Where we began, where we're going.

Sun, 17 Nov 2019 01:44:15 GMT

Our farm life and why we're moving on

I realized that before we got too far into the gushy details of our bus build and travel plans, it might be important to give anyone out there reading a little backstory. I dont think I'll go into a lot of detail about what kind of farm we have or the animals we raise, maybe ill save that for another day. I do know I have a lot to get off my chest and you'll see what I mean near the end of the post. Bear with me, our life on the farm and all we've been through as a family comes with a load of emotions, so here goes. My wife Sarah and I have been married since October of 2011. We have known each other since we were kids, attending the same school since kindergarten and even the same college after high school. We were always a part of each others lives usually without even realizing it. We knew each other existed and even had many mutual friends but, that was it. We were not high school sweethearts, we didn't even date in college. It wasn't until we were in our late 20's that our worlds somehow collided and ultimately sparked the fast paced love story that neither of us saw coming. It was incredible, we had each found our soul mate. The funny part was, Sarah had been living in big cities, enjoying the luxuries of well paying jobs, fashion, the nightlife, etc. and I had been back here in Michigan renting my grandparents old place with a buddy, working in construction and slowly creating the idea of starting a farm on this run down homestead. Im not sure how but I convinced her to stay here, live with me on the farm and start our journey together. Her family found it comical that she would even consider moving back to Michigan, marry me and live in this old farmhouse. This was a woman who was driven by careers in the big city and a life that was far from our little town. Listen guys, im not sure if I can express it without going into a lot more detail, but it made me feel pretty confident that this amazing, beautiful woman truly loved me. In 2012 we bought the 25 acre property, the farm was up and running and together we worked to build our new life. On top of farming, we both continued to work off farm jobs, Sarah as a high school teacher and me as an electrician. In 2013 we started our family with our amazing little boy, J.B. We now have 3 beautiful kids, but more on those little goobers later. Anyone out there who is homesteading or farming knows that this life is hard. At times it can be one of the most demanding occupations there is, second to parenting of course. The farm was meant to be a means for our family to eat the healthiest, sustainable, raised-with-love food that we could grow. I wanted this to be a place of peace and fulfillment and a place we could raise our kids, teach them about life and where our food really comes from. I think in this day and age and maybe even "back in the day" when folks decided to start a farm its all about HOPE. We have hope for a better world, a cleaner environment, happy animals and healthier bodies. Its this pie in the sky idea which quickly morphs itself into the real life picture of what a farm truly is. I could probably write a book someday about starting a farm and the majority of it would be what NOT to do. Don't get me wrong, we have also had joy along the way but the reality is, we have learned the hard way with almost every single project, animal or product sold. Animals die, tools break, the weather sucks, products DONT always sell and the farm never seems to make enough money. Our business plan, or lack thereof wasn't working. The stress and the work load was taking its toll. We could see the strain it put on our relationships as a family and ourselves. Now, I'm not trying to lead anyone to believe that farming is a terrible idea, this has been a passion of mine for over a decade. I will never take for granted all of the benefits of being self sufficient and providing good food for our family, its amazing. We've become stewards of the land and our animals, so wherever we end up I know ill return to that passion. I urge everyone to raise their own chickens and at some point in you're life, you need to interact with a pig. These intelligent critters have so much personality and were always the life of the farm! All of the experiences and knowledge we gained, we will take with us wherever we go. We will never forget the connections we've made over the years with our amazing customers and people in the community. It has been a privilege to produce food for them and their families. They have trusted us, they believed in our vision and for that we are forever grateful. I think thats why it took us so long to realize what we needed to do. We thought this was it, this is what farming is. We were afraid to admit that we weren't happy constantly struggling with our sales markets, we weren't happy reinvesting every dollar (and then some) we made back into the farm and we weren't happy with where we lived. We wanted to explore. We longed to travel and see where we truly fit in. For most folks its easy to get caught up in the rat race. To be comfortable and complacent, even if we are not actually happy with where we are. This last year we decided to make some changes and so begins this new adventure. We may not know exactly where we are going, but we have our bus, we have the ambition and we have each other.

We bought a bus! Now what?..

Mon, 11 Nov 2019 23:14:53 GMT

We've bought the bus, its in the yard. Time to get to work!

I remember about a year ago sitting around on a cold fall evening, kids in bed and the wind outside is howling. It had been a long, trying season for us on our small farm (more on the farm life later) and we were exhausted. We felt a little lost and were ready to make some changes in our life. Problem was, we had no idea where to start or what we actually wanted. We imagined what life would be like if we didn't farm anymore, or if we could travel and explore other parts of the country. We would see the sights that we have never seen, visit places that intrigued us or sparked our curiosity. We had watched some amazing videos on the tube of folks that were homesteading in beautiful places, and others who had chosen a life of full time travel living a nomadic lifestyle. All of this seemed a little out of reach for us. How would we ever leave our home, our farm? How could we convince our family to come take care of the animals so we could explore all that this world has to offer? What if we bought a school bus and turned it into a tiny house?! Wait, what? For Sarah this was a very serious proposition, for me its was like, well yea I can build that I'm a fairly handy guy. So in January of 2019 we drove an hour north to see a bus, a $2000 craigslist special. As we approached the industrial park we could see her, all 40 feet of her bright red glory beaming from the dull empty parking lot she was stored in. We fell in love with her instantly. We knew so little about school buses so I literally took a google search crash course the day before going to see it. We also had to settle for a quick spin around the empty parking lot, but we could easily see that it ran really well, shifted and braked just as it should. We gave the guy a down payment with promise to be back in a week to pick it up! Holy crap... did we just buy a bus? The week between seeing our future tiny-home-travel-machine and picking it up had us feeling all the feels. We were so excited to begin a new venture and also terrified of what we were about to take on. See this idea started out very innocent and "safe". We were going to take the next year or two and convert this old bus into a modest tiny home/RV. Then we would take it on some short trips, planning around our farm schedule and growing seasons. We would rent the house out or do some sort of airbnb thing to justify our time away from our farm and jobs. Pickup day arrived, so we loaded the kids up in the minivan and headed north. The kids were so stoked that we were actually buying a bus and it had nothing to do with going to school! We paid the remaining balance and started the hour long trip home. As I pulled out of the lot, adrenaline rushing through my body I settled down just enough to realize, I've never driven a bus before. Long story short, we made it home and she drove like a dream! This amazing, powerful machine now sitting in our driveway represented something Beautiful. Its a new beginning, a chance to make the changes we longed for and the start to an amazing adventure, this was our Plan B.

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Where we began, where we're going.

Our farm life and why we're moving on

We bought a bus! Now what?..

We've bought the bus, its in the yard. Time to get to work!