A new dream... That involves even more dirt!

We have abandoned ship. Aborted the mission. Given up. The Upper Thames River Conservation Authority has won. 

We will NOT be building our new dream home on 10 acres on the Thames River. 👎🏻

Shocked? Us too. 

We had made 'being able to build' a condition on the purchase of the property, so we were able to back out without penalty. Phew!

Although we have spent over $5,000 on house plans, site plans and we even applied for a minor variance with the municipality. Ugh... I guess it's better than being stuck owning a very expensive camp site!?

We've actually changed courses a little bit. The property on the river was 10 acres of beautiful trees and of course the river. But it was also quite hilly and had a pretty steep slope, so although beautiful, the land was kind of useless. 

We've decided to shift our focus to more of a hobby farm. Jake wants to have some goats and sheep, the girls are dying for ponies and I want a gigantic garden and lots and lots of bees and chickens! 

We've been looking at farms and acreages for the past couple of months and are happy to report that we have found our forever home! Yay!

 

The house is absolutely beautiful, from the outside! The inside needs a bit of an update. It was built in 1995 so there are pink carpets throughout along with beautiful green accents. Nothing a little elbow grease and a few gallons of paint can't fix. 

Although we're looking forward to updating the inside, the majority of our focus is going to be outside on the acerage surrounding the house. 

We have plans to have a few acres of permaculture orchard as well as a large pumpkin patch, chicken coop, pasture for some goats, sheep, and ponies and of course a giant garden my grandpa Brand would be proud of. 

We've chosen the name Root & Rooster for our farm and are working on designing the layout of the orchard. We need to get the trees planted as soon as possible because they will take a few years to reach a mature harvest. 

Wondering what permaculture is? It's a form of sustainable agriculture that works WITH nature as opposed to trying to get nature to do what we want with chemicals and modifications. It will produce the best food you've ever tasted!

Once we're up and running, you'll just have to come see for yourself!