The Bacchus Homestead

There wasn’t much preparing for the “big move”. We decided to take things in stride and in small truck loads. Just the basics in tools, housewares and personal belongings. Remember we only have four hundred square feet to work with. Then as trips to the old farmhouse dwindled the decision was made for one of us to stay behind and start working on the building and property while the other stayed at the farmhouse and continued working.

There was no paper, rock scissor draw to choose who would stay. An unexpected early retirement made that decision for us and it was the most logical one to begin with even before that had happened. So we began living together but in different counties. Every phone call the list of stuff to bring or buy grew. Sometimes the truck came back to the farmhouse every Sunday and sometimes it was the sedan. We made it work.

You see, we did a lot of preparing years prior to this day. Remember I told you about yard sales, thrift stores, and salvage yards? Well, we would find “treasures” all the time. Most of them were free or really cheap. There were exterior doors, French doors, windows, lumber, hardware, cast iron sinks, tin ceilings, Tyvek, and insulation among those finds. We were very fortunate to have such a cache of building materials that only needed a little elbow grease to be functional and beautiful again. All the hoarding paid off!

It was also the summer of challenges! We had to adapt our lives to doing things differently than most. Neither one of us is a carpenter, plumber, electrician, or skilled laborer in rebuilding, solidifying an existing building. We were using tools we had never used before. Climbing ladders even though we are afraid of heights. Critical thinking and problem-solving in areas we had no knowledge of often paralyzed us. Thank goodness there was YouTube!

A fine example is our outdoor shower. This consisted of just a round galvanized tub with a primative drain in the middle. The water system was just as primative as it consisted of a five gallon bucket with water heated from the fire pit. A cheap two quart plastic jug with a handle was used to wet us down and rinse. Location played a major roll in this set up. We choose a spot that had three trees clumped closely together and hung an old tarp for privacy. This worked ok but on windy days not so much. But what a liberating feeling taking an outdoor shower in the middle of the woods.

As for cooking, we had an old apartment-sized propane stove, an outdoor fire pit, and our wood stove. These all worked fine for what was needed. Our favorite was the fire pit, weather permitting, of course. It was a tranquil moment starting a fire first thing in the morning and using our old-fashioned percolator for coffee. Such a relaxing way to start your day, listening to the sounds of birds and nature. We were on our way to living our dream.

As always, stay positive, stay focused, and remember with challenge comes change and change is good!