Well, friends. We made it- as you know if you follow us on Facebook. As much as I would like to say the journey was easy… it wasn’t. And building a farm right after moving- that’s not easy either. But, this is the life we have chosen.

We want our children to grow up being outside without the constant distractions of technology. To feel the dirt in their hands, the wind in their face.

We want to contribute to our local community by providing quality, non-GMO food- but that’s another post, my friends. The decisions we made to get here were not easy.  It meant leaving a community and our first new home away from Florida where we had been our entire lives before moving to South Carolina in 2011.

It meant leaving our first homestead. The place we got married. The place we became a family. The place we really started to live.

 

The one where we originally thought we would raise all our children on. The one where we made plans on a daily basis. We planned and talked about where we would build our house on that property. We started a garden and hoop house with our children- with that homestead being the only on we would ever live on. We made plans for the future there, but that all changed when we saw this place (read about it here).

We feel that with great risk comes great rewards. By taking this leap of faith we would be able to build our dreams. Our goals. To bring Beau home full time to work on the farm. To be a family. Kinda like Little House on the Prairie but with modern convenience’s, ya feel me? Except for a dishwasher (ahem!). We don’t have one of those here yet on the homestead, but mama has her eyes peeled out for a portable dishwasher like this one– except I want a used one super cheap! Did you even know there was such a thing? I didn’t. I always grew up with a dishwasher but Beau didn’t. At least he has experience in hand washing every.single.dish. 

But, enough rambling about my only real “want” in our new house. Back to the new homestead.

The house and property needs a lot of work but welcome to our new homestead in Virginia!

Our Road

The House and Outbuildings

 

This. This is our new home. Where our children and family will build new memories. It’s already been such a blessing to hear the kids laughing, screeching, and running up and down the stairs- already making memories.

 

Here is an outbuilding on the property. We aren’t really sure what it was used for. Maybe it was the original house on the homestead in the 1800s? Maybe another old tobacco curing barn- which would totally make sense since our property was an old tobacco plantation.

All we know is that this will eventually be our farm store, with a guest loft, for when my family or Beau’s comes to visit! (P.S. PLEASE come visit- we miss you guys!).  Any friends are welcome too!

 

This. This is one amazing building. Again, we aren’t sure what it was in the 1800s. Maybe the slave quarters? Maybe it was the very first house on the homestead. All we know is that it has fallen down (see it leaning towards the front?). It also was used as a barn a long long long time ago. We aren’t sure when, but we are actively trying to piece the pieces together.

You can see the individual stalls in the back of the barn. Not to mention the GORGEOUS (totally requires yelling) compost where those stalls used to be. The front of it has the old loft window. We did go into the house being very careful. There is a trough that separates the front from the back. The loft is filled with old hay and old corn husks/cobs. It’s a beauty, ain’t it?

The Man Cave

Workshop. Need I say more?

No, but I will. And you’re welcome. 😉 This is an old workshop (it’s extremely BIG). You can’t see it all in the photo. It has electric…and a bathroom. It is very dirty and squirrels have come through the ceiling, but it has TONS of old tables from when the family that lived here before us made parachutes. We will be putting in some time to clean it up. The dirtiness hasn’t stopped Beau from working in there though. He has officially named it the ‘Man Cave’. The end.

Old Tobacco Curing Barn

Folks, this requires no words. Just pictures.

 

 

 

 

 Updated: This lady totally forgot to put in the original post that we have an awesome root cellar that needs a little fixin’. So, stay tuned for homestead tour part 2 to see the inside of the buildings, including our awesome root cellar! 

Other Land on the Property

Oh pasture. How you may be my favorite. Or maybe it’s a tie between the house, the land, the old buildings. I don’t know. I am just in love with it all.

We started fencing in (with electric fence) 10 acres as you can see in the photo. Yep- those are wooden posts that we have started to put in. Pretty groovy, huh? Well, the process wasn’t, but we should only have to do it once!

This is where we will keep our meat chickens. And egg chickens. And goats. And pigs. And rabbits. And whatever other animals we decide to add (hopefully a lamb, cow, and a donkey) in the next couple years. Mamma here has a weakness for farm animals, don’t ya think?

 

You see that pathway into the woods (right above the photo caption?). Start walking on that beautifully cleared path. Go about 1/4 of a mile through old trees, chirping birds, and hooting owls- you just feel a sense of peace come over you. Guess where that path leads? To a cemetery, my friends.

But not just any cemetery. That cemetery contains some of the owners of our house/land and surrounding land, their families, and their slaves. Some graves date back to the early to mid 1800s that we can read. Through the research we have done we can tell that cousins were married to cousins (normal back then) between 3-4 different families. Those families are buried there. Infants are buried there. Slaves are buried there. Soldiers are buried there.

The cemetery isn’t technically on our property we have come to find out- it is “adjacent” to it. Still, we are blessed to be able to walk back into a peaceful place, where our ancestors, soldiers, and history rest. It is beautiful.

 

We don’t have a great photo of it yet, but there is also a 2.5 acre pond on the property. You gotta take a little hike through some woods, but it’s there. We hear that there are pretty big bass, crappie, and catfish in it.  We shall find out!

Finding Things

We’ve only been able to do a little exploring but we have found some pretty cool things.

 

 

 

 

We found this old newspaper up in the attic. We think it was from the 50’s or before the 50’s (thanks Aunt Lorraine for your research!). Notice the phone numbers. And, look! Squash was 10 cents a pound. Green beans- 25 cents for two pounds. In another section of the newspaper it said that a young man, with the last name of Pope, died at Duke University from horseplay with his Fraternity. We still can’t find any info about this online.

 

The family that lived here from the 70s until a couple of years ago built parachutes- like real ones. We have figured out their names. The husband is deceased, but the wife is still alive, and their son lives in Poland with his wife and three children- according to the obituary. I’d love to find him and ask him a few questions. It appears they bought this place in 1976 and lived here until a couple of years ago. We do know that there was an estate sale in August 2014 here.

Kids and Gus Playing Around the Homestead

I just had to throw these pic in because, well- these are my babies and they are cute. Amen.

 

 

 

 

Well, that’s it for now ladies and gents. Right now things are: old, dirty, hectic, and stressful… but we love it. And amen.

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