Today is a beautiful autumn day...
a good day for a trip!
So, lets take a trip back in time.
Let's walk this beautiful land that I call home and talk a little about its history.
First of all...
the farm is situated in the rolling hills of Central Pennsylvania.
What we call mountains around here... most of you would just call "hills".
These rolling hills and valleys are dotted with quaint, small family farms...
some... dairy, some... cattle, some... chicken, most... corn and soy...
and then there are a handful of farms like ours who like to think we grow "love."
As I walk the countryside I often think of the people who lived here before us.
I think about how different their lives must have been from mine...
and how difficult.
I know that the original people of the land came from various tribes of the Five Nations...
native Americans from the Algonquins, Susquehannocks and Iroquois were the earliest
tribes on record.
Around the mid 1750's the Lenni Lenape (Delaware) Indians moved west
from the Delaware River Valley due to encroachment upon them by the European settlers.
These same settlers headed west into our area about the same time.
One of the earliest structures in the county is our old log cabin.
It's origin is the mid 1750's.
I envision a small family heading west from Philadelphia...
their covered wagon filled with everything they thought essential...
coming upon this land and finding it a suitable place to settle.
The original one-room home was the bottom left side of this picture. |
A one-room log cabin is built over a springhouse (their water source.)
The ground is tilled and food crops planted.
Eventually a small barn is built for the family's livestock.
The original barn stood in the area that is now our bee yard. Date unknown. |
And a brave new life in a wild new world begins.
Our old log cabin is one of the earliest structures still standing in the area.
It dates from the mid 1750's.
Originally it was one room.
There was no evidence of a fireplace...but there is a small chimney;
so I assume an old iron stove accompanied the family in their covered wagon.
You can see the original outside wall running through the center of the house...on the left of this photo. |
At some point an addition was added beside the original room,
and an upstairs as well.
We know that the upstairs was an early addition by the diminutive size of the
stairway and doorways.
(After all, people of the 1700's were smaller in stature.)
I was told that it was not uncommon to build these cabins above a water source
so that settlers would not have to venture outside to get water during harsh times.
Today this cabin stands as a reminder of our past.
It's last inhabitants lived here during the 1960's.
There was no indoor plumbing and only rudimentary electricity...
just as it is today.
We have had much work done over the years to maintain this piece of history.
The most recent being the building of a rather large retaining wall inside the springhouse
(the foundation was beginning to buckle)
and the installation of antique gutters and
a rain chain to a water barrel...
to prevent the erosion of the ground around the foundation from rain running off the roof.
I have dreamed of using this old log cabin to open a shop of some sorts.
However, we get barely any traffic past our farm and are so very rural...
I don't believe I'd have much in the way of customers.
So... it remains just a reminder of a day long gone...
when life was very different than is is today.
One thing remains the same, however...
it stands in the midst of a beautiful land...
a land I am so grateful to feel beneath my feet each and every day!
Thanks so very much for your comments and questions.
It's always helpful to have some ideas!
The funny thing is.... I was talking with a friend the other day.
She mentioned that she just didn't "get" why people blog...and why anyone want to read blogs.
I have to admit it made me wonder if I was serving any purpose...
thanks for the reassuring!
Comments
I could see it being used as a tearoom, where you also sell your honey and knitted crafts.
It's hard to imagine someone living there as late as the 1960s with no indoor plumbing. I guess that shows how accustomed I am to my own privileges and how comfortable my life really is. It's a lot to think about.
I always enjoy your blog and I'm looking forward to reading your answers to other questions.
~~Ashley~~
Not all blogs are alike. I read decorating blogs mostly, and I visit very few on a daily basis. Some are very superficial...grand mansions or big houses beautifully decorated but sort of like hotels, seemingly "perfect", not as if someone lives there...I can't relate to that kind of life......more of a "look what I have" mentality...and those are passed over by me.
Bee Haven is one of a kind. You honor the land...you work and show how things are really done, how things really are. Your home and gardens are beautiful, but you show that things are not always perfect. It's a breath of fresh air in an often disturbing world, and it seems sometimes (wrongly, I know) as if that world doesn't intrude on the farm...
Anyway, there are a lot of reasons that I read your blog...I hope you always feel that it's worth it.
That cabin would be a beautiful shop. Too bad there is not enough traffic to warrant setting it up as one.
.
Karla from Coal City, Illinois
I was thinking about your request for ideas and I thought of something as I was planning dinner for tonight. You have written about how you guys eat and i was wondering if you might share some recipes. After planning and preparing family meals for over 35 years, I'm getting tired of it, but still have to do it! I'm always looking for something new.
Thanks for sharing your beautiful farm with us!
Steph
My aunt and uncle own a small farm and I've been lucky enough to get to "farm-sit" for them while they went on vacation the past two summers. It was a joy to feed and water the horses, collect eggs and water the garden.
In response to your recent post about topics we'd like to read: I would love to learn more about how you manage your lifestyle. How you came to buy the farm, how you afford to care for all the animals ... did you and Hubs have this dream and save for it while working, were you able to retire early? Etc.
I am intrigued by people who have big dreams and work hard for years to be able to retire early and enjoy living out those dreams.
Thanks for sharing your slice of farm life with us!
In New England there are many old homesteads, I love to see people preserve them. When I walk our gravel driveway to feed horses, etc, there is a heart shaped rock on the wall next to the barn. I grab hold of it and say "thank you", it's a morning ritual. I feel so grateful to call this land and farm -home-.
Great history around Bee Haven . . .
Perfect little shop it would be in the spring house . . .