House Hunt

There are a whole batch of questions that naturally arise from my decision to move to Eugene and return to school. Where will the chickens go? Where will we live? Who will live in our house? We’ll start with the last question first.

We are working with a property management company to rent out our house for the three years we are gone in Eugene. Our neighbors have been coming up to me throughout the week sharing their disappointment that we are leaving, even for the short term. The link to the ad on Craig’s List is here in case you know someone local. What we rent it for is determined by the rental company and they are the people to call with questions/inquiries.

It would be great to have someone who gardeners, but I am also prepared to deal with general neglect of the yard. Neglect would actually be fine, since the trees and shrubs will keep growing on their own without watering. The plants are all pretty well-established and therefore low-maintenance. I’ll write into the lease contract that pesticides are prohibited and I will visit the garden twice a year for seasonal maintenance – cleaning up in the Fall and pruning in the Spring. We’re crossing our fingers and hoping for the best.

I am still not sure where we will live in Eugene, which is stressful. Part of the reason we bought a house is because I loath renting, and here I am in the renting pool again – scanning Craig’s List everyday, duking out college kids for the best place, dealing with snippy emails from potential landlords. We are driving to Eugene today actually to look at places. I feel a bit pessimistic that we will need to make at least one other trip in about a week to see more places.

Finding a place that accepts our well-behaved, 85 pound greyhound narrows down the possibilities, not to mention our cat as well. I’ve potted up all my favorite vegetables in case we don’t have a yard. But what happens with the chickens? Ideally we can find a place that will let us bring the flock. If not, I am in talks with the Urban Farm to see if we can bring the chickens there. As a last option, I may need to adopt them out to a loving home in Portland when we move. They have been laying a steady three eggs a day, so it pains me to let them go.

So much to do in only a month or so. I wish I could hit the fast-forward button and wake up in mid-June in my new temporary home.