Well, it's not like a huge farm but I guess it's still a farm. As some may know through other posts I am relocating to Eastern Wa. I found an acceptable location near Touchet Wa. (Walla Walla co.)

So I'll be able to bird hunt right down the drive way and all around the place now, as well as deer hunting. It's about 20 minutes drive or so from Lake Wallula (Columbia River)going East, and about 30-40 minutes drive to the hunting grounds of the blue mountains, and about 45 minutes from the Sturgeon fishing heaven of the Snake river. Gonna need a bigger boat now too!

It's quite the habitat change for me with so few( near zero) trees to the open farm country. However it's 20 acres so I still have some room to roam and hunt my own land. There is a neighbor to the north 1/2 mile away, and the next one ..........well I'm not quite sure,..... I drove up the road 8 miles and still saw no homes.

I'm only going to maintain about 1/4-1/3 acre in the middle and try to develop or establish the remaining land as wildlife habitat with whatever seed crops or bush needed to draw in as much game and support it as I can. The entire 20 acres was planted in CRP last spring.

I''ll be building a shop building to keep my stuff next week after escrow, and then the tough choice of selecting my log home builder for the permanent residence. This log home search has turned up a number of interesting new construction ideas from Milled T&G logs to Laminated logs. The old days of logs shrinking and settling and chinking are long gone (thank goodness!)We will be staying in that mobile home during construction.........Not too anxious about that, but I've done it before and figure I can suffer through that again with the end result being so worth the struggle now.

I guess, I'm officially an Eastern Wa. guy now, and a farmer to boot! My crop will hopefully be deer pheasants, and quail! Maybe that's a rancher? 300 days of sunshine here I come! It may take me another 25 years to fully dry out!

Congrads on the new digs. Looks like a great place.

Wishing I could escape suburbia.

The Touchet river bottoms are LOUSY with deer. Big ones.... All private but since you live there you might get permission.... Bowhunting friends of mine have seen some WHOPPERS.
Good luck and sounds like in a year or two you'll be real happy.
Dave

Looks Nice Jim.

BMT

Now I see why you bought that Ruger.

JJ, You had quite a place there in NB. This new place is quite a dramatic change both climatic and social. You need to import some rock for chuckers. An interesting book to read about the area is 'Lost River'. It is about the Columbia River. Show us you new wide brim hat!!!pak

.25-06 country for sure!! Congrats JJ! Really. That's great!

Congratulations on the move. Hope you don't have a wheat allergy!

My BIL is a WSU prof and USDA plant researcher in Pullman. They can help with the habitat plantings. I'm sure the local extension agent can too.

Have fun!

JJ-congratz on getting it done and thx for your time yesterday.

Is the Campfire moving you in party gonna be during the pheasant opener...grins

Mark D

I drove through there in December, during you ice and wind storms.

There were a lot of nice ducks on every piece of water I saw.

Hey Jim, SWEET! Now ya gotta get a good utility tractor, bushhog mower, drill or plotmaster, sprayer.....Just trying to help spend your money for you. Seriously, congratulations. If you need any ag advice, pm me, been in the seed/ag business for 32 yrs., and grew up on a farm. You also have my email addie, cause we been talkin about July 2008.

Mike

JJHACK - I'm glad it wasn't the 6x6x3 kind! Looks great! Best of luck to you and the family on your new farm! CEJ...

You need to find one of my favorite WA bumper stickers:
Don't 206 my 509

Congrat's!Looks like a great location!!

JJ,

Kudos on the new digs..
You have some room to move around and shoot now.

Don

JJ,

Congrats on the new piece of property!


Leo

So, Jim, are you getting out of the PH business in Africa ?

I look forward to when I can move to the dry side Jim.

I think you'll like it over there.

Good for you.

Congratulations to you and your family.

Hope to see some before and after pics when you get her up and running like you want.

Best to ya .. BP...

Very cool Jim. I always enjoyed my trips to the dry side duck hunting Potholes and Moses Lake and the Yakima trout fishing. I'm deeply envious!

JJ;

Ya oughta get in touch with Mark (safariman) as he's pretty much in your backyard.

NICE place, BTW. Very nice. I'm envious...

Awesome JJ!! That's a dream of mine too so I'm very happy for ya...

Well thanks for the well wishing folks. It was a lot of planning many years ago living in a single wide old beater mobile home to build the place I'm in now over several years. It's my wife that deserves the credit more then I. How many young ladies would endure that mouse infested 25 year old mobile home for that long just to dream of the possible future value.

So we did struggle for a fairly long time to get the current log home built on this land. At the time we did not expect the property value to increase as rapidly as it has. Western Washington, specificaly King County probably has enjoied one of the fastest growing housing values in the whole USA. So it was not without some dumb luck on my part as well.

Now this new location has been rated as the up and coming location in the state with the emerging winery and agriculture businesses. I just hope the new investment, and the time in a stinking little old beater mobile home will pay off as well down the road. If not...........Oh well it's quiet and peaceful and I can just retire there.

One thing is for sure. The bird hunting is thick from Turkey and pheasant to chucker and quail. Now I gotta make a plan to provide the ultimate wildlife habitat on this little farm.

Thanks again for the well wishes, any suggestions on improving the habitat for game are always welcome.

EDIT: I forgot to mention this, the most striking feature of the land was the view of the snowcapped blue mountains which look like you can reach out and touch them. I'll have to post another photo. The day this was taken was very foggy with low visibility. The next day I had no camera with me and the mountains were just breathtaking from this same vantage point.

Congrats JJ! Nothing like having your own piece of dirt to call home.

June and I will be here on our 8.5 acres of MT for three years this spring. After spending my entire child and adult life in a very transient fashion, it is so nice to put down roots in a place we both love.

JJ-
Tried to PM you.... I think we know the people that own the 20 ac next to you. Damn good folk, but thier kids are heathens......grin.

JJ, the Blues have a very peaceful effect every time I see them!Nothin like watching a good dog work!! Boomerboy here at the fire breeds German shorthairs FYI. Beautiful area! Good luck!!

JJ,

Kudos to your wife!!!!!!
She'll sure enjoy your new hide out....

Don

I would plant switchgrass for pheasants--they love the stuff, and so do deer. The deer use it for bedding cover just like it was a woods. If you have plenty of agriculture surrounding your 20 acres, then I wouldn't worry much about putting in food plots, unless you can offer something special at a different time of the year (say, brassicas in the winter). For pulling in pheasants and deer in the colder seasons, nothing beats a couple acres of plain old corn right in the middle of switchgrass if nobody around you has cornfields. Forget the Campfire; Welcome to the Prairie!

Congratulations and welcome to the "right" side of the state.

Let us know when the house warming is. I'm sure some of us could make IF invited.

Sounds wonderfull JJ. I'm sure you will do right by it and vise versa. Best of Luck. E

Congrats on the new place. Looks like a real great place, I love that part of the state.

Hey JJ -

Great deal, congrats on a good investment and welcome to the Northwest!

Let me know if you want some company bird hunting :-)

tq

Congrats JJ,
That looks and sounds wonderful. 20 acres of elbow room is enough for setting out some targets or letting a farm dog roam outdoors. I hope it brings lots of peace.

Congratulations, Jim! Sounds like you have a fine place to live and raise kids, and got it the old fashioned way. Good for you and your wife. Your way into a better house either makes or breaks marriages, and it sounds like it did yours good.

I played 8 man football against Touchet, sometimes on their field. They were the tough team to beat in the Blue Mountain League in those days, and the most decent people we played. Fabulous bird hunting, some great country I hiked into that is probably inaccessible due to private land now. I love the terrain, the cliffs in Wallula Gap and approaches into the Blues. I never did tell you my very best channel catfish spot but I suspect you are going to find it now! The shapes and colors of those hills and streams in mid Fall afternoons are achingly beautiful, subtle.

My Dad picked me up after a football game, in Touchet I think though it may have been Prescott, and we went on to the Blues for opening of deer season and I killed my first deer the next morning. You've picked a good place, by my lights anyway.

Congrats to you JJ, I am sure you will enjoy the new digs!

Jim,
Great looking place you got there. I always loved that part of the country and wanted to buy acreage east of the mountains, but could never figure out how to make a living there.

Have you ever considered building a timberframe instead of a log home? Let me know as I am a representative for a Timberframe company. In fact, we will be delivering one in your neck of the woods this spring and I'll be guiding the builder on how it is put together.

Bob

All options are on the table for me. However I have Sheetrock Phobia. I hate the stuff. I don't like searching for studs to put a head on the wall.

Anyhow I have a few things narrowed down but nothing has been signed for or paid for yet where the house is concerned. My pole building is going to be started next month so I can move my stuff over.

JJ,

One can still go sheetrock and hang heads without looking for studs. Have the contractor hang 3/4" plywood under the sheetrock in your game room where you intend to hang your mounts.

MtnHtr

That's how I built the house I have now where some walls are sheetrocked. I still hate sheetrock. It's just a miserable substance. I will most likely have Pine T&G or solid logs in this new house. I just prefer all wood, except for maybe the bathroom where high humidity is a problem for the logs or wood.

As far as the Sheetrock backed by 3/4" plywood. It's what I did here but the balance and seems to have the sheetrock taped was extremely difficult and expensive. To use the 3/4" only from the ceiling down and then double sheets of sheetrock from the midpoint to the floor was a PITA. The thinner Sheetrock behind the 3/4" ply was so fragile due to the thin structure.

I found on the other walls it was just easier to put 2X8's between the studs at several levels. That was far and away the best way to go. Plus I then had a use for all the stud ends left over from the subfloor!

Jim,
If you like wood interiors take a look at our website- www.timberframebc.com
Lots of places to hang heads and anything else you have in mind

Bob

Bob!


Good to see you come around.

I've still got some dies and bullets for you if'n you're still interested?

Bob

Sheister,

Where you been? You should have bought my tent.....an outfitter wound up buying it!

MtnHtr

MtnHtr,
Yeah, I know and I think about it all the time but just couldn't swing it at the moment- personal issues going on.

Anyway, now my brother (8ball) bought a great tent and I get to habitate in it during hunting seasons now without having to own one. Sometimes you just get lucky, I guess.

Sorry Jim about hijacking your thread.

Bob

Yes, Bob I'm still interested and need to pick them up.

Thanks again,

Your method sounds better and probably cheaper too! Good luck with your new place, its always an adventure building from the ground up.

MtnHtr