This is a guest post and entry in Round 1 of the Farm Dreams writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A $300 gift certificate toward any purch

This is a guest post and entry in Round 1 of the Farm Dreams writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A $300 gift certificate toward any purchase of Featherman Poultry Processing Equipment, including pluckers, knives and more!

Second Prize: A 164' roll of electric poultry netting from Kencovevalued at $140!

Third Prize: A large heirloom pack of assorted seeds from Baker Creek (northern or southern region) plus a copy of Jere and Emilee Gettle's recently published book The Heirloom Life Gardener.Valued at $125!

Fourth Prize: A $55 gift certificate good toward any purchase at Lehman's!

Round 1 ends began January 15 and ends March 15 so GET BUSY WRITING and email your entry to us today!

Embracing the Dream, by E. Samek

For several generations, both my husband’s and my families have been people of rural community. From small scale hay farming to large grain crops, from meat goats to beef and dairy cattle, both sides of our family have been close to the land. I grew up outside of a small town in North Florida, however, my husband lived in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, so when we married, I left the country and moved to the city. For years it has been a joke for my husband (and later children) that when I needed to go to the store, I would say “I’m going to town," especially since we didn’t just live in town, but we lived in the big city. For over twenty-one years, this country girl has been living in the city, but as the saying goes, “you can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl” So during these years, the dream of country life lay dormant. It hasn’t always been easy to lay it down and wait for the right timing, especially when I didn’t know what that timing would be, if ever.

Summer of 2011 began with some significant changes for us when we were given the option to move to the family farm where my husband’s grandparents lived for many years. The farm with which we started was full of potential: a small three bedroom house with a one car garage, a large garden area, a spacious yard, a four-bay equipment shed attached to a chicken coop, and a workshop. The large barn hosting a hay loft, feed rooms, and grain bins holds a history of its own with wooden pegs as nails in its hand hewn beams. At first glance, the transition seemed aloft with inspiration and a breeze to attain: we clean it up, do a bit of remodel, move in and by spring we are ready for a garden and some chickens.

The second glance took a bit longer as we began to inventory the things that needed to be done: what had to be done before we could move, what could wait until after we were there, and what would be a year or more down the road. For everything that needed to be finished before moving, there were three or four things that had to be completed first. It was heartbreaking to see how little care was taken by the renters during the ten years since Granny passed away.

An inventory of the problems seemed to grow with every visit: in the workshop, the concrete floor was all broken and all the drawers with old bolts and rusty tools were scattered everywhere. The four-bay equipment shed was full of old tires and broken appliances. The garage was overrun with dirt dabbers and their lovely nests, as well as numerous bags of old rotten smelly trash. The interior of the farmhouse wasn’t much better: an old refrigerator full of spoiled food, trash left in the different rooms, old clothes and shoes no longer wanted, junk Christmas decorations in the attic, covers all off the air conditioning vents, leaky pipes in the bathroom, a leaky toilet sitting on a rotten floor, ceiling fans with no lights or blown bulbs, dust and dirt that coated everything, kitchen cabinets that were filthy, floors that were repulsive enough that none of us wanted to walk on them barefoot (and very few of us like wearing shoes at all).

The grounds, in general, were in terrible shape with old burn barrels left in the yard, broken glass scattered around, old large watering troughs in the barnyard that had been used to burn trash, overgrown brush along the fence lines, around the house and outbuildings. The chicken coop doors could not even be opened because of the trees. Granny's beautiful old roses, left to grow wild for the last decade, were mixed in with the other brush so that it was difficult to even see them. The flower beds were totally overgrown with either weeds, trees or tall grasses. The fruit trees: peach, apricot and pear haven’t been pruned in many years. The pipe fence that Grandpa put in decades ago is badly in need of cleaning and painting. All over the place there is a mixture of ancient treasures among a bunch of trash and junk. There are things left over from my husband’s grandparents like the old milking machine, old wheelbarrows, belts for every size tractor or mower possible, and a wagon that Grandpa built; as well as some things the renters left behind, like old ceramic propane heaters, lawn mower parts, scrap lumber, and nasty furniture. In other words, every building, every shed, every yard, every pen, everywhere you look: something else to clean up!!!

To move or not to move ...that is the question. Or so it became for us. What to do? Would it be worth it? Do the benefits outweigh the costs? Would the family flourish in the country? Many discussions took place over the summer as we moved in that direction, but we still weren’t totally committed to that path.

To me, it was a no brainer! We could move to the country, have our children grow up in a rural North Texas community with a population of 800, and enjoy the benefits of country life: growing our own food, raising chickens, milking goats, roaming the creek, climbing trees, harvesting pecans, and having more than a hundred acres for our children to explore during their next adventure story. My realistic husband, on the other hand, was a bit more pragmatic: work, work, work and money, money, money. On a farm there is ALWAYS work to do and everything seems to cost more than originally planned. He doesn’t want to get stuck doing all the work should our children lose sight of the vision, and unfortunately, money will not grow on those fruit trees, pruned or not! The other question was space  although our two oldest kids would probably not be part of the equation, the other six, fourteen years down to eighteen months old, would be. How could we fit eight people in a small, less than 1300 square foot house with one bathroom, one toilet, and one vanity sink? Did I mention that of those six kids, five of them are GIRLS! Need I say more? Coming from a 3200 square foot house, with three and half bathrooms, which has always been pretty full, how could we move into this little farmhouse, have space to live, do laundry, homeschool the kids, have my husband work from home, have room for a few of the hundreds of books we own, and still function without going batty on top of one another? It would be a trick for sure!

Not everyone we talked to thought it was a good plan. In fact, some family members thought it a really bad idea, but there were others who thought it was fantastic. Everyone had an opinion! Out of respect for those who we know love us and want what is best for us, we evaluated them all!

Would it be easy? Probably not! But we aren’t afraid of getting our hands dirty! Would it be quick? Sure, we would fix a few things and then off we’d go! (HA!) Could we do the work needed? Probably. On the surface there were just a few things to fix, simple stuff like cleaning, fixing a few pipes, putting in an electrical outlet or two, building some  shelves, adding a light or two, painting some walls, but nothing major! (HA! HA!!) Looking back on it, how naïve we were! At least maybe I was; my husband tends not to be so idealistic. He just lets me dream on.

After much prayer, many discussions and plenty of list making sessions, we decided to GO FOR IT! Embracing the dream was a matter of having a vision to see past the dirt, grime, filth, smell, neglect and age to see what the farm could be. With vision comes motivation! So together, our family began our adventure to reveal the treasure in the gift of the family farm.

Where to start? Cleaning, of course. In late summer we started cleaning up. The first thing was to take out the trash, so that’s what we did; bags and bags of trash, followed by more bags and bags of trash: trash from the yard, trash from the garage, and trash from the house. For the first several weeks in our clean up, we hauled out anywhere from 5-10 large fifty gallon bags full. It was great to have it going out, but it seemed to be never ending!

After the trash, we began cleaning and scrubbing; white vinegar has become our favorite product! It isn’t very expensive, it cuts grease and grime, and we have used gallons of it. Although I am not a fan of the vinegar smell, it is no longer even noticeable to me. Since we had not yet contracted for propane service, we used a camp stove and a large stock pot to heat water. Gallons of hot water, white vinegar, and lots of cleaning rags: these are the best tools to clean just about anything.

With the help of a few friends from Noonday Farms, the girls (14, 11 and 8 years old) and I have scrubbed floors, walls, blinds, ceilings, ceiling fans, sinks, tubs, refrigerators, dishes that were left full of spoiled food, walls covered in old dirt dabber nests, drawers and cabinets full of signs from unwanted visitors (mice nests and other deposits), sinks full of icky, grimy who-knows-what, crates of junk in the garage, and the kitchen range. As my daughter “C” put it as she crinkled her nose, “I now know what GROSS really is!”

Getting the place cleaned was a job of mass proportions, and even when we thought it was clean, we would find more that needed attention. Unfortunately, the cleaning was just the beginning. After getting past the first layer, it was time for repairs and renovations!

As we started evaluating which repairs took priority and what was entailed in completing them, we decided that we should probably get some help. We phoned a friend, Mr. M, who has proven to be invaluable to the restoration adventure. There are some people who just know how to do things, most anything; that would be Mr. M. He came equipped with  the right tools, willing and able to not only complete the jobs, but  bringing with him a heart patient enough to mentor us along the way with his expertise. 

Thus far, each repair we have tackled has been an adventure all its own. From the kitchen floor to the bathroom floor, from the garage remodel to putting in a plug for the travel trailer, from fixing the hot water leak to getting the furnace working, each simple item on the to-do list became a major event. However, in the midst of the process, we have grown and learned. I know a lot more about plumbing, electrical work, and drywall than I knew before; and having grown up on a farm, I knew a thing or two about working with my hands. The girls have learned to work together in a way that they have never really had to before. We have all grown comfortable with going out behind a bush with no bathroom for three weeks. We have all kept working while feeling ill, because we knew the task needed to be done. Much to our own surprise, we have discovered that yes, we can do this even with difficult circumstances. When friends were not able to help with packing or moving, our family has pulled together to accomplish what was needed anyway. Amongst the girls, there is a new appreciation for keeping things clean, and most of all, each of them have enjoyed that sense of pride in looking at what they have worked on all day long, when they were past exhaustion and ready to collapse, knowing that they have contributed something of value.

It is the process! Embracing a dream is more than a momentary thought or decision. It is about taking hold of the opportunity, working through the difficulties that hinder process, always looking ahead to see what it can be. It is easy to see what is, but to see a dream come true, you have to see beyond what is to see what is to come. Only then can you work through the steps to bring what can be into reality.  There have been lots of lessons in flexibility and patience, planning and patience, all the while learning practical skills like plumbing, painting, drywall, concrete repair....and patience! Did I mention that this process has required a tremendous amount of patience?

As always, developing patience sometimes requires tears, and difficulties require endurance, often hanging on for dear life to the dream.  Has the dream been fully realized? No, but we are well on the way. We have moved into the farmhouse, although we've not finished unpacking.  Actually, we haven't even finished moving everything from the city block house, but we have the essentials like beds, clothes, food, and toys for the little ones. We are discovering daily something else that needs to be done, or needs to be bumped up higher on the long term to-do list. An exciting venture to be sure; one that no doubt will be filled with surprises for years to come, both challenges and rewards.  Regardless of the difficulties, we are choosing to embrace the dream, bring life back to the family farm, and with it re-establish the family heritage on the land in this community.