The 100 acres we are blessed to tend used to be a working cattle ranch. The property is mainly forested, but there are some open, albeit overgrown, pasture areas. If you look closely, you'll even spy the "guard trees", the big old trees they never cut that helped to mark the pasture and property boundaries. The apple orchard consists of about 25 trees, their gnarled existence also a remnant of the old ranch.
No one had used the property, except for one week a year during hunting season, since Andy's parents purchased it in the 1990s. In 2014, when Andy and I were looking for another place to rent in Penns Valley, we had a brain storm one day and said to ourselves, "hey, why don't we get a loan and fix up that old cabin, instead of paying rent forever?" And so it was.
We became an off-grid homestead because, when we contacted the power company, they said it would cost upwards of $90,000 to bring power lines back the one mile to the cabin. So... the cost of a used, off-grid solar system and some new panels suddenly became cheap in comparison. But now, we wouldn't have it any other way. We live a modern lifestyle, with very highly efficient appliances and good energy conservation habits. We have a washer/dryer, dishwasher and wifi internet. So we are not totally "roughing it" out here.
We love waking up every day to the sounds of birds in all directions. In certain moments, I almost expect to see a dinosaur walk up over the crest of the hill :) We see wildlife all the time: deer, turkeys, grouse, ducks, geese, herons, frogs, salamanders, turtles... very rarely even the occasional bobcat, fox, beaver or bear.
We are constantly trying to improve the health of the land and the forest. We have a forest management plan with the NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service), through which we get technical assistance and some funding to manage invasive plant species to improve the health of the forest ecosystem. We do this without the use of chemical herbicides. We are proud to be able to say that not a drop of chemical has been applied to the earth at Love Farm for at least 25 years. We like things to be natural out here, and we are willing to put in the extra effort to keep it that way.
We are lucky to be the stewards of this property. We love and appreciate this land, and our goal is for all of our guests feel the same.
