What you didn't see; part two

As Husband and I were walking, I made it about 50 ft up into a hill, I told him that now I don't mind the wreck so much. I mean without us going down, things wouldn't have lead in this direction. I don't suggest that you, looking for property, go out and break your knee by any means. It's one of those moments when you realize that things happen for a reason.

If we hadn't wrecked our motorcycle, we might not have caught those men trying to steal our sheep, Husband wouldn't have asked for time off, been fired for it, I wouldn't have blogged about us looking for a new homestead. You have been so supportive through it all. 

After we caught those men, and started looking for property, I jokingly said to Husband, "I have family in Kentucky, you want to go there?" Not five minutes later Small Farm Girl messages me, "you want to live in Ky"? She's this freaky mind reader that can hear conversations 905 miles away! Spooky!  

The pictures she sent me were amazing. I of course fell in love with it. And the bonus was that it was owner carry. Talk about a sweet deal. At that time the cabin part of the property was too expensive for us. The rest of it we could finically handle. A week before we were to head out there to physically see the property and sign paper work,The cabin price was lowered. Small farm girl was literally running people off the land as we were on the phone making a deal to purchase. We just barely made it! My new neighbor is awesome! And it is a win win. She got to chose her neighbor. 

The pictures she sent though didn't encompass the full beauty of the place. I had thought the slopes more of a gentle roll, not a 100 ft drop. Some of the hills we own go up to 600 ft. This astounds us. Even the pictures I post here, it's hard to actually tell the steepness of the hills. I am not complaining, at all. I am awed by it all. So many bad things have happened in the last two years, that this new life awaiting us is a blessing. We never once thought we would be in this place. Never once thought we could ever be lucky enough to live in such beauty. We just hope we are indeed worthy of it. 

This is part of the cabin land. On the left is the creek, the property follows it, turning to the right, and meeting the top acreage on the hill.

Trying to give you an idea of how tall the trees are. This is a walnut next to the cabin. Here in Kansas we are use to 30 ft tall trees. The wind topples them if they get too much taller. Although you can find taller trees in the city where tall buildings block the wind. This walnut is about 60, maybe even 70 ft tall.

The cave. The area on the way to the cave is cleared, so I can drive close to it. But it is up in the side of a hill. With Husband's help I was able to climb up to it. I didn't go inside because of all the loose rock, and I am not yet brave enough to walk on that. Soon though, soon. We have only seen evidence of deer using the cave. There is also water that, clear clean water, flows over the top of it. Help feeding the creek. We were informed that arrow heads had been found in it in the past. If the boys were so inclined to clean up the fallen rock inside, who knows what they might fine. Bones of animals most likely.

Large found these on his creek walk.

Lots of little critters for the boys. We have salamanders here, but not on a large scale like on this property. Small is loving it. 

It wasn't all play. We had to set some pens for the animals to come to.

Putting fence up through so many trees and hills is so much different. But we did it, and loved it. 

The first time I saw a turkey hen, I honestly though it was a peahen. The turkey hens there are much softer in their lines than here in Kansas. I told Small Farm Girl that they weren't so rough looking as ours. Husband on his adventure both scared and got startled by a Tom. He said it was a good sized bird, closely the size of a bronze. I too had a run in with a Tom. I was headed to the creek and startled one up the hill. At first light you can hear them gobbling at each other through the holler. And by mid day they are clicking at each other higher in the hills. 

There is so much food there, it is overwhelming. Found wild onion on our last day. I found Polk and other southern greens. You could easily live a hunter gather lifestyle there. As long as you preserve for winter.  We have about 25 acres of grazing space. The rest is forest, creek and hills. 

I am going to need an edible weed book and a tree book. 

Today I work on purging my Kansas life. We hope we can be back in a month. With temperatures hitting 100 F today, I fear Kansas is headed right back into drought. Now is a good time to run for the hills.