Five Green Acres

Hello and welcome to our little slice of The Good Life!

In the hopes that you don’t ALREADY have enough blogs to read compulsively, I’ve decided to chronicle our journey here, in this virtual green space. I’d love for you to join us vicariously, as we begin to forge this new life.

What new life, you say? Oh yes, of course…

Three months ago, we set out on a journey. Leaving our city-sized starter home and our city-sized yard and our city-sized neighborhood behind, we packed up and moved to the country. Yep. These City Mice decided that it was time to put on our Country Mouse hats and blaze a new trail for ourselves. We decided, rather suddenly in fact, that we needed SPACE. To grow our family, to grow food, to grow our minds. Our New Home Search derailed very abruptly from the “biggest-city-yard-we-could-afford” to a very different track entirely, one called “The Farmette”.

And somehow, the home of our dreams found us: a spacious, well-loved Victorian home nestled in five acres of rolling hills. Oh, and there’s also a pristine trout stream in our back yard which pretty much sealed the deal for my husband. The Chickens sealed the deal for me – 15 beautiful laying hens that were the icing on this delicious cake. All this, and we’re still within spitting distance from our beloved city.

So here we are, beginning our transformation. From here, we will grow our own food (that’s veggies, herbs, and some meat too,) produce our own energy, make by hand as much as we can, and hopefully instill in our growing family the skills, values, and little nuggets of wisdom that we’re able to pick up along the way.

To be fair, we acknowledge that we’re certainly not the first to undertake such a journey. Scores of folks before us have made this pilgrimage “back to the land” and undoubtedly scores after us will do the same. Regardless, this journey is our own and we bring to it our unique perspectives. We’re a young family: Andrew and I are both under 30 (though not for long!) and Isadora is almost 2 1/2. I was trained as a fine artist and have transformed these skills into making functional art for ourselves and our home. Most recently, I’ve begun my training as an herbalist, which is a journey unto itself. Andrew is also a rather skilled Handyman, and brings what is perhaps the most valuable to the table: Patience. He acts as the grounding rod which helps our visions take root. And we’ve not strayed too far from our roots: both Andrew and I grew up in the country, with a strong foundation of family, hard work, and home-cooked meals. Speaking of food, we’ve developed a bit of a Foodie status during our time in the city. Honestly, with access to such great, diverse food, who wouldn’t? You can expect lots of talk to come of what we’ve grown, prepared, and enjoyed on our plates.

Have I hooked you yet? Join us – the journey promises to be honest, colorful, delicious, and no doubt humorous as we forge this new path.