We Stumbled Upon a Dream Come True

“Honey, come check this out”, said hubby from the couch as he sat with his coffee that Saturday morning (cup #1 of 3).  Of course I rolled my eyes because he is an obsessive Craigslist & FB Yard sale peruser and he is always finding us a deal…one that we MUST go get a.s.a.p.!  I had no idea there were so many things we NEEDED.  If I said yes to everything we’d be featured on the next episode of one of those TV shows about hoarders {and also be featured on Divorce Court}!  no.thank.you.  Good grief, husband, get off your rear end and start tackling your honey-do list will ya…the days a wastin’!!!

But I decided to be compliant and take a peek at whatever the next “must have” item he stumbled upon was.

Now let me back up just a second in all fairness and confess something.  The evening prior, unannounced to him, I just might have been clicking through Craigslist with the search term “barn wood” and I sat there in disbelief how much money people wanted for it.    c.r.a.z.y.   But I had dreams of building a chicken coop out of it {btw, we don’t even have chickens} and even bigger a dream was to have authentic barn wood kitchen floors.  I knew the price tag on those and knew that dream was, well, not happening.  But anyway….back to the story…hubby on the couch summoning me over to indulge in his next find. 

 He says “look what I found”… and I glanced and I did a double take…ok more like a quadruple take and in a split second my jaw dropped, my eyes got wider, my tummy did a flip flop and my heart was pounding…seriously…is this treasure for sale…like, for real?  I had to check the calendar quickly, confirming this was no April Fools joke, although I knew darn well it was still March.  I was like “What the heck are you waiting for… CALL.THEM.NOW…don’t take a single sip more of your coffee… CALL.THEM.NOW….GRAB.THE.CAR.KEYS…LET’S GO!!!  I was pretty much in a state of panic… I knew it would be gone quick if not already.  So he called. It was still available and 1.5 hours away.

We didn’t know exactly what to expect when we arrived.  So many Craigslist scams out there. Who knows what we were getting ourselves in to.  We drove up a driveway to meet a couple with a smile on their face who immediately started sharing their story.  The story of a family, of memories, of history, of years of labor, of love, of the loss of a loved one that brought the situation to its current state.  I was totally choked up.

We jumped back in the car and followed them to the other side of the property, walked through an overgrown area, through a gate…

and then…       

then we were standing in front of our dream come true.  Somebody.pinch.me. This really can’t be happening. 

We walked around the outside, climbed all over the inside and continued to hear stories of the time spent in this.old.barn.  To know they have to let this go is painful.  My heart hurts for them and yet my heart is bursting for this opportunity for us to call it ours and love it…to create our own history from this…to labor over it…to recreate it in our own special way.

And when we finished exploring this treasure they led us to more…through the overgrowth and prickly blackberry bushes…an entire homestead awaited us.  Gulp. Be still my beating heart. Her mothers canning shed…still filled to the brim with her hard work preserved in mason jars…

the shed with the salt table to hang and cure their meats,

her father’s workshop with a piece of wood being “turned” left in its place half-way completed,

clothes on a clothesline,

caved in chicken coops,

a well house that looks like what you’d find strolling through the woods in a fairy tale,

a blacksmiths shop

Barns that held more equipment for the homestead

It’s as if time stood still.   

Oh.my.gosh.  This place should be a living history museum, not be plowed over and turned in to a subdivision.  It’s not what they want, but her mom was tricked in to selling this portion of the acreage before she passed away.  My blood boils at this person that took advantage of this sweet mama. It shouldn’t be this way…but it is.

We went back to the main house to discuss details further.  On the short drive back, following them, I still felt like I was going to find out this was some sort of joke, a scheme… stuff like this only happens in fairy tales… or on HGTV… not to me… no to us… we get h.a.r.d. … one hard thing after another and we’ve learned to choose joy and march on…often squelching dreams to protect our hearts from more disappointments.  But this dream….this.dream.was.about.to.come.true. Matter of fact…the dream just got some icing on top… they said we can search the entire homestead for treasures!!!!!  All.of.it.  Any of it could be ours.

You see, hubby and I are completely enchanted by old barns, old homesteads, and all the treasures that are found within.  You can just close your eyes and imagine when it was operating…self-sustained…living off the land…blood, sweat & tears…farm.to.table.eating.every.day…family together, everyone with a job to do.

Oh if these walls could talk I’d love to hear the conversations in the canning shed…oh how I’d love if she could teach me how.  I didn’t ever have a grandmother…there are things I wish I had learned from sweet ol’ wrinkly hands.  It took hours to clean out the canning shed bit by bit so I could even get in to the cupboards and close enough to touch the well-loved cast iron sink.

As I sorted through the mason jars I had chills.  Dinner anyone?

{shall I be washing & preserving my own home grown goodness in this sink someday?)

With each trip back we uncovered more and more treasures…

old doors,

chicken feeders {I did mention we don’t have chickens, didn’t I???},

period garden tools like old plows, a fireplace mantel, a blacksmiths table & tools, horse shoes, gates…wooden gates everywhere, metal buckets, basins, bulb drying screens, planters, wheel barrows, a sweet old dog house….

old windows

The treasures kept coming. {some that would take days to go through}

I’m overwhelmed. I’m choked up.  Every time I step on the property I am taken back in time and feel blessed beyond measure to explore and take pieces of what once was.  For the history here to live on with us…different…but we are keeping it alive.

I don’t know exactly where we will start.  Build a new barn…. Chicken coop… barn wood floors in my kitchen… barn wood on the walls… pieces of art to be created… so many possibilities. Board by board, treasure by treasure it will be brought to our home to be made in to something new.  It will take time… it will take a long time…

We stumbled upon a dream come true. Yes, dreams really do come true.

To be continued…