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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] Afghanistan redux

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  • From: Margaret L Wilson <booldawgs@cavenet.com>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Afghanistan redux
  • Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2002 17:55:18 -0700

Wonderful. I have a 6 acre small farm that is a gem, the ideal farming homestead
complete with beautiful soil, plenty of well water, shops, equipment;
everything I need. Could I subscribe you to my marketfarming list?
I'd like to get some ag dialog going there. Really its a general ag list,
not just market farming. Tell Mark to join too.
I'd like to hear more about your efforts to restore your cattle ranch.
What state are you in?

Lawrence--
L.F.London

Well, right now I feel like my efforts have been pretty feeble,lol. I am in SW Oregon. I arrived here with a trailer load of pregnant (Shetland and Jacob) sheep in mid-May. The barn is approximately 100 years old and you could throw a cat through the wall in any direction except down. The biggest worry was,of course, predators We put pig/cattle panels over all of the holes large enough for a cougar to come in. A couple of weeks into the lambing season DH arrived with the baby Kubota and my mule, horse, and donkey. My sheep (old ladies) are essentially a rescue ,but their genetics (as a rare breed), need to be saved. I spent my nights delivering lambs and my days hauling old manure out of the barn to what I thought was the garden spot. It was fenced and had leaves and wood ashes piled there. I had a couple of loads of fines from the river quarry hauled in and mixed it with the tiller. I had already started planting when I realized it would be shaded for part of the day as the trees leafed out. But, Oh well, I still got a lot of squash, tomatoes, some corn, some potatoes lots of sunflower seed, cabbage, lettuce and peppers. My eldest son arrived with my Dexter cattle and stayed to help me for a few months.
.
The water rights go back to the 1800s but the ditches are grown over with blackberries and weeds. They over pastured hard, let the ponds go to ummmm heck, let the building just fall apart. We have several areas that were wetlands that they cleared and tried to grow grass. I intend to restore them with native species and small depressions that hold the water. The back (North 1/4 of the property was forest. It was cleared in the 30s or 40s. I hope to plant trees back there again, although it looks like grape land.

My number one goal is food self sufficiency but I would really love to make some money here too. I have 9 male lambs for the freezer, 2 pigs, and potatoes and miscellaneous veggies. I have my winter garden started with broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots,and lots of lettuces. I have 2 new calves but they are both heifers. I am building a herd so I guess I will have to buy a calf to raise for beef. I am milking one of my Dexter cows part of the time for fresh milk.

I do have a partner (of almost 40 years) but he has been working out of state all summer. I am looking at blueberries, raspberries, strawberries as a cash crop that we could work together and make enough money to restore this old place and provide us with a comfortable living. Sorry to be so long winded.

Margaret






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