One Hundred and Four Acres and a Prayer

 

After the virtual recon that we had done of the 97acres we knew there would be a gate to get into the property. What we weren't expecting to find was a logging company there. Once we got past the logging company, the road wasn't so bad, something a few steps down from a dirt road but a smidgen up from just a trail. Our trusty guide and head recon man Mr. Watkins gave us a tour of the property, which consisted of about a 1 mile trip down the road--the easement to the actual property; then a short hike down a four wheeler trail to the stream through some extremely beautiful land that made me realize why our an ancestors fell in love with this area. Once we made it to the property there was a spot that had been cleared out, probably for the logging company to stage the trees. There lay a huge pile of dead trees; this was to be one of many places we would find nearly identical on the property. At one point I'm pretty sure i heard a voice coming from the woods saying in an old tree herder voice, "some of these trees were my friends".  The views were beautiful, the land has nice rolling hills with a stream at one end and plenty of nice level areas to build houses and such. As we stood there looking out over the six year old growth we could see the future farm with all the saplings and underbrush cut away, the green pasture rolling down the hill to the stream bed. The animals living a healthy God intended life. The simple yet ever so important life of being stewards of the land was under our feet and yet it seems so unattainable. The property is over grown and rugged there is no real road, no kind of buildings and no kind of pasture, we would be starting from scratch which is really exciting and really intimidating. There are many things we have to figure out and accomplish before something like this could be undertaken. This specimen has opened our eyes to the reality of what is out there & what we are up against.

 

pictures from today's journey... (to see the actual land, close your eyes--think "mess", there you go!)