Life in this 1817 farmhouse

About twelve or so years ago, we used to live in this old 1817 farmhouse ~ I grew up in a farmhouse when I was a little girl, but when I got married and I got away from the farmhouse life. 

We found this farmhouse to rent, and our plans were to buy or build a house later.  Little did we know that this old farmhouse would become home to us for the next 13 years.   I found out later that this house used to be an log cabin.

I remembered the first day of January in 1998 when we peeked into these farmhouse windows, I felled in love with this little place.  

It was only $300.00 a month for the next thirteen years.  It was such a cheap place to live with its well water and wood stove for heat.  This farmhouse taught me how to slow down and lived a more simpler life.

 

 

This farmhouse had two bedrooms down stairs, a living room, one bathroom, a kitchen, a laundry room and a large attic room.  Two of my girls used to sleep in the attic when the weather allowed them to.  In the winter, it was too cold up there, and in the summer, it was too hot at times.   

When I first moved here, I didn't bake or cook from scratch.  I didn't know how to can or even plant a garden.  I look back now and wished that I would have kept a journal on our everyday life.  What it was like learning how to do all these things, and journaling about our life there.

( In the photo above was my garden and this little white cat showed up one morning on Christmas day, 

so we named her Christmas)

 Over time, little by little I began to slow my life down. I planted a small garden and strung up lines for a clothes line.  I learned how to canned, and I learned how to make my meals from scratch.  I was falling in love with the old fashion way of life.  Each morning, the first thing I loved to do was to open up all the windows to let the fresh morning air to come in and cook breakfast on the woodstove.  This old farmhouse was changing my heart for the better!

Every year, we would buy 8 to 10 loads of firewood to last us until spring. I remembered how much work it was to stack all this firewood into rows, however, it was the only heat source this house had.

 

Canning jars begin filling the shelves from my little garden. I had to learned how to use this wood stove, how to clean it, and how to get a fire started. It was all new to me. I remembered on one winter day when the electric went out, I learned how to cook on the top of the woodstove.  I cooked eggs and bacon for breakfast, Fajitas for lunch and in the photo above a pot of chili was cooking for supper. It was actually kind of fun cooking this way.

Christmas held a lot of memories for us, and not only did our daughters spend Christmas here.  A few of our grandchildren had Christmas here as well. 

“It was so wonderful to be there, safe at home, sheltered from the winds and the cold. Laura thought that this must be a little like heaven, where the weary are at rest.”

― Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Long Winter

 

Winter was beautiful here and there was a few times we got snowed in, but we was prepared for winter with food from the garden, and the firewood was chopped and stacked.  We stay busy with puzzles, reading books, playing board games, playing in the snow, baking,  and watching christmas movies.

Every spring, we loved seeing the baby calves being born, our girls even named some of them.  

 

The attic was my favorite room in this farmhouse; I loved going up there to listen to the rain. The wooden stairs twisted up to a one room attic.  I remembered back in one part of the attic closet the flooring was made out of old army wood boxes. The attic became my quiet place to pray and just to be alone.   Oh, how I miss it!  Everyone needs that little place to be alone with God.

   

We fished many times from this pond, and climbed up in loft of this barn.  We enjoyed playing with the barn cats that lived in the barn.  

Thank you, for reading about our farmhouse! 

A farmhouse may change your life, this one did just that for me!  

Simply Handmade Farmhouse

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