How Did We Get Here?
It all begins with an idea. At least this whole adventure started that way.
I grew up a city girl, and Jason, a city boy. Neither of us had ever dreamed of, or imagined ourselves owning land and building a farm, ever… for us, it started with a small garden on the side of our old house because we watched a documentary that inspired us. If you haven’t watched the Back to Eden Film, you should go do that now.
We watched it over and over because we loved listening to Paul, and we were so inspired. Our first garden was BTE style, and it was really incredibly successful. In the years following, we had some not so great gardens, and some okay gardens. We finally got to a point where we were just too busy to focus on it, and we let it go. Part of the way through this journey we ended up with eight backyard chickens, too. I fell in love. When we were pregnant with Finn, we realized we didn’t have the time or capacity to continue caring for them properly, so a friend took them.
It was a different season of life, and to some degree, we weren’t sure if the farm life was ever something we would actually have. I know that I, personally, had to lay down some dreams while we waited. Dreams of having 100 chickens, goats, large beautiful gardens, an orchard. I had to learn and relearn contentedness in whatever was in front of us. City living is how I grew up, but it wasn’t how I wanted my kids to grow up, and the journey to a life with property wasn’t always easy. Somehow, the dream of everything I listed never left our hearts. In fact, we talked about it often, in a longing sort of way… and sometimes, as a joke.
A lot of parts and pieces had to fall into place for us to get here, too. When the time came though, that journey alone is a story in and of itself. We sold our house in a crazy market and couldn’t find a house in the 3 months we had to be out. Part of the way through we had an RV deal fall into our lap that was pretty perfect for our family, and we decided to gut it and remodel it while also packing and moving our stuff into storage AND still looking for a house. It was kind of insane, to be honest.
When we still couldn’t find a house, we lived in the camper all summer, and into October. Even getting that campsite was an adventure that we can see God’s hand in. So many tears were shed in the process. We went through over 70 houses, put in 12 offers, and were completely exhausted and looking at other options when we got this house. It’s not a journey I recommend unless God has made it clear to move.
So, here we are with our almost 12 acres and a dream. This is our journey and it’s only just begun… homesteading, gardening, remodeling, and my favorite, raising wild children.
