I am delighted, excited and a little saddened to announce that I will no longer be living farm life come August.
E and I purchased a home in Cranbrook on an acre at the beginning of spring. We move in one month and we are both filled with a mix of emotions.
The new house is a perfectly sized home for us and our dogs, with a beautiful wrap around porch, a fenced-in front yard, and more space for a garden than we really know what to do with.
I’ve always dreamed of having a cute house with a big porch where I can enjoy my morning coffee, have barbecues, read a book or do yoga.
There’s a house out near Wasa on the Lazy Lake road - it’s a big green house - and it has this stunning wrap around porch. Every time we drove past it I would put it out into the universe that I’d one day have a similar porch. So when the listing for our new place came up, you better believe I had that ‘meant to be’ feeling in my gut.
Although we will miss living on the farm, we are so excited for this new adventure. It’s truly a dream come true to not only have a home of our own, but some land to boot.
I’m so very fortunate and grateful to have been able to rent a beautiful old farmhouse on a stunning piece of property for the past three years. And while the farm has most certainly been home for us, it never really felt like our home. Our future was always uncertain. When you’re renting, none of your decisions can truly be permanent.
To walk through the front door of our new home knowing that this is our safe place is something I will cherish forever. It’s a place where we will hopefully start a family. A place where we will inevitably fight over trivial things like the shade of a paint colour or which faucet to buy. We’ll make amazing meals and share late night chats with friends. It’s where we’ll catch up with family. We’ll build a beautiful garden, one we’ve always dreamed of. It’s a place where we will continue to learn and to grow.
We’re looking forward to building an entirely new garden and a lovely little outdoor space to relax in. We’ll build a fire pit come fall when we can safely do so. Our guest bedroom is tiny, so we plan to spruce up our camper, ‘Vincent VanGuard’, as an extra place for friends and family to stay if need be.
We’re looking forward to being in town again and riding our bikes around. We’re looking forward to being part of a community again. (That said, we will miss our Fort Steele neighbours. You know who you are.)
We hope that in the future we can buy a big property of our own, but for now we have our own little slice of paradise. I will continue to write about our adventures and endeavours. After all, we can start researching perennials now! Plus, I am sure there will be many an house update and shenanigan to share with you all over the next little while.
So while my column may no longer be called ‘Farm Life’, I will still share my stories, and the stories of other local farmers and growers, for as long as my editor and publisher will let me.
Here’s to being broke for the foreseeable future, building yet another new garden (third time’s the charm, right?), and to making memories that will last the rest of our lives.
A huge thank you to our parents and to our realtor Tara - we could not have done it without you.