Greetings from the last stop before nowhere

Greetings!  I am blessed to live in a place where I can practice what I am learning - and very grateful to have a place to learn it!  

I live in the exceedingly green Pacific Northwest, less than 2 miles from the ocean.  Not 20 miles north of my house, the road pretty much ends.  You have to go inland to go farther north. So we are the last stop before nowhere, almost.

I currently have too many animals for my 1 acre of clear land (the house takes up some space and trees the rest on the remaining acre). We have 1 sheep, 5 goats, 5 ducks (with more on the way - both hens are sitting on nests), and about a dozen chickens with potentially  more on the way (one of the ducks has chicken eggs in her nest - not by our plan!).  I started gathering animals before I knew what I was doing and have been failing spectacularly at farming ever since - and my gardens are a hiss and a byword so far as growing goes - although I am having some success with garlic this year!

I have wild huckleberries that thrive, blackberries that only don't thrive because the goats have managed to eat them up (mostly), rhododendrons, blueberries, and a few raspberry plants.  Oh, and did I mention the trees?  Lots and lots of trees.  We live on the edge of a ridge - enough that it is flat across the front of our large yard to the road, but we have a daylight basement in back.  The lower ground tends toward marshy - we have a bumper crop of mosquitos every year, despite the birds.  Past that back yard, we have another downward slope, thickly populated with trees, ferns, moss, and mushrooms.

I really want to learn how to make the most of the land I have - making it a place that will last generations.  If I ever get my place paid off, I wouldn't mind being an Otis - my husband and I don't have any children and we aren't young - not old yet, just not young.  I definitely want someone to come after us that will know how to care for this place - and wouldn't mind someone coming before we are gone to make this place really work.  Meanwhile, I'm going to try to learn what I can myself.

Hello from the Tip of the Mitt.  

It looks like God may have sent you this way for a little knowledge. There is plenty here. My wife and I are close to finishing our race and learned a few things on the way, so here are some words of wisdom - hopefully :)

If I try to concentrate on, and fix everything, nothing gets done.
Find your most important need and work on it together.   Our main concerns were water, inexpensive heat and electricity, and food. Then gardening and last buildings for animals.  (The Rocket heter forum is quite informative about heat and I wish I knew about Rocket Mass Heaters way back then. It would have kept me from splitting and burning so much wood.)

Because of covid we have scarcity, and because the govt. has printed 19 trillion dollars we have inflation.  So buy today the items you know you will need in the future. Buying intrinsic tangible items  tpday is a hedge against inflation. For instance my trees are not good for building so we bought lumber last January as a hedge. Wood has now doubled and tripled it's price. We will begin buildin soon.Food prices have increased by 12% and are expected to go up 25%. so what we cannot grow we buy for future use.

God bless you in your search for knowledge.

Welcome to the forums!

Sounds like you are where a lot of people here want to get!

Good luck on all your learning endeavors for the farm!

Hi M Emry!  
Welcome to Permies.  It sounds like your location is a little similar to mine, just 10000 miles apart!  I describe our location as 'the edge of nowhere'. The most westerly point you can drive to in Britain is just 4 miles further on from us.
It sounds like you have more trees than us though, which is a blessing.  They give shelter, fuel, food so many things!  Mine are ones I've planted since we've been here in the main, but are starting to establish well.  We also have no children, several nephews and nieces though, so we'll see.  We've tried to think about growing old here and have designed things with that in mind, although the idea of 'adult adoption' is one to consider.
We have no livestock, just one spoilt labrador!  I quite fancy ducks, but slugs are less of a problem now, so I'd rather not to have to worry about deadstock just yet.
I look forwards to hearing more about your projects.