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Did you click the Powell's linky yet? Here's the tour. It's a city block of books. But they have warehouses and the aforementioned Technical Books as well as a travel store and cookign store . . . find a way to get there while you're visiting, I think it will go a long way toward making Oregon, and a possible move, more exciting. So jealous. Powell's . . . mushrooms . . . vineyards . . . the coast . . .
Posts: 471 | Registered: Jul 2005
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What is it with engineers and trebuchets? We have a trebuchet conversation at lunch at least once a month at work. I even got trebuchet simulator spam from an electronic parts distributor. Hmmmm....trebuchet + chickens....workable do you think?
Posts: 1412 | Registered: Oct 2005
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If I may reference the Valar from Tolkein's Middle Earth, I have decided that Porter is very much like Aule while I am very much like Yavanna, Giver of Fruits.
Yavanna is a mother-nature figure who created the trees Telperion and Laurelin. She made the Ents, her shepherds, to protect her precious trees. She can appear as a tall, green-robed woman, or be mistaken for a tree. She is married to Aule, the Master Craftsman.
Aule loves gems and metals. Aule is said to have created the dwarves. He did so in secret because he was impatient to have someone to teach his skills to. Because he created them without Yavanna's touch, they have no love for living, growing things of nature.
Needless to say, as Yavanna and Aule's loves cover very different realms, so Porter and I often have a very hard time understanding one another's interests and passions.
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What form does an irrational fear of mushrooms take? Will she cross the street if she sees one walking towards her?
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Beverly, do you think you could share some of the resources you used while you were researching this? I've been fantasizing about this kind of thing for years, but never seriously thought about doing it, and I'd love to learn more.
Posts: 957 | Registered: Aug 2002
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Porter, you and Mary Cate WILL come to Powell's and you will revel in the full block of new and used books. (It's one of the biggest used book stores in the country and it's in Portland.)
So you guys would be just a couple hours from me...yea even less than that. Just a hop away from Lincoln City and Newport! Sounds like a fantastic location...especially because it's close to ME! I hope you end up here, I would love it. Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
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I'd cross the street if I saw a mushroom walking towards me, especially if it was Kirkwood (so only people who have been to Bloomington, IN will get this, but oh well)
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Stray, I am trying to remember exactly how I got started. I think I basically went to the library specifically to find a book my sis-in-law recommended because she is wanting to homestead on acreage herself. I never did find that book, but I discovered a wealth of other books! I poured over them and drank them in. I realized that there are ways to do things different from the "old conventional" ways that are currently driving farmers into bankruptcy. Fields of government subsidized corn and soybeans are NOT necessary! The tilling of the earth with monster machines that speeds erosion and rapes our land is NOT necessary! Year-round grazing IS possible! Money CAN be made being a pasture farmer! And everything about it just sings to my soul. I feel I have found my true calling.
The next step would be finding people locally who do things like what you want to do. Learn from them and offer to help them. Best of luck!
Posts: 7050 | Registered: Feb 2004
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beverly, just wanted to say that I can really relate to your feeling about wanting to move to a place like that. It's a dream of ours to have a few acres in the middle of nowhere and to live as self-sufficiently as possible.
It sounds really exciting! Posts: 2880 | Registered: Jun 2004
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quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: What form does an irrational fear of mushrooms take? Will she cross the street if she sees one walking towards her?
I've never had any fungiphobe tendencies, but, if that is the definition, yeah, I'm a-scared of strollin' 'shrooms.
Bev and Porter, will there be a music studio?
Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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Bev, you know I've already talked with you at length about this new direction of yours, and I'm happy you're doing it.
I just wanted to add in - due to your post above about pasturing-as-opposed-to-farming. While I totally support that, I wanted you to be aware of places that exist such as The Land Institute that are actually making "farming" be more eco-friendly, as well, by promoting and developing a polyculture as opposed to our current monoculture farming. (I feel strongly enough about them that this place is about the only thing I link to off my family homepage)
Posts: 9538 | Registered: Aug 2003
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Farmgirl, I apologize if I was using a bit of hyperbole there. I am very excited about the potential of rotational year-round grazing, and I do feel strongly that the way agriculture has been going is bad for our land and our future economy. I am glad to hear of such a movement and I am all in favor of progressive change. Posts: 7050 | Registered: Feb 2004
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quote:It's a dream of ours to have a few acres in the middle of nowhere and to live as self-sufficiently as possible.
I have actually had nightmares about this possibility. Not you living somewhere in the middle of nowhere, but me living somewhere in the middle of nowhere and personally having to remove dirt and hair from my still-bleating food.
Me and the land, we're not friends; we are in fact sworn enemies. I leave it alone, it leaves me alone, and everyone's content. Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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Ooo, I wanna do bees too. But that can wait until later. Don't want to complicate things too fast! I need to be comfortable with one thing before moving along to another.
Tom, I have been very interested in humane methods of slaughtering animals. I've never done it before, so I'm a bit nervous. I intend to learn. I don't like the idea of being dependent on someone else for my food. If we do this, even if the grocery stores are empty, we will have enough and to spare.
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I'm with Tom. Well, I can grow plants ok. An herb garden, even. But beyond that, I'm a big believer in food coming from markets. Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I'd do chickens for eggs only, and would love to have sheep and possibly an Alpaca to shear and make wool from. But there's no way I'm doing meat or dairy myself, not that I eat much meat. I'm a horse kid though, so that does help a bit with feeling comfortable with animals, I've ridden for gasp ten years now.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Wow, this is awesome. I hope that this place turns out to be right for you. We recently moved to Ohio from Arizona in order to set up our own mini-farm. I have a lot of similar ideas as you do about livestock. Would you be interested in emailing so that we could discuss ideas and experiences?
quote:Originally posted by beverly: So I have been thinking of doing a similar thing with various livestock--staking them to an area to graze and moving them around that way. It would get impractical pretty quickly with too many animals, but it might be a way to start out. Maybe the animals will help me make enough money to fund a fence! One can dream.
The main difficulty with this is keeping predators away from your livestock. There are probably coyotes up there, and there will almost certainly be loose dogs in the area.
What we've been doing is fencing small parcels at a time, because we can't afford the money, time, or labor to fence all 10 acres right now. Just have a master plan for how you want your paddocks laid out, and build one or two at a time.
Also, look into livestock guard dogs. Great Pyrenees seem to be the most common, but there might be other breeds available in that area. We really like our Anatolian Shepherd/Great Pyrenees cross, enough that we hauled him all the way here from Arizona.
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Mel, you are right about coyote's being a problem. :/ I'm not sure what I want to do about that. I'm actually not all that interested in having a dog--though I am willing to consider it. I've heard a lot of stories about dogs killing what they were supposed to protect.
Oh, and I would love to correspond. Email in my profile.
Aaaaand that brings me to guinea pigs. I am a big fan of cavies. About a week ago, I turned my two boars "out to pasture" as an experiment. They seem to be doing great so far. I've realized that they are a lot like chickens. They want to stay by their shelter. They have no desire to stray away from it. You provide a small portable shelter where they can feel safe from predators (and hopefully BE safe from predators) and move it around every so often. They can't tolerate temperatures below freezing, though so you'd take them indoors in the winter.
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I always wanted to live on a farm. Still do.
Good luck. And don't forget to give us updates.
Edit: When I was little, I had guinea pigs. (As pets!) A couple of my parents' friends (Bolivian) would always tease me about eating them. It was the surest way to get me riled up.
Posts: 2149 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Hey, that would be cool if you lived kind of near us (and by "us," I mean "my family" since I doubt I'll be around home as much once I graduate). One of my friends when I was in junior high lived in Dallas.
Posts: 3546 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Ohhhh . . . Powell's is a simply wonderful place. Hmmm.
Bev! Porter! How exciting! I just caught this thread -- I think it's awesome you get the trebouchets, Bev. *grin* Porter -- be easy -- change is just another day. (I know -- easy to say.)
Posts: 5609 | Registered: Jan 2003
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quote:Originally posted by beverly: Mel, you are right about coyote's being a problem. :/ I'm not sure what I want to do about that. I'm actually not all that interested in having a dog--though I am willing to consider it. I've heard a lot of stories about dogs killing what they were supposed to protect.
There are a lot of considerations to take into account. Just looking monetarily, if you are only keeping a few run-of-the-mill 4-H goats, for example, it may not be worth the initial cost for a dog as well as the maintenance costs (our two eat around $70 worth of food every month! Granted we feed them a premium brand...) The more money you have tied up in your livestock, however, the more it's worth it to have a good dog. Not to mention that it's tough emotionally to have your animals killed or crippled by a predator.
However! You definitely can't use just any old dog, that's for sure! But if you follow three rules, you should be fine:
1. Choose an established livestock guarding breed, such as Great Pyrenees. There are others, but they are more obscure in the United States.
2. Choose a line within that breed that still does that work, for at least the last several generations. No show dogs!
3. Choose a puppy that has been raised in a guarding situation, ie with the type of livestock you expect to have and with older LGDs around to begin training it.
It can be difficult meeting all three requirements, but it's worth it. You may even have to go out of state to find one. We got very lucky and only had to travel about 50 miles to get our puppy. Once you have the pup home, you still need to watch so that you can discourage it from playing too roughly with the livestock, but since it has been raised with them this likely won't be much of an issue.
Some farmers say to have as little contact with the pup as possible so that it only develops ties to its herd, but I don't agree with this. I think that it's probably good advice for a free range type situation, where the dog will need to stay with the herd of its own free will for days at a time. However, in a small farm environment where animals will be penned, I think it is worth the trade-off for the owners to be able to easily handle the dog. I do basic obedience training with mine, so that vet trips and grooming are easier. This doesn't have to be a huge commitment: 15 minutes a day will pay off in the long run.
I'll end with an anecdote. We kept a few goats in Arizona, in the middle of the desert. There were plenty of coyotes and free-roaming dogs around, but we never had anything attack our goats. When the vet was out, she said that she had never been called to take care of wounded goats when there was a livestock guard dog on duty.
posted
Around here people use llamas to protect their sheep from coyotes. Apparently they will kick the crap out of any coyotes that attempt to make trouble.
ID this quote:
"I like my women like I like my coffee. Covered in BEES!"
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I like "I like my women like I like my coffee. Ground up and in the freezer" better, but I don't know who said it originally.
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Not really. Llama fleece isn't bad, Alpaca and Sheep are better (assuming the sheep are a fleece breed and not a meat breed, it's pretty equal to some meat breed wool). I think maybe a third of a Llama fleece is usable, the rest is a bit too coarse.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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bev, I think this whole lifestyle is fascinating and would love to be your neighbor because I couldn't imagne feeling the responsibility of it myself. I guess I'd have to go in steps as you seemed to have done. I think this is great and I hope it works out for you!
And for you too mph, that barn/shop/music studio sounds awesome!
Posts: 697 | Registered: Nov 2005
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Llamas are good pack animals, so if you do a lot of hiking/backpacking you could have an extra use for them. On the other hand, training goats for pack work has become popular in recent years, so there you go. Last I checked, llamas are pretty expensive, too.
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Porter, I do have one serious question: do you believe that you can move out to a farm and watch your wife become a farmer without becoming a farmer yourself?
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Oh, that's a question I've asked myself time and time again, and much of the reason for my hesitation in this whole endeavor.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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You will, but not in the cool actually farming way. You're more likely to turn into the guy who thinks he's farming and buys brand new farmer clothes, but doesn't get dirty. You'll also wear a cowboy hat, while most farmers wear baseball caps.
(this is actually about the husband of someone I know, it very well could apply to porter).
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Actually, I don't think it's the right correct question to ask. Some questions to ask right now is do we want to leave our current home? Would we like to live in that community? Would we enjoy living out in the country with a few critters?
Whatever happens, it will be gradual (except for the one big step of actually buying the land and moving). I don't need to worry about what it would be like to have Beverly be a full-fledged farmer. When the times come, the questions that Bev and I will have to consider will be more along the lines of "are we willing to take X step now?" If we aren't both happy with dealing with, say, a few chickens, then we probably won't be ready to go to the next step and get a goat. Or whatever.
breyer: I probably misunderstood I understood what you said, but it came across kinda insulting, that you think I'll become an ignorant, uncool, wannabe poser.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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I'd definitely go for at least a few Blue-Faced Leicster sheep, merino sheep, or alpacas. "Gourmet" fiber is becoming a big business these days, and I know there are cooperatives to help you sell it in Oregon.
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Perhaps she meant that you'll be a lovable gentleman farmer in the grand tradition of city folk who move out to the country and are committed to the idea, but have a bit of trouble with the reality. Cowboy hats (and boots!) can be helpful with that.
Do you read Terry Pratchett? I think, based on your posts, that you are much brighter than Sergeant Colon, but I love when he wants to start a farm in Feet of Clay. He reads a book called Animal Husbandry, and is concerned about the title, and is all set to have a nice, peaceful retirement, but then he meets Roger, the bulls [sic]. Anyway, it's one of my favorite books, very well done.
And - land grows on you. You can't keep from loving land, it just gets under your skin and makes you fall in love. So I think maybe you would like it. After a bit.
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