The First Look

The time has come to start my blog. I thought it would be fun to journal my progress becoming a steward of the land. This is something I have wanted to do for a long time but hadn't seriously thought I could do it. The last three years, as a contractor in Iraq proved to me that I could do anything I put my mind to. I may not always do it right the first time but I can learn. That is exactly what I plan to do.

Last week, I finally got to travel to Indiana from Iraq to see the little farm that I purchased with the help of my daughter, Michelle, and her video camera. I found it on the Internet and thought it was the most beautiful place I had ever seen. It seemed to have just the right amount of land for me to be able to keep up. The

house,

cabin,

barn

and ponds

were everything I had ever wanted in a property.

I asked my daughter, who lives about an hour away, in Bloomington, if she would go take a look and make sure that nothing horrible was hidden from the pictures and description. She contacted me and let me know that she had taken video of the place and put it on You Tube. It looked wonderful, so I took a leap of faith and made an offer. A month and a half later, I was the proud owner of my little farm.

I have a lot of plans for this little farm. There will be chickens, goats, Shetland sheep, bee hives, a garden and of course my two English Shepherds. After seeing the farm, I am beginning to think that my 12 hour days, seven days a week in Iraq were a vacation.