In The Beginning

  Being a year into this journey I struggled with where and what to start with, so I figure we'll just start at the beginning, like Star Wars Episode I, except without Jar Jar Binks.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... Just kidding.

   This all started with my father's vision of having a family compound and farm for him to retire on here in the Alabama gulf coast. When we were all approached about the opportunity and he pitched his vision to us, my older sister and I (and our spouses) were the only ones truly interested in taking part. So the search began for a piece of property large enough for my parents, and us five children and our families (just in case the other decided that they wanted to join us).  He started looking for something around 40 acres, which would be plenty of room for 4 houses, farm land, pastures, orchards, greenhouses, hunting preserve, and a hardwood forest.  And a creek was also a plus.  I know, thats a lot for 40 acres, but it can be done, we've seen family homesteads on less than an acre.

   The first 40 that we looked at was beautiful, very picturesque with a house, hunting grounds, out-building, shed, and even a creek. After walking around, we all liked it, but it wasn't quite the one. Since we had all gotten our hopes up for the first one he showed us (I tend to see something or catch a vision and run away with it, and of course I'm disappointed when it doesn't happen like I imagined it), I asked that they not show us one until they were ready, after all, it was their money, their retirement, and their legacy to pass on.

   The next one we looked at was a blank slate if you would, it had a "creek" in the wetland area, and a little hunting plot. They originally talked about just buying 20 acres, but when it was all said and done, my dad was convinced that we needed 40. I'm glad he went with more, it will give us more room to do everything we want. 

   They made the purchase in the late spring/early summer of 2013. Since then we started by planning divisions, marking lots, posting "no trespassing" signs, exploring, and began the VERY strenuous and stupid process of trying to clear thick underbrush with machetes and other hand and gas tools. It was like trying to kill an elephant with a pellet gun or chopping down the mightiest tree in the forest using a herring. One day my brother and I managed to cut a 20' wide, 200'+ long path/road with gas powered weed wackers with a the brush cutter attachment in about 4 hours. After taking pictures, we heard, "that's it?" as if we were just piddling around the whole time. If this was a deciduous forest, it would have been no problem, we could have cleared this with a few chainsaws, but this was thick innertwined underbrush, in the middle of an Alabama summer, in pants and long sleeves! It wasn't just hard, it was stupid. Eventually we dug into our pockets and hired some experts to do some clearing for us. 

The next phase was to look at setting up essentials like power and water. Stay tuned...