And So, We Officially Celebrate Land Ownership

Yesterday I received a phone call from the notary that rather anti-climatically informed us…the sale is complete. It’s done. It’s ours.

Today, this 10.2 acres is ours.

I laughed and asked when the marching band would arrive and who was baking me a cake. Without keys to pick up or a front door to open for the first time…the feeling of ‘home’ hasn’t quite sunk in yet – no matter though, since the rather daunting list of things that need to get done before we can begin our migration just keeps growing. That right there is enough to distract from any disappointment in the lack of land purchase celebrations and party hats.

I posted on Instagram about the challenges we already know lay ahead in what we’re attempting to do – in no small part due to the time frame under which we are doing so. Perhaps we’ve completely lost our minds, are complete romantics or just reckless.

Or perhaps we can actually pull this off. And without killing or leaving each other in the process.

Scott and I have been together for a little under half a decade now. Not even quite five years. As impossible as that seems even as I write it (while simultaneously counting milestones in my head to triple check and make sure it’s the truth) that’s just a plain old fact. In that time, we’ve grown to love each other more than even the initial early days of star-crossed eyes. It’s easy to fall in love when things are new. It’s much harder to stay in love through challenges (planned or unplanned, purposeful or complete fluke). A few years ago we could barely make it through a road trip without an argument about a missed turn or some other inconsequential blip. I think about how many turns we miss every single day now and am grateful we can approach them collaboratively instead of combatively in our wise old age as thirty-somethings.

So what the hell was I rambling about the other week?

That’s perhaps what you might be wondering, since I promised a more detailed explanation and as of yet have only offered a few more tease-y glimpses into where we are in the process. So now, with the paperwork complete and everything officially green lit…I suppose I owe you the details.

This year we have invested heavily into our goats and of course remain ardent chicken lovers who want to want the best for our multi-generation flock of mostly mutts. So naturally, my first priority was making sure we had a contractor lined up to construct the perfect framework for a buck frathouse, doe spa zone and in between those two areas a new chicken chalet. Fencing for about an acre of space divided up between each of them will be ordered on Monday and we feel good about our plan to have them settled in by the end of the month.

So what about us?

If you’ve ever contemplated what it takes to build a cabin or house, it’s slightly more complex than a chicken coop. Not to mention a wee bit more expensive. Plus this time of year is when everyone wants to build – so finding the right person for the job, this home that we want to be the place where we raise our kids, entertain family and friends and grow old in rocking chairs together…we don’t want to compromise on this.

But with a baby due in November and a need to be off Cortes by the end of August…we had to get creative.

The plan is a 16×20 space with sleeping areas for Isla and us (plus new babe) to keep us cozy and warm through the winter. This 16×20 space is a canvas wall tent.

The ‘deluxe’ kind. So you know it’s good.

Yes, friends. We’ll be raising our babies while we get acquainted with our land from a tent. This may concern you – don’t worry. We’ve spent the last three months researching different options and feel really confident that this is the best approach that meets our needs, priorities and timeline to get started on Quadra.

Are you concerned? I wouldn’t be surprised. Think we might end up hating each other by February? Yeah, that’s something we want to be very careful/mindful about too. But make no mistake, we have a healthy comfortable safety net with my parents just a ferry ride away (plus a half dozen folks on Quadra who we can count on as good friends who’ve already been a huge help as this process is getting started). Everything we’re doing is a bit of a calculated risk, but it’s not without a tremendous amount of time spent calculating…and re-calculating.

So here we are. Land owners. A month out from leaving our current address, three and a half months out from meeting Isla’s sibling, farm baby #2.

Tonight, we celebrate chaos, crazy and all the dreams (and nightmares) that lie ahead of us.