Our Newest Adventure as a Family of Homesteaders

Within in the last few months we as a family have taken a big leap. With much prayer, searching, travel, and getting our hopes dashed and revived, finally we have made the commitment to becoming homesteaders.

Yep, you read that correctly. This coffee lovin’ mama is going to make a go as a bonified country girl. I guess it is more like back to my roots actually. . .

A glimpse back, if you will indulge me. I was born on a farm in southern Ohio and lived there until I was 9 years old. I remember the large garden my mom tended, the calves my father raised, the silkie chickens that my mom adored, and all of that good fresh air.

Even though I moved away from there when I was young I just have always felt a little out of whack in life. I met and married my hubby and became the wife of an airline pilot. THAT was a huge change in my life and yet, I’ve never really felt like I belonged to that “group” anymore than I ever felt like I belonged to this generation. Country life just seemed to suit me.

Here’s a fascinating fact, my husband’s name, Silvio, means forest dweller. . . seriously. . . the Lord has a sense of humor for sure.

After years of being together my hubby and I learned so many more things about each other. One thing that we learned is that it would be nice to have a little more room for the kids to grow up.

Some land.

Good trees.

Maybe some animals. Even wild ones would do.

Space. . . lots of space.

Water. . . yes, a stream perhaps.

And a creek or river would be incredible!

We began our search well over 2 years ago. We were ready but the Lord had other plans. (Isn’t that usually the way it goes?!) We drove around for hours in search of our new home. We went to different cites, counties, even different states.

Bare land, letting us start from scratch. Land with a home, letting us jump right in. Decisions, decisions!

Within the last year we made offers on 3 places. . . 3. One was already gone when we placed our offer and the other 2, well, get this. . . cash offers were placed the exact same day as our offer. Coincidence? Nope. Totally a God thing.

From this point we were so tired of getting our hopes up then getting them squashed. That we thought surely if God wants us to do this, than it will all work out. So that is the way we began to pray as a family. Over each meal, asking for wisdom, and praying for God’s will in our life.

As we made our way, to yet another piece of property we were slightly hopeful yet almost apprehensive, because this sounded almost too good to be true.

We pulled up to this large plot of bare bones land, the excitement began to build. As we all hopped out of the truck, I took a moment to speak to our real estate agent. As we chitchatted she shared that the piece of land across the road had just sold and it was sold by the same owner of the land we were looking at. Hmmmm, that was interesting. She than began to share more about the lovely couple that had purchased the land. They have 5 kids under 8 years old (wow!), they were looking to begin their own homestead, raise some animals, start farming, and whatnot. I replied that sounded nice, kind of what we were looking to do, then responded, we homeschool (thinking that would be the difference between our families). To my utmost surprise, she smiled and said, “Well, they homeschool too!”

I turned to Silvio and hollered, “Hey Babe! I think that this might be the one!” then recounted the story for him.

We took time to wander the property and immediately we all fell in love.

45 acres y’all, 45 acres.

There is a 13 acre area that we can clear for animals and our home, leaving 32 acres of forest area. Which would include a spring feed pond, a small stream, and a very large section of the local creek that runs down the back side of the property. Nothing but potential, we were so excited!

After all of the ups and downs we knew that it was foolish to get our hopes up again. So, we made sure to tell the kids (and ourselves) that if this is the one the Lord wants us on, well then, He will just have to make it happen. He will have to make every avenue run smoothly in the process.

Well, it happened!

6 incredibly loooooong weeks of waiting, paperwork filling out, signing, picture taking and more. We are the proud owners of a huge plot of land. In the middle of nowhere Alabama. The closest local “town” has a population of 184. Yep, you read that correctly. 184 people were counted in the latest census in 2013. Wow.

My oldest is a little unsure about moving “to the middle of nowhere” but only about half of the time. The other time he jumps on the bandwagon with total abandon. 45 acres! Pasture land, water, beautiful trees, and space. . . lots of space!

I’ll keep you posted on the ups and downs of getting from this house in the suburbs of Atlanta, GA to the middle of nowhere Alabama. I hope you stick around to hear about our newest adventure as a family. It is going to be a while before we get moved, as there is still so much to do! I hope to post more pictures soon, but for now, here are some more to check out.

I can’t wait to take more pictures when the trees are in full bloom! Oooooh, and then in the fall when the colors changes. . . I seriously can’t wait!

So Much Fun!

In His Grace.

Callie