A brief history of Hardrock Ranch

Some years ago my parents were contemplating a move to the Olympic Peninsula. In the process of helping them find the right place to settle, we became enamored of the area ourselves. We ended up buying before they did, in late 1997, a property consisting of 20 clear-cut acres and a small-ish house. One of its most attractive features is its location: small creeks on the east and west boundaries provide green belts, and the Olympic National Park is our neighbor to the south. In 1997, we had a lovely, though distant, view of the Straits of Juan de Fuca; at night we could see the lights of Victoria, B.C. That vista is pretty much gone, but no matter, we'd rather have trees than view.

A few years later, Husband designed a barn and hired a local builder named Larry to help build it. The "barn" has been more for general storage than farm equipment, but it does house the old-but-reliable tractor ("Fergy") we bought to help us get the property under control. When loggers clearcut, they leave behind stumps and lots and lots and lots of slash. We borrowed huge backhoes, pulled stumps, picked up slash, had huge bonfires, borrowed other big equipment to build roads, remove rocks, dig a pond. Phew, those were the days.

This was a weekend place for us, a 90 minute drive from our primary residence. We didn't do any landscaping around the house because we never thought we'd live here full-time. In fact, last spring, we had a huge Barn Sale which attracted dozens and dozens (a couple hundred?) shoppers and now, every day, we wish we had that stuff back. I guess we changed our minds. Isn't that how it goes?




That brings you up-to-date. We want to live here and we want to have a yard with useful, pretty and edible things growing in it. We spread a bunch of sticks, hay, mulch and dirt around to try to make good topsoil over the winter. Oh, and I planted the cover crops yesterday. Now there is plenty of time to research hardy and deer-resistant plant varieties, string wire, order plants, and study seed catalogs before spring arrives. And more...we will need a greenhouse and a gray water system...lots of planning and designing to be done. Bring on the cold, wet, miserable weather.





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad