My husband and I would repeatedly proclaim that”someday”we would eventually own a home with plenty of land to make our dreams a reality. He dreamed of a workshop, I dreamed of space for gardens, chickens and goats. We’d look at properties from time to time but never found anything that made us forget the sheer amount of work involved. Becoming more self-sufficient wouldn’t come easy.
I started to wonder if we were really all that serious. Were we in a position where we subconsciously choose the easy route? After all, we have a beautiful home, a productive (yet small) garden space, great neighbors and a short commute to our jobs. We have enough space to live a content life or so I thought until we ran across a farmstead that called to us.
Dreams are a fickle things and for some reason my husband really wanted to see one property in particular. I was convinced he would find something so wrong with it he’d move on from the thought. Never mind the fact that it was a full hour commute to work. Yikes! After a few weeks of dragging my feet I finally gave in to my husband’s insistence to view the property to, in his words, “… get it out of my head.”
We went in with little expectation after viewing the location from the road. The acreage itself was nice but I couldn’t get over the driving distance; I was being stubborn. I still wasn’t convinced this property was for us, but to prove him wrong I was willing to go along with things until he realized the drive was too extreme.
As soon as we entered the house we felt at home and saw the potential. My husband nearly drooled over the remote which reached from inside the house out to the cement-floor Quonset overhead door. Upon further inspection, my fears dissipated over leaving the apple, plum, raspberry and asparagus plantings in our current house; this farm had all that and MORE! I was scared to admit how much I liked this property and how ready I was to put work into it. That 1 hour drive suddenly wasn’t much of an obstacle.
Looking back, the signs were so obvious they couldn’t be ignored. From seeing my company’s logo truck less than 10 miles from the farmstead to the singular patch of the sun’s rays breaking through the clouds directly over the house. It was surreal.
Fast forward, past the anxiety ridden weeks of contemplation to the day we put in our offer. My uncertainty never completely drifted away until the moment our realtor pulled out a pamphlet. The farmstead had previously functioned as a B & B, Serendipity Bed & Breakfast. The instant I read the name, I gave in completely. I turned to my husband, gave his arm a playful smack and knew this was meant to be. God’s plan will be whatever He wishes it to be for us and I could no longer fight it. Ironically, God knows all things, even my favorite movie, Serendipity.
This is the first Dirt On My Plate blog documenting our dream of creating a more self-sufficient lifestyle. We finally took the leap to embark upon this journey and realize our “someday” dream! Come, share in this experience with us as we prepare to take on the hard work of owning a farmstead. It should be a wild ride and we look forward to signing on that dotted line.
Dirt On My Plate 