What makes Bosque Farms a great place to live?

My wife, Laura, and I have lived in Bosque Farms, for many years, and have found it a great place to raise a family.

Where else in the Albuquerque area do local residents preserve an old-fahioned, annual Community Fair, complete with family-friendly activities like a greased-pole contest, rodeo, and talent show? This generations-old community tradition offers plenty of opportunities for local kids to show their rabbits, sheep, poultry, and other farm animals; to exhibit and win blue ribbons for their art work, baking, garden produce, or canned goods; to dig for coins in the money pit or enjoy Sno-cones or hot dogs while watching Mom and Grandma compete in the rolling-pin throw? The Bosque Farms Fair is a true slice of old Americana, and one of the first expereinces that won our hearts to this warm and friendly community.

But there's much more that we love about Bosque Farms. There's no place else around Albuquerque where we would have felt so secure in allowing our young daughters to walk, bike, or ride horseback all over town without fears for their safety, or where we would have felt so strongly that there's no real need to lock our doors. We've enjoyed participating in the 4H club and in various "horsey" activities at the Bosque Farms Rodeo Arena, having a neighbor share "Amish Friendship Bread" starter with us, so that we could, in turn, pass it along to others, and watching "our" sandhill crane family hang out in our lush, irrigated pasture along with our horses. We've been able to enjoy the freshest and healthiest of our own organically-raised beef and lamb, and fresh-picked organic produce from the huge, irrgated garden where we have raised everything from apples and artichokes to watermelon and zucchini.

With a population of approximately 4000 residents, and growing, Bosque Farms has a motto that is dear to our hearts: "Preserving Rural America." With its location just 20 minutes south of Albuquerque, on lush, irrigated land along the east side of the Rio Grande, Bosque Farms attracts loads of folks wanting to get out of the hustle and bustle of the city and enjoy greenery, animals, and peace and quiet. I often suspect that Bosque Farms may have the highest per capita rate of horse ownership in the state! It certainly is one of the few remaining places in easy communting distance of Albuquerque where one needn't be a millionaire to acquire enough irrigated land to provide some real horse pasture! 

Bosque Farms has loads of resources and activities, too. Our girls loved their regular trips to the local library, and found that the Bosque Farms arena offered horse-related activities of all kinds, from horse shows to ropings, play days to Queen contests to barrels and poles, and occasionally even dressage! The Community Center holds lots of activities, while local fields play host to youth soccer and baseball teams, and anyone can enjoy games of tennis, basketball, or volleyball most any time on the village courts.

There's a tremendous comfort in knowing most of the folks in town, too. Where else would my wife be able to reach the mayor personally, at home, to get him to call off the village employee who, in his over-enthusiasm for spraying the ditchbanks for mosquitoes had twice ignored our "Organic Garden/ No Spraying" signs?

Yes, Bosque Farms is growing, too. Many lovely, and often large and luxurious, new homes have been built in recent years, but all on lots of at least 3/4 acre, and often on 2 or more acres, and many, perhaps most, of these new neighbors are also devotees of horses and other livestock, and of our rural way of life. This has kept property values every increasing, which is great news for all of us.

So, if you're looking for a great place to indulge your taste for the country, you might consider Bosque Farms. But do all of us old-timers a big favor: if you're the type to complain if you hear a rooster crow, or want the village to do something to prevent horses from smelling like horses, stay someplace more urban, OK?

For more information about Bosque Farms, Valencia County, or other small towns and rural areas surrounding Albuquerque, please visit our website, send me an email, or give me a call any time!

Brian Warden, CRS, Broker for Choices Real Estate, 505-239-4796