Journey to the Farm

Having wrapped up my story of our journey into this wonderful farm life, I have gone back through and updated the posts with the links to the rest so you can follow through without having to navigate all over the blog. I apologize as I missed Part 8 and then posted it a week after 9 and 10. Hopefully it was not too confusing. Here is the table of contents, so to speak ;)

Part 1: An Unexpected Conversation
Part 2: Gathering Community
Part 3: End of the Line
Part 4: The Fifth Element
Part 5: Intermission
Part 6: Timing is Everything
Part 7: Planning Community
Part 8; Smooth Move
Part 9: Come to the Land of the Ice and Snow
Finale: Enjoy the Silence

I hope the read was as exciting as the journey itself.

I have also opened commenting up to anyone. I will keep it that way until I start getting the spam bots.

Journey to the Farm (Finale) - Enjoy the Silence

Finale: Enjoy the Silence

Once we had settled in that first night, we spent time hanging out and playing games and unpacking our kitchen and dining room. I had an opportunity to step out on the deck in the brisk evening air. It was still light out. I looked across our little valley and marveled at the peace and tranquility around us. I wish I had taken a picture.

Picture this though. You are on a deck overlooking a valley. All around the valley the mountains rise up, covered in trees. No other civilization is visible, not even the city lights. The entire scene is covered in a fresh blanket of pure white snow. Not a sound is heard from wind, man, or animal. Silence reigns.

It would eventually sink in, but I still couldn't fathom that this was now our home.

Journey to the Farm (Part 9) - Come to the Land of the Ice and Snow

Part 9: Come to the Land of the Ice and Snow

Our date of possession was upon us...and so was our first snow of the season. Living in Victoria is nice for the mild winters. We rarely get a lot of snow. This year was one of those exceptions. The day before we took possession, it started to snow. It was supposed to come down heavy overnight. This was cause for worry.

Marc and Katie were moving from their place in Cobble Hill, over the Malahat, which is the main highway connecting Victoria to the rest of the island. They had the moving truck and without them, moving would be slow going as we only had a pickup. We did not want them to have to drive that beast in the mess that was coming.

Journey to the Farm (Part 8) - Smooth Move

Part 8: Smooth Move

I must have made at least a dozen trips to the liquor store for boxes. Each time I would gather up anywhere from 6-10 (sometimes more). Moving a family is a lot different than moving by yourself. When I came to Victoria, I packed the essentials in my car and just went. Another load of things came up with my parents the next year. Done. We were starting fresh and I didn't have a lot of furniture.

Moving a family requires a bit more thought. As adults, we can get by while we unpack. The kids may need that special toy or blanket at any given moment. Now moving three families into one house. This is the beginnings of madness.

Journey to the Farm (Part 7) - Planning Community

Part 7: Planning Community

Coming into the home stretch, we had decided that we would not spread out between the three houses at the farm. We decided to take community to the next level and all live in the main house. It was over 5000 square feet. But we still needed to figure out how to live together in this space.

Journey to the Farm (Part 6) - Timing is Everything

Part 6: Timing is Everything

Life had just begun to settle back to a normal level for us. We had started to put thoughts of the farm behind us. Tyler and Melissa were doing well and his treatments were starting. We were just about to move back into the renovated barn we had lived in for most of our time as a family. Then we got another phone call from the seller's agent from the farm.

Laura came to me after she got off the phone and told me what was happening. The buyer's who had outbid us were not looking like they could remove their subjects. Now I am not privy to what the specifics were, whether it was a case where the sellers were not happy with things and did not want to extend, or if the buyers just couldn't close the deal. Either way, we were advised that the sellers would be entertaining backup offers. What an interesting turn of events. My stomach turned at the thought of getting on this roller coaster ride again. I anticipated the next heart break.

Journey to the Farm (Part 5) - Intermission

Part 5: Intermission

The seller's agent called Laura up to advise that another party had made a better offer and that they would be continuing negotiations with them.

We were floored. We had been going back and forth verbally and were at the point of agreement. We knew that another party had been interested, but had yet to move. We hung our heads and went back to our daily lives, looking forward to another chance at this dream.

God has a funny way with timing. At this exact point in time, we received another phone call, which made everything to do with the farm vanish from our thoughts. Our friend Tyler was in the hospital and they were going to take him to surgery for a tumour.

Journey to the Farm (Part 4) - The Fifth Element

Part 4: The fifth element

We still wanted to have a fourth couple in the mix. We needed a fourth couple to make this work. Luckily, I had been mentioning their names up until we had been ready to give it up. Josh and Liz. We were all friends. We were all around the same age and stage in our lives. We felt comfortable leaning on each other when times were tough. Why not? As an added bonus, Liz and Katie are sisters, and Liz and Laura were close friends from childhood. It made sense. Now the one catch. The money.

Journey to the Farm (Part 3) - End of the line

Part 3: End of the line

When we first sat down as a group of prospective owners, we introduced the other two couples to the idea. We talked about how it would look for living arrangements. Two families in the big house, one in the smaller house. We started to dig into the details of how it would work. Once we started talking details, we decided to take a big step back and just go see it.

As a group, we travelled a few kilometres from Cliff and Susan's place to visit the farm. It was interesting to me. It definitely did not fit my prairie flavoured vision of a farm. We were able to take a quick walk through the main house. It was huge. The thought of more than one family in this house did not see quite as strange.

Journey to the Farm (Part 2) - Gathering Community

Part 2: Gathering community

Once I returned home, I sat down with Laura and Cliff and we started talking about their next big idea. Four families, one farm. As a former prairie dweller, I envisioned rolling fields and long days in the sun. I was skeptical that we could afford this and still have the time to maintain it. I asked to see the property.

We loaded up the Saanich GIS map service and zoomed in on the little slice of heaven that would one day be ours. It was a 20 acre blueberry farm nestled at the end of a road in a valley. Our potential neighbours would be 55 acres of undeveloped forest on one side, and Mt. Work Park on the other side. Blueberries? I had never imagined farming blueberries. Mind you, I am from the prairies and the climate doesn't favour a lot of fruit produce. I began to spin the possibilities in my head as they explained it.

Journey to the Farm (Part 1) - An Unexpected Conversation

In this series of posts, titled "Journey to the Farm", I will attempt to weave the tale of our experiences leading up to our new life as farmers in community. I hope that you enjoy the ride.

Part 1: An Unexpected Conversation

This crazy ride began a little less than two years ago. It was mid-July. I was on Thetis Island for a Church retreat. It was a beautifully sunny day and we were waiting for the ferry to come and take us home from a relaxing weekend. I decided to call my wife, Laura, to let her know we were on our way back.

She was over at her parents house, as is typical for summer weekends. The kids were playing in the pool or running around in the yard. Meanwhile, Laura and her father, Cliff, were scheming. Normally scheming is associated with some insidious plot. For these two it meant they were thinking outside the box about how to do things. In this case, they were thinking about ideas which revolved around owning a larger property where multiple families might live together. It was about then that I called.