4 ms·

I just did the same thing. Being remote at work allowed me to trade the SF Bay Area for Northern New Mexico a couple years ago, and I can't describe how much ha

I just did the same thing. Being remote at work allowed me to trade the SF Bay Area for Northern New Mexico a couple years ago, and I can't describe how much happier I am. Life feels so much less precarious, I don't bleed money every time I go outside, and there's less of a crushing feeling of being stuck in the rat race out here. I'm renting a 2 bedroom house with a nice backyard, able to focus on my health, relationships, and interests, and it's totally feasible now for me to go back to school if I want to (granted, this one is probably made easier by the fact that I don't have kids myself). Compare with my life in the Bay, where I rented a tiny, musty smelling room with no closet in a house with a serious mold problem for the exact same price I pay today while barely scraping by. I can't honestly imagine how living in the Bay Area would be with kids -- that seems like that would be incredibly hard. Things I do miss: incredible produce, walkability, excellent public transit, fresh produce, fresh sourdough. But now I have excellent fresh green chiles, beautiful landscapes, slightly more interesting weather, and (IMO) nicer, less-stressed people.

ianai 7y ago
Missing fresh produce? You can buy straight from the farmers off their trucks. Santa Fe has farmers markets every Saturday morning. The natural grocers, sprouts, Trader Joe’s, and Whole Foods also have fresh produce. Norther NM just had a bumper year of it’s “wild” fruit trees. Even here where I live. Maybe ask around?
- uncletaco 7y ago
  the farmer’s market is one of the reasons I want to com le back.
- vector_spaces 7y ago
  In California it's pretty easy to find like, perfectly pristine greens -- like, zero wilt or bruising or yellowing whatsoever. I'm at WFM and Sprouts nearly every weekend and have yet to find for example cilantro or kale or spring greens that don't have some wilt or yellowing going on. Which makes sense -- the climate out here isn't really amenable to picture perfect greens like California is. But also, I'm probably more critical because I ran buying teams at grocery (brick & mortar and ecommerce) stores for 10 years so I'm always instinctively looking for minor blemishes And yeah, really and truly I'm not being completely fair -- I haven't visited the farmers markets yet, and I've heard that about the trucks. Would love to check them out, hopefully I'll find some time this weekend. The fruit has been pretty great though. I've been really happy with the stone fruit. One weird thing I've noticed is that the California avocados out here are consistently better than they were in California -- like, perfect ripeness, no browning, never disappointed when I get home, which would happen every other time in CA. Maybe there's more QA going on between CA and here, and time to ripen on the trucks
  - ianai 7y ago
    I’m able to find these in stores from time to time. http://www.caminodepaz.net/?page_id=88 http://www.caminodepaz.net/?page_id=88
  - Nimitz14 7y ago
    Uh isn't blemishes actually a sign that the fruit is tastier?
    - vector_spaces 7y ago
      For fruit, sometimes, but not usually for greens :)
  - gniv 7y ago
    > One weird thing I've noticed is that the California avocados out here are consistently better than they were in California Were avocados cheaper in CA? It might be the Alchian-Allen Effect: https://medium.com/@byrnehobart/alchian-allen-and-agglomeration-explaining-economic-inequality-and-nice-golf-courses-in-vegas-379eae5ddc5 https://medium.com/@byrnehobart/alchian-allen-and-agglomerat...
davidjnelson 7y ago
The farmers markets are amazing. I’ve had them walking distance from places I lived in San Francisco, Mountain View, San Jose, and Chico. The quality is incredible.

ianai 7y ago

Missing fresh produce? You can buy straight from the farmers off their trucks. Santa Fe has farmers markets every Saturday morning. The natural grocers, sprouts, Trader Joe’s, and Whole Foods also have fresh produce. Norther NM just had a bumper year of it’s “wild” fruit trees. Even here where I live. Maybe ask around?

uncletaco 7y ago
the farmer’s market is one of the reasons I want to com le back.
vector_spaces 7y ago
In California it's pretty easy to find like, perfectly pristine greens -- like, zero wilt or bruising or yellowing whatsoever. I'm at WFM and Sprouts nearly every weekend and have yet to find for example cilantro or kale or spring greens that don't have some wilt or yellowing going on. Which makes sense -- the climate out here isn't really amenable to picture perfect greens like California is. But also, I'm probably more critical because I ran buying teams at grocery (brick & mortar and ecommerce) stores for 10 years so I'm always instinctively looking for minor blemishes And yeah, really and truly I'm not being completely fair -- I haven't visited the farmers markets yet, and I've heard that about the trucks. Would love to check them out, hopefully I'll find some time this weekend. The fruit has been pretty great though. I've been really happy with the stone fruit. One weird thing I've noticed is that the California avocados out here are consistently better than they were in California -- like, perfect ripeness, no browning, never disappointed when I get home, which would happen every other time in CA. Maybe there's more QA going on between CA and here, and time to ripen on the trucks
- ianai 7y ago
  I’m able to find these in stores from time to time. http://www.caminodepaz.net/?page_id=88 http://www.caminodepaz.net/?page_id=88
- Nimitz14 7y ago
  Uh isn't blemishes actually a sign that the fruit is tastier?
  - vector_spaces 7y ago
    For fruit, sometimes, but not usually for greens :)
- gniv 7y ago
  > One weird thing I've noticed is that the California avocados out here are consistently better than they were in California Were avocados cheaper in CA? It might be the Alchian-Allen Effect: https://medium.com/@byrnehobart/alchian-allen-and-agglomeration-explaining-economic-inequality-and-nice-golf-courses-in-vegas-379eae5ddc5 https://medium.com/@byrnehobart/alchian-allen-and-agglomerat...

davidjnelson 7y ago

The farmers markets are amazing. I’ve had them walking distance from places I lived in San Francisco, Mountain View, San Jose, and Chico. The quality is incredible.