Our new home!!

Finally was able to get the camera, usb cord and charged batteries together at one time, lol.

We closed on our home on 11/02. I love it!!

Hope you enjoy
Jen

The home was built in 1985 and is 3 bdr, 2 bath, 1964 sq feet. It also has a full heated basement.

The barn is old!!! Some of the old writings on the walls date to the 1920's, but i'm sure the barn is older than that.

We have 7 3/4 acres. This view is standing on the back deck looking out. Our property line goes back about another 400 ft in to the tree line.

This is one standing on the side of the house looking towards the other property line

The extint of my landscaping, lol, but look how loaded the tree is!!

I'll try to get more tomorrow, and especially some of the inside.

Thank you to all that have helped make our new house a home!!

Jen

I am so happy for you, it is wonderful. Congratulations !!!
God bless,
Margo

Would be happy to provide you with Brug cuttings and I also have some JMG seeds. Drop me a D Mail :))

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPPPPY FOR YOU !!!!

This message was edited Nov 14, 2005 9:32 PM

Jen congrats!!!!!!! Great place looks like you are going to have a wonderful time there!!!!

Anne

Jen, let us know what plants you want and we will all try to help. I will be taking cutting of a white buddelia in a couple of days. Are they hardy in New york?

Congratuations..I can smell applesauce in your future.
Please keep me in mind for hardy perennials to share.

MSJen, so happy for you. Let me know if you want any seeds for spring, have tons of many things. I'm in the addy exchange, so when you are ready send a d-mail.

Jen I am so happy that you now have a place to call home again. You have had a rough few months and I bet it feels good to look around and just relax alittle bit. Not that from what I have read of you that you will be doing much sitting....

Beautiful property, and my best wishes in your new home.

Casey

Jen welcome to your new home. It looks wonderful. Boy, you will have plenty of fun planting in all that space........

I am very happy for you

Jen, that property is wonderful but of course you already knew that part. I can't wait to see what you do for gardens. I can send ya some daylilies in the spring and shasta daisys too if you want some.

Hope you continue to enjoy your new home!!!!!!
Lani

gorgeous land!! You'll have fun making it YOURS - winter is a coming- wait till you see all the white stuff!!

I'm surpised that i havent wrecked the car yet, lol. Its so pretty here and i'm forever having something catch my eye.

I forgot to add that the tractor tire is also part of my landscaping. There are plastic birds in there, lol. That has *got* to go in the spring!!

I would love any plants y'all would like to send. Especially if you know that they will grow and thrive in zone 6. I have been looking online trying to get an idea of what does well up here, and it looks like everything that didnt do well down home, lol. Kind of overwhelming.

Most of the area to the right of the house and behind the barn will be pasture eventually. We hope to start clearing some of the woods out in the spring, but i dont want to clean it all. The tree grove was so pretty with the fall colors.

Jen so glad you are now a neighbor! We live about 50 miles east of you, just google Himrod NY and you can see how close (other than the lakes getting in the way) we are.

You are more than welcome to any of my plants. You will so enjoy gardening in zone 6, it is hard to decide which time of year you like best. It looks like you have a bird watchers paradise with the woods surrounding you so please don't forget the bird feeders!

Welcome,
Joy

We were out near Loon Lake last weekend, lol. Small world!! I would love to get together sometime.

The big claim to fame that Dansville has is the hot air balloon festival in the spring. They say we can see them from our back deck.
I've got bird feeders on my list of things i need (want) to get, but i have to get through the other important things first. I've seen a few birds up here, but i dont know what they are. The only ones i've recognized are bluejays, and i did see one red tailed hawk. Everyone says that there are bald eagles up here on the hill, but i havent seen any yet. Can't wait for that day, i'm sure they'll take my breath away.

WOW, you have done some major traveling already. Bald Eagles......I love to see them. Have not seen one here at home but have along the nys thruway at Montezuma and along the Mohawk River, something you never forget.

Do you have Mennonites in your area? If you do the ones here in Yates county have great greenhouses with lots of reasonable plants in the early spring and I mean early spring. They start closing up mid June they sell out real fast.

Have a great day, going exploring to of our newer Mennonite craft shops in the area.

Joy

Hey Jen! That looks really nice! I think your new homestead is nicer than mine. We just had a decent rain and I found out half my front yard is a lake. Hmph! It looks like you have some lovely rolling hills and that barn is to die for!

If you have questions about zone 6 plants or need some in the spring, let me know. Zone 6 is the only place I have ever gardened. LOL I also started with nothing in the way of landscaping but come out ahead in that I could bring most of my plants with me as I moved to the same zone. I'm sure I have enough to share and we should compare notes on starting from scratch. :)

Oh, you don't have to give up your tropicals, ears, banana, canna, etc either. You just have to drag them in when the cold weather is coming. I have an area of my garage about 24x4 feet that is stuffed with brugs, bananas, cannas, tubers, bulbs, etc. You can do it!

Oh Jen! It's lovely! I'm so happy for you! I can't wait to see and hear more about your new home :-)

-Julie

Hi Jen,
Congrats on your new home! I'm so happy for you. It's nice to see a good ending to a bad story. My thought and prayers go out to you and your family.
Hugs&blessings ... Elaine

What a lovely piece of property - & with history to boot.

I don't think you'll need much help from anyone here as far as landscaping - except to share your enthusiasm!!!

Do you want some Heritage raspberries in the spring?

Oh wow!! Yes!!!
Would you believe i just put a frozen raspberry pie in the oven? Its a Sara Lee, but i love anything raspberry!! 54 minutes and counting, lol.
I checked to see if they would do well here and would ya believe that they were introduced in Geneva NY in the 60's?? Guess that means they will, lol.
Eventually i plan on having a whole fruit grove in the back. Apple trees do extremely well here, and i think i read that apricots do to. I've been looking at grape vines and trying to figure out what else does good up here. We're smack dab in the middle of wine country, so i'm thinking all kinds of grapes will do well.
Thank you for the offer of the raspberries!!

I forgot to say I laughed about the tractor tire garden. We actually found some buried in weeds at the back of the field. I considered dragging them out front and filling them so we'd fit in. :P

Beautiful place, and yes, the barn is to die for!! It looks like it's in really nice shape!! The grounds look like they will be lots of fun to work with. Looks like you have good soil too.

You'll probably have access to super farmer's markets as well as being able to grow lots of great food. I try to get my fruit trees in first so they're getting established. A couple cherry trees might be a good idea too!

Can't wait to watch your progress.
Where are the horsies?

MsJen, my in-laws lived in North Rose and then Savannah and they had tons of raspberries. I will put on my reminder list for the spring.......

The one in the pasture actually is useful. Its covering the well. What a silly place, eh? Fancy decided one day that it was an interesting object and managed to paw the metal top off, exposing the wires, which is why there is now a bucket and bricks over it. I never realized that horses were so inquisitive.
Maybe its just her, shes quite the klepto. Nothing is safe, lol. We had to fancy-proof the barn because one day when we in there piddling around, she found a plastic coat hanger and decided that it was a toy. The next time it was a claw hammer that was on the bench. Shes quite good at moving things around until she can get a grip with her teeth. The hammer hitting the ground gave a a fright, but not enough so that she didnt do it again. Her favorite toy, it seems, is the wheelbarrow. It seems to make her happy to grab the handle just as its half full and pull it until it tips over. She kicks the muck rakes butt daily, grabbing it and slinging it around, lol. I bought 2 balls to put out in the pasture with her and that seems to occupy her for a few seconds and then shes off to something else, lol.
I'll get pictures of inside the barn hopefully tomorrow. The stalls are nice, but small. I would have preferred if they would have been 12x12, but they are irregular 10x10. One i think is only 7 ft wide. We need to take 2 of them and pull down the ajoining wall so that we can have a foaling stall, but we have until march to do that.
The entire property is on a slope and the driveway gets a little muddy at times. I'm wondering if i'm even going to be able to get out of the driveway in the snow. Guess i'll find out, lol. Push comes to shove i can always park in front of the barn and ski over ; )
The barn is cool as can be. The part that faces the road looks like its only 2 stories. When you walk in it is this *huge* and i mean huge area. It has something calling flying buttressess that is supposed to mean something, lol. Havent quite figured it out yet. Off to one side there are maybe 6 little rooms, i think they were used to hold grain or beans at one time. Thats where all the writing is.
Looking at it from the back, it looks like its 3 stories. There are 2 full sets of sliding doors on the back side and 1 entrance door on the side. There are 5 really nice stalls and a huge open area. The timbers are all in good shape, most of them are hand hewn (is that the word?). It appears that not to long ago someone came in and releveled it and reinforced the rafters. Overall its in good shape but it does need a new roof. Unfortunately that probably means that it will be torn down and a new, more person friendly barn will be built. It costs a fortune to re-roof the old barns and it jsut seems more practical to build a new, more efficient barn than it does to refurbish and old one. I've heard that it can cost upwards of $30,000 just to reroof them. I hope i'm wrong tho.

Super good for you Jen!! Glad to hear you guys are finally getting settled in!

What an utterly awesomely beautiful old barn!! And notes & dates are etched into the timbers, you say ? ... Wow !!

But right off the bat .. I plead; please ... don't allow that old beauty to be torn down. She's a remarkable chunk of history .. and the fact that she's still standing - says a valuable lot about her! Check around, and see if there may be better and less expensive ways to re-roof that beauty! Jes build yourselves another 'person friendly' barn elsewhere, or very nearby ..
(I know, I know .. tis none of my bizniss to begin with; but I'm sure gonna be wishing mitey hard anyway, for an alternative!) .. hee ..

For the limited search I've done, on-line .. the flying buttress were of Gothic origin, (masonry cathedrals) .. rather like a reversed 'R', that were implemented into architecture, to enable walls to be built to great heights, usually holding enormous vaulted ceilings. The flying buttress had traditionaly been the outside support/prop, that relieves/takes the strain and weight of the roof .. away from the high walls. Examples: > http://www.m-w.com/mw/art/flyingbu.htm .. and .. http://www.loggia.com/vignette/080300b.html ..

A beautiful place Jen .. and am mitey happy for you and your entire 'crew'!

- Magpye

This message was edited Nov 16, 2005 7:01 PM

I agree - heritage barns are getting more & more difficult to come by these days.

Don't worry about it being torn down, i talk a good story, but i'd have to get past my husband, our realtor, the neighbors and the town historical society, lol. It would be a losing battle for sure.
It really is an awesome barn. When you walk in and look up, the ceiling looks like its so far away. I have no idea how high it really is, but i'm assuming, gosh i really dont know, lol.
I've read quite a few articles on old barns and its sad how Americas history is falling down, or being torn down around us. The roof seems to be what supports these monsters, so we're really going to have to get cracking on it in order to keep it up and running. The orginal farmhouse is across the street and the *farm* is what were on. Right where the house is is where the old milking house was. Can't wait to get a metal detector and start digging around, lol.
I just went out and took a few pics hoping the flash would be bright enough, but it doesnt look like it was.
This one is of the grain room. Just to the inside of the light switch is where the writings are dating to 1929.

These are the actual writings and slash marks. The kids swear someone was locked up in there, lol

This is an awful shot of the flying buttress. I'm standing about 10 ft away looking almost straight up

On the one above you can see the window that you see in the orginal pic that i posted of the barn.
This one is downstairs where the girls are. Long shot of the whole downstairs, standing with about 2 ft behind me

Check out these beams!!

The girls in their stalls, wondering why on earth did i wake them up?

Heres the living room...ignore the bare walls and blue paint, lol.
I'll get more pics of the inside tomorrow after i've had a chance to vacuum : )

Jen, that barn is in great shape for its age. I was expecting alot more decay then what it shows. Its beautiful.....

( .. sighing ... such pleased relief, on this end Jen.. )

Yep, a mitey good 'tale' you tell .. but t-rifc 'kudos' for the 'opponents' anyway! ..
(merely luvinly teasin' ya Jen)

Fine shots .. and, from what I can tell .. still superb structural integrity. Those log beams! Oh, I hope you find stuff that most folks never expect to run across .. to ascertain a ripe age of the structure. Nice construction on the paddocks/stalls too!

You've truly an historic treasure Jen .. and you guys will probably find vast amounts more, in time .. with the aid of electronic equipment. Along with any general excavating and tilling the ground for any reason, during 'gardening' or otherwise.

Heck, I'd be willing to wisely wager .. that ya mite not need any addt'l equipment. Jes leave it to 'Fancy'! .. (lol)

Keep'em comin' .. Hope to see more, during daylight hour photo sessions. .. Especially of those trusses/buttresses!
Will be checkin' tomorrow, for sure kiddo .. anxious to see more of your home!!

Thanks for sharing with us, Jen .. very much.

- Magpye

This message was edited Nov 15, 2005 6:59 PM