Wahsega Valley Farm

Snail's pace

I'm exhausted. Tired tired tired. I've been too tired to blog lately. Yesterday I was so sleepy I couldn't put words together to make any sense at all... so just gave up. Mike and I have been spending all of our free time ("free time" = when we are not at work or asleep) at our old house still getting it ready to sell. And we're just about finished there. What a relief it will be to walk away from it and spend some time at our cabin!

Our poor cabin... there are boxes sitting around and curtains waiting to be hung there. And so many projects we're itching to get to. But when we're gone all weekend and don't get home after work until 6:00 and go to bed at 8:30 (since we get up at 4:15), there just isn't much time to make much progress there. Cook supper, eat, clean up, relax for maybe 45 minutes before hitting the sack. It is nice to sleep there though, even if it's all we get right now. When it rains, we can hear it clearly on the roof, and we can see the trees and stars while lying in bed. And for some reason, we both sleep better there.

And, I'm not complaining, mind you. We knew it would be crazy like this. I always prep my brain when I know an unpleasant time or event is awaiting me. This coming weekend should be our last time at the house working on it. And it's not nearly as bad as it was when we were remodeling the condo for what seemed like eternity. But it took me four and a half hours last Saturday just to clean the refrigerator! It was from top to bottom, inside and out and I had to take out all the drawers and shelves, etc. and clean each piece. There were lots of pieces to be cleaned! It looks brand new now though and for a 10-year-old fridge, that's pretty good.

So... things are moving forward big time, but just at what feels like a snail's pace. What is very cool though is that spring is beginning to break here and the timing couldn't be more perfect to put one's house up for sale - and start playing around with a garden and outdoor projects. And I can't wait to see the bare trees at our farm begin to leaf out and then cover our cabin with a green canopy. Before too long the frogs will be croaking down at the frog pond and I'll be pickin' tomatoes.

Log and timber home show

This past weekend Mike, Bob and I went to the Log and Timber Home Show to do some research on how we might want to add on to our existing cabin. Bob, a friend of Mike's, used to build log homes for a living and is a wealth of information. He helped fill in a lot of the blanks in our heads about how to build a log home - or add on to ours.

The first log home show Mike and I went to years ago was huge so when we walked in and saw so few vendors in comparison at this show, we were a bit disappointed. I guess with the economy being what it is right now, it was just scaled back. We had a fun time though and made some good connections. I took my camera and shot a few pictures of a few things for sale there.

Bob and Mike are checking out a bed here. We kind of like its rugged beauty, but it was $5,000!

I actually preferred this bed, below. Isn't it cool?

There was a vendor who had some nice sinks and tubs. I liked a couple of these ceramic sinks, though one day I'd like to make my own.

I really liked these copper ones, but we don't need any sinks.

Mike and I both loved the look of this tub! Isn't it nice? I decided to give it a test run to see how it felt. It was quite deep and comfortable and I could see it in our cabin - all rustic looking. But we don't need a tub, especially a $5,000 one.

We're planning on meeting one of the builders we talked to at a huge cabin he is building not too far from our cabin. He'll be able to give us some ideas on how we can incorporate materials to our existing cabin. Since ours is about 25 years old, it would be near-impossible to match the materials used back then to what is available now, especially the timbers since ours are irregular in a not-very-common way.

In the meantime, we're kicking butt at our house clearing out and cleaning. We have the second floor almost done! More bags to Goodwill and trash out the door! Progress is being made and even though it's work, it's fun and moving us forward.

Six months until I retire!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Mike and I drove up to our little farm this past weekend to take a peek at the cabin, hoping to see it unfurnished at long last. We kind of expected our tenants to be in the midst of chaos and clutter, but they had moved most everything out already and the place was really quite clean under the circumstances. We saw for the first time how the cabin looks empty and for some reason expected it to look bigger. But in fact, it looked smaller! It's a tiny little cabin, but so cute and rustic. Downsizing will be an experience and the first thing Mike has to do is build a temporary pole building to hold all of our belongings and his tools through the moving process. Though we'll be living there only on the weekends initially after the holidays, we want to put our current house on the market and sell it as quickly as possible. Our stuff - most of which won't fit into the current, not yet remodeled cabin - has to go somewhere and that's where the pole building comes in.

Tonight we're going back up with a car-load full of dishes, towels, cleaning supplies and other things we'll need. We're planning to spend two full weeks there starting this Saturday, after moving up some furniture and necessities on Friday. It's all quite exciting, yet stressful at the same time. Ch-ch-ch-changes, y'know. Disruptions of "regular living" and all that. But we can't wait to get there and have all the moving and transition behind us. And I like the idea of downsizing... getting rid of items that are rarely or never used - and becoming less encumbered.   

While there tonight, Mike needs to measure the area for the pole building and figure out some plumbing and electrical issues, and I need to get a better look at the kitchen area and bathroom to see what needs to be done there. The kitchen currently has an old electric stove that I'm gunna dislike greatly after using gas flames for so long. Slow reaction time y'know. We might look for an updated replacement because it will take some time to remodel the cabin and I'm not so sure I can cook on that slow movin' relic every day!

During the two weeks we plan to stay there, we'll still have to run back to our house occasionally to pick up additional things we'll need - and to check in on the computer and news, etc. We really don't want to spend money on a tv and computer hookup yet, though might change our minds once there. I envision getting a lot of reading done in the evenings for a change, and not missing the noisy television at all. And our cells phones don't work that far out in the boonies... we'll be cut off from the world! So, we'll see how that goes...

Once the sun comes back out and the rains goes away, I'll start taking some pictures and posting them here. We want to document all the changes we make along the way and this is where I'm going to do it. We're excited and ready to get going! More soon...

Christmas at the farm

Mike and I are quite excited! Our tenants, living in the cabin on our farm, asked if they could move out by the 17th of this month instead of what we'd all planned - at the end of next summer. Do you know what that means? We can spend Christmas in our cabin this year! And, I will finally see what the cabin looks like empty. It's been hard getting a good idea with all their furniture and belongings; they have bookshelves covering windows and other bookshelves blocking other views that make it look very closed-in and dark. With all that removed, I'll finally see how light it is in there. Even though we're going to remodel the cabin, we'll have to live in it at least part-time as it is now. So I'm really looking forward to seeing it bare-boned. Here is a repeat picture of the current main floor with our tenants' things:

(The stairs lead up to a large loft that will be our temporary bedroom.)  

So... we need to start moving some things there to make it livable on the weekends - Friday nights through Sundays. This is so good because it's going to make our transition much smoother and not so rushed - and we can start right away on some of the work we want to do. We will lose about seven months of rent from our tenants, but they weren't paying all that much anyway, so it won't be a huge difference. And, they are moving right "next door", which will work out well for all of us.

I need to make a list of everything we will need! Gotta go down to the basement and start pulling out dishes, a couch, chairs, a table, bed and mattress and everything we'll need to live there part time. There is already a washer/dryer, freezer, stove and refrigerator, though eventually we will replace most of them. But for now, it's perfect! 

What a nice surprise; we're finally getting started! It's hard to believe that it's been three years since we bought our little farm. All I can say is... we're ready!

It's going to be a Merry Christmas indeed.

Farm scenery

Mike and I drove up to our farm Sunday morning to see if his new plan for moving our driveway was feasible. Turns out it will be perfect where he wants to put it. Sooo much better than the previous plan, because it will leave the pastures alone. That's a wonderful thing because it was going to cut right through them. Now it will off to one side, quite inconspicuous.

The weather was beautiful, though most of the leaves had already dropped from the trees there. Even though it's only about an hour north from where we live, it's in a different weather zone because of the mountains, and is usually around ten degrees cooler. So, while most of the leaves are still on the leaves here - and quite colorful - it looked like winter at the farm. 

I took a few pictures...

Here are leaves on some gorgeous moss near our creek. I used a cool filter on some of these shots; click to blow up and see.

 

A part of our pond, looking through the bare trees...

Looking at the same trees from the other side of the pond...

Mike, checking things out in one of the pastures...

The sky was beautiful, and the clouds were doing crazy things...

We didn't go up to the cabin since we didn't want to disturb our tenants, but we traipsed around the pastures and pond quite a bit getting quite excited at how soon we will be spending time there and doing all those things we've been thinking about doing for years now. We left feeling exhilarated and ready!

Cabin "before" pictures

Mike and I spent Monday afternoon at our little farm looking at the cabin. I took pictures while Mike measured everything. He wants to use a house remodeling software to draw out the changes he'd like to make. Since I took quite a few pictures, I thought I'd post a few and do some 'splainin' on what they are now and how we hope to change them. Click on any picture to see larger.

First up is a picture of Mike dumping some the oak trees that he's hoping to make our kitchen cabinets out of.

And this one is the same shot from a different vantage point. Isn't that dump trailer da bomb?

The following picture show two trees that Mike says need to be cut down in order for us to be able to add on to the cabin. I'm having a real problem with it and am hoping we can find a way to leave them. They're such nice trees and I loooove them. They speak to me. I don't think they speak to Mike. The front deck will also be removed and this level of the cabin will become the second level.

This is the room we walk into first thing right now through the front door. We have tenants currently living in the cabin and it is furnished with their things. (I would never have a dead animal head hanging on my wall!) This room will become our bedroom and the room behind it - the current kitchen - will become the bathroom and closet area.

The picture below shows the fireplace that is currently in the living room, but once we remodel the cabin will be in our bedroom. That will be so nice! The walls will stay the nice wood and we're hoping we can keep the pine plank floors.

And here you can see the ceiling and front doors of the future bedroom. Those doors will open to a balcony once the changes have been made.

Here is the current kitchen, that will become part our bathroom/closet combo in the future. All the cabinets will be removed or at least reconfigured.

I like this picture of the kitchen wall where the door to the bathroom is. I love the wood. The current bathroom itself is quite small and will be removed totally to make way for a bigger and better one.

And here is the ceiling that will stay in the new bathroom.

That's it for the interior of the existing main floor. In the picture below, it is the middle floor from the back and the first floor from the front of the cabin. Once Mike changes the level of the dirt around the cabin, it will become the second floor all the way around and be our bedroom area. The ground floor will become the living and kitchen area. And the room on top will stay the room on top. And Mike wants to add another room or two as an addition, but hasn't put his ideas on paper yet.

We really can't wait to get started, but we're still in the planning stage. It's nice to look at the pictures and dream though. And the ticker in the green left column says "387 days until we move to the farm" today!

Monday pictures

Mike and I were both off work yesterday and decided go for a drive and get out of the city. Before leaving, I took some pictures of Zena and Sophie playing. In the picture below I think Sophie is looking to me for escape from the insane antics of Zena - our now 6-week old crazy kitten. She is growing like a weed and is everywhere now. It's time to batton down the hatches and remove all breakable items from shelves and tables!

We went to Horsetown to get Mike some new jeans and I found the perfect pair of brown overalls for when we move to the farm. And boots and rain slickers and cowboy hats and belts and... we just bought the jeans. But we sure drooled a lot.

Then we decided to drive up to the farm since we'd not been there in months. Here is a view of our neighbors and part of our acreage.

There were wild daisies growing in one of our fields...

And beautiful ferns growing near our creek...

Here are some steps leading from the dark woods where the creek is up to the sunny pond...

And Mike looking at one end of the pond which is full now...

And here is another shot of our diamond-in-the-rough cabin. So much will change when we move there; Mike has big plans.

And a closeup of the cabin...

We had a nice time walking around and spending some time there - and didn't want to leave. Next summer though! Next summer we move there!

Before heading home we stopped by the big pick-your-own strawberry farm and got a flat of strawberries and some local honey and blackberry preserves.

It was a nice day!

Lulu's chandelier

Mike often-times brings home all kinds of goodies from clients whose houses he is working on; their discards are sometimes quite nice. They give him items to take to the dump, but some things are just too good to throw away - and it just doesn't seem right. Last week he came home with two tall bar chairs, a round, very heavy solid brass table for his workshop and a wooden table that I decided to use in the kitchen since I don't have an island, but have room for one. It's pretty funky and not as tall as I'd like, but it's nice having the extra work space. I never know what Mike will show up with next and we now have a basement full of odds and ends. With a farm in our future, he's always thinking about what we might need and carts a lot of it home for my inspection.

Yesterday he said he was given a huge, very tacky chandelier I've not yet seen - for Lulu's future room. Lulu is the pig Mike wants as a companion when we move to the farm. He envisions her walking around the acreage with him as his good bud. So, when we build her little "room" in the barn, he's going to hang the chandelier right above it. Just for her.

How can you not love a man like that?

Here is what Lulu might look like... Lulu being the dainty one in the middle.

Keeping my fingers crossed

A man called Mike yesterday morning because he wanted to look at the condo; said it looked great on the flyer he picked up. He lives in the same neighborhood as the condo, only across the lake and in a house. He wants to buy it for his daughter, who is a "mess" and is losing her house in Florida because it's lost so much value. She just going to "walk away from it" he said. Anyway, he walked into the place and said, "I want it! Just like that! But... I don't want to get my hopes up too much because people talk. Mike said he seemed sincere and was an older, retired fella. The good thing is that he's familiar with the neighborhood and likes it there. So... I have my fingers crossed that he really does want to buy it. If he does, we could be spending Christmas in our cabin at our little farm - all cozy in front of the fireplace!

Sunday pictures, July 28, 2008

Yesterday Mike and I drove up to our farm in north Georgia; we felt like we were going on a mini-vacation and were in a good mood. The sky was blue even though it was quite hot. Normally here in the summer the blue sky turns to a light gray because of the heat and humidity. It's always a bit cooler at our farm though since it's at a higher elevation and away from the city.

About half way to the farm we noticed a new office building that also had sign out for the log cabin builder who created it. We really liked the style and stopped and walked around, going inside and just looking at all the different details. We really liked the railings on the porch.

The railings were also inside the house going up and down the staircases. When Mike opened one door on the second floor, we were greeted with kudzu trying to take over.

For those of you who have never seen kudzu, it can overtake huge trees and houses. It grows at an amazing rate - a foot a day. It was introduced to the southern US from Japan in 1930 for erosion control and has since taken over a lot of the countryside.

Image source:  forestryimages.org

When we arrived at the farm, Mike and I were pretty disappointed because our tenants haven't been keeping the acreage mowed for the first time in two years. They have a very reduced rental rate because they kept the place mowed and cleaned up so well, so we were feeling a bit taken advantage of. The water has stopped flowing into the pond too, which is a big issue. Going there yesterday has motivated us even more to move there as fast as possible even if it will only be part time.

I did get a good shot of the back of the cabin.

And another shot of our creek.

Here are are some scuppernongs our tenants planted. When we move there, we'll have both scuppernongs and muscadines - and lots of them. I'm going to try my hand at concord grapes too.

Here are the forming grapes.

Mike and I sat down to rest next to the pond and I shot a picture of our boots. They were wet from walking through the high grass and around the creek where it was damp.

We had one of our tenants shoot a picture of us since she was walking around with us for awhile. The picture was so dark I had to really lighten it and it makes the colors look pretty funky. But here we are nonetheless.

We didn't stay too long because it was pretty hot and we were kind of annoyed at the overgrown grass situation. We want to be in control of our property and feel too far away right now.

So we hit the road around 2:00 and passed "our" donkeys on the way back home. We always look to see if they're out when we drive by and when we see them say,"We'll gotta have some at the farm!" Yesterday we decided to stop just to watch the one who was out. As soon as we got out of the car another three came out of the barn and they all came over to see us. We hung out for awhile, talking and petting them, but I think they might have been expecting a hand-out since they got bored with us after a few minutes, silly things. They were so friendly and the cutest things though. Here is Mike with them.

And one of me with one of them "kissing" my arm. So cute.

We had a great day, but feel some added pressure to get to the farm as soon as we can. We're going to lower the condo price and start really pushing it. No resting on our laurels yet!