well, to make a long story short the seller was strange and we listened to our gut and backed out gracefully. :) I believe strongly in listening to that little voice inside you SOOO we bought 5 acres in Northern Arizona instead.

Anyone in here familiar with Holbrook? :^D

-- Najia (najia274@yahoo.com), April 04, 2002

Answers

No, but it looks like you could be close to a national forest and have heard that northern Arizona can be full of trees, something that is missing from where I live. Did you get water with it, or a well with it or a guarantee of good water?

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), April 05, 2002.

Holbrook is high dry desert, at least very arid, area. A few scrub junipers and pinion along dry washes. Lots of land developers sold land there in the 60's & 70's for $100 an acre to touristas traveling the interstate, and since has been sold over and over by the same developers. A few "homesteader" shacks that are abandoned and some retired people that have an outside source of income and want to be really away from it all. Thirty miles south is somewhat better land because it is a couple thousand feet higher. I think there is a state prison, the only source of good local jobs, there for high risk felons. I was through that area last summer and do not recall seeing any gardens as all water must be hauled from town. Good luck!!

-- Joe (CactusJoe001@AOL.com), April 05, 2002.

my best friend from college lives in holbrook. He said its hard to garden there. They are a wonDerful family, if you Want there adDress i could email it to u. But he really like living there. I want to visit sometime.

-- randy in central missouri (rwybrant@coin.org), April 05, 2002.

LOL@CactusJoe. Its not THAT bad. Actually, Holbrook sits on Arizona's largest aquafer. We talked to some area drillers and they said that wells tend to be anywhere between 50-200 ft (very do-able). We are setting up a greywater system to help in the watering of our garden. I also can't wait to set up a solar system.

We keep bouncing back and forth between cob (beautiful, natural, inexpensive and a long build) to a steel house (not so beautiful, not natural, more expensive but we can have it up in a couple of days).

We are teachers so getting a job isnt a problem. 2 jobs never go out of style...teaching and nursing. People always have kids and they always get sick. lol

-- Najia (najia274@yahoo.com), April 05, 2002.

If the soil really is bad there, get some bunnies! I raise bunnies for the fiber (not to eat!) but their waste has given me such wonderful compost! It is full of big brown wiggly worms this spring!

-- Suzy in Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), April 05, 2002.

BAD? No, I did not say Holbrook was bad. You must have made that conclusion from my description. Holbrook is fairly typical of that part of the state. Not much of an economy before the prison provided jobs. Of course there has always been a tourista business for gas and auto repairs. There is also a certain amount of business generated from the nearby Indian Reservations. There are people living there that like it just fine the way it is and resent any changes. Water? Yes, there is a fairly large aquifer in that area at 100 to 200 feet down. $50 per foot to drill last I heard a few years ago. Arizona is a dry desert like state with strong restrictions on well drilling. Just because you own water rights does not mean you can drill a well. Don't know how strongly they are enforced in that area. Solar power? There was an article a year or so ago in Countryside about someone in that area (or south in less dryer land) that put in a solar power system to pump water for about $25,000, as I recall. That is fairly typical cost for a full fledged solar power system to run a modern home in that area. Land? The land is very productive if you can get enough water. Hot, dry winds are the downfall of most. There are crops adapted to that environment -- Indian corn and squash as well as beans. The Native Americans generally have a low wet area for their gardens or use washes after the summer rain, if it comes. All in all, a remote quite place with modern conveniences. Lots of people like this type environment. A few transplants stay, most do not.

-- Joe (CactusJoe001@AOL.com), April 06, 2002.