Reedy Branch Road: On Your Mark - Get set

Today is the official start of a journey that has been dreamed of for many years. I closed on the purchase of an old farmhouse in the country on two beautiful acres of land. In rural Virginia. About 2,400 miles from where I currently live in the desert Southwest. Call me crazy!

I am an easterner by birth and a southerner by choice, having lived in North Carolina for 17 years before moving to Arizona 14 years ago. Now I'm returning to the gently rolling green land of the piedmont with two main aspirations in mind: 1) to grow organically as much of my own food as I can in a large garden and small orchard and 2) to restore this fine old home with good bones into the gathering place where all members of my far flung family and all friends can come to enjoy the peace and tranquility of life in the country (and help weed, feed, gather, pick, pluck, mow, dig, saw, hammer, plaster, and paint). It is often said that the definition of a farm (or homestead) is "an endless series of chores and projects surrounded by a fence".

Reedy Branch Road is the name of the country lane where my little homestead is located. I will be blogging about the adventures, successes, failures, disasters and triumphs in the gardens and on the grounds and blogging about the many house restoration projects as they happen. I'll add posts about canning, preserving, cooking and baking too.

Now we are busy packing - getting ready to hit the road on our way to our new home.

The home was built by Miles C. Taylor in 1859

The original detached kitchen, typical of the era, was enlarged and attached to the main house in 1905.
The 1905 addition was further enlarged in 1940