Category: A Year in Review

While taking a rest day after a long stretch of working on projects, I thought I’d update y’all on what’s been going on here at the farm, so grab a mug of something warm and read on….

We’ve now been living in our old home for three-and-a-half years; the first three working 24/7 to stabilize, rebuild, and restore this home in a way that not only honors Daniel and Abigail, but to also create a place we want to live for the rest of our lives. Our focus and intent all along has been to preserve as much of the house’s history as possible, and to ensure it survives for the next generation. With the structure stabilized, secure, and protected, plus a few pretty things taken care of, we’re moving on to actually living here. We always wanted to “homestead”, or live as simply and as self-reliant as possible. We wanted to grow our own food, have an orchard, make maple syrup from our own trees, and for any meat we eat, we wanted to find a local farm to support. So how did we do towards achieving these goals? Read on, my friend.

Having all the heavy construction wrapped up around the farm for now, we could finally go ahead and begin building raised beds and gardens, and install fencing to keep out the deer, moose, bears, woodchucks, and all of the other critters that roam around here. We built five raised beds, as well as two large ground-level gardens for climbing plants. We were able to put up fencing, albeit temporary t-posts, and welded wire fencing. We studied and ordered from seed catalogs, as well as picked up seeds from friends and saved from veggies we liked, and in February, we started placing them into the dirt, keeping them warm near the wood stove. When it warmed up outside, we started moving them to the screen porch to acclimate during the day, moving them back inside at night. Once we planted everything, the work really started- thinning, watering, monitoring for pests, spraying neem oil, tying up, then finally, harvesting and processing. 

Last spring, we received an order of six period heritage apple and pear trees, all appropriate for the age of the house. The apples are; “William’s Pride”, “Ashmead’s Kernel”, “Black Oxford”, “Hudson’s Golden Gem”, “Baldwin”, and the pear is “Dana Hovey.” We planted these in the hillside orchard, which also contains a very old existing apple tree (unknown variety) and an equally-aged Seckel pear tree. We planted a couple dozen raspberry canes given to us by a lady in town, along with blueberry, boysenberry, and strawberry plants. Within the electric fence surrounding the orchard, we also have foxglove, bloodroot, peonies, sedum, yucca, and many other wild, or long ago forgotten plantings that were just waiting for us to clear the overgrowth that covered this hillside. We’re hoping to start harvesting apples and pears within the next year or two, and we expect a HUGE crop of raspberries this year. This summer we also hope to expand the fenced area, and add gates for access- a pretty one to walk through, and a utilitarian one for a small tractor or mower.

We also built a pergola behind the house in order to grow grapes; four “Concord”(seedless), a blush “Niagara”, and a white “Somerset”- one for each post. For the pergola, we just ran to our local sawmill for some rough-cut hemlock- we built it strong enough not only to support the weight of the grapes and vines, but also a hammock!

This past spring, we extended the chicken run off the end of the coop after losing a couple hens to the local bobcats. We still let them out to free-range from time-to-time, but only when we can be out there with them to keep an eye out for the cats, bear, foxes, and whatever else wants a tasty chicken treat. Now the girls can hang out with plenty of space, sunshine, and safely watch the happenings in the yard from “the bleacher seats”. This summer, we’ll rake out as much of the surface rocks (left over from the jacking pads used to raise the barn to rebuild the foundation) as possible, then bring in some more dirt for them to kick around in. It would have been easier to do that before we built the run extension, but that’s just how we do things around here sometimes. It does add to the adventure though!

Outside of the gardens, our pets, the chickens, and the orchard, each spring we enjoy making maple syrup- nine gallons last year! With two wood stoves, the need for wood to boil down sap in our evaporator, and the occasional hearth fire, we also spend a lot of time cutting and splitting firewood. But we wouldn’t have it any other way!

This adventure has been far more than we expected, and we’re so thankful we had the opportunity. We still have some 426 things on our to-do list, but we’re enjoying every single day. Thanks for stopping by, and we hope to see you again soon!

We’ll leave you with some images of the house through the seasons…..

Be well, and God bless!

I can’t believe it’s Christmas again already! We do have snow on the ground, however, with temps in the 50’s and rain the next couple of days, we’re not sure it will last through Christmas Day.

Christmas has become a time for reflection for us, as it lies at the beginning of what has become our quiet time. Resting from a busy summer of restoration work, gardening, and all that comes with living on a historic homestead, we have time to look back, and plan ahead. This will be our third Christmas in this old house, and it’s no less special. If anything, we’ve grown to love it even more. We’re even more familiar with its creaks and groans, the tilt of its floors, the smell of 240 years of wood smoke in the hearth, and we’re even more familiar with Daniel and Abigail. We did learn more about them this past year, which will be revealed in a later post, but they have become like dear friends to us, and we feel we’ve grown even closer this past year. 

This past year was a good one for us as a family, in spite of what has been going on in the world. Our daughter Allison, has just completed the first semester of her junior year at UNH, after switching her major last year from nutrition to history, with an education minor. While she is working towards becoming a high school history teacher, she has discovered a love of historical architecture, and would also like to pursue her Real Estate Broker’s license. Her favorite style, within the “Victorian” umbrella, is the Queen Anne Style, and specifically, Shingle Style. After seeing how beautiful an old, run-down, neglected house can look and feel like with some love and attention, she’s learned to see the potential in older homes. She’s learned that old homes, built by craftsman, often by hand, have souls.

Jenny and I have learned about raising and keeping chickens, planting and caring for a garden, canning and processing food, weaving, and all sorts of basic homesteading skills. Our renovation skills have also grown this year- we’ve re-sided parts of the barn and ell, installed one new door, and restored some old doors. We built a chicken coop and some raised bed gardens, planted an orchard, and cut and split cords and cords of firewood. It’s been hard work, but some of the most rewarding work we’ve ever done. I honestly believe we could never go back to suburban living. While we haven’t travelled much this year, we’ve taken some fun, scenic drives, and we got out for some hikes. But mostly, we find we truly enjoy just being at the farm, and the cycle of our days here- the everyday chores and work of running a homestead.

We thank you all for following along on our adventure- offering your ideas, support, or well-wishes. We appreciate all of the comments and notes, and truly enjoy sharing with you all. We hope that this Christmas card finds you and your family in good health and spirit. We wish you a warm and joyous Christmas, and a blessed New Year. 

God bless!

We haven’t done a full, updated tour of the house since we started, so as we’re just past the two year mark, we thought it would be a good time to share our progress, all in one place. And besides, who doesn’t like a good before-and-after? This post will focus mainly on the house- we’ll do another on the barn at a later time.

The house when purchased:

The house as it stands now:

As you can see, a lot of trees and vegetation was either removed or relocated somewhere else on the property. This is because most everything was overgrown and either rubbing on the house, diseased or rotting, at full maturity and beginning decline, or too close to the house and unhealthy, and susceptible to ice storms or winds. As far as the house exterior, we’ve re-shingled the back side of the roof, removed the old rotted siding, insulated, sealed, and applied new siding, weatherstripped and reglazed the windows, built (from period lumber) and installed new storm doors on the front and side doors, installed new trim boards, milled and installed new window sills where necessary, and installed new exterior lights. We capped the chimneys, installed gutters and French drains around the house, and re-graded the yard to drain properly. We also replaced the front sill and sealed up the cut granite foundation. The house is completely sealed up and weather tight now, and should easily last the rest of our lives and more. 

Stepping into the front entry hall, this is what it used to look like:

The door didn’t open far enough for a person to enter, as the granite foundation below had, at some point, been removed and replaced with a single course of brick, allowing the sill beam and floor to tilt up, blocking the door. We fixed all those structural issues, stripped and hand-sanded the many-layers-of-paint from the floorboards, then applied a few coats of boiled linseed oil, topped by two coats of matte urethane. We also stripped the wallpaper, painted the ceiling, applied new wallpaper, painted the trim, and swapped out the old light fixture for a glass shade that once belonged to Jenny’s great-aunt Georgia.

Now it looks like this:

Off one side of the entry hall is the parlor, but not much has changed other than wall paint. The plaster has failed on the exterior walls in this room, so at some point we’ll have to address that, but we’ve got bigger fish. The interior wall (behind the door in the first pic below) still features the original stenciling (c1840) of Moses Eaton Jr- the house’s second owner. 

Here’s what it looks like now. Our plan is to strip the floors, replace the plaster on the exterior walls, stabilize Moses’ stenciled panel, and restore the doors’ thumblatch handles, which were likely made by Daniel’s hand, but were stripped and sold off by a prior owner. We’ll also remove the old fireplace insert, line the chimney, and install a parlor stove in the firebox.

Moving through the parlor, you come into the hearth room. This room was a total restoration top to bottom.

As soon as we closed, we had the cooking hearth restored, using hand-made water struck bricks like the originals. The old ones were on a failing base, and most had spalled or cracked.

After the hearth was restored, we installed a period fireplace crane to fit the existing pintles (which we was gifted by one of our structural contractors- thanks Joel!). We took down the old dropped ceiling to reveal the original beams and floorboard dusters, then we took up the old floorboards (not original, too-far-worn, and patched), repaired the rotted and broken floor joist beams, shimmed and leveled the new subfloor, then topped with salvaged period floorboards attached with reproduction rose-head nails. Once all that was complete, we painted the walls. We also moved the wiring that used to be in the ceiling, and added wall sconces on the wall opposite the fireplace. The murals seen on the back wall are c.2005, and were damaged, so we will be covering those with a more appropriate mural, in the style of Jonathan Poor, nephew of Moses’ muralist friend Rufus Porter, once all the structural work is complete. There is still some work to do covering gaps in the upper wall that used to be above the drop ceiling. While taking out the drop ceiling, we found one of our most valued treasures so far- an outline of a nine-foot-tall cupboard that Abigail had in this room! We preserved the outline, and someday, maybe we’ll reproduce the cupboard as best we can using the profile.

Moving around the corner, we come to our bedroom, which was the more formal parlor. The restoration of this room is later in the plan, so it’s only seen paint so far.

Before:

After:

Back out towards the hearth room, and you’ll come to the hall to the side door, as well as our bathroom.

We repainted the hall, did some repair on the side door, then built and installed a new plank storm door. For the bathroom, we removed the tub and toilet surround, stripped the paint from the interior panel wall behind the vanity, installed a new vanity and base, and painted the rest. At some point we’ll take out the tub/surround and build a walk-in shower, but for now the tub doubles as our utility sink during the restoration. As you can see, the plaster needs some work as well.

On the other side of the hearth room, opposite the bathroom, is the “borning room”, or a small bedroom off the hearth where a new mother would sleep with her baby. 

We stripped the seven layers (as near as we could tell) of wallpaper from the end wall, did some plaster repair and painted, then we cleaned and linseed oiled the opposing panel wall (which had never been painted thankfully), and set it up as a guest room. At some point, we’ll strip the wallpaper from the window wall, strip the paint from the floors, and clean up the panel wall adjoining the hearth room. 

While that wraps up the house, we’ll add our kitchen into this post, as while that’s actually within the ell structure, it is open to the hearth room, and we consider it part of the house. The kitchen is where the original summer kitchen was, and the wall behind our stove contains what is left of the original summer hearth. It was converted to a chimney for a wood stove at some point- likely the early 20th century when the ell structure was added. The summer kitchen would have been a simple lean-to structure off the back of the house, and the lower level would have led outside to the yard. The lower level appears to have been a root cellar, and just beyond is the original dug well.

This room was a complete renovation as well. We first demo’d everything, moved the sink plumbing to the wall to the right, opening up the window overlooking the backyard. We refinished the floors, stripped the panel wall above the new sink, installed new base cabinets and countertops, plus a soapstone farmer’s sink. We also installed new upper cabinets on the sink wall, as well as an antique plate rack. We found an antique workbench that we’ve repurposed into an island, and we’re currently using a c.1740 tavern table as our kitchen table. We’re not sure this is a permanent situation, as we’ll soon be exchanging our modern gas stove for a new wood cookstove, and moving the island to the opposite side of the kitchen from the back window, where an old propane heat stove is being taken out. Our (too small) pantry is currently in the back mudroom, along with our laundry, but we will likely open up the wall into the ell workshop to expand the back mudroom into a larger pantry, and kitchen extension. We also swapped out the ceiling fixture for an antique glass shade from Jenny’s great aunt Georgia, and added new fixtures over the kitchen table and sink.

And this brings us to the screen porch- one of the first rooms we finished (we wanted a place to escape the chaos of the restoration), and one of our favorite spaces. While the screen porch was here, it was unfinished.

We installed shiplap paneling on the interior walls, a ceiling fan, and a board and batten-style ceiling. We ended up having to remove the stairs that led from just outside the screen porch (the door to the left of the pic above leads to an attached deck) to the ground, as they were installed without any flashing, causing both the stairs and adjoining wall to rot. We also installed new clapboards on the outside, rebuilt a couple of the windows, and painted overall. We also replaced the deck railing, and will be replacing the decking, as well as some of the support structure under the deck next year.

That’s the full tour (minus our daughter’s space upstairs) of the livable area of the house. We’ve also done so much work in the basement, and around areas that you can’t see, but make the house much more livable. We’ve also restored some historical features. One thing we did a while back, after it’s discovery, was to open and restore the original hand-dug well. This was initially a pile of rocks in the ell basement, but after Jenny noticed a reflection under the rocks, we discovered the 14 foot deep well.

Once uncovered, we drained the water, cleaned out the old timbers that had fallen in, then installed an overflow pipe that leads to the barn drainage system. At some point, we’ll level off and mortar up the stones above ground, and build a cover and pulley system. We’d also really like to have this well feed into the potting shed area at the back of the barn.

We’ve also done a lot of work to the HVAC system. Being a timber frame home, humidity is pretty important, and because we’re heating with wood or having cooking fires in the hearth, it gets pretty dry. We installed a steam humidifier system which can put up to 18 gallons of water per hour into the air. We also replaced the entire duct system to better balance the system, making sure all rooms are getting heat/cooling equally. The new ductwork is also much less noisy and intrusive than it used to be. 

There were also many, many little every day things we’ve done to make the house more functional, comfortable, safe, or secure. Not to mention, keeping up with the ordinary day-to-day maintenance of an antique historical house. We’ve really enjoyed this process, and are surprised at how fulfilling and healing this project has been for us. We’ve learned so much- both of early American life, and Daniel and Abigail’s history. We’ve got a few more things on our pre-winter to-do list, but once finished, we look forward to hunkering down and just enjoying living here. Eating from our pantry, heating with the cordwood we’ve stored up, reading the stacks of books (mostly historical) we’ve accumulated. We’ll also be doing more research into Daniel and Abigail’s lives before they built this home. The Holy Grail would be to find a signature, or a portrait (we understand this is a long shot, but c’mon, you have to dream). There are also a couple hundred miles of hiking trails just outside our front door waiting to be hiked. 

While it appears we’ve done so much (we have), there is still so much to do, so stay tuned. Our next post will be a dump of historical information we’ve found on Daniel so far, so you have that to look forward to. Thanks for following along, and as always, feel free to share, comment, ask questions, or just say hi. If you haven’t already, click the subscribe button, so you are notified when we post.

Be well, and God bless!

Happy New Year, and welcome back to the farm! We’re so glad you could stop by! 

Being a new year, we’ve been reflecting back on this past year, as well as looking ahead to 2020- deciding this year’s projects, and making plans toward wrapping up the big items on this restoration. But first, a step back….

This past year was a big one for the farm, with the following list of projects completed in 2019:

– Remodeling the kitchen, including moving the plumbing and heating, and refinishing the floor, plus new sink, cabinets and counter tops.

– Repaired the joists underneath, then installed and finished the hearth room floor with period (1790) planks.

– Cleaned up the electrical system- including moving wires from the hearth room ceiling, moving fixtures, installing a new 200 amp service, and moving the utilities underground, and the meters out by the pole (leaving the side of the house clean).

– Installed the brick front walkway.

– New siding on the south side of the barn, as well as the east gable.

– Finished repairing the barn, replacing rotted sills and structure.

– Finished restacking/rebuilding the stone foundation of the barn, adding a new lower garage and a driveway around the north side.

– Restored the hand-dug well in the ell basement, and added an overflow outlet tied into the drainage system to prevent the well from flooding the basement.

– Shored up and repaired/reshingled the roof of the shed, and added hardpack to the floor to raise the grade.

– Stripped the old rotted siding from the house, repaired any structural issues, sealed and insulated, installed new hemlock siding and painted it.

– Removed the old cinder block chimney from the east gable of the house, which was no longer used, and was crumbling and leaking water to the foundation.

– Rebuilt the screen porch wall, removing the old (rotted and dangerous) staircase, and added a gutter to prevent rainwater from trenching the back yard.

– Cleaned the tree debris from the hillside behind the house, and spread a truckload of mulch to form a food forest area.

– Removed and replaced the rotted deck railing.

– Re-graded the entire yard and driveway to assist in water control. Moved, split, and replanted many plants and shrubs.

– Installed a new cedar split rail fence along the driveway (west) side.

– Stripped and refinished the floor in the front entry hall.

– Built and installed new plank storm doors in the side and front door, using salvaged antique wood, and finished with boiled linseed oil.

– Repaired and reglazed many of the old windows, and added weatherstripping to seal them up.

We’ve received so much enthusiastic and positive feedback on the restoration so far, both from locals and from folks through social media. It’s amazing how many people have stopped by to tell us how much they appreciate what we’ve done here- especially once the new siding began going up with the new color. We just love the color (“Warm Onyx” from Behr)! It’s very period-appropriate, and is so visually rich, plus it’s very possible the house was originally close to this color, although they would have likely used creosote and linseed oil. We’ve already seen a drastic difference in the comfort level in the house, and in our (reduced) heating costs due to the sealing of the walls and windows. Having the siding all sealed up and fresh also means, at least for the rest of our lives, only normal maintenance will be needed to keep it in good shape. 

January 2019-

January 2020-

Now 2019 wasn’t all work, work, work. We took time to explore and enjoy this beautiful part of New England in which we live, with lots of drives and hikes. We tapped some maple trees last year, and ended up with better than a gallon of delicious maple syrup! This year, we’re going for double that, plus we built ourselves a rocket-stove out of old bricks out behind the barn to boil the sap, so we’ll be out of the prevailing wind. We also spent time with friends, and made some new ones. We watched an entire cycle of nature- flowers, trees, insects, birds, and even the pattern the sun and moon make across the sky. 

We also dug into Daniel and Abigail’s histories this past year, and put together some clues regarding this house, and how it was lived in. This year brought a few challenging moments, but many, many rewarding ones as well. We feel as strongly as ever that this house is happy we’re here. When we first thought about embarking on a historic house restoration, we knew we wanted an 18th century home. We initially wanted more land, but after discovering that very few 18th century homes have more than a couple of acres, and many have less than that, it became apparent that we would likely have to give up that expectation. That is principally why this house was not on our radar, but it was recommended that we look at it, and from the moment we laid eyes on it, and heard its history, it was as if the house was saying “Pick me! Pick me!” Restoring it back to its original appearance, or as original as we can imagine it to be based on our research, has always been the goal. We understand that the house has lived through the different styling periods- Georgian, Victorian, Colonial Revival, Arts & Crafts, and so on, it was still an early cape under all the trimmings. It looks best as an early cape. While we would love to have some factual historical basis for things like exterior color, trim, etc., we have no reliable record of this house’s history in that regard. We know the chain of ownership, and outside of what we’ve discovered from our own research about the past occupants, we know little else. We have no photographs, no documents, and no artifacts- nothing was kept with the house. The only thing we can say for sure that is original or historically correct, is the small panel in our parlor that still shows the original stenciling of Moses Eaton Jr, the houses’ fourth owner, from the mid-19th century. We were left with a couple of photographs of the barn as it looked in the early 21st century, and we have a copy of a photo of the house as it looked when it was added to the Federal Historic Registry in the late 1980’s. While it’s been fun to research what it may have looked like, and create our own vision of what it looked like based on that research, it would be fun to see how close we came. We really believe that we’re just a blip on this house’s radar, and we’re merely preserving it and its history for future generations. The house deserves that.

So that brings us to this coming year, and what we have planned. That work will start as soon as it gets warm this spring, and will involve stripping the old board and batten siding from the front wall of the ell, straightening the wall as much as possible (the wall is bowed from the barn heaving up, twisting the ell), insulating and repairing where necessary, sealing it up, and installing new Alaskan Yellow Cedar shingles. We’ll strip the old clapboards from the front of the barn, and replace with vertical pine shiplap to match the rest of the barn, and we’ll replace the shingles in the front barn gable with the same cedar as the ell. Both the clapboard and gable shingles are well beyond their useful life.

We’ll also be residing the back barn with the same cedar shingles as the front, plus we’ll reframe the six existing back windows so they swing out (like awnings) to allow airflow into the woodshop up stairs, and the gardening/potting shed down below. The big picture window was installed before we bought the place, but is not sealed and leaking. We will make and fit something better for now, and reframe it for something that opens at a later time.

Another thing needing attention this summer is the shed- jacking it up to replace the sill on one side, truing the sills, and laying it onto a granite block foundation. Then we’ll finish filling the floor with hardpack to raise the grade to prevent water from flowing in. We’ll also install windows, and build and install a door. We’re not yet sure what to do about the gaps in the walls, as this will be a garage for Jenny’s MG- we’d love to seal it up, but we love the patina of the old wood as well!

Gardening will be a top priority this year- one of the primary reasons we wanted this simple lifestyle was to grow as much of our food as possible, but with all the heavy construction that past couple of years, we’ve not been able to grow anything. We’re starting small, and will build as we go. We have two planting beds prepared in the lower yard next to the south side of the barn (the wood chipped areas in the first photo below), plus we have the hillside food forest- this is the area just beyond the boulder wall in the center of the third pic below, and is where we’ll plant fruit trees and shrubs.

Beyond all that, we see the next year as a more relaxed year. A chance to take some time to explore this beautiful area around us. A chance to really dig into Daniel’s and Abigail’s history. A chance to live a simple lifestyle taking care of an historic farm home. Thanks for coming along on our journey- we hope you all have a happy, and joy-filled new year- God bless!

Welcome back, and thanks for stopping by the farm! We get asked so many questions, so we thought it would be fun to put together a Q & A for this edition, so find a comfy spot, and read on!

1.) How old is your house?

Our home was built circa 1790- Mozart was still composing, Beethoven hadn’t started, and George Washington had just become president the year prior. The Revolutionary War was just ending, the U.S. dollar did not yet exist, and New Hampshire had just become a state.

2.) Who built your house?

Daniel Warren Jr. and his wife Abigail. Daniel was born in Westborough, MA on June 17, 1752. He was a fifth generation settler, as his great-grandfather came from Suffolk, England in 1630 (just ten years after the Mayflower). Daniel and Abigail married on May 18, 1775, just five days after Daniel’s enlistment with the Selectmen of Waltham, MA, and a month before he fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Daniel was a Minuteman- answering the Lexington Alarm (Paul Revere’s ride) on April 19, 1775 at the opening of the Revolutionary War.

3.) How much land do you have?

The original homestead was about 175 acres, and contained (as far as we know) the house, the barn (which was across the road, and was about double its current size), and a large blacksmith shed. There was also a second home on the south end of the property which was leased/rented to the Gilchrest family. At some point after the 1830 census, this second home was split off to become its own property. Daniel and Abigail raised eight children in this home. Unfortunately, there are only 2.3 acres now remaining with the house. 

4.) How many families have owned this home?

We are just the fifth family to call this house home. After the Warrens, the home was sold to William Davis, who then sold it to Moses Eaton Jr., who made a name for himself as an itinerant stencil artist before settling on this homestead, and a flax farmer afterward- weaving the finest linen around. The home then remained in his family for five generations. It was then sold along with 27 acres to another family, who divided the land, then sold it to us with just the 2.3 acres surrounding the house and barn. 

5.) Is your house haunted?

There are no spooky “feelings” in this house. We know for certain that several people have passed within these walls, yet there has been nothing strange or unusual- perceived or actual. We think the house, along with whatever presence may remain within it, is happy we’re here.

6.) Have you found any interesting artifacts.

Sadly, there were virtually no artifacts of any kind that came with the house. Everything from its history has long been sold, kept with a family, or lost to time. We have the chain of ownership (names and dates) and a few stories to pass along, but that’s pretty much it. We have found a few old bottles and a couple of horseshoes in the yard, along with bits of metal “whatsits”. We’ve created a keepsake box that will stay with the house, and we’re adding whatever we can. We feel the house is so much bigger than us, or anyone who has lived here, so we want to preserve as much as we can. There are so few 18th century homes left standing, even less with their period barns, and even less with any of their original land. There is a real responsibility when purchasing/restoring an antique home- one that we do not take lightly. The preservation of this home and its story is far more important than us.

7.) What is the area around you like?

We live in a pretty remote part of southern New Hampshire. The nearest traffic light is eight miles away, and the nearest interstate is nearly an hour’s drive. There are three or four town centers within a few miles of us, but otherwise, it’s pretty rural- any big box stores are at least a half hour away. Regardless of where we’re going, there are at least two, three, or sometimes four ways to get anywhere, and they all take roughly the same length of time. Living here really forces you to slow down and look around. The roads are mostly two-lane asphalt, curvy and twisty, and occasionally will go through a small town center complete with a pub, town square, usually an old church or two, and some houses. We’re within 1-2 hours of pretty much anything we’d ever want to do. Boston is less than two hours away, as is the ocean. The White Mountains are a just a couple hours drive away. We can get to five or six states within an afternoon. The immediate area here is known as the Monadnock region, named for Mount Monadnock, which rises to 3165 feet above sea level, but 1000 feet higher than any surrounding peak. Monadnock is just a few miles south of us, and is the second-most climbed mountain in the world, and the most summited. Mount Fuji in Japan has more attempts, but fewer summits. The Wapack range is just to our east, and can be seen through the trees when the leaves are down. There are many lakes in the area, many fed by the countless rivers, brooks, and creeks that wind pretty much everywhere. This is a big hiking area, with hundreds of miles of trails within just a couple miles of our door. Mountain biking is also big here. The Monadnock region is also a big “foodie” area- farm-to-table is the norm around here. Most towns around us have small general stores, and most serve food that will put a lot of fancy restaurants to shame.

8.) Do you have experience remodeling/restoring homes, especially antiques? 

While I have experience with light remodeling and construction, nothing like what we’ve taken on here. We rely on YouTube, advice from experienced folks we’ve met here, or just figuring it out. Our skills and confidence are growing with each project taken on, and we’re learning what tools bring us the best results. We’ve really tried to be as active as possible in this restoration, and have tried to do as much as we can. We love putting our hands where Daniel likely had his, bringing almost 230 years of time to a handshake, if you will. This house really speaks to us, and we feel it deserves to be loved and respected. We’ve been fortunate enough to have found contractors who understand and respect what we’re doing here for the things we’re unable to do.

9.) How do you decide what to work on?

Admittedly, this was a challenge when we first began the restoration, as everything was needed. We began by creating a space to work, and a space to relax- the ell workshop and the screen porch. After that, priorities were driven by water leaks, our comfort, or failing structure. In the sixteen months since we began, we’ve touched every surface of this home, including some that haven’t seen human hands in a century or more. With the siding of the house complete, we’re really moving into the “pretty” parts of the restoration. We still need to re-side the front side of the ell, and the front of the barn, and we still need to build some partitions/walls under the barn, but the major structure and preservation of the house is complete.

10.) What do you like to do when not working on the house?

We’re not sure, as we’re always working on the house 🙂 Seriously though, we like to hike, explore a good antique shop, or take one of our classic cars out for a drive to explore the area around us. We’ve found a number of nearby covered bridges and really cute little towns to explore. With the house project slowing down, we hope to get in more hiking and biking next summer. 

Well, that answers most of the questions we’ve been asked by you folks, and we hope you found something interesting in the answers. Also, let us know if you have any other questions, and we can make a Q & A a regular part of our posts.

It’s been a busy fall here on the farm- we’ve wrapped up what we need to do outside for winter. The house re-siding is complete, as is the shed roof rebuilding. We’ve got plenty of firewood stacked up and ready. We are still working on weatherstripping the windows, but we should have that wrapped up in a couple of days. With the changing season, and shorter days, it’s been easy to transition to shorter working days for the most part. We’re looking forward to a quiet winter with some fires in the hearth, and books to be read.

Speaking of the shed roof rebuilding, remember when we rebuilt one side of the roof last year, but winter hit us before we could do the other? Well, we finally had a week to get to it. If you don’t remember, a very large tree limb broke off years ago, and crashed through the roof. Some town folks have told us that it stuck out of the roof for seven years afterwards, and if you look at Google Street View, you can still see it 🙂 We started by pulling the five layers of old roofing material off, so we could find all the leaks and rotted boards. Then we patched the sheathing boards, covered with tar paper, and new shingles. We’ll use the shed in its “carport” stage for the winter, then next year, we can finish by installing windows, a door, and sealing up the siding. We had amazing colors this fall, so while working on the shed roof, we were treated to nature in all its glory.

Another little project we tackled was replacing the rotted deck railing. This project was on next summer’s calendar, as we need to replace the deck boards, but while walking through our local builders supply store, we came across these railing kits, so we jumped in with both feet, and we couldn’t be happier with the results.

One thing Jenny is looking forward to this winter is weaving some linens on her new-to-her antique barn loom we picked up back in August. She’s finally had time to play around with it, and will be weaving pretty things before we know it.

We’ve really been enjoying living in New England, with its slower pace, quiet, history, and time to enjoy it all. We’ve had a couple of visitors to the farm recently, so we’ve been doing a little more tourist-stuff than we normally do. We’ll leave you with some photos of these visits, and some of the spectacular fall color we enjoyed this year. 

Thanks for stopping by! We hope you come back soon- wishing you all a healthy and happy upcoming holiday season- God bless!

Or at least of 2018. It’s been a year of dramatic change here on the farm- and our lives. Retiring and moving cross-country mid-June to take on the restoration of this old farmhouse. Taking it from a quickly declining structure and mish-mash of design eras and tastes, to a strong, ready-to-stand-another-200-years structure and decor to honor the people who originally built this home- Daniel and Abigail. We’ve enjoyed the process of researching what New England life was like just after the Revolutionary War, what Daniel and Abigail would have been like, what their day-to-day lives were like, how these houses and barns were built, and why. We’ve learned so much, yet still have so many questions.

One of our neighbors stopped by this morning, and she asked us “how do you even decide where to start?” in referring to the restoration. At the time, we didn’t have an answer- it’s all such a blur. With few exceptions, we’ve worked ever single day since we arrived full-time in mid-June. Having had some time to process and reflect, we do remember wanting to finish off the screen porch first, so we would have a finished space to retreat for the evening after a long day of working on projects. Necessity brought us to work on the barn, as it was revealed that it was unlikely to have stood another winter. Having a lot of dying and diseased trees too close to the house necessitated their removal, and the escalating drainage issues lead into working on the landscaping- to some degree anyway. There’s still much to do in the yard, but not until all the heavy equipment is finished driving around, which will be in the spring. As a reminder, this is where we started;

Looking back at the progress we’ve made, and what we’ve accomplished this year, we are filled with appreciation to those who have helped us along the way. We’ve met so many truly wonderful folks who have provided their expertise, advice, labor, time, and craftsmanship to the overall project. People who are passionate about antique homes, the stories, the history, and their craft. These are people who will likely never be famous, never have thousands of followers on social media, or even desire to. These are guys who care about what they do, do it to the best of their abilities, and expect nothing but a fair wage, a firm handshake, and to go home to their families feeling good about the job they’ve done. These are the guys to whom we owe our appreciation, and due to their hard work, this old farm house will stand for generations to come. This first post of 2019 is dedicated to them.

Come spring, we’ll be wrapping up the major drainage, foundation, and landscape work, and we can start turning our focus to the “pretty stuff”. We’ll re-side the house, adding some insulation and vapor barrier in the walls. We’ll also seed the field next to the barn (currently staging for the barn building materials) with a wildflower mix that will hopefully self-seed. Oh, and FINALLY plant a garden where we can grow most of our own food. Seed catalogs are starting to arrive….

In a week or two, we’ll be laying the new hearth room floor, which arrived yesterday. The boards were salvaged from the attic of a 1790 house on the seacoast, and once they’ve acclimated to our house, we can install them using a mixture of period (salvaged) and new reproduction cut square-head nails. They are currently around 20% moisture content, and we need them to be closer to 12%. The floorboards are between 9″ up to 21″ wide, and are either pine or hemlock (I can’t tell the difference). We’ll just be using a boiled linseed oil/turpentine mixture, which will really bring out the rich color of their age.

Hope you all had a nice Christmas/New Years/holiday season. We spent Christmas Day exploring a few of the covered bridges in the area, because what could be more quintessentially New England?

Just because most of the contractors will be taking the winter off doesn’t mean the work stops, so stay tuned. Thanks for following along!

Here’s a current photo of the house for comparison. The trailers and construction equipment will be going come spring, then we can smooth the grade and seed some grass. Little by little…