The new home of 3HR, and our journey to freedom

Welcome to,
                      Hanford's Half-size Happy Ranch
3HR for short, we had a urban homestead in Western Washington. Family obligations have instilled a need to relocate. With my usual diligence, and vast amounts of time spent searching I found a suitable location. We made an offer on a 2 acre parcel and have now moved to waiting for final funding. The site will put us about middle between my grandmother and our camping property.

My grandmother is so happy we will be closer. I moved out here from Wyoming, after my other grandmother asked when I was going to come home to take care of her. Never a moments hesitation, I packed everything including my horse, goat, and guinea hens. Moved in with her and cared for her till it was time for nursing home. Life continues, met a great woman (pure city girl). And grandmother calls, grandpa is going down hill and she can't do it alone. I leave home 1am in a snow storm crossing the pass, to put Grandma to bed and take care of grandpa. I care for both till he passes, then her for another month. So I have always been there for them.

Then two babies, remodeling a house and building a urban homestead with multiple income streams. We are up rooting it all to be closer to family.
Thank you
3HR

The new home, 2 acres of semi-flat river front property. 1400sq of of house in need of remodel, three sources of water well, irrigation, and river. A barn, large shed, and small shed, with large fenced pasture. Mature walnut trees, and my wife is in love.

She has it all planned, first is me retiring. So that I can complete all the planting, canning, home schooling, and any other tasks she comes up with.

We have a YouTube channel and I will be starting a website chronicle of our adventures. But it all is here on permies before anything else.

Thank you
3HR

Tractor moving day!!!





Sisters and team work( don't tell brother we got to play with the tractor)

Well we have moved further on the path. Appraisal is back, we are officially not in a flood zone. The property has 220' of riverfront, but there is two sets of benches up to where the house is located. Placing the entire property out of the flood zone. With the large flooding and water levels last year in Oroville, still didn't even get close on this property. The first bench is right at the waters edge, the second is about 10 feet above the river. With the ability to pump water out of the river I'm thinking cattails and wild rice in a pond wet land area that drains back to the river. But till we are on site for a while, nothing is definite. We will be building at least 2 ponds, and  planting 60+ fruit trees along with the mature but trees we will be off to a good start.

Thank you
3HR

Moving more equipment!!!

We finally closed, here are some initial pics

Congratulations, Brian! Looks awesome!!

We are not going to be on site till the 8th but then we will do a full walk through with pics and videos. As we start the clean up, And initial plans. We are going to spend several weeks before doing anything but clean and move in. Then after settling, we will push forward with plans. There is a lot already on site, and we are going to be looking at geese and some sheep maybe just to eat down the grass.

And... See if we can get Paul Weaton to come out and do a site assessment. But I have not laid the gauntlet down yet.

Kids are so excited we are going to be on the river. Every weekend is are we going to our new house yet? My son has been really missing the garden. But now he's planning on planting apple trees.

Thank you
3HR

The kids are getting all excited, my daughter keeps telling grandpa that we are moving. To her we can't get it done soon enough.

Thanks
3HR

Some first pics

First video off the back porch.



Thanks
3HR

Full property tour, lots of cleaning to come.



Thanks
3HR

New pics of the humming bird nest. She has been at the feeders on the back porch all the time. The kids want to Know why we can't have more.

The view from my father's day present, a log rocking chair for the back porch.

Our new tractor, cat 0 3pt. Have several implements, single tooth ripper, middle buster, plow, grading blade looking to buy a set of pallet forks. I have found a company that builds a well made box scraper.

Thanks
3HR

Figured to sell the rototiller, use the money to buy the box scraper. Found a local place that rents a small excavator. Now just figure out the earth works plan. I want at least 3 ponds, and no problem filling them. We can pump water direct from the river.

Thanks
3HR

Makeing friends every turn, found a guy raising Dexter cattle. My daughter has fallen in love with having a cow. Some more work on the pasture and irrigation we will be looking for some animals.

Thanks 3HR

Satellite view of the new place, lots of large walnuts. Can't see most of the buildings, but the irritated pasture is prominent in the view. Trying to figure wether to do swales or not. I want to do Savannah style tree cropping with chikens and cows in alley ways. Also want to incorporate 2-3 ponds. This sit is to be zone 1-3 with the other zones at our 40 acre property an hour away.

Thanks
3HR

Getting ready for cows, and the kids make there own plan.

The place looks nice! Good luck with your plans and projects.

Using the tractor, chain hooks and a 2" receiver on the bucket. Best add on for a tractor, we have been using it alot.

Watering the new prickly pear catus today and Tracy found a pad cut off. Then I drove up on the tractor and there was a tortoise in the pasture. Of all the things we never thought to find. Looks like a pet that was let go or lost. But he has made his home in our field.

We are hosting Paul for a consult on the 18th of August. Look forward to some posts, and You can check out more pics at 3hr_homestead@instagram

Thanks
Brian
3HR

We had our consult, it was great having Paul and Jocelyn out to the house. Spent some time walking around our 2 acres chatting. Then we made a podcast, first time ever doing a recording. The cows were delivered, but we got 5 now. Already have him sold the bull will be around for a few months on our great pasture, then on to the butcher. We are now raising Dexter cattle.

Thanks
Brian
3HR

Pics

More pics

More

The cows

Feeding the cows

More cow antics with the chicken tractor

Picked up a box scraper, we have started the earth works. Moving dirt and making better access to the barn.

Back of the barn with new access way. Dropping junk trees behind tractor shed.

Working on the front of the house, new ponds thinking about a integrating wicking beds for herbs.

Fun times, well pump went out. Furnace stopped working, and the breaker box started arcing. Three bad well pumps later and 3 week's without water. The ponds worked great for flushing the toilet. New water storage in the basement 60g of fresh water. it's a good thing we always have back up plans, wasn't much disturbance other than showers. We already had backup heat, and a secondary water pump.


Brian
3HR

Winter on the homestead

The barrels setup in the basement for water as we were working on the well. Once the cellar is done they will be moved there and moved higher for better gravity feed. Also going to put a Schrader adapter on and use a bike pump, or our battery powered pump to pressurize the system. Which has worked well so far.

This system has been cheap and effective, worked great for our time without running water. We had all the 3/4 pipe from the basement.

Thanks
Brian
3HR

Scrounge up some old stuff and we have a new light. The things that side track me while cleaning up old junk. only thing new I'm going to have to buy is the caps for the pipe.

Working on the barn again, pulled off the other side. And our barn like structure was really a compost pile.

More work and a tractor, we have a bunch of enrichment for the garden.