Our Story
The restoration of our property into a working farm seems like an inevitable choice to us now when we look back. The effort was and is about the same values that sustainable agriculture is about—restoring, renewing, reusing, valuing what we’ve been provided with and working to make it the best it can be. But it wasn’t really in the plans when we got serious about finding land to farm.
We happened upon our farm on one of many treks we took to look at property. As we turned a corner, the sun was glinting off the sparkling tin roof of a classic white farm house, perched on a hill. We both lit up, hoping it was the property we’d come to see. As we came parallel with the house however, it was obvious it was abandoned. Window panes were missing, a giant thorn bush obscured the front door, and the lone pine tree was clearly dying.
We tried, but we couldn’t get it off our minds. Through the county courthouse, we tracked down the owners and asked if they’d consider selling. They would, and we soon knew why.
The house had been abandoned in 1953. Cattle were kept for a while longer on property, where they found the lawn excellent grazing. A dismantled horse barn was being stored in the main room downstairs, so after entering through the back door (no navigating the thorn bush at the front door) we stood on about a 3 foot high pile of beams. But even so, it was spacious and the windows made it feel airy. Raccoons scrambled away from us in the ceiling and walls and we had to climb over years of debris on the stairs, but we were rewarded by views on the second floor that went on for miles.
So, no plumbing, no heating, no electricity, holes in the walls that led straight outdoors, swallows’ nests in the living room, a woodchuck in the mud room, and a collapsing porch roof, but beautiful stone walls, south-facing slopes, a great location, and such a classic house! We bought the farm.
We lived in a camper behind the barn our first summer while we took the house down to the studs and painstakingly began restoring it, saving the original trim, antique fixtures, and wide-plank floors. It meant delaying farming for a year, but it felt right.
The following spring, we jumped right in, planting our orchard, the herb garden, and our first vegetable rows. We’ve come a long ways, but there’s still plenty of restoration work to do, and plenty of seeds to plant, so we hope you’ll join the effort and help us grow!
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