Our Big Family and Little Homestead: The August 2015 Trip (Part 2)

Daniel checking out where the temporary housing will go

Once we arrived and found the house in ruins, we changed housing direction. It took me at least an hour to relax about what had happened. I was very upset, however, my husband pointed me in a new direction. He said not to worry, we had other plans in our mind before, they just get to be priority now. We discussed what we would do with the lumber from the old house for a bit. I'm excited about using it for the barn. I am big on recycling. I really hate to toss anything in the trash.

We have locked down the plan of living in a camper, yes a camper, until house can be built. We want to build the house without loans. This will be hard and take a lot of time, but worth it. To have no note will be awesome!!!! I have picked a plan. A very simple plan based off of a double wide mobile home I saw. Now we are just deciding where to put camper while we build. I am more of the idea of living up by the road. Daniel wants to put the camper up the hill where the house will be built. I am beginning to lean towards his idea.

The house will be built about 700ft from the road. That's about 2 1/2 football fields. I like the idea of the winding road up to the house. You won't always be able to see the house from the road. Very private. Our little gravel road to the new house spot goes up and down and veers right. It was the road the logging trucks used when they logged the property a few years ago. I think it's the perfect spot.

One of my HUGE Pecan Trees

As we began to explore the land more, I found treasures everywhere. There are about 20 full grown pecan trees with pecans already growing. I found about 60 or more in other stages of life from sapling to about 10 feet tall. The thought of all the fresh pecan pies Mamie will be able to bake makes daddy very happy. The kids can't wait to harvest them.

We also have several other trees growing all over. When Daniel makes pastures for the large animals, the trees will give them shade on sunny days. The kids have also asked daddy to put some zip lines across the property. He is thinking about adding that to our existing play house swing set we have. Alicia wants to attach it to a tree and add on to it. She and John have some great playhouse ideas for sure. That is what I wanted when we made the decision to move to land. I want my kids imagination to go beyond minecraft. I want them outside breathing fresh air, exploring, building real things.

A little to excited?

We brought the kids back to the rental cabin and set off into the woods, just the two of us. We found even more surprises. Daniel stumbled onto a patch of blackberry bushes. I love blackberries. I was more that just a little excited about the bamboo we found. It was so tall. I was amazed. It was at the bottom of a small hill. Also at this spot we saw where water pools. We are hoping to place a pump here to fill the pond he will dig. I was hoping to find a spring, but no luck yet. We spent a couple hours just exploring and discussing future plans. It was so quiet. Only the sounds of the woods. I can't wait to see what other things we will stumble on.

Big!!!

Daniel and a couple of the kids went back another day and explored some more. They found deer tracks everywhere. He wants to hunt so bad. We saw turkey along the roads so he is hoping the property will have some too. I just hope I can learn how to skin and prepare these animals. I have never had to do that before.

Grass as tall as Daniel

We took lots of pictures. Many of just the flora and fauna there. I loved how green and thick the vegetation was. It also had rocks and gravel. This is good. Here are a few of the pics we took.