> I spent a large chunk of this last summer in Wyoming. Beautiful country! I can see where it would be difficult to live there though. LOL....everyone was complaining about the heat and I told them they were all crazy. It got up to 90 and I thought folks were going to start passing out.


Because the air is so clear and clean, at 7000 elev - 90F may as well be 120F!
UV of 12 on most summer days, and 8 in the winter.

Where I live now 6 in summer and 2-3 in the winter.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

hawknest said:


> Because the air is so clear and clean, at 7000 elev - 90F may as well be 120F!
> UV of 12 on most summer days, and 8 in the winter.
> 
> Where I live now 6 in summer and 2-3 in the winter.


Well that explains my tolerance. I had been living in the Chihuahuan desert prior to traveling there....in Terlingua as a matter of fact. Not sure what the UV index is in SW Texas, but it is more than it is near Buffalo, WY in the summer time.


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## hawknest (Nov 15, 2013)

TxMex said:


> Well that explains my tolerance. I had been living in the Chihuahuan desert prior to traveling there....in Terlingua as a matter of fact. Not sure what the UV index is in SW Texas, but it is more than it is near Buffalo, WY in the summer time.


That's b/c SW Texas has clean, clear air vs the hazy, cloudy skies of Buffalo!


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## Belldandy (Feb 16, 2014)

TxMex said:


> It's not quite that cheap there now. What you need to realize is that the gardening pictures they show is after they moved to Mexico....not SW Texas. Terlingua is in the Chihuahuan Desert. In order to raise anything you would need a greenhouse or rather a shade house. Not just any old flimsy structure either. The wind is vicious out there...not to mention some really impressive grapefruit sized hail from time to time. 115 in the summer is normal. 10 inches of annual rainfall in a good year. Nearest grocery store is 90 miles away and it is expensive and tiny. Another hour or so past the grocery store is the nearest Wal-Mart. Of course for cheap land you aren't going to get anything near pavement, so you can add on 30 miles or so to the 90 for the dirt road you'll have to travel down before you get to pavement. You will have to haul water. On the plus side....it doesn't get any better for solar!
> 
> I just so happen to have a place for sale down there....on pavement, with city water, electricity, an RV parking spot, house shell, large garage and a huge seasonal creek


Amen...had a friend who lived there. All true!


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