Rident_Mama
06-28-2008, 12:59 PM
80 acres! It's beautiful...large...but beautiful.
Synopsis ('cause most people won't care to read the whole, detailed description): 80 acres, 1 live creek, 1 seasonal creek, good trees to enjoy, lots of deadfall for heating; fantastic pastures; established homesite and several old outbuildings that need to be torn down; well, storm cellar; electricity will need to be run in several hundred feet for now, until DH can get his windpower setups going.
Now for the long version:
Imagine a rectangle, length-wise = west to east (I'm originally from the west coast, so everything starts from the Pacific for me LOL).
A live creek (doesn't dry out) runs from the southwest corner to the northeast corner. A secondary, seasonal creek runs into it from the northwest corner, meeting about 1/3 way into the property. I thought it was all scrub cedar at first, but there is actually a wonderful variety of deciduous and coniferous trees! Some are rather old...we know of 8 that DH and I (together) cannot reach around. There is a LOT of deadfall, it hasn't been maintained for at least 20 years, so it needs to be cleaned out a little bit...make it easier for animals to have water access. Between the current deadfall, as well as a couple of deadstand trees, plus whatever deadfall in future years, we should have a sustainable amount of firewood for heating for at least the next five years (I'm thinking substantially longer, but we're focusing on the first five years right now). The live creek even contains fish, small though, since the creek is not very deep. DH is planning on damming up a small section by 4 feet to allow for a small "swimming hole" for the kids and give the fish a chance to grow. We're not sure when we'll do this, and we have to observe for awhile, since it looks like spring rains really turn this creek into a gullywasher.
The pastures have been tiered, so it slopes up from the west edge, the top tier is about 1/3 way in, then it slopes back down (valley is about 2/3 way in from the west), then back up higher to the homesite, where the land plateaus. The homesite is on the southeast corner, and overlooks it all. There is a "small" pasture right behind the homesite (~3 acres?) that DH and I are debating whether to put my future milker(s) [1 cow or 2 goats] back there or a garden (since it's the only pasture separated from the large one).
Driveway comes in the south side, a few hundred feet in from the east edge, runs in front of the homesite and opens up to the two "roads" that lead to each end of the property. Coming in on the driveway is the homesite, windmill/storm cellar, "garage", and "shop"...the garage and shop are dilapidated and need to be torn down, as they are a serious hazard to have around. We're planning on building a new garage and shop.
There is a windmill and water tower setup. The windmill blades are long gone, but DH has a windmill setup already that he can transfer over (he's been experimenting with windpower the last year or two). The top is collapsed in on the water tower, and this past weekend, he had to rescue a buzzard that had fallen in (the tower is about 25 feet tall, with concrete walls). Electricity will have to be run in from the road until DH can get his windmills setup for power.
We're going to build a garage this year, before the Boilermaker season starts. Next spring, we're hoping to start on the house. We're bouncing back and forth on staying in our current home while building the house, or putting it up on the market next spring, moving our belongings into the garage and living in the trailer while working on the house. I think we're starting to lean toward the latter. Meanwhile, that means gearing up for a rather large yard sale early next spring!
We're excited!
Synopsis ('cause most people won't care to read the whole, detailed description): 80 acres, 1 live creek, 1 seasonal creek, good trees to enjoy, lots of deadfall for heating; fantastic pastures; established homesite and several old outbuildings that need to be torn down; well, storm cellar; electricity will need to be run in several hundred feet for now, until DH can get his windpower setups going.
Now for the long version:
Imagine a rectangle, length-wise = west to east (I'm originally from the west coast, so everything starts from the Pacific for me LOL).
A live creek (doesn't dry out) runs from the southwest corner to the northeast corner. A secondary, seasonal creek runs into it from the northwest corner, meeting about 1/3 way into the property. I thought it was all scrub cedar at first, but there is actually a wonderful variety of deciduous and coniferous trees! Some are rather old...we know of 8 that DH and I (together) cannot reach around. There is a LOT of deadfall, it hasn't been maintained for at least 20 years, so it needs to be cleaned out a little bit...make it easier for animals to have water access. Between the current deadfall, as well as a couple of deadstand trees, plus whatever deadfall in future years, we should have a sustainable amount of firewood for heating for at least the next five years (I'm thinking substantially longer, but we're focusing on the first five years right now). The live creek even contains fish, small though, since the creek is not very deep. DH is planning on damming up a small section by 4 feet to allow for a small "swimming hole" for the kids and give the fish a chance to grow. We're not sure when we'll do this, and we have to observe for awhile, since it looks like spring rains really turn this creek into a gullywasher.
The pastures have been tiered, so it slopes up from the west edge, the top tier is about 1/3 way in, then it slopes back down (valley is about 2/3 way in from the west), then back up higher to the homesite, where the land plateaus. The homesite is on the southeast corner, and overlooks it all. There is a "small" pasture right behind the homesite (~3 acres?) that DH and I are debating whether to put my future milker(s) [1 cow or 2 goats] back there or a garden (since it's the only pasture separated from the large one).
Driveway comes in the south side, a few hundred feet in from the east edge, runs in front of the homesite and opens up to the two "roads" that lead to each end of the property. Coming in on the driveway is the homesite, windmill/storm cellar, "garage", and "shop"...the garage and shop are dilapidated and need to be torn down, as they are a serious hazard to have around. We're planning on building a new garage and shop.
There is a windmill and water tower setup. The windmill blades are long gone, but DH has a windmill setup already that he can transfer over (he's been experimenting with windpower the last year or two). The top is collapsed in on the water tower, and this past weekend, he had to rescue a buzzard that had fallen in (the tower is about 25 feet tall, with concrete walls). Electricity will have to be run in from the road until DH can get his windmills setup for power.
We're going to build a garage this year, before the Boilermaker season starts. Next spring, we're hoping to start on the house. We're bouncing back and forth on staying in our current home while building the house, or putting it up on the market next spring, moving our belongings into the garage and living in the trailer while working on the house. I think we're starting to lean toward the latter. Meanwhile, that means gearing up for a rather large yard sale early next spring!
We're excited!