The Hagan Farm: December 2015

Not surprisingly it has been a while since our last entry. I'll try to remember as many details as I can that have happened over the last 20+ days aside from the usual routine.

When it comes to the farm and what we're doing, we've been cleaning things out, sorting through stuff, looking at contractors and coming up with a plan for building one house and renovating another. We feel confident that we have a "final" plan for the houses on the farm (see below). Neta and I looked at several options, while also discussing those options with her dad - currently living in the main house (top arrow) - and several contractors.

Neta's Dad wanted his own place, and with us working at home full time, it is the best option for all of us. You can see a small structure next to the bottom arrow (ignore the long structure next to it, it is no longer there). We're calling this structure "The Cabin". It's about 720 square feet with room for a bedroom, bathroom, living room and kitchenette. This will be Neta's Dad's house once we renovate it.

The main house, part of which was built in the early 1890's, will, sadly, be torn down. It wasn't a decision that we took lightly, but looking at the cost of renovation based on the current state of the house was just too much to take on, coupled with the cost of renovating the Cabin as well. We plan to salvage certain items as the contractor demos it, including some old, large timbers in the attic that could possibly be used in the new construction and any other old boards/timber that look vintage, rustic, appealing or useful.

In the meantime, the biggest and most time-consuming chore has been cleaning out the two houses in preparation for renovation/demolition. Neta and Robert pulled everything down from the attic so it could be sorted. As many family members were in the local area over Thanksgiving, we all gathered at the farm the day after and started going through items so people could take what they wanted or decide where certain things should go or who should get them. Needless to say, along with all of the "things" in the house, there are lifetimes of memories as well. Also needless to say, we didn't get to all of it that weekend and Neta is still sorting and boxing items, along with talking with family members to see who wants/gets what.

As I mentioned earlier, we spoke with several contractors, but it was the first one we called that we ended up going with. We liked him from the first few minutes of talking and by the time our meeting ended, we just knew he'd be the one, but we talked to some others to make sure we did our due diligence. He really understands the look and feel of what we're trying to achieve, has already provided us with lots of great ideas to consider about things we hadn't even thought about, plus he's as nice of a person as we've met since moving down here. His references couldn't say enough nice things about him and his work and crew. One liked him so much, he sold him a chunk of his property next door to build his own house. Another liked the work he'd done so well that they asked him to build a house for their daughter.

But back to the house plans... In the same vein of salvaging items for use elsewhere in the construction of our house, we've been digging around the house and barns for inspiration. We've found old wood that we might be able to use for accent pieces. I intend to use some of it to build a rustic farmhouse table for our dining room. Along with some wood and other interesting items, we made a find that put a huge smile on Neta's face...a vintage, claw-footed bathtub. We'd missed it in the few other times we've lightly dug around in the barn. It was tucked under an old workbench and filled with dirt and the empty pecan shells of many a squirrels breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Future site of warm baths

The tub and its feet appear to be in good shape with just a few small chips, some exterior rust and an obvious need of re-glazing. Finding all 4 feet intact was the icing on the cake.


The Mud Dauber nests add character	Being in a dry and dusty barn kept it from deteriorating too badly

But finding this tub was not all good news. We'd pretty much settled on our house plans with the builder, though nothing is cast in stone. But this does mean that instead of just a shower in the master bathroom, we're now going to have to find room for a vintage tub.

That not only wraps things up for this blog entry, but the year as well. It's been a good one. What started out as just a "what if" idea a year and a half ago, turned 2015 into a year of big changes. We changed jobs so we could be fully remote. We sold our house of 8+ years in Vienna. We bought a farm in rural, southeastern Georgia. We left behind family, friends and neighbors and headed south. We made my mother a bit sad, seeing us move away, and my father-in-law happy, having us in his neighborhood for a change. We've had many new and exciting experiences, not the least of which was rattlesnakes, watching cotton grow and get harvested and getting to know new places. We've enjoyed the warmer weather and won't miss shoveling the snow, though I will miss seeing it. 2015 was the year where we called a new place "Home"...and home it is now.

We hope everyone has enjoyed reading about our life and times so far and we hope to keep you entertained in 2016 and beyond. Happy New Year!

Everyday Neta and I take at least one walk around the yard. It gets us out of the house away from our desks and into the fresh air for a few minutes. Along with walking Sammie, it allows us to just take a look around, notice things we might have missed recently and enjoy the weather. Recently that weather has not disappointed with temps in the high 60's and low 70's and mostly sunny skies. We are always on the lookout for birds, animals, flowers or anything else that might catch our eye.

Today we were only a minute or two into our walk when I noticed 3 jets flying very high and staggered like stair steps. I ran back inside, grabbed my camera and snapped this picture:

3 jets, heading west over the trees

I figured that if anything else caught my eye, I'd snap a picture or two. For some reason, this lone pecan at the end of a branch appealed to me:

The Lone Pecan

As we got down to the end of the backyard, the barn across the field that I've looked at dozens of times looked different to me. I might have been the foreground of scraggly cotton plants left over after picking and the way the pecan trees next to it provided some additional "character". I'm not sure, but it just looked like something I wanted to take a picture of.


Looks like something from a bygone era	Getting fancy with the B&W filter to make it look even older

A little further along I thought I'd take a picture of the silos that are next to our yard. I'd love to get a few of these for our farm, if for no other reason than I think they'd add vintage character.

Imagine an old vintage sign painted on the side...

A few photos of the many camellias that grow around our rental house. Several of them are producing a lot of blooms right now and a few blooms looked so perfect or close to it that I had to take their picture.