Idaho Anyone?

[Mackay]

Learning about living in the mountains of Idaho. Anyone here?

 

[clstratton]

I'm in SE Idaho. Which mountains are you planning to move to/which area of the state?

 

[Mackay]

Finally, a Self Sufficient Idaho person!

We live in Salt Lake City right now but we purchased 8 acres up in Mackay. If you take the road from Black Foot west across the desert past the National Lab you end up at the mouth of a long valley with Arco at the start. Mackay is about 30 minutes north in that valley. Its really beautiful there.

Last summer my husband started building by himself the garage with a studio on top. He did get help with the foundations and a couple of problem spots. like plumbing and electric. Got the well in and the septic. We've spent the winter planning the small house, maybe 1,200 sf. Slowly getting to know the neighbors....I'm real excited to start our new life, having had to live in the city way too long, both me and my DH were born and raised in the country but his occupation took him to the city, where I met him when I was there studying to be a midwife.
Been stuck there ever since :

So what part of Idaho are you in? We must pass by your way when we go up to Mackay. We looked around Pocatello and Hot Springs but it just didn't seem far enough away....now we will be about 110 miles off the beaten track. Population is about 600 in Mackay.

The mountains are called the Lost River Range. We will be about 45 minutes from Sunvalley, but ya can't get there in the winter without driving down and around a mountain range, so no skiing for us.

 

[clstratton]

Without putting too much info out into cyber space...my DH works at the INL. So that should give you a general idea of where we live.

 

[dacjohns]

I know where you live now. Thought you could hide from me huh??

 

[Mackay]

Thats a major employer in the area...lots of highly educated folks around but its hard to tell who's who. My sister in law and her husband are building closer to Arco. Their neighbors helped build their barn...turns out she is a super scientist of some sort out there and her dh does construction. I'm just glad that I am up wind from the whole NL deal...I still don't know much about what goes on there but I do know they don't call Arco Atomic City for nothing.

so I've been working on plans for a garden start this summer. I still don't know if I will be up there much...all depends if this house sells. Trying to figure out what grows in that dry boned whole in the wall... at that altitude also. We have water rights...but the growing season is so short.

Do you garden? What altitude are you at? Mackay is colder that its neighboring towns. something about what the mountains do in that particular spot.

Guess I can always plant potatoes

 

[clstratton]

According to the gardenweb.com you are a zone 5 in Mackay. Which is funny, since I'm a zone 4, and I though Mackay would be colder. Guess not. So basically there's tons of stuff you can grow. I guess it all depends on what you like.

This year we are trying corn, jalapeno peppers, and cucumbers again. We've had luck with Sugar snap peas, bush green beans, zucchini, pumpkins, spaghetti squash, tomatoes, carrots, green onions, and cilantro. That's what I can come up with right away. Of course there isn't a lot that DH and I can agree on when it comes to veggies, so our list is a bit limited. This year we are also trying broccoli and onions. The corn has had bad luck with us due to a run-in with Round-up and a lazy pregnant gardener last year. I don't know what the problem is with the cucumbers. The first year it was because they didn't have consistent water, don't know what the deal was last year. And the peppers, I don't know what their deal was last year either. It was our first time with them. I think lack of water maybe, since the starts that I transplanted died. But the tomatoes right next to them did fine. I know people that have lots of luck with other stuff, but they might be more dedicated than I am.

If you do decide to do a garden, look for seeds with a growing season less than 100 days, preferrably closer to 75. And if you haven't started seeds, I would reccomend buying starts instead. Although there are some cool season crops you can sow directly into the soil, such as the beans, peas, any of the squash, lettuce, carrots. Which reminds me, we had good luck with lettuce the first year, but it bolted on us. Turns out it had way too much sun, but it still did well. As for starts, you would need to buy those for your tomatoes and peppers for sure. I guess it all depends on what you want.

 

[Mackay]

I bought seed and most of it was marked for 60 to 70 days. Got is stored in the frig.

Its hard to imaging living in a place colder but I guess you found it!

I just don't know if the garden will get planted this year. I have to keep my job until this house in the city is sold...and as you might think, we have worry about that.

But I do want to get the garden area sectioned off, stripped of sage and tilled. The compost bins built and compost started. And now I am thinking of doing heavy mulching and just letting it sit till we can plant.

I assume we will purchase starts at least the first couple of years. But our house will have a strong solar feature with a sun room that will be where we start plants. I really want to get get into some of the heirloom varieties, especially tomatoes.

Sounds like you manage to grow most of the good stuff. Im wondering about fruit and nut trees. and currents and blue berries. Have any ideas on these? I have seen apricot trees up there.

 

[clstratton]

Apples do well up here. You would probably do well with peaches, seeing that they are grown down in Utah really well. Some plums will work. Had a neighbor grow some last year. I don't know about currents, but blueberries don't do so hot. They need an acidic soil, and most soils here are very alkaline. I would bet yours is too being so close to the mountains. It's the limestone that makes our soil so alkaline. But a good substitute for blueberries is the serviceberry. Amelanchier alnifolia. It's a native plant. Just cover it, the birds love the stuff. It has a bluish purple fruit and tastes very similar to blueberries. I want to get one this year. Sadly the U of I nursery up in Moscow was sold out.

I hear the Brandywine tomato is an excellent heirloom tomato. And I would reccommend heavily mulching. Not only will it keep the weeds down, but will also start decomposing into compost. We have a mulch called "Soil Pep" in the flower beds out front. It's done very well. Only problem is it's small and lightweight, so it tends to blow away in the wind. Usually it doesn't go too far, just blows to the other end of the flower bed, but then all my mulch is on one side of the bed. We've had it down for over two years and it's done great!

Good luck selling that house in SLC.

 

[elwood]

Dont worry about living close to INL. I worked there for 3 years it is safe. Atomic city the the town with a race track, a bar, and 6 houses