My husband and I would go on a country drive any chance we got. Driving the back roads, looking at the farms and dream. My favorite places to see were the old abandoned farm houses. I would take pictures and wonder who built it, who grew up there and what was life like. Owning land, let alone land with a house on it, seemed unreachable.
Our life continued to evolve. We bought a house in town and filled it with kids. My husband worked long hard hours to keep things going.
Through it all, our dream of living in the country never died. Elmer and I made a point to take one day a month for us. Often we drove up to the mountains just to breath fresh air and dream a little. We tried a few times to get out of dodge but it never seemed to be the right time. Then finally, the time came. We made the decision to move to Texas where land was more affordable and family was close. We sold our house and bought 40 acres with a house and barn! We could not be more excited. We finally did it. I always dreamed of a long long drive way, house centered on the land. Neighbors far and few. It’s not exactly what we got. We were so excited to be able to move we didn’t do a lot of shopping around. This place fell into our lap and I hugged it like it was the last place on earth!. Im not complaining. I think we landed pretty well. The idea of a long dirt road to lead to a long dirt drive and a house nuzzled in the trees hardly seen from any direction sure sounds like heaven. We often would say, “Oh I love that house..I’ll take it in the middle of 100 acres”. However, while that sounds dreamy, we live off a paved road, with a paved driveway, we don’t worry about getting stuck, flooded or any of that muddy mess. Not that I would hate that, but I don’t hate paved either : )
We have lived here since 2005. Eighteen years up to date. And when we moved here I was younger but "farm clueless". We have made our fair share of mistakes. One thing we didn’t mess up was making the decision to buy a farm. Best life ever to raise your kids in if you can. Eight kids, goats, cows, chickens, ducks, geese, turkey and an occasional pig or two. Not to mention Donkeys. A few of the kids tried their hand out with gardening, donkey training, they all learned to process birds, rabbit, hogs and deer. But times have changed. Kids move on to build their own life and although they are never far from home, a few even longing to get back, we are at a cross road in our life. Our last baby has graduated, works full time and heading to college. We can’t be prouder of him, but this leaves us empty nesters as they call it. We moved here with 6 kids, adopted 2 more and now there are none. This is a bitter sweet time for us. While we can mourn what has passed, we can also celebrate a new fresh start. This new fresh start doesn’t come easy. Elmer has stage 4 prostate cancer. This will certainly effect how we proceed. But we will proceed. We will farm. This is after all..our dream.
Our life continued to evolve. We bought a house in town and filled it with kids. My husband worked long hard hours to keep things going.
Through it all, our dream of living in the country never died. Elmer and I made a point to take one day a month for us. Often we drove up to the mountains just to breath fresh air and dream a little. We tried a few times to get out of dodge but it never seemed to be the right time. Then finally, the time came. We made the decision to move to Texas where land was more affordable and family was close. We sold our house and bought 40 acres with a house and barn! We could not be more excited. We finally did it. I always dreamed of a long long drive way, house centered on the land. Neighbors far and few. It’s not exactly what we got. We were so excited to be able to move we didn’t do a lot of shopping around. This place fell into our lap and I hugged it like it was the last place on earth!. Im not complaining. I think we landed pretty well. The idea of a long dirt road to lead to a long dirt drive and a house nuzzled in the trees hardly seen from any direction sure sounds like heaven. We often would say, “Oh I love that house..I’ll take it in the middle of 100 acres”. However, while that sounds dreamy, we live off a paved road, with a paved driveway, we don’t worry about getting stuck, flooded or any of that muddy mess. Not that I would hate that, but I don’t hate paved either : )
We have lived here since 2005. Eighteen years up to date. And when we moved here I was younger but "farm clueless". We have made our fair share of mistakes. One thing we didn’t mess up was making the decision to buy a farm. Best life ever to raise your kids in if you can. Eight kids, goats, cows, chickens, ducks, geese, turkey and an occasional pig or two. Not to mention Donkeys. A few of the kids tried their hand out with gardening, donkey training, they all learned to process birds, rabbit, hogs and deer. But times have changed. Kids move on to build their own life and although they are never far from home, a few even longing to get back, we are at a cross road in our life. Our last baby has graduated, works full time and heading to college. We can’t be prouder of him, but this leaves us empty nesters as they call it. We moved here with 6 kids, adopted 2 more and now there are none. This is a bitter sweet time for us. While we can mourn what has passed, we can also celebrate a new fresh start. This new fresh start doesn’t come easy. Elmer has stage 4 prostate cancer. This will certainly effect how we proceed. But we will proceed. We will farm. This is after all..our dream.