New Growth

Earlier today my youngest and I headed out to our orchard to deliver lunch to my ever so hard working husband, when I saw this bud....it reminded me of when we first moved to the farm. I guess I should start at the very beginning....we live on 40 acres in Oregon farm country. Let me correct myself, we really only live on about 2 acres; the other 20 are leased out by a neighboring farmer, a small grove of trees takes up about 2 acres, another 3 acres could be considered the field behind our backyard, and the remaining acreage is covered in trees and has a small river running through it. We absolutely love where we live and definitely wouldn't want it any other way; though it has been a labor of love the past few years.

My husband's grandparent's bought the land and 1901 farmhouse around 1960 and lived here for a few years. Over the last 40 some years, numerous family members and aunts/uncles of my husband have lived in the old farmhouse. Those family members have grown and raised their own families in that house, just as they were raised here. Prior to living here (we lived about 5 miles away in town), every time we drove by the old farmhouse, and I mean every time, my husband made mention of how we would live here someday.

One day the phone call came from my husband's uncle...he was ready to move on....

I came from the city, and the fact that I live in a small town of under 10,000 people was a bit of a change for me, though I must say, it suits me very well, and I would never want to move back to the city. The idea of moving into the real country where the nearest neighbor is at least 1/4 mile away though, was very exciting, yet a bit overwhelming at the same time. Not to mention the farmhouse wasn't even visible from the road due to the overgrown brush, weeds, gigantic trees, and orchard in front of it. Needless to say we were very excited, and began working on the outside as soon as M's uncle gave us the ok. About 5 months later, and many hours of work inside and outside (and tons of help from family members and friends), the old house was ready to move into.

Nearly 4 years later now, we have remodeled the old farmhouse, taken old fence down, fallen or cleaned up trees that have fallen, mowed, mowed, and mowed, cleaned up and continue to clean up outbuildings and overgrown brush, built a new home, and started a new chapter in our lives with our own family here on the farm.

The work never ends, but as I said, it is a labor of love. We are so grateful to be so fortunate to have this incredible place to live. We have so many plans and dreams for this place, and hope that someday, our children will continue the family name here.