Summer in the Hollow

The spring & summer flew by here in the hollow.  While I have to say not much work was going on the house we definitely kept very busy with outside projects (with only one or two chainsaw mishaps!) not to mention many, many creek hikes, campfires, and other varied shenanigans.  

The hollow is already living up to it's intent - to provide us with a place where our friends and family can gather and give us the opportunity to work on the amazing project of restoring the farmhouse and land.  We really got to know & feel the personality of the property which is just really cool.

Stay tuned in the next days for updates on the progress of the house!  We have completed a lot of the demo, put in a beam to shore up the first floor, & started grading/excavating.  Work on the new roof is slated to begin in the next few weeks.  We are ecstatic to be able to get going on the house renovation and are excited to share some pictures very soon!

Adventures in chainsawing

Summer picnics!

Master fire builder

One of the features the kids really enjoyed was their new clubhouse.
Kept them occupied for hours and only endured a few jumps
and/or Tarzan swings from the roof.  Totally worth it.
 (Thanks Sauder's!)

Pierce's 10th birthday - "Capture the Flag" party
Wrangling 24 nine & ten year olds was nothing short of
controlled chaos but was a total blast

Our toad friend "Harry Potter"

Name that skull

So a few weeks ago we came across this skull.  It was in the middle of a cleared pathway to the creek with nothing else around it.  It's strange placement has us puzzled and we've been making some pretty interesting guesses on what it is & how it got there.

Anyone have a guess on what it is?

Guesses so far include:
Avery - cow
Tate - goat
Beckett - giraffe
Pierce - minotaur (really?)

Signs of spring

Finally some signs of spring!  We have already mowed twice and every day things are looking greener & greener.  It is exciting to see and gives us that much more motivation to tackle our renovation projects ahead.

Until work on the house begins we are busying ourselves with outdoor projects such as clearing trees, mapping out the first of the trails we want to cut in the woods, and keeping the meadow, creek, and mowing in check.

As we've been clearing more & more of the higher grass in front of the house we have been seeing enormous hawks and turkey vultures hunting for newly exposed prey.  The bird life here is amazing.  We plan to install some nesting boxes in the upper meadow & edge of the woods for some of the smaller birds.  For now there is a pair of vultures that have made the roof of the house their lookout point.  It is disarming to see them up there they are so large - the first time I saw them I thought there were people sitting up on the roof!  I have been trying to capture pictures but they are pretty quick.  I will keep trying though!

Keep checking back for updates.  I plan to post "before" pictures of the house in the next few weeks!

Trees budding along the creek

Daffodils in the meadow

Love seeing flowers popping up!

Greener every day

We even discovered a row of peonies - my favorite!

Welcome!

Our Home in the Hollow...

Our adventure is beginning!  We hope you enjoy the ride as we attempt to document our crazy, wild, and wonderful scheme to ditch suburban life and transform 12 acres of historic Pennsylvania into our dream property.  We are not going to be in the boonies or anything, but after 10 years of neighborhood life, we are moving on towards fulfilling our dream of living a simple, creative, and inspiring "country" life.

The property and farmhouse pre-date the Revolutionary War, so we definitely have our work cut out for us.  The main house has been abandoned for 7 years, there is much to be done, but we are looking forward to tackling all that comes our way!  

First step: moving our family of 6 into a temporary rental home while we scramble to get renovations under way.  We were lucky to find a house close by to allow easy access to our new property while remaining in the school district (a big deal to our elementary aged children who love their school!).

More "before" pictures to come!  We hope you will follow along with us!