We’ve arrived!

This post was originally posted to Fresh From The Market – my food, farm, cooking blog.

We are finally (mostly) settled in to our new home and state.  With that it does mean that this blog will be transitioning from SF Bay Area-centric to the Puget Sound.  I’m very excited to start learning about my new environment.  We’ve already scoped out some good stores and have definitely noticed the lack of year-round farmer’s markets (understandably so).  The actual season of winter with the occasional snow shower and noticeably shorter days, has us hunkered down and wallowing in the warmth of comfort food which is a very nice change.  We hope to start our new year off slowly in the spring with a small backyard garden, the usual containers, and maybe some chicks.  Our ultimate intent is to get dairy goats, but we will be working up to that.  We also hope to put in a small orchard and expand the garden.  Our land is tucked safely in the hills along a valley so we suffer no concerns of flooding which isn’t uncommon in the valley fields, but we will need to be creative and conscious about how we choose to utilize our land to best effect while also maintaining it’s integrity.  I’m sure the novelty of it all will eventually wear off and we will be cursing our decision not to go with a nice flat piece of valley floor, but for now the trees and creek are just lovely even if our little farm doesn’t get going as easily. 

The details for those inclined to curiosity: 15 acres of wooded land, back property line is a year round creek that is rumored to be home to salmon and trout.  The house’s elevation is about 70 and the peak of the land is around 200 or 250.  The house is in the front right corner of the property near the road.  Our land does include a dirt road easement to the 45 acre property behind us, but conversations with the land owners have gone swimmingly to date and we will be working with them to move the easement to a location that better suits us (further from the house) as they plan to start building in the coming year.  The house is 20 years old, 2000 sq ft., 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, certified wood stove, septic, well, and several well placed sky lights.  Septic and well might make other’s cringe, but we are happy to be more of a “closed loop”.  Power loss is not uncommon in the area during the stormy months so we also have generator back up and the heating (air and water) is on propane year-round.  Internet service and TV are provided by satellite.  We don’t think we are particularly remote since we are 2 miles from a town of 6k, but services are slim.  Our neighbors consist of a sheep textile farm, a tree farm, and several small farms with horses, goats, alpacas, chickens, and the like.  The area is currently zoned such that on the wooded/hill sides of the valley there may be only one residence per 10 acres, on the valley floor it’s one per 30 acres.  The valley is Cherry Valley, the creek is Cherry Creek, the town is Duvall, WA.