I am a 37 year old, happily married husband and father of seven [ranging from 9 months old to 12 years old]. A number of years ago, my wife and I decided that it was time to get back to what we like to call the 'old ways'. At the time we lived in your classic 'city lot with a white picket fence'. Having both grown up in the 'sticks' we both had a bit of knowledge and so started bringing the country to the city. That didn't last long - our crops soon overtook our land, our ve was always a question around the neighborhood, tanning hides, processing deer, fish and turtles, performing our rites always watching to see who was peeking out of what window next door....it just clearly was not what we wanted nor could accept. Our beliefs were also causing issues for our children in school. We also knew we could not afford to buy our dream of large number of acres in the country, so we plotted, planned, and kept to our path. I normally hunted on my brother's property, and one day after climbing out of the woods bow in hand, I was greeted with a posting across the road from my brother - a tax sale notice posted on the land across the way. After all the research I found it was clean and that it was going to be put to auction for the taxes - as long as the taxes were not paid by the deadline. The day before the auction, I placed a call to check for the final time and it appeared the taxes had been paid. A shame, but we thought we would continue waiting and watching - knowing one day we would find what we sought. I just couldn't get that property out of my head though - it was 16 acres directly across from my brother's 13 acres and surrounded by state forests. So we tracked down the owner and wrote her a letter, explaining our situation and our plans for the future and offering to purchase the land if at all possible. A month later we received a letter in the mail from the lady, hearing our plans and about our family she said that if we would meet her she would give us the land. She and her family had no further use for it, as her husband had passed and her children had no desire for it. Long story short - we met, filed the papers and paid the taxes and became the proud owners of our 16 acres of untamed wilderness. It came to be that her son who was a bit 'touched' had been living there. After spending several months attempting to have him vacate [though out original plan was to include him in our design if he wished it, he did not, and after meeting him we knew it would never work] he finally did leave. We worked on reclaiming the land and making the house habitable. It was March and we were finally ready, after the girls got back from their weekend retreat at the Girl Scout Camp we were going to completely move in. On Monday, my wife dropped me off to work and drove out to get everything ready for our first night....when she got there everything was burned to the ground. No fire trucks, just piles of ash everywhere. Apparently it was never seen or reported and we lost everything we owned except what was packed in the van. After the police investigation it was labeled arson, etc, etc and finally there were no answers other than 'some delinquents must have been out causing trouble'. It was a tough time, but we were all alive and well and that was what mattered. Thankfully we had waited to stay there or else it may have been a completely different story. We made a decision that we would buy a tent, move to the land and start fresh from the ashes - and that is exactly what we did - us, the kids, 2 dogs, a cat and our 30 chicks. Cooking on a fire, living without electricity, running water, or anything else we spent the next 8 months rebuilding a 1960's mobile home that was also on the property, planting and living. One of the best damn years ever [and they keep getting better!]. That was three years ago and our 'homestead' has truly flourished one small step at a time.
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