The Bacchus Homestead

On of those “foraging” trips for materials lead us to our dream. An old fashioned wood cook stove. Meet Maybel! We name everything that brings us joy! She needs some love but nothing we can’t handle! As usual it was snowing the day we brough her home and immediatly brought her into our small studio at the farmhouse. You can see the snow melting in the picture! She not only is huge but she has a hot water tank and a bread warmer. Never mind the enamel doors. She is the perfect accessory for our old fashioned theme home. Can’t wait to get her up north!

We always knew our neck of the woods was at least five to ten degrees cooler than the rest of the area. It was actually refreshing. We would get fixed on watching the temperature gauge fall as we started our trip to “The Bacchus”. It was fun and actually refreshing going from an ninety degrees in the southern summer heat to eighties up north. Plus there was always a breeze rustling through the trees. Well at least until that first late fall.

The temperature drop was very concerning. We always made a point to be one of the last to close our camp for the winter season. Each year we played the game “winter out” who could guess the last weekend. This it was like ice out in the spring for the lakes. But now it was different. We were making a run for full time residents.

We did not have enough insulation to finish the walls and roof. We were not sure of the woodstove’s capability of heating the whole space. We were not sure the sedan would make the climb up the hill in the winter conditions. There was a decision that had to be made. One we were not ready to make.

Winter up here starts in October. Not December like we are used to. Staying the weekend to battle the cold for fun to play our “winter out” game was one thing but for seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day it was concerning. Waking up to ice crystals on your blankets, furniture and watching the four cords of wood disappear to quickly we decided to migrate like the Native American’s did to find relief from the extreme heat or cold. The weekend before Christmas we packed up all our food and things that could not freeze and headed back south to our old farmhouse. Our lives depended on it.

When one door closes another one opens. We were disappointed, of course. But this gave us an opportunity to learn, grow, and make a better plan for the next spring. This was our opportunity to “forage” for more materials, especially insulation! And “forage” we did! Our blessings from this? We saved money on expenses such as fuel, propane, wood and even stopped ordering takeout. A blessing in disguise.