You can go to other places, all right. You can live on the other side of the world, but you can’t ever leave home.
Sue Monk Kidd
Boy, does that quote hit home. I grew up in a teeny tiny little town about 20 minutes from our state Capital. The older I got, the more I couldn’t wait to move away and never come back. Everyone knew everyone’s business, the same people were always everywhere, it was sooooo slow. So, I moved. I went to California, and it didn’t take long to run out of money. I moved to a town not far from home, and I also moved to a bigger town closer to our capital. I was young, and none of them lasted too long for several reasons. Roommates, and most of the time money were issues. Plus I had a dog and horses, and those things aren’t easy to move around.
When I met David, he lived with friends because he was new to the area, and soon after we started dating he moved to an apartment. I could never move in with him because horses don’t do well in apartments… haha! So started the journey to finding our first home. We were on a big time budget, so we sacrificed a nice house for some property, and over time did a remodel of the house. It wasn’t what we wanted long term, even after being remodeled, but it served it’s purpose and was a good little house. Then we started our family…. and we didn’t fit anymore!
Going Home
A big factor in our search for our new home was location. The town we lived in wasn’t big by most people’s standards, but for this small town girl it was HUGE. We also lived on a busy road, so bike rides and evening walks were out of the question. I was also paranoid about my horses getting out on such a high traffic street. For a few years I had been feeling the need to go “home”, and when I expressed this to David, he said “Let’s go.” We looked at a couple houses, but we again had a small budget, and the housing market right now is anything but small. We finally found one… on the street I grew up on, right next door to my brother and sister-in-law, and right across the street from my mom. The property has so much potential, while the house does too, it needs a lot of work. When I say a lot, I mean a full remodel or a whole new house. We were determined, we put in our offer, and it was accepted!
We moved quickly to put our first home on the market and it sold VERY fast. We packed in a flash, moved in with my mom and waited for the loan process to be finished.
Speedbumps
I felt through the whole process that everything was going too smoothly, and I kept waiting for things to crash. My husband told me to stop and just let everything fly by easy peasy… Turns out I was right. The house is a mobile home and the year it was manufactured came into question. Unfortunately it ended up being 10 years older than we thought, making it too old for the lender we were using to loan on. I cried, I said bad words, and I panicked. My need to move has now left my family living with my mom and nowhere else to go. I have questioned over and over the choice we made, but I still can’t shake the feeling that this is where my family belongs.
We have reached out to another lender, who knows the age of the home and can do the loan. Thank goodness! It will be another 30 days, however we are moving forward. Isn’t that the homesteader spirit? Keep moving forward. I don’t often feel pulled to things, but for some reason this property keeps dragging me back. Like it has been waiting for us to love it and bring it back. It has all of the things I want, and most of the things my husband does, with room to put the rest of the things he wants, like a garage.
The New Huskisson Homestead
Now, when I say it needs work, I mean it is a project. If you’ve ever been inside a late 70’s mobile home, you know what I’m saying… narrow door ways, closed off rooms, dark, and… well, 70’s. What I see when I walk in is white and light and bright, new floors, tile, a bright kitchen where I can cook my delicious Farmhouse Pancakes on a Saturday morning, a pantry, granite, and so much more. I see bright and cheerful with the perfect amount of cozy to curl up with a cup of coffee next to the wood fireplace in the winter. I see our girls growing up slow, and instilling the strong family feeling that is so important me. I see them coming home when they are older and bringing their families with them for a good home cooked meal, and maybe even some card games on a blustery day.
Opening the door and walking outside, I see a secluded yard that our kids can play in and run and yell. A place they can catch frogs, and maybe even some little garter snakes that I will not be touching. I can hear them yelling “Uncle!!” to my brother across the fence. I can’t wait to trim back the overgrown landscaping around the house, lay fresh gravel on the walkways, and get the garden tilled and brough back to life (there is a HUGE garden area). There is also a greenhouse, and believe me that’s where I want to start!
The next best thing after the greenhouse is the chicken coop. It is big enough for us to add some ladies to our flock, with a nice run for them to enjoy the outside and eat all the bugs. There are plenty of nesting boxes and a door for us humans to get the eggs without crawling through the run like I have been doing.
Traveling down the long driveway back toward the road, there is a barn. A barn big enough for all 4 of our horses, a tack room, and places to store hay and shavings. There is room for at least 2 very good sized grass pastures, which is good because my golden child of a horse doesn’t get along with anyone else.
Waiting
To say I was disappointed today to learn that we had to wait another 30 days at least and start the loan process over, would be an understatement. I am working on keeping my attitude positive, and taking this time of pause to catch up on things that have been neglected during the hectic move we just went through… like this blog! I have missed writing, and am glad to be back at it. I promise to keep everyone updated as the process goes on. Be sure you follow me on social media- Facebook The Huskisson Homestead and Instagram thehuskissonhomestead for even more pictures and video updates!
~Tara