Leaving the Farmhouse (for Now)

While my family was at our Farmhouse for the first time, a good friend of mine sent me a voice memo saying I looked like, “a woman in love.” She was right. The feeling I experience while in our new-to-us house is the sort of feeling I’ve only experienced while living in Venice. It’s the feeling of loving a physical place as completely as I love a person. It’s the feeling of home.

You can imagine how reluctant I was to leave. For the second time in a year, Adam and I closed and locked the front door of a (tiny) home we love, and begrudgingly left. But, unlike the cottage, we’ll return to the farmhouse one day soon.

The bright side of this is, of course, being reunited with our four-legged family members. I refuse to be separated from StanLee (our senior beagle-mix) for too long. When I first adopted him 13+ years ago I was working in France from 2-4 months per year. Eventually I just couldn’t stand being away from him, so I stopped going. 

Adam and I would’ve loved to take the pups with us on this first visit to the farmhouse, but there was no way I was putting them through the trauma and risks of air travel for a one month stay… especially after driving them across the entire US earlier this year.

So, as planned, we’re back on the east coast for the time being. 

Why so short a trip, rather than a forever move? 

Well, lots of reasons. All of which we knew in advance. 

The point of this first stay was not to relocate completely, but to instead meet with local contractors, establish plans for the first round of restoration work, get a better understanding of the land and structures since we’d purchased it all sight-unseen, and to make sure we hadn’t dreamt the whole place up to begin with. 

The most pressing issue is that the farmhouse roof and ceilings are in desperate need of major repair— an issue of which we were aware going into the acquisition. There is some water damage that compromises the integrity of the building, while likely being unsafe for the little ones and their developing respiratory systems. Despite the fact that the house looks fairly large in photos due to the outbuildings, the residence is under 800 sqft, so there can be no relocating to one room or another while the restoration is underway. Instead, the entire home will be unlivable throughout the duration of the roofing project.

While this major, urgent work is being conducted (and shared with us in realtime via WhatsApp… so we can share it with you too!), we’ll be focusing on our tiny cottage build and newly completed greenhouse in the southeast. The prairie cottage is slated to be built this the fall. I’ll share the entire process here, and I’ll continue to post images and updates from the farmhouse.

Our trip to France was also brief due to medical considerations. Upon our return, I had a simple surgery from which I’m currently healing. Plus, my parents and Adam’s folks all have various health-related issues to handle, and we intend to be here in case anyone needs our help. And, of course, Léa’s doctors are keeping track of her growth and development after her IUGR. (So far so good, thankfully.) 

As I’ve expressed before, the farmhouse is a forever home for us. We’ll be there again soon when the timing is even better.