My American Dream

This place is my American dream, not someone else's, although I'm sure there are others out there that share this same dream. It is not for everybody. For years we drove past farms or a potential farm and said, 'No, not that one, the pond is too close to the house - mosquitoes,' or, 'not that one, the barn is too close to the road,' or 'barn is too far from the house,' etc. We looked at places that were too expensive, we could not get a loan without hitting the lottery. We were like Goldilocks; nothing was ever really just right.

We thought that our particular dream would happen when we retired, selling our house and moving out of the area. We would then have to buy a ready-made farm because we'd be too old and weak to put in our own fences and buildings. We would have to settle on someone else's idea of a perfect farm. And this was ok with us for many years, just waiting to live our dream later. Waiting.

We had made plans, planned out when we would retire. Then reality hit. The economy tanked, lost money in the 401(k), our house was worth half of what it was only a short time ago, fuel and utilities were at an all-time high, business was more than just 'off.' Our target retire date was getting pushed back nearly 10 years! He said it looked like he was going to have to work until he was 69. I told him he wouldn't live that long, because I was going to kill him! I certainly didn't want to be in my seventies, waiting for him to get home from the job!

We originally started looking in Arkansas, land and farms were cheap, but changed our minds because of the weird weather events and the New Madrid Fault. We looked in Kentucky and Tennessee, but eliminated those places because of politics, weather and usable Park land. North and South Carolina was next, and that had the same issues as the others. Pennsylvania is too far north, but with climate change it might not be too cold in another 10 years, but real estate prices were creeping up.

I talked to lots of folks that were already living the dream, some not enjoying it. Maybe I should rethink my dream? Some were living so far from their job, it took trains, buses and more trains to get there. Four hours or more daily spent getting to their employment. Others had a place but didn't like it because the barn was so far from the house that getting to it was inconvenient, or their neighbors didn't like living next to horses. After the 30 inches of snow we got last winter I heard even more complaints that made an impression on me. Hearing about a collapsed barn roof or two, or knocking snow drifts off the barn was not my kind of thrill.

We thought we would stay right where we were, continue boarding our boys and living an urban life-style, using public transportation and walking to the store and the movies. Our house was paid for, we still had the place in West Virginia to visit if we wanted to enjoy the country life with bright stars and clean air, we didn't have to drive to it each day like others do. The boys were well taken care of at the boarding barn within 15 minutes of our house.

A couple three, five things changed within a short stretch of time and Tom found on the internet this wreck of a foreclosure sitting on 10 acres, with access to the Patuxent River State Park and a big swath of the utility's right-of-way available for our farm use, bringing our acreage to 17+, and the rest is a crazy, whirl-wind life-changing event, plus in the county where we already lived. I sometimes have to pinch myself!

Because we've had the place in West Virginia for almost twenty years, we had the Ford 1320 4x4 tractor with lots of attachments that come with it, and the flatbed trailer, plus tools, chain saws, air compressor, welder, and everything else you can imagine needing on a working farm. If we had to buy that stuff now none of this would have been possible. We already had a big honking truck and TWO horse trailers. That living quarters trailer really made the transition possible when we discovered we didn't have hot water and no working bathing facilities. This is a place that just keeps on giving! We also used it to move all of our stuff, no need to rent a U-Haul!

The pieces fell into place. We seemed to have all the right things that could make this change possible, if not perfect. There is nothing so sweet as hearing the boys nicker in the morning when they know I'm coming through the gate. They know the sound of my car, too. I'm the biggest horse in the field now.

If not now, when? Wait long enough and we'll all be too old and weak to lift a water bucket, climb the hayloft ladder, or throw a bale of hay down the chute. Why are we postponing our dreams, our life? Is this going to be a life lived unfulfilled, working all our lives, never realizing a dream? If not now, when?