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  • From: Margaret L Wilson <booldawgs@cavenet.com>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [permaculture] Where/How to start?
  • Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2002 11:10:20 -0800

I am thinking seriously of converting one of the old barns into a straw bale house. The barn is post and beam constructed of native wood. I have talked with the old gentleman that built it. His grandparents bought this place in 1928, when he was 6 years old. He built the barn himself after he came back from WW II. It has a metal roof that is still in reasonably good shape and I think the timbers are (mostly) still sound. We had intended to salvage the 100 year old barn but I am not sure that it is possible. The old shingle roof has been neglected too long. It has some huge old hand hewn timbers that are sound and some that are dry rotted. My thoughts are that combining the two would make a very comfortable lovely home. The newer barn also has excellent solar exposure and is ideally situated in the best part of the property. It just feels right :-))

The old man told me that the back 20 acres was wooded and they cleared it for more pasture. The areas that have Sedge? grass were wetlands with willows and trees that he cleared with a team of horses. I want to restore the wetlands and start planting trees as soon as possible. They tell me that the whole ranch used to stay green year around. But that could have been before they logged the watershed around us too. I feel it is most important to restore the land so it holds water rather than having to get irrigation water out of the creek. It is an important salmon/steelhead creek that we have irrigation rights to.

At this point I am not controlling grazing. The animals do not go out to the back and we have a lot of coyotes and a mountain lion that has killed a lot of livestock in the area. I put all of my animals in the barn at night and so far I have only lost one lamb. I am feeding hay in places that need the most improvement. They manure the area and leave a little hay. I am anxious to see what the difference will be when it starts raining.

How do I find my local PC group? I am not very far from Williams, Grants Pass and several other towns in SW Oregon.

Thanks very much for all of the advise. I have a lot to learn. I would like to eventually have some farm income that would help support us. It would be much better if my other half was able to help me here rather than working away from home.
Margaret SW Oregon

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