The most important advice that I can give to someone who is thinking about starting a ‘green’ project is… keep an open mind, do the research and be persistent. Being open to all options is how we put together our team. Green sources and resources are literally everywhere! It’s amazing how helpful and generous the people in this industry can be. Read more »
The person in charge of removing the old buildings and leaving the area looking like native California grass land was Jim Killian of JK Maintenance. He is an artist with a bulldozer! Jim also did an unbelievable job on a huge wash out that was working it’s way up the center of the property and would eventually ruin an entire grassland/pasture area.
One of the hardest things we had to do was eliminating the old ranch buildings. There were barns for various uses: a milking barn, hay barn, feeding barn, equipment shed and so on… they were beautifully scenic but, were falling down and unsafe to even enter. Also on the property were many ancient fences and cross fences. It was hard to envision the property with out all the fences. The fencing was mostly old barb-wire that was rotting and broken. Along many of the fence lines the cattle had worn deep gullies from years of use. In some cases oak trees had been used as part of the fence and had to grow around the nailed in barbed wire. Many of the gates were heavy pipe and hand made and we are keeping those.
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One of our first decisions was what to do with the existing home that was on the property. It was 3bdr 2 bth, approximately 30 years old and of moderate quality.
One of us wanted to demo it and put one of the two new homes in it’s place. The other one wanted to save the home, renovate it and keep it as a guest house. That side eventually won. It was ‘greener’ and practical and used the resource we had there.
We purchased our ranch with the help of Byron Grant, owner/ broker of South County Realty. Before, during and after the purchase he was incredibly helpful and generous with his time and expertise.
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We purchased our beautiful Huasna (pronounced Wasna) Valley Ranch in the summer of 2008. We first visited the property earlier that year in the spring when everything was green and growing. I took a few photos at that time.
WELCOME! Our goal is to share the adventure of turning a beautiful but neglected, over-grazed and dry farmed property on California’s central coast, into a sustainable and environmentally friendly horse property.
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View of The native pasture and ridge line beyond in the Spring of 2008.
