Buy Land While It Lasts....They Stopped Making It

This week marked a very special event in my life...one I have been looking forward to since I was a young girl. When I was fourteen years old, I babysat as often as I could just to save enough money to buy books. I had found one in particular at the local bookstore that I just had to have. Published in 1976, Country Women held within it's soft covered, 380 pages, everything I needed to know about living off the land....it was my dream.  The book was written by two women who had decided to give up their city lives and take up self-sufficient living in the country. Sadly the author, Jeanne Tetrault passed away in 2004 but I wonder if she had any idea how influential she and co-author Sherry Thomas were in a young girl's life?

I was so excited when the day arrived that I was finally able to plunk down the hard earned $6.95 for the book. I hurried home to read every page. Filled with detailed information about buying land, planting gardens and raising livestock, it also offered beautiful artwork, anecdotes and inspirational poetry. I still treasure this book today.

           One of my favorite poems in the book, which I actually memorized all those years ago, 
                                              has served as a mantra for me throughout my life.

"Buy land, buy land while it lasts, they stopped making it"

...and that is what I finally got to do this week! 

Although I have owned land in the past, I never owned this much, nor did I have the opportunity to live self-sufficiently. On Friday, that all changed. The eight acre meadow became part of the one acre cottage property, which now totals 9 acres. I am so thrilled! 

The meadow is filled with flowers, birds, butterflies, animals and....possibilities! How wonderful it will be to cross-country ski across the meadow this winter or gather dandelion greens in the spring. It is entirely surrounded by stonewalls and brimming with low bush blueberries, wild strawberries, raspberries and blackberries. Sturdy oaks and maples stand as sentries around the meadow and will provide for many a warm evening when wood is needed for the stove. 

I have researched the land extensively and discovered that originally the meadow was part of the cottage property. In the mid 1800's the whole property was a farm owned by Nathaniel and Fannie Young. The stone remnants of their house and barn are still found on the property today. The old dug well, which I discussed in an earlier post (Well Wishes...), was the family well and their only source of water.

The land was eventually divided in 1982 when the present owners gave the cottage portion of the land to their daughter to build a house. The parents kept the meadow but unfortunately the daughter had to sell the cottage with one acre when she and her husband divorced.

 At the closing this week, the owner, now an elderly woman, told us she was thrilled that we bought the meadow because now the two pieces of land are finally back together, as they once were.
We were delighted to hear this.

If you look closely you can see the cottage way in the distance. 

This photo was taken from the back of the meadow    

A lovely brook runs along the back of the meadow and in the spring you can hear it burbling... all the way up to the house... burbling over like the happiness in my heart!