Farm in Oregon

Address: 97905

Approximate value $: 300,000

Offering a permanent swap of our Eastern Oregon Farm/Ranch for your Portland area home.

Age forces us to give up our great little farm in Eastern Oregon's Baker County and move closer to our children in Portland.

We have done much work here and much remains, but this small farm or ranch has everything going for it. Here are some of the notable features:

49 acres, 8 of which are flood irrigated from a year-round creek. The creek runs the length of the property and falls about 100 feet over that 2200 feet. Pipe for a former hydro-electric plant is still mostly intact. In the winter the flow would be more than adequate to power a house.

Gravity flow spring water to the house. The pressure is not great but we run 4 sprinklers 24/7 in addition to all the household needs. The water is odorless, tastes great and doesn't stain fixtures. There are other springs which could be developed. We have a wood-fired hot tub which we fill with spring water, use once, and then drain to the orchard. No well, no pumps, no chemicals, no meters.

History abounds. The Old Oregon Trail runs the length of the property alongside the creek. The original house was built in 1905 and added on to in the 80's.

There is a huge garden area which is essentially flat and is flood irrigated. The deep and black volcanic soil will not disappoint.

A large orchard with apple, peach, plum, pear, cherry, and apricot trees. The property was once a you-pick peach orchard and peaches grow amazing well here. The previous owner cut down the peach trees when they were near end of life and then took up gold prospecting. There is an old apple tree near the house and other scattered fruit or nut trees and bushes including three large English Walnuts which gave us over 3 bushels of walnuts last year. We have added hazelnuts, seedless grapes, Japanese persimmon, hican, asparagus, rhubarb, to the already bountiful perennial plantings. Flowering plants include roses, tulips, iris, purple and white lilacs, There are wonderful mature shade trees around the house including juniper, spruce, fur, pine, and three enormous weeping willows which we have had a tree service attend to..

The property is right in the middle of historic gold mining. The previous owner and several neighbors were prospectors. The previous owner had several claims on adjoining BLM land, a mine on top of the mountain, and an ore processing mill which is still in good condition. BLM lands border this property on two sides and you could hike all the way to the Snake River on public land.

The house is cozy but modest, and it needs updating. It does have newer wiring and plumbing and a good septic system. It has a small living/dining/kitchen area, one large and one small bedroom downstairs, and two small rooms and half bath upstairs. The upstairs has sloping ceilings so we call it a story and a half. Heating is by a great wood stove which has such an enormous firebox that you hardly ever have to split a log. There is some electric baseboard heat but we use the wood stove since we like it warm. There is a sustaining amount of cottonwood along the creek and we have just been selective cutting and pruning to get ample firewood. Out the back door is the entrance to a underground root cellar that is buried into the hillside. It has wiring, water, and a bathroom. The door was bad and packrats got in, so a clean-out is in order. The shelves are still full of canned fruit and vegetables that the previous owners put up. The hot tub is right outside the kitchen door against the house, and the orchard is just on the other side of a small back yard.

The previous owners got old and couldn't keep up with things, then went to nursing homes and left the place vacant for a few years. When we bought it we decided to start restoration by dealing with the outbuildings which were in fall-down condition. Just this spring we finished two new buildings. One is a 24x60 combined barn and equipment shed and the other is a 24x55 combined carport, shop, and storage building. An old barn was torn down to make room for the new barn and several other sheds can now be torn down as well. We have a master plan for the property which will make for a compact and convenient cluster of buildings. We also have remodeling plans for the house to add a dining room and a sun room.

The property has several good pond sites as well as two other good building sites. The creek has trout and there would be no problem introducing them to a pond. The access to the property is great—not miles of dusty road as is the norm with secluded property. It is only about a half mile off the interstate at a rest area exit. In spite of that, the seclusion is complete. The road traffic is 0 to 5 cars per day. There are only two other houses up the road and it ends on the mountain that is the water source for the creek. There is a ridge that separates the property from the interstate so there is very little sound that is noticeable except for the pleasant train whistles. There is a flat area on the ridge not far from the house that is ideal for solar and wind power.

Self-sufficiency would be very easy here and that is part of what attracted us. We just started the project too late in life.

We have a documented $275K in the property and will not take less than that either in a sale or trade. A new tractor and equipment worth 30K could go with the property for a total of 300K. We are looking for something of equal or slightly greater value either in the city or on small acreage. It's possible that we might trade up for the right property. This property is zoned EFU (exclusive farm use) and the taxes are around $500.

In exchange for House in Oregon, Washington

Approximate value $ : 300,000

within one hour of Portland

ID: 23403, Submitted: 07/02/2013 23:09:51, Updated: 07/02/2013 23:09:51, Visitors: 11424