We are currently in escrow for a larger piece of farmland that will eventually be the new location for Dancing Hen Farm!  We are very excited!  We are buying a lovely piece of land here on the Central Oregon Coast. It has pasture dissected by a meandering stream, and woodlands comprised of a lovely mix of both soft and hardwood trees, including some HUGE Oregon big leaf maples.  We plan to initially use the extra land to grow food both for us and the CSA, as well as for our poultry.  We will be planting a large mixed berry patch that will hopefully include blackberries, marionberries, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries and more.  We will be planting a fruit orchard of cherries, apples, plum, and more.  We hope to also plant a small nut orchard that will include hazelnuts.  We will be planting a large herb garden that will include as many different herbs as possible, with a focus on the species that will best perenialize here in our climate.  Mixed into this herb garden will be various flowers and other edibles that are hardy in our climate, such as artichokes, nasturtiums, and more.  Then we will be planting poultry feed as well, to help supplement the feed we buy for them right now.  We will be planting things like oats, wheat, rye grass, field peas, mangela beets, chard, dandelions, and anything else we think the birds will enjoy. 

Eventually we will also be setting up a new homestead on this land and moving ourselves and the animals there full time.  Although this is a long term plan that won't happen for a few years.  We hope to build an eco-friendly farm, using as many natural building techniques as we can.  We will start by building chicken coops using a combination of cordwood masonry and cob building techniques.  We plan to use this blog as a place to document and share this entire journey as we learn and grow and hopefully move closer to our dream of an earth-friendly, mostly self-sufficient farm here on the beautiful Oregon coast.

This is our future driveway.  I just love the mossy trees....like driving into an enchanted forest.

Future pasture for the animals.

More pasture land.

Stream running through the property.

This hillside will be cleared and planted as an orchard. And probably the berries will go here as well.

We saw a lovely deer in the woods while inspecting the property.

Here are some more shots of different parts of the stream.

I just love the huge mossy trees.

This sunny field is the location of my future kitchen garden. 

Someday I hope to fence this in, clean it up a bit, and turn it into a goat pasture.

There are some lovely views of the surrounding hills and forests.

There are a lot of beautiful trees on this property.  As we walked through the woods the air was alive with the songs of so many birds.  I think the chickens are going to love living here.

I think I am going to love living here too!