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