We've been living on our farm for the past eight years and have thought often of turning our
beloved home into a community farm so we could share our work here with friends, nurturing
and being nurtured by our relationship with the land, with Nature. We're interested in
bringing a few special folks onto the farm to live on this blessed land.
We are presently looking for a few other couples or single people to share our
farm with us. We prefer people who have a biodynamic background or are familiar with
Rudolf Steiner's work, though this isn't required if you have a kind heart and love of
nature. Mostly we want goodhearted people who are eager to care for the farm together.
We have come to do this out of realizing how blessed we are to live in this home and on this land.
Daily we are present to the kindness the animals and the land show us and we are humbled
in the presence of their generosity. We continually become better people for having lived here.
We imagine a small community of intelligent people intent on helping all of us together grow
into better human beings, a fuller expression of all we can be.
ABOUT THE FARM AND OUR VILLAGE
Our farm has been organic since it was settled 95 years ago. In 2006 we
became biodynamic and in 2008 obtained our certification as Naturally Grown.
Our tiny village (pop. 2,000) has a general store, two room church and a historic one room
schoolhouse that is our community center. The farm is nestled in a valley of rolling hills.
The road ends a half mile east of us. Beyond is the state forest (no roads) and the Cascade
Mountains. Even though we're very rural, drive time into Portland is about 35 minutes.
Many of our neighbors commute to town and say they enjoy coming home at night
to their rural home with hooting night owls.
Quiet woods where owls and flickers live, where deer birth fawns each spring. The rest is
new and old orchards; vegetable, berry, herb and flower gardens and pasture. Exceptionally
good water from our well.
We grow heirloom apples, pear, peach, apricot, grapes, cherry, fig, kiwi, goji, aronia and
nut trees; some mature, some still young. We have a milking cow, a few beef cattle, free range
chickens, seasonal turkeys, honeybees, expansive gardens and a year round growing climate
with a mild winter. Our barn is on the historic register. Friendly neighbors and a wide
Milky Way at night. It's a lovely place to live.
THE FARMHOUSE AND COST
Now the practical part of this plan. In the farmhouse we have four upstairs bedrooms that can
be arranged into 2-bedroom, 1-bedroom, or larger living spaces. We are open to working out
finances in creative ways. If we are a good match, we will do our best to figure out something
that works for us all. The costs below are for those who have enough stuffed in their pillowcase
to do a cash purchase, but money is not our sole criterion. We are most interested in finding
like-minded, goodhearted people to be partners as we grow the farm in ways that best serve
the land and this vision of a helpful and committed community of good people working together.
Here are some ideas we have right now on how this could work. If you feel our vision matches
yours, come forward and speak with us and let's see where this journey takes us.
1) 2 bedroom, 1 bath + tub upstairs. Built-in closets and storage, private entrance includes
stairway and landing. Light from south, west and north windows. $195,000
2) 2 bedroom, 1 bath + shower upstairs. Built in closets and storage, private entrance from
outside deck. Outdoor deck faces south. Light from east, south and north. $195,000
3) two or four 1 bedroom units with a shared bath. $100,000 each
Common space in the farmhouse:
Living room / dining room, kitchen, mudroom with laundry, basement and downstairs guest bedroom
with private bath. Outside covered patio.
We'd like to build some small structures, probably from cob, so that each person/couple has
a small outbuilding that they can use for any purpose. These we'll build together
once everyone's settled in.
Farm buildings
3 bay garage currently is a carpentry workshop.
20x20 garden and seed storage building
20x20 storage shed with future plans to become art studio space
8x10 greenhouse
20x60 barn on Washington Historic Register
20x20 cottage used by the Freemans
Grounds include
Multiple gardens with raised beds, hot-beds and cold frames, ongoing large scale compost
making area, 55 gallon compost tea making area, new and old orchards.
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Farm animals
2 dairy cows, large chicken flock (eggs), seasonal turkeys, honeybees, beef cows on other leased
land.
Fruits, nuts and vegetables
Tree fruit -- 25 mature and 85 young heirloom apple trees. Also pears, peaches, plums,
4 grape arbors, cherries, crabapples
Berries -- raspberry, blueberry, blackberry, aronia, strawberries
Nut trees -- gingko, almond, chestnut, hazelnut, sunflowers
Garden (2009) -- tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, eggplant, onions, carrots, potatoes, lettuce
and salad greens, kale, chard, broccoli, beans, peas, melons, radish, corn, peppers.
Herbs -- rosemary, oregano, sage, lavender, marjoram, lovage, fennel, 7 kinds of mint, hops,
borage, echinacea, yarrow, valerian, clovers, horseradish, thyme, cilantro, chives, cleavers,
comfrey
Flowers & flowering trees
Heirloom roses, peonies, bearded irises, hollyhock, foxglove, honeysuckle, clematis, many perennials
and self-seeding annuals, butterfly bush, spirea, golden chain, wisteria, laurel, dogwood, large-leaf
maples, many lilac varieties, alder and elderberry.
Current residents
Joseph & Jacqueline Freeman and three farm cats.
Phase One (2010)
Farmhouse folks get settled into existing building.
Phase Two (2011)
If all goes well, we may consider building another farmhouse on adjacent acreage we own and expanding
the community. We haven't made a decision on this yet.
Interested? Make an inquiry to us by email and tell us about yourself!
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