Our Oregon Homestead

[pakolea]

Aloha everyone,
Recently found Countryplans.com and this forum while looking for cabin plans. This seems like a great group and the plans were just what I was looking for. This homesteading has been a dream for many years and now it is finally happening. After searching high and low throughout all of Oregon I finally found my dream property. I had very strict requirements on what I wanted and finding something in my price range was not easy! However I finally stumbled across 20 forested acres with a creek and a large pond and the very end of a road. Complete privacy and totally wild. There is already septic, great well and underground power at the lot.
The only problem was there is no livable home! There is an old double wide on the property that hasn't been lived in for over 10 years and it was completely trashed before that.
So for now myself, my wife and our 3 month baby boy will be living in a 5th wheel while we build. We are currently getting the last of our things moved over there from Central Oregon then the plan is as follows:

1. Permits for demolishing mobile home and building 20' wide 1 1/2 story cabin.
2. Demo mobile home
3. Pour foundation and build cabin
4. Enjoy!

Tomorrow is August and I am really really hoping to have this mobile home gone and the cabin dried in before the rain comes. Finish work could take years after that but as long as we have a roof over our head I will be happy (already tired of the 5th wheel)

Anyways I figured I would start a thread to keep my progress documented and hopefully provide some inspiration and ideas to others.

Here is a shot above the pond roughly the home site, the mobile home sits just to the right of this picture which is more or less where we will rebuild


Another shot closer to the homesite, these whacky stairs went down from the back deck to the pond. All of this is in bad shape and will be removed.


Random property shot


And our temporary living, that's my dad and my two dogs helping out

[OlJarhead]

Looks like a very nice place!

When you say homesteading do you mean you plan to farm?

[pakolea]

Thanks OlJarhead!

Yes absolutely, the plan is to grow all of our own food plus some extra. Also some chickens and maybe sheep or goats, if I can get my dogs to stop eating them. We are in the Willamette Valley one of the most fertile areas in the Northwest, 200+ day growing season. I will be building a large greenhouse built into a hillside to facilitate year round growing of cool season crops. There are some fantastic south sloping hills I will be plating an orchard, vineyard and all of the berries on. A large acre+ garden close to the house will have all the veggies. Also the pond currently has large bass and I hope to get some trout stocked in before winter.

[rick91351]

  from your neighbors over in Idaho....  Looking forward to seeing how your homestead / farmstead come together.....

[OlJarhead]

  I was born in Oregon   But now live closer to Rick in EA WA

[drainl]

Congrats! 
We spent 6 months in a travel trailer with three little ones.  Not a time I remember fondly, but it allowed us to get on our building site.  The cabin will feel huge in comparison!
Looking forward to your build

[hpinson]

What a nice place. Is the pond spring fed and year round?  That must bring in so much wildlife.

Can you let us know the cost and details of the mobile home demolition? I have to do the same and have been putting it off.

It looks like a nice trailer you have for a temporary home. I hope all goes as planned.

[pakolea]

What a nice place. Is the pond spring fed and year round?  That must bring in so much wildlife.

Can you let us know the cost and details of the mobile home demolition? I have to do the same and have been putting it off.

It looks like a nice trailer you have for a temporary home. I hope all goes as planned.

The pond is year round due to its size, it's nearly 20 feet deep in some places. However it is fed on a seasonal creek which just dried up about mid July and I don't expect it to flow again until October or so. I haven't discovered a spring yet (which I'm still hoping to, even if it required some digging) So my plan is to just blast well water into it for a few hours every day to keep it fresh and oxygenated. The well is 12 GPM off a 1/2 HP pump so running it even all day isn't that much power.

I will keep you updated on the mobile demo, I have a guy coming out on Friday to give me a quote. He will recycle everything possible and do it all as responsibly as he can. I plan to help as much as he needs as well, I just figured I should hire someone mostly for hauling the stuff away, I can only do so much with a truck and trailer. It's a large 3 bedroom double wide. I will be salvaging all the metal roofing and the post and pier foundation, probably some other odds and ends. Really excited to get this eyesore off the property!

[pakolea]

Couple more pictures...

Nice metal barn on the property, structurally very solid but needs some new metal siding on the south side.


And this is my dad next to one of the "mother trees" we call them. There are two of these trees that were never logged and easily over 100 years old. Absolutely massive 5+ feet across at the bottom. I'm thinking treehouse! Might be able to see the ocean from up there.


The rest of the timber is around 10-30 years old, some very harvest able. If I was into log houses it would not be hard to build a log home from the timber in just a couple acres.

Hoping to take out my first deer and turkey right in my backyard this fall! The geese and ducks should be showing up this winter as well. 

[cholland]

Very nice place. Wish it was that green around my place in July. If you get started quick you should beat the rain. Looking forward to seeing your build I'm working on a 20x32.
I demo'd a single wide with additions on my site. Just need a sawzall, a pry bar and a 5 lb hammer. It's kind of fun.
Use some of that timber for your earth greenhouse.

[pakolea]

Quote for mobile demolition and disposal is $4900. I think I'm going for it. Would take me dozens of 40 mile round trips to dispose of it all and would take me weeks without heavy equipment. Hopefully this will get started in a couple weeks tops.

[pakolea]

Decided to demo the mobile myself. A waste company will bring me 30yd bins for $350 each. Had asbestos tests done on Tuesday just waiting for the result and I can continue with my permits.

[waggin]

Nice property and an intriguing plan for it!  I have some friends that did the hillside greenhouse, and it's working great for them.  My place has a few of those "mother" Doug Firs, and I love seeing them.  Looking forward to seeing your progress!   

[pakolea]

Asbestos test came back positive on one tiny strip of vinyl flooring, about 7 sq ft. Kind of a bummer but it could have been worse. Looking around $500 to have an asbestos abatement company come remove this tiny piece of floor. At least it's not the entire roof insulation or something.

Applied and paid for my demolition permit should go through in a couple days. I've already starting ripping out the old deck and that huge staircase is now gone. Hopefully I can get my first dumpster out here by the end of the week and start swingin' a sledge hammer.

In the mean time I am working on my site plan for the building department. It also looks like I will need my 20' 1 1/2 story cottage plans reviewed by an engineer. If possible I want him to add a large shed dormer in the loft.

Moving forward!