First Year?

westend · #1 08/04/12, 10:53 PM

Hello all! Just recently started posting (mostly over in the real estate and construction forums), but really appreciate all the knowledge shared and the forum.

I've negotiated my way to an accepted offer with the seller of this:11679341_11_2 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

13.9 Acres out here in Yamhill County Oregon. Busy with the bank this week and inspections, but I am hopeful this first hurdle of getting the seller to say yes after it being on the market for two and a half years was the biggest.

I've got a question about the first year.

Right now my first year is a lot about infrastructure. Here's the working list so far.

1. Site plan. Fruit, nut trees, windbreaks, drain fields, fence lines, future garden space, outbuildings, seasonal creek, etc.
2. Radical House Remodel (includes cistern for rain water capture and solar hot water)
3. New septic and drain field.
4. Repair the driveway
5. New well pump (this is the back up well by the barn, but very important for fire response and future livestock watering)
6. Clean out the barn (8foot high stacks of decomposing hay some four seasons old --major fire hazard)
7. Brush hog the pasture (thistle and teasel fest at the moment)
8. Reshape the creek drainage (Ditched now, intend to restore more normal creek dynamics in a section of the lower pasture with the conservation district)
9. Pasture reseed/management --goats?
10. Plant the fruit, nut, and windbreak trees.
11. Meet all the neighbors --community time.

I'm getting a lot of help with all this but I figure that's enough. More than enough. I am really taking my time to plan things out up front so I don't have to do expensive reconfiguring later on expensive things like water lines.

Anything you wished you had done in your first year?

Thanks!!

PNWKatie · #2 08/04/12, 11:04 PM

Hi! I'm also in Yamhill County area and just starting to do the "backyard" homesteading thing but I'm not on acreage (would love to be one of these days!). Looks like you've got a lot on your list so far! Good thinking on getting those fruit tree's in first thing since they take a while to produce! If you don't mind I'll keep an eye on your post here, since I'd love to hear suggestions for the first year as well!

Katie

Nimrod · #3 08/05/12, 12:23 AM

Congratulations on your pending purchase. It looks like you have a good handel on what needs to be done.

Get fruit trees that produce fruit that you like. For example Honeycrisp apples vs. Winesap. Only get fruit trees that will flourish in your growing zone and microclimate. Otherwise you could have trees that will survive and grow a little each summer but never produce fruit. Some fruit trees will only produce fruit every other year so buy them at the same time so they will flower in the same year and pollinate each other. A few fruit varities are self fertile but most require another tree of the same type but different cultivar? to cross pollinate. For example, plant Honeycrisp and Harroldson apples. Plant the two close enough together so they will cross pollinate. Less than 50 feet apart will do it. Dwarf trees may produce quicker but won't live as long. You will have to protect the young trees against deer, voles, rabbits and mice. I have hammered 3 2X2 in around each tree and stapled deer netting 7' x 100' Deer Netting at Menards
to them and it has worked well. Put corregated plastic tubes around the base of each tree to keep the other varmits from stripping off the bark. Young trees need watering for the first several years so figure out how to do that.

Check with the county and see what you are allowed to do. Can you design and install your own septic system? Do you need building permits to remodel the house or build outbuildings. Will the work be inspected? Is it going to be done by you or will you hire it done? What are the setbacks?

Make friends with a local farmer and pick his brain on how to make your pasture back to pasture again. It seems to me that if you brush hog it the weeds will just grow back. You may have to nuke it with a broad spectrum herbacide and then disc it and plant the grass or clover or whatever you want the pasture to be. Hire the farmer to do this since he likely has all the implements and the tractor. Sorry, just saw the goats. They may remove all the weeds from your pasture so you won't have to put down poison.

Why drill a new well? Is the existing one polluted? Would a new on not be polluted? You live in a very temperate climate. When I was there it snowed in Eugene and the folks freaked. It was very funny to watch you guys driving on slippery roads. You probably wouldn't have to bury a water line from the existing well to the house very deep to keep it from freezing. It should be a lot cheaper than drilling a new well.

Old hay makes excellent multch or, if it's gone too far let it compost.

If you plan on doing most of the work yourself consider a used one of these trencherman from Northern Tool + Equipment .
It will dig trenches for running water lines and electric. Also a drain field and septic. Digs holes for planting trees too. When you are done with it you can sell it for what you paid for it.

Be careful about messing around with the stream. There are a lot of gooberment buracrats that just live to catch someone doing that.

westend · #4 08/05/12, 01:46 AM

The property, well the house, is connected to a small local water district. The well is further back on the property and drilled but the pump has failed. Basically I'll know more after the inspection but right now its not useable. Important to bring it back online I think...

The hay I'm just going to drag out and turn into great compost piles since it is halfway on it's way all ready! I figure by doing that this September when I close on the place I should have some good mulch compost going by spring.

The "stream" isn't a stream at the moment, its a drainage ditch. That little project will be done with the local soil and water conservation district because of all the sensitivities and water rules out here. The good news is they are generally all excited to talk habitat restoration and water recharge projects, so that's good for me. And its volunteer labor and work parties --also good for me.

Everything has to be permitted, complete with plans, for both the house and septic, but the county folks have been real great so far and have even come out to do free inspections and reduced permitting costs because the property has been off the books for so long. They seem happy with the possibility of a new project.

We've got a pretty good extension office out here...was planning on walking the pastures with the guy and talking the smartest way to rehab them without the chemicals. Lots of options. Everything here drains into a creek about a mile away and then into a great native salmon river, so I try to keep that in mind --plus, I'm lazy and cheap, I'd rather roll it under, unleash some goats on the mess for a year, and go from there.

I'm not one of the weird bad weather drivers --actually know how to handle my 4WD. Love driving in the snow. This year given this little "project" I just hope the rains and the weather hold off a bit. Already getting late in the year to be planning on opening up walls and tearing off roofs.

Trying to make sure I have a site plan I can live with done soon so when I have guys out pushing dirt and gravel around, I get water and power trenches in the right place and plumb out the connections when the house and house site is all torn up for major work.

Plenty to do...but trying to go a bit slow now and plan so I'm more organized and have got things queued up to move more smoothly once the "go" button gets pushed.

Cliff · #5 08/05/12, 06:55 AM

With the old hay I'd pick out your future garden site and mulch it deep now. It will break down and enrich the soil greatly. With your climate you may not be able to actively garden with mulch but in the meantime it's an easy way to get your soil in great condition with very little work.

meanwhile · #6 08/05/12, 07:02 AM

I wish I had waited more during my first year on our Homestead. I wish I had waited, listened more, learned more about the area and my own land before I jumped into the deep end!

We made several - no....not several...a Lot of mistakes or did things that had to be done over.....basically we just went Hog Wild with projects that really would have been better off had we slowed down and put more planning and thought into it.

I wish I had only done the bare essentials at first. Just basic water, basic food, a roof over my head and then just wait and watch and learn.

Mistakes we made:
- dug a well where it should not have been put
- messed up a good spring water line
- dumped dirt in a perfectly good spring head that later took $3,000 to clean up
- built a large Log Play House right smack where the water shed flows during the spring (we had to build a drain line to divert the water away from the Log House)
- put a garden where the sun don't shine
- sprayed herbicide on good wild herbs
- dug a water line and buried it right where water now digs it up too often
- dug a huge hole near a creek bed where we thought it would pond up....now it is just a wild hog wallow

Anyway! There were many things we jumped on in and did but should have waited.

It is hard to wait! But I promise you will save money in the long run and be happier with the results if you plan more and learn the best way to do something rather than just going Nuts like we did!

Good luck!

ronbre · #7 08/05/12, 10:18 AM

before you begin planting read Gaia's garden by Toby Hemenway..I prefer the 2nd edition but the first edition is available free online..It will tell you everything you need to know about planting, where, what, when and why.

there are a lot of other good books as well and I've read hundreds and hundreds of gardening books, but for the beginner this is # 1..# 2 would be one you want to buy not borrow it is The country living encyclopedia by Carla Emery

woodsy · #8 08/05/12, 10:29 AM

I hope your fruit plantings includes high bush blueberries if they will do well in that climate, easy crop to maintain, little disease or insect problems, quick return on your investment compared to apples .
Highly nutritious.
We started with 5 2 yr old root stocks about 5 yrs ago, last year we picked about 25 qts.IIRC. Still had 1 -2 qts in the freezer when we started picking again this summer.
Good luck with your new place !

westend · #9 08/05/12, 10:32 AM

Thanks everyone! Meanwhile, you totally hit on one of my concerns. I have an IDEA of where some of the water is flowing, even an IDEA of where apparently a natural spring sits, but how it all connects and flows it's hard to say. I figure if I don't monkey with much but the house site and the septic fields before the rains come, I can spend winter mucking about seeing what the water does on the land.

Woodsy-- Absolutely! Before moving to Oregon, I had turned everything I could into edibles at my little (very, very little) Seattle lot. Had a blueberry hedge and a evergreen huckleberry hedge. So easy to grow out here. The property already comes with its own blackberry stand

.

There is mature cherry and apple, and oak for acorns. I'll be putting in plum, fig, hazelnut, walnut, and pinion as well.

Raeven · #10 08/05/12, 10:43 AM

westend, welcome to Oregon -- if you're not from here already!

I think your first-year plan is a good one. Pretty ambitious, but all needs to be done, and you're not doing anything permanent except things that HAVE to be done in any case.

Do you know the sun path for the entire year? You'll want to have that information before planting out fruit and nut trees.

Do you know where all the water flows when we have one of our impressive rain events? Also very important information before making any permanent commitments to outbuildings, gardens, etc.

meanwhile has given you some great advice with respect to taking your time to do things right the first time.

Also, kudos to you for working with Oregon's superb resources, meaning extension agents and the county officials. It's best to have them on your side when you're making such changes.

Get after that thistle. Make sure you know what kind you've got. I'm doing battle with very little Canada thistle and a bit more Bull thistle. I'm glad it's mostly Bull thistle. If you've got Canada thistle, for goodness' sake, don't till it. You'll make a MUCH bigger problem! With ANY thistle, don't let those seed heads let go. Cut them and destroy them as fast as you can, then get after them the following year. The Bull thistles are biennials and easier to eradicate. Goats will not help you in this endeavor. (Neither will pigs or llamas... ask me how I know.)

Good luck to you with your new place!

LOL, I was writing as you were posting, and so obviously I've given advice you've already considered. And yes, welcome to Oregon!

westend · #11 08/05/12, 10:58 AM

Already here in Oregon, been in the NW for 30 or so years.

The pasture is over run with thistle --big tall nasty stuff, waist to shoulder high -- and teasel that is about the same height. Have no idea of what sort but I'll get some help with that. The property was used for wheat, then hay, then cattle pasture and is a total mess. Too late this year to beat the seed drop...but walking it last week the song birds are enjoying it, its large enough to be like thickets in places. Sorting out the pasture mess is going to take the most patience.

Raeven · #12 08/05/12, 11:17 AM

Ugh. You're right. That's going to be a difficult clean-up. How many acres of pasture will you have to rehabilitate?

bruce2288 · #13 08/05/12, 11:29 AM

The most effective time to spray biannial thistles is in the fall. Looks like a good piece of ground to me. I don't know your philosophy but aside from digging thistles, spraying is the only effective way to get them under control.

westend · #14 08/05/12, 12:26 PM

I was hoping somebody here would tell me those beasties were "no big deal" LOL.

Out of the 14acres, there is a couple in White Oak upland, another couple in slope pasture which is actually pretty clean, good grasses and forbes (although the thistle is moving up), and then 8-9acres in lower pasture. Which is the worst of it.

I'm gonna talk to some local farmers and the extension office now with the hope I can lay out a plan this fall...do what needs to be done this fall and again in the Spring so I am not letting it go further through the next season. Plan for year one -- don't let it get any worse!

Raeven · #15 08/05/12, 01:27 PM

If you have Canada thistle, you will soon hope you have something else. Here's why:

Quick Facts...

Canada thistle is a creeping perennial that reproduces from vegetative buds in its root system and from seed.

It is difficult to control because its extensive root system allows it to recover from control attempts.

Combining control methods is the best form of Canada thistle management.

Persistence is imperative so the weed is continually stressed, forcing it to exhaust root nutrient stores and eventually die.

If you till it, every piece of root is a new thistle plant. You have to till continually every three weeks for months to fully eradicate it.

Here's a good website to help identify it: PCA Alien Plant Working Group - Canada Thistle (Cirsium arvense)

Here's a site for Bull thistle for comparison: bull thistle, Cirsium vulgare (Asterales: Asteraceae)

If you have acres of it, unfortunately yes, repeated spraying is probably your only hope. And you'll still want to cut every seed head you see.

Good luck with everything!

meanwhile · #16 08/05/12, 01:56 PM

Water, water and more information about Water. Rain Water, gray water, harvesting water, taking care of springs = book mark these sites and start reading! If you have a partner, ask the partner to read too since water issues are very important!

Oasis Design: Grey Water Books, Ecological Design Information & Consulting

Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond by Brad Lancaster

Home | Greywater Action

I thought of another one: Be sure to know and mark underground wires and water pipes!!!!

Mark every single pipe or wire than you bury! Take a photo of it and take the photo so that you can find the underground wire or water pipe from measuring from something that will not move! For example - measure from the corner of the house or from a tree, etc. Save the photos AND save measurements. You will save thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of digging too.

Good luck!

westend · #17 08/05/12, 02:38 PM

Thanks guys. This is going to be an adventure for sure!

Callieslamb · #18 08/05/12, 07:28 PM

Simple thing to forget- testing your soil. If it grows great blueberries, it won't grow a great garden. Blueberries like 4.5 pH...garden veggies like around 6.2. It takes a while for lime to work, so you'll want to get the garden spot tested and ammended before spring.

meanwhile · #19 08/06/12, 07:37 AM

Spray herbicide now - in August while the green weed mess is still green and growing. If you wait till spring, it will be harder to kill back and you will loose time waiting for weeds to die back. If you do not plan to use herbicides, then use the newspaper mulch now to start killing weeds now.

We had a garden spot full full FULL of weeds. We took torn up cardboard, newspaper and torn up cardboard boxes and tossed it all over the ground. We just kept tearing up paper and tossing it all over the place. After a while it started to pack down. We piled old rotten hay on top of it and wood chips too. That helped kill the weeds without using herbicide.

Or - just let 'er rip with a tank or so of herbicide and get rid of the weeds this year. Then, cover up your garden area with wood chips or straw (be sure to use straw and not hay - hay has grass seeds in it and that will only make a mess) for the winter and in the spring, you are ready to plant things.

Good luck.

geo in mi · #20 08/06/12, 08:26 AM

Don't know if you have gotten a professional survey with irons and stakes in the property transfer, but you might consider doing so, then marking the iron locations so they won't disappear as grasses cover them. This can be done by sawing lengths of white PVC pipe--4 to 6 inch diameter, and placing them in the soil around the iron, raised up a bit so they won't disappear.... By having a survey made at the time you take possession, it eliminates all future boundary disputes that might come up from the neighbors.

A barn full of old hay is no less of a fire hazard than a barn full of new hay....but if the wiring is questionable, I would look at that first......the hay, may also be full of thistles, if it came off your property, so take a look at it--it may be better to burn it(outside the barn, of course) rather than use it as mulch or compost.

Fruit trees are permanent additions, so I would be sure of my site plan, especially with respect to the stream and water situation. Waiting until you are sure will offset the aggravation and inconvenience you may suffer by planting them in the wrong place.

You haven't said anything about tools and equipment you need, nor a barn or shed for strorage and maintenance. Gasoline and flammables storage......

I always recommend, right away, a home office, for record keeping, paying bills, planning, dreaming, learning, tracking progress, etc, etc......with a stack of both legal sized yellow tablets, and a stack of 4 X 6 pads for planning and list making..... and of course, a beginning budget, even though it may change with the projects you will have going on.

Best of luck, and buy a good pair of gloves and bluejeans......

geo