Kara Ann

Hey Kate -  thanks for sharing the story and pictures of your property as it developed through a decade!  I am at the beginning of this adventure now - bought property last year, and just moved here to live full time (off grid glamping for the time being) while developing it. It is inspiring and really helpful to see how your homestead has stepped along gradually, finding what worked and what didn't, expanding with each additional project.  Thanks for taking the time to post, and if you have any more to add for this year, it would be great to hear about!

Hi Simon,

Sorry to hear about all this - it sure can be frustrating...  As I read your post, a few questions came to mind.

Were you successfully growing anything in this area, prior to a few years ago when you initiated plantings there? If not, possibly a soil deficiency there that had not been evident yet. Or as you may be supposing, there could have been toxic content in the woodchips that were brought in to mulch the area. Testing the soil collected from several spots in that area, both for minerals plants need (are your plants starving to death?) and for contaminants (are they being poisoned?) could point out a clear problem to solve.

My go-to approach when a grouping of plants appears to be failing is mycoremediation (repair toxins, provide nourishment and strengthen the plants). Break up spent mushroom growing blocks and scatter around the plants, cover with a few inches of mulch for short term help, water well and regularly, and give the mycelium a season to work.  You can read more about this approach here: https://ambrook.com/offrange/environment/mushrooms-will-fix-your-soil
I also use a mycorrhyzae product called 'Recharge' - a powder that dissolves in water: https://realgrowers.com/product/recharge/
And I usually add SuperThrive for nutritional support (vitamin B1 and kelp) to the same water: https://thesuperthrive.com/

What do the roots look like on the plants that are dead / most impaired? Are voles, meadow mice, pocket gophers or other burrowing varmints eating them? Or weevil larvae eating current plant roots? They likely would not bother the comfrey, but they sure can destroy the other plants you mentioned. Mycoremediation and adding nutritional support for the plants won't solve this problem. Introducing some gopher snakes could help with a varmint problem (seems like so many times, the options for solving a permaculture problem involves "What eats this?") Interplanting / companion planting garlic, onions, chives, sage, etc that the varmints dislike but provide benefit to your plants could be an option.  Maybe it is time to dig up one of the mostly dead ones to take a look at the roots.

Good luck with it!

Hey All - thanks very much for chiming in! I appreciate the comments.  

John - Good question! I have attached the drilling company's estimate. The numbers/details for pump /pressure system that are part of their standard estimate will be different for my off-grid / solar pump situation.  And this is not instead of rainfall, this is in ADDITION to water catchment from hoophouse and greenhouse/barn, and dew catcher installation on the windward side of a berm on the property, and set up for pigs to gley a pond in a natural geographic depression on the property. Western Washington is softly soggy from October through May, and dry in June - September (Tucson, AZ gets more rain in summer time than my farm). So water collection can only get me so far in the goal to have sustainable water for peeps, flocks, herds, orchards and gardens year round.

Ben - thanks for laying out these points! Just knowing the questions to consider is a big step, especially for a newbie, first timer like me on getting a well put in.  All of these questions are getting on the table, and I appreciate your thoroughness - always lots to learn.  It makes the most sense to figure out the well pump details AFTER it is absolutely clear what the conditions of the well are! I have been talking to a solar designer this week, and currently looking at doing something like this


Joe and John - thanks for these suggestions. I will contact Backwoods Solar and also reach out the Oly Community Solar group at Evergreen. Great to have these contacts.

Lawren - OH MY - I was feeling like this was rough because of the potential for 325ft - but you REALLY have some depth there!!! Is that common where you are?  In the area around my property, some wells have come in at 145ft, many in the low 200s - neighbor to the south just drilled a well at 215ft, and several deeper than 300.

I will post here again once the rig is onsite and we are in the drilling process. It's going to be noisy for a few days, isn't it???
Thanks again!

a moment for a cracker, a cheese knife and a smile

Would be great to have a referral for a reliable professional who can help me assess and recommend a plan. Anyone have suggestions for a consultant?

For ages my little ones would sing the alphabet song LMNOP as 'yellow mellow peas'   😆

Hi Permies,

I have gotten a bid to drill a well on my property. Usual well depth is about 280 - 320 feet here (average for neighboring properties).  
Since I am off grid, I will be installing a solar well pump.
I am looking for recommendations for configurations of solar + pump that can be reliable in Washington state Olympic Peninsula.

Looking forward to hearing any suggestions you have.
Thanks!
K

Hi Zohie,

Welcome and best wishes for permie-ing your life and apartment. 8 years ago I was living in a little apartment, and began growing much of herbs, greens, lettuces and chard  on the kitchen countertop with grow lights underneath the upper cabinets, and on the front entrance of my 2nd floor walkup.  And it worked really well... I kept studying... learned about permaculture, regenerative agriculture, so many classes and books... and bought property in 2025, now living off grid full time.  Follow your creativity and interests and inspirations - it takes you places you never could have predicted!

Good luck!

I am having trouble switching gears to figure out what I can do

This is quite a useful question - how to align with a new reality?
It can be truly jarring to have invested in a dream, a concept, the hope of an experience, and then face a life path that takes you in a different direction.  For those of us who are somewhat (ok, well maybe very) stubborn, this dilemma sure comes up, where it is hard to let go of the old dream as life calls for a different approach.  Like you, I had life changes and financial hiccups that necessitated reframing from an envisioned 40 acres of varied terrain with a farm house into 5 acres of off grid clearcut timberland, living in a (really) tinyhome with minimal practical comforts (for now...)
It helped me to switch gears when focused on my choice. Yes, I wanted what I wanted before - honestly I would still really like that. And now that it was off the table, the simplest need was that I wanted to farm, committed to regenerative agriculture and a permaculture life... somehow, someway, even if it was so different than the initial dream.  And I wanted that more than I wanted the ideal vision. I could choose to walk away or do nothing (that felt really dark and awful) or I could choose to step forward where it was possible, even if I stubbornly felt an internal resistance.  As Becky Kennedy says "Two Things are True"  (https://www.wealthofhappiness.com/good-inside/)
It also helped me to switch gears by reminding myself 'this is not the end of the story" - I can do this for now, and put my heart and mind and committed self into it, and watch to see what other doors open in the future. We never know...

And when I was planning to have a medicinal woodland on my ideal farm, I read this book which really inspired me:  https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/farming-the-woods/  Good data can really help with reframing, opening eyes to possibilities we could not see before.
And now I am on a property that had the impressive total of 3 trees on it when I bought it. And none of that 'Farming the Woods' applies now. But I am creating the future orchard with baby trees, planting cork oak acorns, chestnuts, apricot and apple trees, fodder trees... so the woods will happen at some point.   And at the end of the day, even if it is not the dream I wanted, it is a life I love, and that I choose again each day.

Maybe you can look at the 'Two Things are True' within yourself, and also find a way to choose to align with your simplest need?
Wishing you the best as you resolve your dilemma

Tereza Okava wrote:

Yes, someone else might need some help if they wanted to know where things are. And yes, occasionally I find something I didn't know I had, or realize I'm out-out of something I thought I had a backup of. For this last reason specifically, every year I do make an effort to clean them all out and if anything is lingering, make a list so I can use it up in a timely manner.

This annual check is a good idea - it can go along with all the other things on the annual permie calendar, with the tasks to be done each month.... it seems SO obvious but I have never added this as a task to my annual calendar. I will now, so thanks for suggesting!