Category: Our Farmstead Journey

Originally posted October 10, 2022

A few weeks ago, what started as a simple day trip up to the farm for the purpose of replacing our lawnmower, turned into a much more productive weekend. We purchased the structural steel for the loft frame locally, as I could not find a supplier in the Gainesville area. I picked up a rental truck and loaded the steel and all my tools into it, and we made the two hour drive up to deliver everything to the farm.

The steel beams were quite heavy (20 ft x 4″ & 6″ C channel for those who work with steel) and I was on my own to try and unload them. It seems as of late I keep being faced by what appear to be insurmountable tasks. Afterward, I always find myself on the other side of the obstacle a little bit incredulous for what I have accomplished. The LORD keeps granting me enough determination, ingenuity, and strength to succeed. This, more than anything, solidifies the knowledge that we are on the correct path.

Now, with everything in place, I  cut all the pieces of the frame to the proper specs and we got most of them painted.

One more weekend will be spent to finish the paint, mark the walls for the install, and get the rigging in place to hoist the beams into position. Then the week of Thanksgiving will be spent welding everything in place. 

A very productive weekend, topped off by spending quality time catching up with some family we haven’t seen in a while.

Originally posted September 4, 2022

A shed that used to be a fully enclosed, insulated woodworking shop. In one corner, my father started to build a model train based on Gainesville area landscape. Over time, the train grew and grew, until it had consumed the entire space, pushing most of the tools out into the open air carport. 

When my wife and I came up to talk with my Mom about moving in to help her care for Dad, who is now in an advanced state of Alzheimers, a small miracle happened. My father, who was still physically active but unable to communicate, heard what we were talking about and started packing up the train. Over the next two months he had completely emptied the space all on his own. I can only see this as a sign of his acceptance for our plans.

Now after several weekends of cleanup and organization the workshop is starting to reappear. Next phase will be to build out some basic work surfaces and shop fixtures to get the space functioning again, and clean and maintain  the tools

Additionally, we successfully removed the storage loft from the steel building that will be living space. This gets us back to a blank slate, otherwise known as ready to start new construction. 

I feel this has been an important milestone on our journey towards our new farmstead.

Originally posted June 18,2022

This is the steel building my father was using to renovate an aging sailboat.

Our plan is to turn this building into living space. The cleanup has been daunting to say the least, with at least 2 decades of accumulation filling every free space.

We have put four weekends into hauling off over 5000 lbs of useless debris and painstakingly organizing the mountain of tools, lumber, and hardware that we have recovered in the process. 

Fortunately, that will all be reused as we proceed with building out this space, the workshop that will occupy a separate outbuilding, and future gardening and livestock needs.  Two more weekends ahead to finish cleanup and disassemble the existing loft before starting new construction. It’s been worth every drop of sweat we’ve put into it thus far and so much more! 

Originally posted May 6,2022

When I was but 3 years old, my parents, newly born sister and I moved onto this 40 acre plot of woodland a couple of miles outside of Gainesville, FL. I spent my youth in the woods, informally learning about life, love, nature, and hard work. 

Now at 51 years, my wife and I are preparing to return to this land to help my mother care for my father whose health is failing, and rebuild the farm into a source of produce and livestock. 

We couldn’t be happier to be set on this path, and excited for the challenges we will be facing!