Friday, October 02, 2009

Fall is a good time to reflect and plan. Today I’ve been thinking about my vision of the future and our homestead.

My yard is junky. I am sure I will always have junk; I'm very much a packrat by nature. It’s just that I'd like to get the junk organized. Very little of our homestead is organized yet, but this is how I’d like it to eventually look.

Starting from the gate, there would be a nice welcoming flower/herb garden that I can decorate for the various seasons and holidays (my favorite being fall and Halloween). I'd also like to have a big rock engraved with our farm name, whenever we decide what that will be. There is no shortage of big flat rocks I can use, and I would like to do the engraving myself. With power tools, not by hand. Or maybe with hand tools if it’s not too hard. I’m just not sure what tools that would be. I’ve used dremel on small rocks, so something along those lines, just bigger, I guess.

Second, I’d like the driveway to be a little more tame - not too much, but enough for cars to come through without having to dodge the rose brambles that are reaching out to grab them. A split rail fence would be really nice, but its way down on the list of priorities. Before that would be planting plants and trees that I like to see at the various times of year. A few Echinacea’s that I’d planted a couple years ago actually bloomed this summer and it was a real treat. I want more of that. Redbuds, dogwoods and forsythias are high on the list.

At momma and daddy’s camper, I’d like to put a picket fence around their little yard so the dogs and horses won't harass them while they're trying to sit outside. My horse is almost as bad as a dog for wanting to sit in your lap.

Going on down the driveway some more toward the house (the driveway is almost ½ mile long), I’d like the first thing you notice to be the giant old oak trees in the front. And my quaint little rocked up henhouse. Right now it's not rocked and it’s not quaint, but it will be once I pull the plastic down and put up the rocks, and take down the ragged little fence that I don't use anyway. There will also be the paddock for the horse during winter, and the goats and chickens the rest of the year.

Then I’d like visitors to drive up to the house and notice the beautiful rock steps and landscaping out front. The old house will be gone by then, and when folks come to visit, we'll sit on the front porch and soak in the view. Right now the view only includes the trees, since they're leafed out and blocking the view. But in winter, you can see over to the valley on the other side of the creek. And from the balcony on the loft bedroom, you can see out to a beautiful sunset in the west.
Oh, and I’d like for folks to be able to come visit without needing 4-wheel drive to get to the house. My dad’s been working hard on that one and has it almost taken care of. But I need a sabbatical to take care of the rest the vision, I think. It’s going to come along, but my vision is way ahead of reality ;)

2 comments:

Joyce Paski said...

Like that saying of Ellie's Dad in the movie "Contact" -- "Small steps, Ellie. Small steps." The nice thing about dreams is that by keeping them in the front of your mind and doing a little of this and a little of that, in a couple of years you'll find the heavy construction work will be done and you'll be in maintenance mode. Can't wait to see the pictures when it is! :D

Roxann said...

Hi Joyce, that's exactly what I'm trying to remember - and small steps do add up sooner or later. Thanks for visiting!