Winter 2008-09

Tommy was the only family member to visit the property this winter--in December he went up to cut a Christmas tree for his family. We had made an appointment with a well driller to visit the property in late December, but unusual amounts of snow caused us to postpone that. We’ll reschedule the well driller appointment for springtime. We're thankful for the very local weather reports we get from our friends Jay and Diana! Our neighbors Larry and Lynn did go up to the property in January and pronounced it snowy but lookin' good!

Our family did lots of planning this winter, though, including a decision to move the family campsite closer to the first buildings that will be built. So one of our first projects for spring will be to choose a new location and get power extended to the campsite. This will probably be near the site of Jeremy and Katrina's cabin, and they've graciously invited the family to invade their territory. That way all the adults can still gather 'round the campfire in the evenings after the kids go to bed.

Bethany has put a lot of time into orchard planning, and we are making decisions about fencing materials. This summer we'll start fencing an area to include the utility barn, orchard, garden, and henhouse to keep the deer out and the dogs in. Eventually we'll plant a wildlife food plot near the pond for deer, turkeys, and other critters in an area we can view from our homesite.


On January 29, our first Maremma pup, Gus, was born in New York. His full name is Augustus McCrae, after our favorite character in the movie Lonesome Dove. Gus will remain in NY till he's trained to guard our home and family from potentially bothersome wildlife.

Christina is progressing on her veterinary education and will be able to help us with our livestock healthcare. She'll become a veterinary assistant this spring and then proceed with veterinary technician training till winter 2010. In January, Adele started the Snohomish County Master Gardener training. She's learning a lot of new info about gardening and horticulture, planning ahead for planting our orchard and gardens. We're also taking a forestry stewardship class to learn how to manage our timberland to be ecologically friendly and safe.

Fall 2008

In October we made our last trip of the year—this time to properly close up everything for the winter! Jim and Adele spent the weekend in their new trailer, and some of the kids stayed up at the campsite. We planted wildflower seeds on the berm beside our future barn apartment and around the trailer and campsite.

Our family campsite is on Bethany and Tommy's 20-acre parcel, where they've scoped out sites for their future home and vegetable garden. Bethany has started layering a garden bed area, where we compost as much as we can. Eleora and her mommy planted some garlic this fall and tucked it in with a layer of leaves. Let's hope the garlic sprouts are not appetizing to deer!













Larry and Lynn's new cabin was a welcome sight on their hill "next door"! We checked on it and found everything safe and sound. Back on our property, we looked at the potential well sites located by a well seeker and figured out where to drill first. Before leaving the property, we closed up all three trailers--and took apart the Costco canopy this time. Okay, now let it snow!

At Thanksgiving we had a family meeting to discuss the NLA goals and potential pursuits of each adult in the family. We have a very diverse set of skills and interests that will come in handy as we work on our individual parcels and the common projects at the ranch.

This fall, Jim and Adele took the WSU Livestock Advisor Training course and a Ties to the Land Family Succession seminar. This winter, Adele is taking the WSU Master Gardener Training course and we will attend the WSU Forest Stewardship Coached Planning class. All these classes have been offered through our local county extension office—an awesome resource in any state!

After extensively researching livestock guardian dog breeds and breeders, we reserved a Maremma puppy from a litter due in January. We’ll get another pup from next fall’s litter. Windance Farm, the breeder in New York, will train both dogs before sending them to us when we move to the ranch. These dogs will be our personal/home/garden/
henhouse pair, keeping coyotes and other pests away. When we get more livestock, we’ll add more guardian dogs for the barn and pastures. Maremmas are “guardians”--not “guard” dogs. They are awesome animals that instinctively deter predators and will bond with and defend whatever humans or animals they are to protect. Our two pups will be trained with young children and most of the species of animals we plan to raise. Once the dogs arrive at our place, they'll get to know all our family members and livestock and we will become their "flock."

Summer 2008

As a blessing from Grandad, who had just passed away, the family received several pieces of playground equipment. A great climbing tower, jungle gym, and airplane teeter totter went up on one weekend. The dads built a sandbox, but the quarry was closed so the box sat empty till next trip.


For the second year, we chose to celebrate our June 30 wedding anniversary camping at the property. Staying for the July 4 week makes for a nice long vacation there. Some of the kids came and went. Though our April family time had been on a cold day, the July week was very hot! The young parents and kids cooled off at Lake Roosevelt while Papa and Grammy were refreshed by the trailer AC. Since we hadn’t yet run power up to the campsite, we were sure glad we’d brought generators!



















The kids enjoyed the playground, especially after we got sand for the sandbox. Butterfly nets were also a big hit, along with our field guides for wildflowers, birds, and butterflies.




Sarah made her annual trip to the ER in Colville, this time with Aaron. Pete and Sarah now have a nice trailer for their family at the campsite. Sarah has become our camp meal coordinator, helping us all by planning the meals and doing the shopping for the whole crowd. It works out really well for everyone. We all take turns preparing the food. We usually cook burgers, bratwurst, hotdogs, etc. over the fire for dinner. There are cereal and muffins for breakfast, with a hot breakfast scramble a couple of mornings. And of course, there is cowboy coffee perked on the fire on all but the hottest mornings. Even cowboy coffee isn’t worth building a cooking fire in that hot morning sun. We’ve got to find a shady place for a fire pit for those mornings!


Even our youngest carpenters helped build a deck and a storage shed!













Our friendly dozer man, neighbor Ron, came and did some clearing and leveling at Jim and Adele's homesite, but the heat limited the length of time he could work. Our neighbor Darren brought over a tank full of water on a trailer. There was plenty for solar showers, footbaths, and baby baths in plastic tubs. In early August we were there on another hot weekend, and there was still enough water in the tank to fill an inflatable wading pool. We also hauled over some water from Larry and Lynn’s new well.

Later that month Jim and Adele bought a larger, more comfortable trailer to put at our homesite. The kids can share the little campsite trailer. While Adele stayed in Spokane with newborn granddaughter Sophia and her family, Jim took the “new” trailer up to the property and set it up. The same day Ron completed the leveling of the site for our utility building.

Spring 2008

Last fall we never got back up to the campsite to properly close it down for winter. Our first visit in the spring revealed that our canopy shelter had collapsed under the weight of that winter’s unusually heavy snow. We also found that some mice had made themselves at home in our trailer. Adele spent a couple of restless nights hearing mouse noises in the kitchen before we managed to remove the mice from the trailer.


We had our second annual family picnic day in April. It was still chilly, and Grammy made hot cocoa and popcorn for the kids. Our day trips are convenient because two of our families live just 90 minutes away. This time, Dad and Mom (with Snick) spent a night at the Colville Inn, sharing the motel with a whole flock of turkey hunters.

Winter 2007-08

Two days after celebrating Christmas in Spokane, Jim and Adele (with faithful ranch beagle Snickers) drove through deep snow up as far as the homesite (end of our gravel road) and enjoyed a brief visit to the place. Without snowshoes we couldn’t get around much, so we didn’t stay long. But it was good to be there even for a short time. At a dry 14 degrees F. (-10 C.) we pronounced it too cold for a planned family outing, so that was the last we saw of the place in 2007. Jim’s dad, who was very excited about our N Lazy A and saw it as a revival of the Nebraska farm, had planned to go up and see it himself. Unfortunately, he took ill and flew home on Christmas Day. He would pass away in the spring, never having seen the new NLA for himself but knowing that all of us would enjoy it.

Summer 2007

We (Jim and Adele) decided our tent-and-air-mattress days were over, so we bought a used travel trailer and took it up to the property at the end of June. Though we had no electricity or running water, our anniversary/July 4th week there in the trailer was very enjoyable. We became big fans of “cowboy coffee” and other campfire delights. Some of the kids came and camped for a while, and Jim directed the machinery operator as he cleared our future homesite. Sarah and Tyler made our family’s first visit to the ER in Colville. On July 4, we were joined for dinner by Larry and Lynn (who had bought 40 acres next to ours) and later by Darren and Joy’s family (neighbors from whom we had bought our land). We had a great time around the campfire.


During our next visit, the first weekend of August, we experienced record high temperatures—104 degrees F/40 degrees C. Thank goodness for that shade! Although we’d planned to return that month, circumstances kept us out west and we didn’t see late summer or fall at the property. In our absence, electrical power and phone lines were brought in to our homesite.

Back in Snohomish County, the scheming continued as Jim and Adele took a Cultivating Success Sustainable Small Farm and Ranching class and created a “whole farm plan.” Adele also attended an orientation on small forest stewardship.

Spring 2007

Following our pre-purchase visits of January and February, the year 2007 saw us planning and scheming, preparing and dreaming. In mid-April, our entire family gathered on the property for a family picnic and land blessing. Each of the grandkids made a personal flag to plant in the ground.










Later in the spring we had a road built from the property line to the area we (Jim and Adele) plan to eventually build a home. One early May weekend, stationed at the Colville Comfort Inn, we made day trips and scouted out a family campsite.

On Memorial Day weekend, Jim and Adele (and beagle Snickers) were the first to spend a night on the property—lulled to sleep in a tent by the totally awesome night calls of a great horned owl nearby. (To Adele’s disappointment, we have never again heard that owl!)

Morning came and with it the sun--and we realized that our campsite had no shade! After Pete, Sarah, and their kids arrived, the men spent a good part of the day clearing a campsite at a shadier location nearby. Our Costco canopy shelter was erected just in time for an afternoon rainstorm to blow through. We moved everything up there and spent the next night in our new site, with Bethany and Eleora joining us.

How It All Began...

It all started when Bethany found this real estate ad online. No, actually it started before that when the kids decided they’d like to raise their families together. But even before that, Jim and Adele were looking for acreage for the two of them. Wait, before that, we lived on a couple of acres in Colorado…and you know, long before that we loved living on our five acres near Snohomish. But many years before that, it really started when Jim and Adele were just kids.

Jim grew up hearing about his dad’s life on the Nebraska farm homesteaded by Jim’s grandparents, immigrants from Germany. (Is that where it all really started?) Meanwhile, one of Adele’s favorite places to be as a child was her cousins’ dairy farm in Fall City, Washington. (Maybe it started then and there?) As a teenager, Jim helped his parents garden and raise ducks and guinea hens. Adele’s family home had fruit trees and a garden, and she learned to preserve fruit and vegetables and to smoke fish.

In the small back yard of our first home as a married couple, we tore up grass and planted a nice vegetable garden. A mid-1970s Christmas gift of Carla Emery’s first (mimeographed) version of Encyclopedia of Country Living and its supplements whetted our appetites, and we dreamed of living "closer to the earth."

In 1981, married seven years and parents of three kids, we purchased 5 acres between Snohomish and Monroe. There we began to establish a “gentleman’s farm,” starting with a large vegetable garden and fruit trees. Soon we had a Black Angus cow with a steer calf and another calf on the way. With the adjoining land owned by two other families, the kids were on Cloud 9 with 15 acres to play on with cousins and close friends. While Jim worked in commercial construction management, Adele handled the home and kids, chasing cows and mending fences when necessary. She canned and froze produce and made the family’s bread, peanut butter, yogurt, granola, and mayonnaise. A flock of chickens for fresh eggs was to be the next step in the plan.

Expecting to stay there for many years if not forever, we were surprised to be called to go overseas to serve as missionaries. But no mistake, it was to be, and in February, 1986, we sold our home and our family of five packed up and moved to the Netherlands and later to Germany. Living in urban and suburban settings where it was challenging to find many natural foods or grow our own, we went back to buying all of our food, though still cooking and baking from scratch. During that time were blessed with one more child, bringing our family head count to six.

After returning to the U.S. in 1992, we lived in suburban neighborhoods without gardens. Adele did a little food preservation of produce purchased at local farms and farmers’ markets. The urge to have land was always there, but with three teenagers and a mom sharing one car, it was advantageous to live near schools, library, and shopping areas. We thought we’d move back to acreage when the oldest three kids were out of the nest.

In 2003, a job move to Colorado led to progress in the “acreage” direction. Wanting a reasonable commute, we purchased a small place, two level acres in a small-acreage development. We began to develop a place for our horses and a vegetable garden. But once again, our plans for raising animals and produce were suspended, and we returned to Washington and another suburban home. The yard was big enough to grow some veggies and fruit. Comically, the ancient covenants allow for one horse stall in the small back yard, though we would never confine a horse there and current city regulations prohibit horses. The lone horse we brought back from Colorado moved into a boarding barn in Snohomish.

Fast forward to 2006. Jim and Adele were thinking about where to retire. We agreed that we have found ourselves most content with homes on acreage, with room to roam and many projects to keep ourselves active. We’ve looked at 10-20-acre pieces of land in western and central Washington, within a 3-hour drive of our current suburban home for easy weekend access during the transition phase.

Then out of nowhere came the beginning of an interchange between Jeremy, Sarah, and Bethany. We all loved living on acreage when we were little. It was great to share our huge playground with our cousins. Why don’t we try to find a place where our kids can grow up together? And… we all enjoy being with Dad and Mom, so why don’t we see if we can all find land together?
Jeremy started looking at property online. Wyoming? Montana? Western Washington? Then Bethany got into it with fervor and sent us one link after another to look at. Though it was fun to look, none of the properties were quite right for us.

Then in January, 2007, Bethany sent us an e-mail that said, “I know I’ve been sending you too many to look at, but you HAVE to look at this one!” Beautiful scenic photos graced an ad for 120 acres near a small town in NE Washington. Uh…120 acres? A little—-no, a lot—-more land than we’d planned on. Five hours away? A little—-no, a lot--farther away than we’d planned on. But then…some of our kids and most of our grandkids were already in eastern Washington, an hour away from the piece of property. We had really enjoyed a four-season climate while we lived in Colorado. We thought we’d at least take a look at that 120 acres for sale.

We called. We journeyed east. We looked. We liked. We tromped around. We looked again. We liked even more. Then we bought. We had enough land for each family unit to end up with a 20-acre parcel. The land has about 25 acres of pasture, 25 acres of virgin timber, 60 acres of lightly-forested timberland, and a 3-acre pond. The panoramic views are gorgeous. The altitude is about 2000 feet, and most of the land slopes gently to the south. The land had been farmed decades earlier, but all that remained were an overgrown pasture, an old orchard, several fenceposts, and the crumbled foundation of a house built long ago.

The LO-O-O-O-NG Story

We (Jim and Adele) bought the first 120 acres (ca. 49 hec.) in 2007 with the intention of providing a 20-acre (ca. 8-hec.) parcel for each of our four children. We had originally looked for a much smaller piece of acreage in western Washington for ourselves. Then we spread out our search area to include central and eastern Washington. Soon, after talking among themselves, our oldest kids asked us if we’d consider being neighbors with them on a large piece of land. Before we knew it, we had found the land we fell in love with.

Sitting at about 2000’ (ca. 610 m.) above sea level, our property is mountainlike and green much of the year. With a mixture of thick and selectively logged timber, a large pasture, and a 5-acre pond, the land has wide open spaces for recreation, work, and living a life we love. While secluded and remotely-located, our place is just 25 minutes from two towns, each with a hospital and shopping areas.

Along with finishing the entry road and bringing power and phone in, one of our first projects was to site and develop a family campsite, where we’ve enjoyed several family camps with all or part of the family together. Some of our favorite family times have been spent around a crackling campfire, listening to pine trees rustling in the wind and enjoying the company of one another. We set up a nice playground with sturdy equipment for the little ones and are in the process of bringing power and water up to the campsite.

Each family unit selected a 20-acre parcel to call its own. Each couple (Jim & Adele, Jeremy & Katrina, Sarah & Pete, Bethany & Tommy, Christina & Nick) will develop their land as they like. The five pieces are clustered so that cabins and homes could be fairly close, but there is still enough space between for privacy. Additionally, there are 20 thickly-forested acres at one end of the ranch. We plan to leave that in trees for now, and develop a wildlife refuge area of food and shelter plants around the pond to encourage the deer, turkeys, birds and other animals to stay around. In 2008 Sarah and Pete bought an additional 20 acres next to their first 20, bringing the family spread up to 140 acres (ca. 57 hec.).

Why is a couple in their mid-50s embarking on such a project? The answer is that we are doing something we enjoy while helping our kids create a lifestyle that they value for their families. We feel blessed to have this opportunity and we do plan to enjoy the journey! Both of us have been happiest living a rural life that includes outdoor projects, livestock, and gardening.


When we’ve thought ahead to our “retirement” years, we couldn’t imagine anything we’d like more than living on some acreage with animals and gardens that require daily physical activity and provide fulfillment and entertainment. Yes, we’ll be replacing one kind of work with another, but we are both putterers who like projects. Even Jim can’t imagine golfing every day. One thing we will do is line up relief caretakers for our place, because we enjoy traveling--and though we love all four seasons, we also like to escape to warm places in the fall and winter!

For our children, grandchildren, and generations to come, we want to facilitate a lifestyle close to nature, with wholesome homegrown food and the outdoor activity that goes with it. We will not live long enough to see the realization of many of our family’s plans, but we’ll enjoy being part of the implementation of some of them. We hope that many generations of family members will choose to hold onto the land. If not, the foundation we lay will support the dreams of other families in the future.

We’d always planned to be very involved in our grandchildren’s lives, but this charge goes beyond what we’d imagined. It means being more deeply and closely involved than we’d expected—more time together, more side-by-side work and play. At this point (2009) we have eleven grandchildren—eleven young people to influence and nurture— eleven future families. For us this puts a different spin on “home missions.”

So we’ve adopted a viewpoint expressed in the movie “Far and Away.” As a middle-aged couple stakes a claim in the Oklahoma Land Race, the husband says to his wife, “Let’s pretend we’re just starting out, instead of ending up.” Bravo--what a great way to think!

There’s also another aspect to this adventure of ours. God clearly had a hand in this part of our life journey and has directed our steps. From the day we first contacted the real estate agent, things have gone remarkably smoothly. What took us to that little corner of the state? As a family, we are not strangers to following our “gut feelings” without knowing all the whys and wherefores and stepping out in faith in a direction we feel is right. We do sometimes wonder how and why everything worked out the way it has with this land. It was more than just a desire on our parts to provide a wholesome life for our family. Does it have something to do with the food supply chain? Will this lifestyle be an asset in the future economy? During challenging times, will we give encouragement to and receive strength from the many local Christian families we’ve met and connected with?

Our adult family members have a conglomerate of complementary interests and skills that include development, agricultural, and marketing aspects. For years several of us have been studying, researching, and experimenting with various parts of the “homespun” lifestyle. As a family we have raised beef cattle and horses and planted many a vegetable garden. We’ve preserved produce and savored homemade goodies from daily bread and cheese to apple butter and salsa. Our learning phase has incorporated reading of technical references, internet research, hands-on experience, personal mentoring, and several classes and workshops offered by the Washington State University extension program.











So what will we do at the ranch? Here is the plan: Jim and Adele will move there first, in the spring of 2010. Some joint family projects will be developed on Jim and Adele’s central parcel. Included in the plans are an orchard, a livestock barn, and renovation of the existing pasture. We plan to raise some beef, pork, chicken and eggs—enough for the family plus a bit more to sell. A vegetable garden and fruit orchard will get top priority. Horses for riding and some fiber animals (sheep, goats, and/or alpacas) round out the first phase of our plans. Jim and Adele will start small with personally manageable numbers, and as other family members move to the ranch they can add to the menagerie as they wish.

The name “N Lazy A Ranch” is a family legacy. A century ago, Jim’s German immigrant grandparents homesteaded in Nebraska and chose N Lazy A as their ranch’s cattle brand. The N was for their last name and the A was for family matriarch Anna. Now Grandmother Anna was anything but lazy—she was an astute businesswoman who expanded her family’s land holdings to more than eight sections. The “lazy” actually refers to the position of the letter on the brand—a lazy A is lying on its side. We are the proud keepers of N and A branding irons and some relics from the original N Lazy A.

A surprise bonus came along with the purchase of our land. Some good friends in western Washington--our “realtors for life”--helped us with the purchase paperwork when we bought the land. They thought the property looked pretty nice, and the owner was considering selling one more 40-acre piece of land. Long-story-short, Larry and Lynn, friends from Everett, will be our next-door neighbors in eastern Washington. We look forward to lots of good times with Larry and Lynn in the years to come!

The SHORT Story

A. What is the N Lazy A Ranch?
B. What is our family hoping to do with it?
C. Why in the world would Jim and Adele embark on this endeavor in their 50s?

The very short answers:
A. The N Lazy A Ranch is a 140-acre (ca. 49-hec.) piece of paradise in the NE corner of the state of Washington. Each of our five family units has at least one 20-acre parcel.
B. Some family members plan to live there year-round, and some plan to come for weekends and vacations. We’d like to raise much of the extended family’s food while providing a wholesome environment for the younger generation of family members.
C. We (Jim and Adele) are facilitating a future for our children and grandchildren. By ourselves we would have retired on 10 or 20 acres with fewer projects. But this way we get to participate in the development of a lifestyle that our children desire for their families.

What Is the N Lazy A Ranch?

Our family has embarked on a wonderful journey that is now being enjoyed by three generations. To share our joy and challenges with our friends, we've created this blog to tell about our family project, the N Lazy A Ranch.

To answer the following three questions, you can read "the short story" or "the long story" depending on your interest and how much time you have to spare!

A. What is the N Lazy A Ranch?
B. What is our family hoping to do with it?
C. Why in the world would Jim and Adele take on this endeavor in their 50s?

After the short and long stories, we'll share the ongoing saga of work and play at the N Lazy A Ranch!