Adventures On a Rural Homestead

Here

We made a whirlwind trip back up to Pennsylvania a few days ago. With the help of my parents we packed up the rest of our things and cleaned the house Sunday. Monday we picked up a huge 26' UHaul bright and early, loaded it and hit the road with our chickens back down to Virginia. 

The chickens are in the coop that Nick converted from a horse stall in the barn, while he works to finish their fenced in outdoor space. I have most of the painting done~ the dining room needs a final coat, then I'm hoping to paint the front porch and railing this weekend. The boys room is a mess of boxes, and we're still waiting for the wood floor company to come out to replace the family room carpet with wood. There will still be more upheaval, but it feels good to have all of our things and our chickens here in Virginia. We got our Virginia drivers license and license plates for the cars today, it feels pretty official that we have a new home! 

New Home

We settled on our Virginia home Friday morning, and it is lovely. With the help of family and friends we got our first moving truck unloaded, worked on painting, pulled out (gross and dirty) carpet, and it's already feeling more like home. Last night we sat on the front porch, enjoying the breeze and watching the cows across the street. It amused the boys that we could even hear the sound of them tearing the grass and chewing! It is so blessedly quiet here. 

While I was working on inside jobs Nick was hard at work converting a barn stall into a chicken coop. We've been enjoying the sunrise over our back pasture. 

I'm looking forward to taking some time to get in the garden this week, I want to plant seeds and the tomato plants we moved. I love the perennial flowers that are here. Alex is delighted with all the birdfeeders and bird houses that the previous owners left, he put bird seed out yesterday. 

Two contractors are here today and the electrician comes tomorrow. We'll keep painting and getting the barn ready for our chickens. I'm looking forward to getting the rest of our things here next week, and for more time to enjoy our peaceful front porch!

In Between

In just 9 days we'll pack up the UHaul and head to Virginia! It seems like we've been waiting for forever, and now the moment is almost upon us. The appraisal for our PA house was yesterday afternoon, and the negotiations for results of the home inspection are done. It feels like we can finally start to pack and have boxes lying around mucking up the house. That feels like such a relief. We're still waiting to hear about the second appraisal on our Virginia house, but I'm just going to confidentially move forward and assume it will all work out. 

Hours and hours of fun have been had in the boys former digging pit under that Japanese Maple tree

This feels like kind of an odd in between time. We are feeling anxious to be in Virginia, yet it will be a couple weeks until we're really settled there. I'm looking forward to creating our new spaces, and also fondly remembering how good this space has been to us. My friend life sadly feels like the in between time too. Some of my friends here have just dropped off, which part of me understands (not taking the time away from a busy life with young children to visit me since I'll soon be gone) , but most of me is sad about it. We are meeting friends at a park Friday morning, and my running buddies are staying in touch, which is nice. 

I'm soaking up the last of our moments here, and we're visiting some of our favorite places. We went to Central Market, Prince St. Cafe, Radiance and the library with my mom this morning. Tonight we'll spread a picnic blanket in the yard on the former digging pit to enjoy a picnic dinner, read books and play games. I'm trying to relish each moment of this in between time. It'll be gone before we know it. 

Sing and Rejoice

It may seem that we don't actually have much to sing and rejoice about, but as I ran on the trail this morning I sang "Sing and Rejoice" to myself. I'm trying everything possible to stay positive. It was another hard week of bad news. Not only did our Virginia house appraisal come in $23,000 too low, but we found out the sellers have a signed back-up contract. After two days of worry and discussions with our realtor and mortgage lender, we found out we can get another appraisal. So that's been ordered as a rush job and should be completed by June 18, just days before our settlement. We are hopeful it will appraise for the sales price, but our realtor told us if it doesn't it gives us more leverage with the sellers that a second appraisal was low and maybe they'll lower the price. 

Silly-faced boys enjoyed picking mulberries at Grammy & Grampa's house

The boys have been sick with a cough and cold for a week. Thursday evening Alex found a teeny deer tick under his armpit, so we took him to the doctor Friday. He checked him out and didn't think he needed an antibiotic for Lyme. Then last evening Alex got a sudden acute earache, and cried for over an hour. I took him to the urgent care at 9:00, where they diagnosed an ear infection. We got home after 10 p.m, Alex was so glad to crawl into bed. 

In addition to tough house news and the kids being sick stuff has been breaking left and right. Two days before listing our house for sale we had no water and had to replace a wire to the well pump that cost $1,400. Then the night before listing our house for sale the lawn mower broke. The afternoon before our home inspection the furnace (that we don't even use) started leaking water, and we had to replace a pressure something or other for $400. We got our lawn mower back, Nick used it today and parts holding the wheel on fell off and are lost. It's been that kind of week. 

The home inspection on our current house was Friday, and we awaiting the reply to inspections from our buyer. Hopefully we'll get that tomorrow and he won't ask for anything big. We're also waiting for the appraisal, we're only in Pa for 8 more business days, so I sure hope the appraiser comes this week. 

Running helps me stay sane

Lots of balls are up in the air. All we can do is sing and rejoice, and remember all we have to be thankful for. I'm still dreaming of our Virginia dream house, and that everything will come together well. We got a loveseat, desk and curtains for the house this weekend. It feels good to prepare and dream. Please hold us in our thoughts as we negotiate on both houses. 

Enjoy the Beauty

We got some pretty awful news yesterday~ after waiting 19 days (!) for the appraisal to come back on our Virginia home it came back $22,500 below the selling price. We are devastated, as I'm sure the sellers are too. This means that the lender won't loan us the full amount, and we don't have an extra $22,500 in cash lying around to give the sellers. Our realtor is really wonderful, and he spoke to the listing agent and sent her the appraisal last night. We'll begin negotiating today, and hope that the sellers will meet us halfway. It still really stinks for both parties involved. Our realtor told us that in all his years of experience he's never had a low appraisal be so late, he said they typically come back quickly, within 3 days. 

I took time this morning to try to reset, and enjoy the beauty around us. The boys and I walked around our garden plants that we're taking with us, then looked at the perennial flowers that are blooming. I'm holding that beauty with me as we hope for a positive resolution for the purchase our dream home. 

Sold!

Today, one week from when we listed it for sale by owner, we signed a good offer on our home! We are so glad to have a good buyer, and for the showing process to be over. The buyer is coming to walk the property with us Sunday, to ask us about the firewood, what kind of trees we've planted, the gardens, and to see the chicken coop. We are thrilled that someone else will live here and love this spot like we have. 

Catching Up

It's been a while since I've last posted. We went down for the home inspection on our new house last week, and Nick is there today for the septic inspection and chimney repair estimator. The home inspection didn't turn up anything too huge, hopefully the septic inspection will be clear. Then we'll move on to negotiating some repairs. Settlement is in just 5 weeks from Friday, we're so excited! 

I'm looking forward to time spent on our lovely front porch in those red rockers, which we bought from the sellers.

We've been working on getting our house ready to list and sell, doing things like weeding and mulching flowerbeds, touch up painting, and hauling as much stuff to our Virginia storage unit as we can. I'm anxious about how the timing will work out. We want to sell the house ourselves to save realtor fees, so need to sell it in the few weeks before we move to Virginia. 

I've been making lists, lots of lists. Lists for things to finish up before we list this house for sale, and lists of work to be done on our Virginia house. We'll go down for settlement and stay for a week, Nick will probably stay both weeks before we move. He'll build a chicken run, and we'll strip wallpaper, paint, and tear out the carpet. So while this space may be quieter, please keep us in your thoughts as we work to move to our wonderful new home! 

Virginia Home

A 7 acre farmette was listed in Bridgewater, Virginia on Tuesday afternoon, and we headed down to see it immediately. It's pretty much everything we've been looking for, and we are so thankful that our offer was accepted. It's in the quiet country, but just 7 minutes into the town of Bridgewater and about 23 minutes to Nick's work in downtown Harrisonburg. There is a 4 acre field in the back of the property with a small pond, and about 3 acres is maintained around the house. So we'll have plenty of room for gardening, chickens, the boys to roam, run and play. I imagine someday we'll have meat chickens and a couple of beef cattle in the back pasture.

This is the backyard, showing the neat solarium and the garden with raspberries, raised beds and fruit trees to the right of it:

There is a small pond in the field, the boys are excited to look for the frogs that we heard jumping into the water. 

There are many pretty outbuildings. When you pull in the driveway to the right of the house, the first white building is a one car garage with a workshop area attached to the back of it. The building behind that with the chimney is a woodworking shop. The two story barn is what we'll use for our chickens, a big stall has already been converted for chickens! We'll build a big chicken run outside the barn going back to that tree for shade. 

On the other side of the yard are two more nice outbuildings. The one on the left is currently used for an Etsy sewing business, and the solarium with three sides of glass and a nice brick floor is attached to that. 

Inside there is a very large mudroom, a vintage-y kitchen and dining room with hardwood floors, and a living room on either side of the house, 3 bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms. There is a sweet front porch off of the living room, Alex said he's looking forward to sitting on it when it rains.

And I think we'll spend lots of this time on the back sunporch off of the kitchen:

Our home inspection is next Wednesday, hopefully everything will go well, settlement is scheduled for June 22. We are so thrilled to finally have found our wonderful home! 

(This is the beautiful view across the street:)

 

 

 

Transition

Alex has had a hard time lately dealing with the uncertainty of our move. We had planned to go to my mom's house last Friday morning, then instead we left in a hurry to see a house in Virginia. He was grumpy for much of the weekend. We're trying to be gentle, assuring him that we have a lovely home here while we find one in Virginia, and to be patient and kind. 

I'm turning to these beautiful words, to remind me that even in despair and uncertainty, there is beauty and hope. 

When despair for the world grows in me 
and I wake in the night at the least sound 
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, 
I go and lie down where the wood drake 
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. 
I come into the peace of wild things 
who do not tax their lives with forethought 
of grief.  I come into the presence of still water. 
And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time 
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

~Wendell Berry

Almost a Home

A farmhouse on 11 acres was listed last Thursday evening, and our awesome realtor went to preview it for us Friday morning. He Facetimed with us so we could see more details, and the beautiful mountain views. We then loaded up the boys and headed down to see it. It was a lovely location, with a nice house. We made an offer Saturday morning. Then I fretted and fretted. It didn't have an attic, basement or garage, and the house was too small to not have those three things. There were also other big issues~ the septic probably needed updated, the chimney needed lots of work, there was an abandoned general store building on the property, power lines crossed over the pond where the children would like to play, etc. So Sunday afternoon we withdrew our offer, and felt relief. Our realtor assured us it's still early in the season. And I feel confident he totally gets us, that we're looking for an "enclave" as he joked, and that it will come. 

We had a nice time while we were there. We enjoyed yummy restaurants, found good books at the thrift store and hiked Saturday morning.