“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work” Thomas Edison
In December of 2007, our family purchased 30 acres of the 1923 vintage dairy farm property enveloped in Maple trees that is now known as Maple Ridge Farm. For years before, we had driven by admiring the beautiful scenery, and when it came up for sale, we knew it was meant to be ours.
Greg loves projects and it’s a good thing because he was in for a grand one!
We completely remodeled the late 1800’s farmhouse while working hard to maintain its integrity. Many of the materials used in the remodel were very similar in nature to the originals that we found when peeling back the many layers of time found on the walls and floors. After a year of working nights (after working at our other jobs) and weekends we were finished with the remodel.
Upon deciding to make the house into a crafter’s retreat, we put on an addition that serves as the craft room and also houses one of the bedrooms and a bathroom in its lower level.
Once the house was complete we tackled the barn and grounds. My vote was to burn the barn down. It’s a good thing nobody listens to me! With insight and perseverance the barn was cleaned, straightened and repaired and now represents a very important era of all of our history. Next, we did a lot of leveling, building retaining walls, and landscaping to make the yard and surrounding grounds friendlier. Getting grass to grow in rocks and clay was yet another challenge.
Who knows where else our farm will take us, as ideas are abundant…more abundant than our time…