Hi folks!
I just bought on a handful of acres in NE WA. My plan is to turn it into a homestead/food forest/permaculture experiment lab, and I'm going to try to chronicle that here for those who may be interested. I may have more inspiration than caution though, so this could turn out to be a hilarious (or embarrassing) comedy of errors (or pain). :D Here we go...
Most of the
land is treed, sloped, and south-facing. I developed some big
plans for it initially (swales and terraces for the open areas, the locations of lots of structures), but they all kind of fell away the more I was out there. I need to spend a lot more time on the land before finalizing
plans for any big changes to the topography. That said, I still went ahead and ordered hops and
fruit trees and bushes and have been waiting gleefully for the
local nursery to open. Fruit is happening no matter what. I'm also getting seedlings from a local conservation district because I love larch and cedar and there's precious little of it on the property at present. I put together a bamboo order too, but am wavering on whether to go ahead at this time. I love the picture I have in my head of a bamboo grove in the snow next winter... Wow, I just convinced myself! Looks like I'm going ahead with it now. Hahaha!
There's a very sunny
acre or so of what used to be farmed land. Right now, it's mostly growing spotted knapweed. If knapweed is your thing, you'd love this field! I want to plant some of my larch seedlings and other things in there, but I'll need to address the monocrop first to give the larch a fighting chance. I prefer hand tools so I ordered a scythe with a bush blade today, as the standing knapweed is last year's dead, woody growth. I'm expecting a step learning curve, a sore back, and a great deal of satisfaction when that knapweed is mowed down for the first time. :D Then I imagine I'll need to get another blade for this year's new, tender growth. Since it's been seeding itself unchecked for years, I'm not willing to spray, and there's no cheap and easy access to enough chemical-free
mulch to smother it, I'll probably be mowing knapweed in this field for a good 8-10 years, or until I have enough other plants growing in there to out-compete it.
Another early project is fencing an annual garden and getting in the early varieties. It may be a year or two before I can live on the property full time, but I'm desperate for a garden so that's going in asap. We have
deer and elk in the area so it's going to take some experimentation to see what works. Apparently, Fish & Wildlife told a local farmer he'd need to build a 12'
fence to keep the elk out, but there are about 100 things I'd try before resorting to that. What an eyesore and expense a 12'
fence would be!
I live a few miles away and my biggest early challenges are likely to be 1) not neglecting my day job, and 2) storing my tools. A storage container may be
the answer to the latter. In the meantime, there's a shovel, hatchet, and misc
gardening tools in my living room. And soon, there'll be a scythe, and about 80 conifer seedlings that I'll need to get in the ground asap.
In talking with the county, I understood that building a permitted dwelling that meets the WA
energy codes was likely to be my biggest hurdle when it comes to the legal bits. Apparently, the WA energy codes are ridiculously strict, so much so that by following them, you can end up with a structure so airtight that it's really unhealthy for the inhabitants. If anyone is WA has encountered issues or solutions related to this, I'd love to hear about your
experience.
As for other structures, as long as you're not living in it, this county will let you build something up to 600ft2 (including any decks) without a permit. They just require site analysis (the location plotted on a sketch of the property) for these non-dwelling structures, which is great because I expect to build a lot of these for different uses: weaving studio, chapel/meditation space, root cellar, etc. The guy at the county was really laid back and even gave me a heads up about inviting folks on to my property. He said there are some neighbors who check out what you're doing and then go straight home, pick up the phone, and complain to the county. I imagine I could build whatever I like and live in it without issue, but as soon as someone complains to the county, they have to enforce the rules and I'd be in
hot water. So, I'll probably err on the side of keeping it legal. But that's fine. I can build a very small (small = less expensive), permitted house as my dwelling, but then have a bunch of accessory buildings that aren't required to meet those strict codes. It also sounds like the minimum size for a dwelling is essentially being eliminated soon. Apparently there are tiny house provisions in the soon-to-be-adopted building codes. This is great news for folks like me who prefer smaller homes and their smaller cost.
I'll likely still be on the hook for a septic system and well unless I want a big fight with the health department. I think there are loopholes if you can demonstrate the hardship of establishing these systems is too great, but that battle may not be worth it to me to fight. If anyone in Ferry, Stevens, or Pend Oreille County, WA has any experience with this and the NE Tri County Health District, please do share.
Happy growing, folks!
Heather