Arizona! A working farm in progress

After several years of hoping and planning and delays, we’ve finally made Arizona our home. As my customized sign says, “Dreams Come True Here”. I believe it. And, we’re going to make them happen.

It all started one day at the food plant I managed. I was un-boxing a bunch of labels in the label room. The labels were packed in boxes that had newspapers to keep the labels from sliding around and getting marred. I had some labels to print so I decided to take a look at the paper. It was the Orange County register. I noticed an ad for 40 acre parcels in Northern Arizona. After that we decided to take a trip to look at the land, vowing not to buy anything on a whim.

Well, you know how that goes. We were standing on a gently sloping parcel outside of Snowflake. There was silence. There were landscape views right out of Dances with Wolves. There were no neighbors! And, town just 30 minutes away. We were sold. We put down money on the spot and have had a five year plan for eight years. That was until April. April was the month the skies opened up and provided employment for my husband so we could make the move. Well, we’re sort of still moving. Our life has always been a work in process.

We’re not living on the land like we’d like as we have the husband’s mother living with us. At 84 she’s just not up to roughing it and we have to have a place for her to actually live before we get to the ranch. So we’ll live in town for a bit until we get things up and running at the ranch.

The plan is to bootstrap the entire operation. To live off the grid and be entirely self sufficient. It will be hard work, but hey, who’s afraid of hard work? Not me. We’ll be building a home, a steel building for equipment and a few cabins for friends and others to come enjoy. I’m excited for the workshop. We’ll have a place for artisan crafts, a black smithing section and a drying shed for the lavender and apricots we’ll grow. I’m looking forward to the farm school we’ve planned with chickens, and other livestock along the way. A great garden to can and eat from. Most of all, I look forward to being able to invite you all to visit. Hopefully soon.