For those who've never been here, we live on 52 acres on the top of Brown Hill in Cambridge Springs, PA. This property has been in Rod's family for...a long time... I know that Rod's great grandparents moved here and lived in the "little farmhouse", but I don't know when the house was built. I believe there were five children plus two adults, seven people crammed into that little house. As an adult,Rod's grandfather Sheridan received a back injury preparing to fight in WW1 that crippled him for the rest of his life. He came home to work the family farm instead of going off to war, and married a local girl, Clara-who was 32 years younger than him! Sheridan farmed enough to feed the livestock, but earned a living as a fur buyer. People would bring him dead animals that they had trapped, he would buy them from the hunter/trappers, skin them and prepare the hides for sale, usually shipping them to big cities like New York where they would be made into hats, etc. for the wealthier folks.
Sheridan and Clara had one child, Mary Ann, who gave birth to Rod in 1957. Due to her age at the time of Rod's birth,and hard times, Sheridan and Clara raised Rod here on the farm. Sheridan passed away when Rod was 9 yrs. old, and Clara immediately had some improvements done to the farmhouse, plumbing, etc.making the house a little bit more comfortable. Rod continued to live with his grandmother, who he called "mom" here on the farm until he graduated from high school in 1975 when Clara moved into Mary Ann's house (who was widowed by then) to lend her a hand raising her 2nd son, Scott, and 3 foster boys. The little farm was empty until 1979 when Rod and I were married and moved in. Eventually the farm was deeded to Rod, and in the late '80's we bought the adjoining 35 acres and farmhouse. Within two years of that move, the 40 acre field directly across the road from our house was turned into 12 trailer lots by the owner. Chris was born in 1994, and we started planning to sell the house and acreage we had purchased and move back on to the original farm somewhere.That plan involved clearing land that used to be a pasture but had become overgrown with thorn apple trees, then building a two story garage that we would live in until we sold the house across from the trailers, and then building a new house here where the garage was built. It took 2 years to clear the land and put in a driveway,well, septic, and electricity, and almost another 2 to build the garage, but we eventually moved in Feb. 2002. We didn't plan to live here in the garage for 8 yrs.,that's for sure! But, due to circumstances beyond our control the house plans did not begin until this year. I've overheard Rod telling other men that the way to get your wife to let you build a big garage is to build it before you build a house, if she knows she has to live in it, she'll agree to a nice big garage... of course, that's not why it happened this way, but they always laugh and nod their heads like they understand that perfectly, and wish that was the way they had done it too... And, by the way..the little farmhouse still stands, as well as the barn. We rented them for a very long time to a college professor who just loved living there, despite it's condition. He retired last year and moved to France and lives in a commune,maybe that explains why he loved the little farmhouse so much? We use the buildings for storage.
The new house plans involved more tree clearing, over 200 more trees, to make way for a drainage swath to be dug that will divert water around the yard where the house will be built. Rod has been working on that since July 1st, having only a few hrs. after work each day and the week ends to do that. Chris has been a huge help, and I've done what I could to help also. My job is the planning, I guess I'm the supervisor (boss), and hey, I really like that! :-)
We have often speculated on what the ancestors would think of the farm now...
The start date on the house originally had been for late August, but keeps getting changed with the next expected date to begin on Monday the 2oth of Sept. I'm not upset about delays, and instead think of it as a blessing because it's given us more time to prepare the site. This has been an all consuming venture, there doesn't seem to be much time for anything else but planning for the house, there's just so much to think about.. It's obvious by now that we won't be in the new house by the holidays, so I'm planning on our 8th Christmas here in the garage...
You can never appreciate the better things in life as much as you can when you've done without....
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