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Monday, May 26, 2008

The Announcement

I did attempt to post this yesterday, as I said I would. But, between Flickr taking 2 hours to upload a few photos, Blogger giving me blank screens, and losing power because of the storms, I was unable to.

We decided to take a 60 mile jaunt, into the middle of Nowhere, Kansas.






Picture 190


After 50 minutes or so, we finally found the dirt road we were looking for.
Hey look mommymommyland, them there be hills!!!





Picture 195


7 miles of it, before finding the driveway,





Picture 199


We met up with my mother and her husband, my brother and his wife.

and the abandoned house.




Picture 202

The cellar has caved in, and seems to have a underground fresh water spring running through it.



Picture 206

The barn isn't in too bad of shape, but the corrals are collapsing.



Picture 228


My husband took a look at the windmill. It has seized up, but he is confident that he can get it going again.

Picture 233

This farm is 120 acres, and belongs to my mother and stepfather. The fields have been leased out, but the first 5 acres have sat, unused, for the last 8 years. We are currently talking with them about moving there and steading the land. Once all the details have been hashed out, my boys and I will be moving out there to get the farm ready for animals, my husband out on the weekends to help rebuild the house for our use. And hopefully in time we will be making enough money to be able to purchase a large slice of land for ourselves.

As for the Neophyte Homestead, we are not sure of it's future as of yet. We have talked about selling it, but as we have put our hearts into it for the last 5 years and have turned it from a horse persons yard into a working homestead, we are also thinking about renting it to someone the wants to learn how to homestead. Allowing the Neophyte Homestead to live up to it's name, and giving someone else a chance to improve and work it.

The theme of this blog will be changing rapidly, once the agreements have settled. Hope you hang on, it is sure to be a bumpy, and mistake ridden, ride.

22 comments:

Anita said...

Bumpy and mistake riddled maybe, but very exciting, too! Good luck with it all...

Phelan said...

Anita, glad you are ok! I was just about to head ovcer to your blog to see how you have been fairing these storms.

Tim Appleton (Applehead) said...

That's the most exciting thing I heard all day! That's great.

Anonymous said...

Yay! I was hoping your announcement would be something like this...and of course it would be so cool to have all of you closer to family, too. And to think you could purchase (eventually) even more than 5 acres, that is just so great.

Howling Hill said...

Look at that sky! You can see for miles! Nothing like that where I live. I've always said if you can't find me look on Tristan da Cunha first. If I'm not there, look for me in Mongolia because the sky is big. I guess I don't have to travel to the other side of the world to see big sky, hu?

Awesome you're moving but I wonder why?

Robbyn said...

Wow, what an awesome opportunity, and so neat to keep land in the family! Can't wait to see the new adventures :)

Anonymous said...

This is REALLY exciting! I just started reading you last week but I'm looking forward to following your new progress.

TexasWren said...

You'll have big trees!!! Now the boys can learn the fine art of falling out of trees!!!

It looks like a gorgeous place. I can see all sorts of possibilities with that house!! Are there inside pics?

So, will you be an hour closer or an hour further away from me now? I'm doing my best to talk Johnnie into a trip to Wichita this fall to watch Paul play football. He has no excuse not to do it, since we can ride with De and Jon.

This sounds like fun!!!

Billy said...

It looks as though the two of us are in for a bumpy ride. Here's to new beginnings!

Anonymous said...

Oh my! I'm sending lots of positive vibes your way as you embark on this new adventure.

Gina said...

WOW! My guess was you and the family were going to be on one of those PBS old west reality shows. This is so much better. I love the windmill and remember underground springs in the cellar were once used as refrigeration in summer. So much potential.

So many changes this year for so many of us-it's somewhat overwhelming, but it also shows the growth we have managed over the past few years.

Stephanie Appleton said...

So excited for you! The place looks great! Well with a lot of work! :) It is perfect!

The Fool said...

You never cease to amaze me, friend. One can never anticipate what's next...but it will be an adventure. Best to you on your move. I look forward to following your exploits.

:)

Phelan said...

Tim, me too!

El, I am excited about it. This oppertunity will give us a better way of making money that we can actually save.

Howling Hill, Kansas has a sky that goes on forever, one reason I love it here. I will be talking more about why we are moving once some things are worked out with my parents.

Robbyn, me too!

green pan(t) welcome to my blog! This should be a whole new adventure.

Wren, I know, lots of trees! I am trying to upload pic to flickr, as soon as I do, I will let you know. I wll be an hour further from you. But that's ok. Let me know when you are coming up and I will come down to WIchita.

abba, hear hear

Thank you Kathie

Gina, I would LOVE to be on one of those PBS shows, or Discovery. I have been watching the ALaska Experiment, how cool but think it is slightly cheating. I forgot about the cold water storage, thank you for the reminder. We have come a long ways over the years, change is bound to happen if we want certain things.

Stephanie, it will be as close as we can get it to perfect.

The Fool, you have been missed my friend. Glad to hear you will be sticking this out with me. It's going to get rough.

Dancingfarmer said...

Congrats!
Looks TOTALLY awesome and I know you can do what needs to be done.
So happy for you. Your especially lucky for the spring. Imagine cooling your stuff in it during the summer/fall. Cool :)
Monica

Anonymous said...

Congratulations Phelan! It looks like a wonderful opportunity (and a lot of work!!) for your family. Hope you find good renters for the neophyte homestead. Someone will be lucky to get it!!

han_ysic said...

Wow, looks great, lots of potential. And even though you've put in lots of work with your place, you've learnt lots I'm sure that you would do differently if you did it over again? I know I do every time. Hope it all goes well and look forward to seeing what you do with it.

Jederah said...

Yay Phelan and fam...looks like things are coming round the good way for quite a few of us lately ;D

The Unusual Farmchick said...

I am thinking some major positive thoughts for you. How exciting Phelan! A new adventure ahead and we get to ride along.
Hold on everyone- bumpy ride with great scenery!

Amanda said...

sorry that i missed the actual announcement...but i am so jealous!

lisa said...

I'm way late, but congratulations! I hope it all works out the way you want it to! (Maybe even better!)

Moonwaves said...

I'm even later but contratulations. For some reason they seem to have increased the security filters in work and I stopped being able to read your blog. In my new job in Germany your blog is blocked with a big red screen for potentially sexual or pornographic content (I have to admit this gives me a giggle and when I first discovered it I actually tried to open your blog a couple of times just to see that message again. But then I stopped. Didn't want to get in trouble in work.)

I got the internet at home a few months ago and have caught up on some of the things you've been going through but had missed this. Very exciting. Am off to catch up on the rest now.

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