Larsen Poultry Ranch - homesteading journey

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

A new property just showed up, 3 bed 2 bath on 10.5 acres. It's a double wide on permanent foundation so the lender says we can lend on it. We are going to look at it tonight, if we like it we'll make an offer.

 

[Bruce]

Metal buildings not allowed, even shops. Pigs are also not allowed but other animals ok.

I guess metal buildings are too "ugly" for the upscale neighborhood? Do they allow metal roofs?

And let me guess, no pigs because they stink right? Except they don't if they are managed properly, I doubt anyone would be putting in a commercial hog farm there, more likely one or two for future food.

 

[Baymule]

My pigs don't stink! They have a large pen and they have a potty corner. Every once in awhile, if I am close, I get a whiff, but I never smell it up by the house. No metal building? What do they want, a brick barn? Gheesh. Plus 2 streams to cross, not much usable land on that one. Give it a pass.

A doublewide on 10 acres? Oh yeah! I'm a Doublewide Diva! We've been here 6 years and are enjoying our farm. Can't wait for you to go see this one!

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

We saw the 10.5 acre property and we liked it overall. The house is at least a double wide and might be a triple wide. It looked in decent shape although it was dated. The property is flat to the east, and starts sloping down to the west. We didn't get to check out the whole thing as the part beyond the fence was full of brush and stickers. Probably PO. We need to get clarification regarding the water before we submit an offer though.

According to the paperwork I saw online, the property originally had a well 250' deep in 1979 that was producing 15 gpm. Then there's another piece of paperwork showing in 2015 the well was producing barely anything so they deepened it to 350', and resulted in 1/8 gpm. We saw two big water storage tanks while we were there. We need to confirm if they get city water or if they rely solely on the well. We also need to confirm if irrigation water is available. The online map shows an NID ditch running across the property but satellite view shows it was dry.

The dirt is reddish and I think it's not going to be easy to grow things in. Not sure how long it will take or how much we will need to amend stuff with until it's decent. There's lots of oak trees of different kinds, and pines. I think I saw some baby fruit trees near the garden. It also looks like they planted oleanders. On purpose. Those will be one of the first things to go. I loathe oleanders.

 

[Baymule]

Oleanders are deadly poisonous with no antidote. I hate them too. Be sure to poison and kill the stumps. Hope this one works out for you.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Oleanders are deadly poisonous with no antidote. I hate them too. Be sure to poison and kill the stumps. Hope this one works out for you.

I've tried poisoning the stump before, didn't work. The house I had before had oleanders that were probably close to 60 years old, a huge row of them. I ripped them all out but one with the help of my family. The two biggest stumps when we took them to the dump we were able to go over the scales, they were about 300 pounds together. That last oleander we cut it down to the ground and put stump killer on it, it was over 5' tall again within 3 months.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Confirmed with local utility they have potable water for use in the house. No irrigation water set up. They are going to look into that and call me back tomorrow with feasibility/quote. Apparently the canal is only about 900' from the corner of the property as the crow flies. Would need an easement.

The canal/ditch we can see on the map is apparently where the canal used to be, but that stretch has been abandoned. Also put in a request to research what that means for the easement through the property that was recorded.

 

[Bruce]

Then there's another piece of paperwork showing in 2015 the well was producing barely anything so they deepened it to 350', and resulted in 1/8 gpm.

That isn't very promising! The aquifer has dropped that much? I wonder why. Is there a lot of irrigated farming in the area? Or a ton of new residential housing between '79 and '15?

It does seem that if canal that required the easement is no longer used the easement should be removed.

Good luck with this one, at least you didn't need to hack your way in.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

That isn't very promising! The aquifer has dropped that much? I wonder why. Is there a lot of irrigated farming in the area? Or a ton of new residential housing between '79 and '15?

It does seem that if canal that required the easement is no longer used the easement should be removed.

Good luck with this one, at least you didn't need to hack your way in.

I'm hoping they would use the easement to deliver the irrigation water. Then we wouldn't need to get a new easement. We will definitely need a pump system for the irrigation to get it up the hill, but if we install a big tank at the top, we could use gravity to distribute the water.

We looked at the property using husband's hunting app last night, and it showed the elevation lines. It looked like the property dropped off at a fairly consistent slope down to the west. I don't remember the elevation by the house, but midway through the property it was around 1100, dropped to 1000, then to about 960 at the west edge. Lots of elevation change.

Husband thinks it's driveable, but we could probably cut in a zig zag road to make it a little easier. I think it would be nice to terrace it a little, plant trees and garden on the terraces. I don't think the goats would have any trouble with the slope.

 

[Bruce]

There is "driveable" and there is "safe to drive" If you choose this property I'm sure he'll give it a good look over and make the right choice to build switchbacks or not especially if there is to be any tractoring involved.