The Farm

Teddy and I are moving part-time into the farmhouse on the Schlueter Cherry Farm here in Leelanau County, Michigan. Teddy's brother, John has his own house across the road and her sister, Deb lives just three miles from here. In fact the backyard of Deb's is where we have parked our trailer summers since 2005 when we first started fulltiming. So, as the farmhouse was going to be vacant, Teddy and I have decided to make it our summer home. I guess this means that we will no longer be official fulltimers but 3/4 timers instead.
The house has been in the Schlueter family for over three generations and dates back over one hundred years. Somewhere within the walls is an original log cabin, long ago covered up and encased within the walls of the current house. This is Teddy's girlhood home where she grew up so it's sort of a homecoming for her.The house though, needs a lot of work and TLC to bring it up to modern standards. Teddy's father and grandfather before him, being the thrifty German farmers that they were, were loath to spend any money on improvements that they considered unnecessary, instead investing their profits into improving farm production. We have been hard at work for the past two weeks, cleaning, sanding, painting, wiring, and plumbing. We still plan on redoing the bathroom this summer and perhaps the kitchen next summer. On the outside the house looks pretty good. Has vinyl siding and a fairly new roof. Next week I intend to enhance it's curb appeal with shutters on all of the windows. There is approximately an acre of grass to mow surrounding the house and to that end we have purchased a John Deere garden tractor/mower. As I have often said, "As long as I can keep Teddy working, I intend on furnishing her with the very best tools available." ;-)