The Camping Trip

It's been a couple of weeks since I've had anything to update, although Ryan and our friend Matt have spent a couple days working at the property and even identifying some of our trees! They've mostly finished clearing our homesite, with the exception of a few trees we weren't sure about, and our next step is to get the ground completely clear of stumps, sticks, and excess anything. We've got a large wood pile and an even larger brush pile that will all eventually be used for fires. We decided the property was ready for a primitive camping trip and planned it for this past weekend.

On Sunday morning Ryan and I loaded up the car with our backpacks, cooler, hammocks, chairs, a tent for the dogs to try sleeping in, and, of course, the dogs. Roxy and Pilot both get really excited when you ask them if they want to go camping, because who wouldn't? So we hit the road and headed for Walmart to get a few things for our trip. I stayed in the car with the pups so they'd stay cool and Ryan ran in to grab food, ice, and a little charcoal grill to leave out at the property, which he found on sale. After this the camping trip had really started. We drove up to our property and backed the car in, unpacked all our supplies and hauled them down the hill. It was a nice, sunny afternoon, so the four us got pretty hot pretty quickly. We all took turns taking trips to the creek and setting things up at the campsite. Ryan put our new grill together and I set up the tent for the dogs. Then we both did some clearing where we intended to hang our hammocks and in the homesite in general. After we took a break it was time to decide where the fire pit would go so Ryan could get to digging. We picked a spot that already had a bit of a dip in it to make life a little easier and he started on our fire pit. I used this time to continue clearing some and play with the dogs.

After a couple hours we realized the friends who were joining us were a little late and Ryan decided to drive up the road to try and get service. While he was gone, of course, they showed up and Ryan pulled in right behind them. So we got everything set up and explored a little. The men started looking for rocks to put around the fire pit and after about 30 minutes they'd made a great spot for a nice sized fire. Then we all gathered some more firewood for the night since most of what we have is still about 6 feet long and needs to be cut up. The boys got the fire started and the girls got to relax and watch. After the fire was built Ryan started up the grill because the pork loin we'd brought would need a few hours. He got things ready and cooking and it was time to chill by the fire.

At about 7:00 or 8:00 some unexpected clouds started rolling through and we all started crossing our fingers that the worst we got would be drizzles or a quick afternoon storm. The drizzles came and we started hearing thunder in the distance. Ryan and I decided to take down our hammocks and throw our tarp over the tent in case we needed to share it with the dogs that night. A little while later our amazing dinner of pork loin, corn on the cob, sweet potato, and buttered onion was finished and we sat by the fire and enjoyed it. The dogs loved the leftovers, too. The rain held off for a bit, but by about 10:00 it was raining lightly but steadily so I took the dogs to the tent and both of the ladies decided to retire until the rain let up.

About 30 minutes later the men joined their women in their respective camping areas after realizing the rain was just going to get worse. Neither Ryan or I were tired, though, so we stayed in the tent listening to the rain and the thunder and watching the lightning, talking about our plans for the property and what our options were. We discussed the possibility of building a small lean-to type shed for people to sleep in when we went camping and to store our tools in that would be staying at the property. And that opened us up to the possibility of just building a tiny house for much less than we were originally planning. I believe around midnight Ryan started dozing and I laid awake for quite some time, unable to get comfortable on the unpadded ground we were laying on. The rain continued and I sat and listened to it and cuddled with the dogs. Not long afterwards our poor friends that were camping with us came to the tent and said they were leaving because one of them was having an allergic reaction to something we had eaten (possibly the pistachios) and needed medical attention. (She's fine, for the worriers.) After this, we laid awake again for a little while and then both finally fell into a fairly light and uncomfortable sleep. I awoke numerous times to the feeling of something crawling on my legs or arms and pulled about 20 ticks off of Ryan, the dogs, and myself throughout the night. (I must have done a good job, because only one tick made it home with us that had hitched a ride on Roxy.)

The rain continued through the entire night, and the thunder woke us a few times, but there's nothing I'd rather listen to when I can't sleep than rain and thunder. Finally I could see the sun starting to rise outside the tent and I started to relax; we'd made it through the night and were completely dry. Our little four person tent, plus tarp, had kept the middle of the tent, where we were sleeping, out of the water's way and only the sides and corners were effected. At about 7:30 AM we started getting up and assessing things and found that everything at the edges of the tent, including the dog butts, was a little damp, but nothing was soaked and that made us happy. It was still drizzling a little but the rain had mostly let up and we decided to start packing up, but were in no real hurry. We packed everything and slowly started taking things to the car, dismantled the tent, packed up the cooler, and took a trip to the creek. We made it home around 9:30 or 10:00 and decided it would be a very lazy day after a very sleepless night. Ryan is the best husband ever and told me if I'd take the dogs inside (an easy task) he'd unpack the car so I could get a nice, hot shower.

Although the trip was rainy and sleepless, we woke in the morning feeling happy. The woods looked beautiful with the sun coming through the rain soaked trees and even the muddy ground seemed clean and quenched. The rain had the fire out for us, but our fire pit was in tact and perfect. The flowers and mushrooms were out and dripping and it was the prettiest thing to wake up to. We had a great first night on the land and can't wait for many more!

Monday morning.

The rain on the tent, which kind of sounds like fire or popcorn.

Bring on the Hard Labor!

Over the past couple of weeks a combination of Ryan, our friend Matt, Ryan's brother Derrick, and I have visited our new property a number of times. A couple weekends ago we attempted to find lot lines in a fairly unconventional and unsuccessful way, but for the most part we had just been enjoying wandering around our land and getting to know the area, and a couple of the neighbors. However, this past weekend Ryan decided it was high time we got those lot lines worked out. He spent hours on Friday night and Saturday morning researching and learning the best ways to go about doing this, using the only information he had, and on Saturday he set out with a compass, measuring tape and some marker ribbon to find those lines once and for all. 

After a successful line-defining trip on Saturday, Ryan was eager to get to work clearing some of the lot where we plan to put our driveway and finding the perfect homesite. I had made previous plans and was unfortunately missing from Sunday's activities, but Ryan and Matt made AMAZING progress! So, enough with all the words; it's time for pictures!

First and foremost, here is the plat for our land. At the top right you'll find Lot 3, our future home. (We're still working a name for it, but we'll get there.) Amazingly enough, our crazy awesome benefactors also own Lot 6 beneath our lot and we hope to purchase it from them one day to bring our property to a nice, round 5 acres.

Next, I'll show you a couple photos that I took from inside our property before any clearing was done. You'll see what I mean by heavily wooded. Although it's all fairly young growth (10 years or so), it's gone pretty far in that time! Also, you'll be seeing a number of my 'artsy fartsy' pictures through these as well, because I just can't help myself.

There's also a nice little creek that you can see on the plat, and some of it runs right through our lot. On the right here you can see a great little swimming hole for the dogs!

Now that you know what Ryan and Matt were facing on Sunday, I hope you'll be sufficiently impressed by the work they got done. The photos I showed don't quite do justice to the work they had to do at the edge of the road, where the trees were even thicker with underbrush. But here is a video of the amazing amount of work they did, followed by some photos of them working yesterday. We basically doubled the clearing for the homesite yesterday. The pictures aren't in any particular order, but you'll be able to see what got done.

 

 

 

 

 

  

And this is the final shot I took yesterday. It's a little tough to tell where everything is because it's a panorama, but to the top left is the driveway and everything else is the homesite.

Alright everyone, I know it was a lot of pictures but thanks for checking in! We'll continue to update as we make decisions and do more work on the land, so keep an eye out. :)

The Adventure Begins!

When Ryan and I first met we already had similar ideas of what we'd like our futures to hold. We wanted to find a way to live simpler, more fulfilling lives. Our first few plans included a houseboat, a sailboat, a small house in Florida, a home in Charleston, etc. While these plans would all have taken us to beautiful places near friends and family, they just didn't simplify life in the way we were hoping. About a year before the wedding Ryan and I started discussing homesteading. We both loved the idea of self-sufficiency and living off the land, and we really loved the thought that all of our hard work would directly effect our livelihood. This option quickly became a plan and a priority. After months of research and talking to friends and family, we decided this was definitely in our future and haven't stopped thinking and talking about it since.

Our original plan was to save up for the next few years and, together with a couple friends who share our dream of simplicity, find 10-20 acres of land somewhere in the southeast when we had the money to do so. We've looked at hundreds of properties just daydreaming away and had settled on a few particular states because we could get the acreage we wanted for lower prices than other areas that had the climate and geography we were looking for. Our plans all seemed to be so far out of reach, but we were excited about the future.

We planned and budgeted and were finally able to start saving a little after our wedding, but a few short weeks ago we were far from being able to realize our dream. Then as we sat talking on Mother's Day about our plans for the future with some family-caliber friends we were given the gift of a lifetime: a wooded 2 acre lot in Dawsonville, GA with beautiful trees and a creek in a quiet, secluded area with endless options and opportunities. We just about burst with excitement and will never be able to thank our benefactors enough. We hope to show our thanks and gratitude through our exciting plans and projects and invite you all to come on this journey with us!