A Home for the Sawmill

This blog was supposed to be a blog/vlog about Noel’s woodworking. I guess that hasn’t changed, but our journey has changed a wee bit. The woodworking will look a little differently for now.

First the sawmill…

I mentioned Noel’s sawmill in previous blogs; the sawmill which led to a new trailer – which led to a new truck. . . Well, not exactly. The 20 year old truck truly wheezed its last breath and died, making the truck a requirement.

A friend has graciously allowed Noel to keep his sawmill out at his farm, but we started looking for some cheap land nearer home to put up a small shed for the sawmill, but once again, that idea has grown. All from a little sawmill!

…and then the land

We found land. As we sat in the truck looking at this crazy, disastrous, messy 5-acres that was ridiculously inexpensive, I made the simple remark, “Why don’t we build a house on the land instead of just using it for the sawmill.” After prayer, consideration, planning, we are now the proud owners of not 5 acres, but nearly 11 acres of wooded land on a gravel road. Eleven acres that cost less than what most would pay for 1 acre.

Horneck Homestead

So if you are interested, you can follow our journey of the Horneck Homestead. Maybe we can have a contest to come up with a more creative name. =) Our friend, Rachel, has dubbed it Little House in the Ozarks. We took ownership of most of the land Monday; the last few acres will come in a couple weeks. We put our house on the market on Thursday, and our agent hopes to sell it this week. We want it to sell quickly, but maybe not quite that quickly!

You have to have a good imagination when you look at the land. Here it is when we first saw it. You really have to walk around to realize how bad it is; it has been vandalized for the last ten years.

But we quickly got busy making an offer on not just one lot but three, giving us almost 11 acres. We got our house ready to sell, and Noel bought Mini. I think she needs some black ears, but. . .

And I got puppies/watch dogs. Aren’t they scary? Meet Dink & Fuzz. Brothers who don’t really look like brothers. New fact we have learned – a litter of puppies can have different dads, which might be the case here.

We now have the land, the rain is done, and we have been working for 1.5 days. It might not look like it, but this is great progress in a short time.

We are excited about our progress and thankful for so many blessings. It has rained which at first frustrated us; but it took the burn ban away. It is to rain again Wednesday which gives Noel especially a day of rest. We have met our neighbors and all the neighbor dogs. It will be hard to repay our very kind neighbors. They have been there for much of the burning; when we go home at night, they stay and burn some more.

So what is in our future? When the house sells, Noel will retire. All of his time will be focused on first building a shop; we will live in part of the shop while he builds a house. Noel plans to build the shop and house by himself except for the concrete pouring and help with the trusses. Besides the shop and house, he will make the cupboards and some of the furniture. We hope to be in the completed house by Christmas, but so many things could slow that process down, we know.

Why?

Why are we doing this when we love our house and have an amazing view?

We’re getting old. Really! We live in a tri-level, and Noel has a woodshop at the top of 19 steps; we want a ranch-style house with no steps next to a shop with no steps.

We will be able to retire a little early, debt free by doing this. And I’m ready to have puppies, chickens, honeybees, and a big garden.

Our neighbor, Gloria, told me the property is full of raspberries, blackberries, and currants. I hear I have plum and peach trees. Noel has 11 acres of woods, so he can harvest some trees and build beautiful furniture. We have a stream at the back of our property. We get our first honeybee hive May 8.

Retiring but not Quitting

We have poured our lives into our work for years. While we do not want to retire from God and ministry, we know God has something different for us that will also be ministry. He is already showing us a little of what that might be.

We have our crafts and woodworking that we love. How can we use this for God? I don’t know, but I plan to find out.

So if you are interested, stick around and cheer us on when we are tired.