Ever considered moving

Steve in France · Post by **Steve in France** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 7:10 pm

I admire the way some of you guys try to grow Bamboo against the odds.
I was wondering if any of you have plans to move or retire to a more Bamboo friendly climate at some point?

Our present location in Northern Europe is too cool in the summer and too dull in the winter and the growing season is too short to keep me happy.Our long term plan will be the South of France or the Northern coastal area of Spain.That's the long term plan, short term is to keep moving around the World and still hoping Washington DC will be next.
Later
Steve

Post by **needmore** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 8:57 pm

Steve, I lived in Hawai'i until the winter of 2000 and currently work there but my wife & I choose to live in Indiana. My employer would certainly like me to move to the bamboo friendly climate of Hawai'i but we prefer the Hoosier state, so I've technically moved away from a bamboo friendly climate to a hostile one! My work allows me to almost pick & choose the area of the country I'd like to live but despite the opportunity to live in more bamboo friendly climes, we're staying put in southern Indiana and I'll grow what I can there.

Thuja · Post by **Thuja** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 1:15 pm

Yes, I have thought it would be nice to live a couple of zones warmer. It would be great to add 2 or so months of growing season and not have everything get killed to the ground. I could see moving for retirement if lucky enough for that, but all my family is here so I can't see moving anytime soon. If my bamboo hobby fails I may try something else like collecting willows or some other interesting plant family. I think of bamboo in Wisconsin as a perennial on steroids.

Your question raises another question that often pops into my head.

Why do we bambusers grow bamboo? I'll post a new thread on this topic since it'd would be interesting to see what people think.

rfgpitt · Post by **rfgpitt** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 2:23 pm

I grew up near Pittsburgh and also have the family thing. I would love to move south, but would only do so if most of my family moved with. If anything, it will probably happen when I retire (30+ years to go

) and can't handle all the manual labor.

Couldn't imagine wanting to vacation in the N.east so I could throw snowballs!

Steve in France · Post by **Steve in France** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 2:23 pm

Thanks for the replies, I guess it's a little like people saying to me don't you want to back and live in British Columbia and I say well I love the place but no, there's a whole world to explore and I grew up there and well just no

We love New Zealand having spent a month there when we lived in Hong Kong and we would move there in a minute if it was not so far away from friends and family.
We do feel very lucky to have the choice of where to live and count our Blessings that we have a good life.
One drawback of moving around is one can never plant a garden and see it grow to full maturity, I'm hoping even if I don't live in our present house for a long time that I can keep it long term so I can say "This is my garden I planted it and designed it and yes it's fantastic don't you think

"
Thanks Guys
Later
Steve

BooKing · Post by **BooKing** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 10:25 pm

Every waking minute I say to myself: what the heck :

am I doing in jersey...

rfgpitt · Post by **rfgpitt** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 2:38 am

what the heck are you doing in Jersey?

BooKing · Post by **BooKing** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 4:42 am

They don't call it the "Garden State" for nothing.I am doing my part to counter all the overdevelopment

of building: with my overplanting

of bamboos and trees..

Iowaboo · Post by **Iowaboo** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 6:23 pm

Keep up the good work, Konifer. NO LAWN, sounds great.

I want to move where land is cheaper and climate warmer year 'round, such as belize. But I don't travel. Also, like many others, family is close to where I live. Moving is hard work, and that is not in my job description.

kstanwick · Post by **kstanwick** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 4:06 pm

I'll throw in my opinion here. i live in north west sussex county of NJ. alot different than where Pat lives(I think he is in Clifton area). I have alot of farms by me. country roads and such. although this area is getting built up, it is nowhere like the "jersey" people think it is. It is similar to a new england feel. If it were one zone warmer, it to me would be perfect. I am within an hours drive of NYC and a little over an hour to the ocean. so there is plenty of action if i want it, but i prefer being out here in the woods. If i could move and didn't have to work, I would still consider staying here. Stillwater to me is the best kept secret in Sussex county. You can still buy a house here. I hear stories of regular 3 bdroom houses east of me on a postage stamp lot selling for 4 to 500k. all because it is close to the city. My family is still around here too, but that is changing....My brother moved just north of buffalo....go figure....and my wife's family is in south jersey.....We often talk about a move but we feel our kids will get a great growing up experience here. Taxes are killing us though......0.65 acre with a 3 bdroom raised ranch pretty small house....5k a year

BooKing · Post by **BooKing** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 7:34 pm

Kurt: by me that would be 20K in taxes. We are overtaxed

Overdeveloped

They just "took" one of the largest farms here. 6 acres. The developers knocked down most of our mountain here to build 800 condos....going up 1/2mile from me.The property values keep on going up and up-it's almost time to abandon the "ship"...

kstanwick · Post by **kstanwick** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 8:36 pm

Pat isn't it unbelievable? At least they are putting 5 acre restriction on houses over here. There is a bunch of eminant domain anticts going on in my mom n dad's town of Stanhope....first town in sussex county....they want to take people's houses and put up "over 55 condos"....but alot of little kids live with grandparents....so the schools will become more and more saturated....If you can afford the taxes....this can be a great spot. My buddy retired from picatiny about 10 years ago and went to PA....his taxes were 800 then now 4k....he is looking somewhere else....Of course i have at least 25 yrs before i can think about any retirement.....at least you can make some money here.....We might be outta here sooner than that if things continue, but i hear it's like this all over the country.

Roy · Post by **Roy** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 10:33 pm

kstanwick wrote:<snip> My buddy retired from picatiny about 10 years ago and went to PA....his taxes were 800 then now 4k....he is looking somewhere else....Of course i have at least 25 yrs before i can think about any retirement.....at least you can make some money here.....We might be outta here sooner than that if things continue, but i hear it's like this all over the country.

Now you see why people are retiring to Florida. They sell their home for say $750K, which they paid say $25K for 25 years ago, then come to Florida and buy a nice home for $250K and pocket the $500,000 for their retirement parties. They don't have to worry about shoveling snow and high taxes; just hurricanes.

Roy

BooKing · Post by **BooKing** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 11:08 pm

Totally agree Roy...

Post by **bambooweb** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 1:42 am

Actually I moved only 70 miles from where I grew up so I have lots of relatives that are close by.

The good thing is I am now in a better climate for growing plants than where I was. Where I am now I get 16 inches of rain a year compared to 10 inches where I grew up. Who said that Washington state is known for the high rainfall?

Of course there is a better bamboo growing area only 250 miles away but I have driven over there in "rush hour" and cannot handle that every day. It is close enough that I can visit a number of times a year.

By the way I payed $86,000 for 10 acres and a 3 bedroom 2 bath house in 2000 and I doubt that I can get a better deal in a warmer area.

Bill

Ever considered moving

Ever considered moving

Thanks guys

two cents

blow me down....

Re: blow me down....

Moving