A May Day adventure
Between getting engrossed
in farm projects and Mark having to rush up to Ohio to see his father
in the hospital last week, we never did make an April holiday
happen. So May Day seemed mandatory. Luckily, our
movie-star neighbor wanted us to walk over a neighboring property that
his intentional community is planning on purchasing, and that seemed
like a good May Day activity. The weather cooperated with beautiful sun but cool temperatures, so we headed out to hike.
Even though the land is
less than a mile and half from our house (as the crow flies), this
south-facing slope is about a week ahead of us in terms of leaf
development. I can't explain the huge bole on this tulip-tree,
though.
After
our lesson in microclimate (and a walk through a beautiful, maturing
forest), we headed down into a sinkhole and then up the other side a
little way to see a seep and spring. The spring had been boxed in
so long ago that nature had taken over the spring box and it almost
seemed natural. Until, that is, I peered closely and noticed that
the stones were carefully stacked by human hands. I took a sip
since you can so rarely safely drink found water, but the taste was a
bit mossy.
Our neighbor found
fragments of what was probably a plate in the seep. We peered at
the old objects, then put them back for the next person to find.
The
land hosts an ancient barn and a tumbling-down house, both of which we
had to explore. The house had brick walls infilled between wood
and then plastered over --- very unusual in our region. The
outside, though, was trimmed with wooden clapboard just like the old
house that used to stand on our own property.
We had a fun adventure, and I might have even come out of it with a new author photo for my upcoming book. What do you think of this shot for the back cover of The Naturally Bug-Free Garden?
(Information on sale price removed since it's not quite sold yet.)
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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Dear Sister,
I need to figure out if I am ever going to buy land before I do this, but I was wondering about your afterthought about cheap land. Can you offer advice for the many people like me on meager incomes who would be willing to finance for dirt cheap?
I was talking with a land owner in a tiny coal town nearish to you who said he will sell me ONE acre for 100 dollars a month for 4 years. It was more per acre than most land I guess.
I am not buying it, but I am interested in thoughts on financing land on as small as possible each month. How low do people go monthly, which is how some of us live?
Also, any ideas about the decision making process would be cool. I am far from buying land, but I some thought provoking questions that I could ask myself might help me if I ever do buy land.
I am glad you had such fun yesterday. It is the best day off.
Daddy --- Interesting! Thanks for sharing. I'd never seen a house like that, but it sounds like I just haven't visited old enough houses.
Maggie --- The best advice I have is what I put in the fourth chapter of Trailersteading. I've put it the file in the family annex in case you haven't seen it.
Hi All,
It seems to me the real issue is taxes.
If the land were given to you, could you afford to keep it?
Many older folks don't really want to own anything. Make a real offer. Such as "I will take care of you until you pass on and then I get the property." Or put more simply I will be your slave :).
I think Anna puts it well. You gotta show you do what you say first! Then the offers come in.
But can I then afford to keep it? How long? Doing what?
Old folks have some pretty good ideas. Fruit, permaculture.
You get the idea?
Just my two cents :).
John
Sounds like quite a lovely day! Having been trained in Historic Preservation, my thoughts on the home mirrored Errol's. Doesn't look like there is any decoration left, as in many homes prior to the Civil War had painted decorations on the walls. That would have been interesting to see
A few years ago we visited an Aunt in Tazwell, Va- it was awesome going on our drives through the mountains. There were many such run down farms hidden away. It's been a flight of fancy ever since to move down to one of those old farms. Unfortunately all the family is pretty much here, so its doubtful it would ever happen. Good dream though!
According to this link:
According to the pottery and porcelain of the US, the factory was located in East Liverpool, Ohio.
So the pieces you found are at least a century old.