permaculture

[Margaret L Wilson <booldawgs@cavenet.com>]

> 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