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Now that we have our first batch of chickens, it’s time for a small farm tractor. Today we all sat in the local #johndeere facility and negotiated our first big purchase for the homestead. With budget and acreage in mind, we decided on this sweet ride. We also got a snowblower attachment for the lovely winter months as we have a pretty long driveway and will need to blow paths to the garden and for the dogs and chickens to get around. We ended up getting a deal on a pull along cart with a cool dumping feature for hauling poop and compost. It will be a good tool to drag those logs and debris out of the woods. I think it’s a good start. And one more thing to check off the list. It should be delivered Thursday. By then, I’ll have a hay field to mow!
Now, if we only knew where the heck our moving van is....
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It’s hard to believe that this little guy came into this world 6 years ago today. Isaac is such an amazing guy. He’s full of laughs and jokes. And has absolutely no fear! He is a crazy human machine as he uses his body the way a human was meant to.
I’m thrilled, that after a year of begging me to buy him chickens, his dream of being a “chicken tender” finally came true. Today, he got to pick his first flock, 11 Olive Eggers that are about 6 weeks old. He’s beside himself with excitement and we have now made the first investment to our Homestead. He had been talking about being a farmer as his dream for quite some time. Maybe he gets it from Nick and I as we also have talked about how much we have wanted to have a small farm. This is the beginning, right now, today. As we FINALLY signed closing papers on the 9 acres (after a grueling 67 days) of our dream property and future (hopefully sooner than later) homestead. Here’s to another amazing year around the sun for Isaac as he learns the trade of Chicken Tendering. Sound ON Please!! Every morning I get the pleasure of being sung to while I stand out on the front porch and watch the beautiful Sun rise. My whole Being rises and sings with them. Back in our Oregon home, the only thing I got to hear was the rumbling of constant bumper to bumper cars on Highway 213. Yes, we had a lot of birds. But the Highway was much louder then they were. We had a hummingbird feeder on the porch where I did my Sun Rise gazing and often times I would almost be beamed in the head while standing still I meditation. Here’s to many many more amazing serenaded Sun Rises.  It’s April....and we woke up to a beautiful sight. Coming from Oregon where it barely snows, the boys were up bright and early and ready (begging actually) to go play in the snow. Kaleb said he’s never seen so much snow! (There’s barely 3 inches out there! What’s he going to be like this coming winter when there’s multiple feet?! ) Lol. He also is complaining that it’s fluffy. You see, in Oregon, when we do get snow, it’s wet. Makes for good snowball fights. The snow won’t last. It’s suppose to be 60 by the weekend. But let’s enjoy our first real snow while it lasts!! I am the Lorax and I speak for the trees. My friends, the Standing People, you shine with beauty in spirit. I bring love and peace to your family. Like I mentioned in my last post, we are now on over 9 acres. 6 of those acres are fenced and consume the house, garden, and chicken/goat area. This is at the front of the property along the road and on the side. The house is set back way off the road and since we are up on a hill, you can see the beautiful land below (over the white barn) filled with gorgeous deciduous trees. I can’t wait to see what this view looks like this coming fall!! The grassy fenced area has a lovely locust tree forested area, a sweet stone wall, and lots more trees we are excited to identify as soon as they pop out their leaves. The rest of the land is forested with maple and oak. It’s dreamy in the woods here. Nick found some elderberry that I’m praying is purple. We identified a few other berries and are excited to see what else pops up as spring is starting to show. The previous owners clear cut a large area in the woods. Which is extremely unfortunate. Nick and I both have wept and grieved the loss of the oldest trees on the land here. I’m sure there was no thought by the humans regarding the fact that they cut down oak trees that were over 200 years old. It hurts our hearts deeply that humans are so inconsiderate. They did nothing with the trees. The lay where they were cut. This is what was calling me. My heart was called to save the land here. I’m so grateful we arrived when we did. Along with the clear cutting, there is trash galore. We have found heaping piles of garbage in the woods and scattered around the land. I see a number of dump runs in our near future. We will eventually heal this land and heal the relationship that humans and the land have here.
We are elated to be here. We know this place is for us and has been calling to us to come help it heal. The land here is amazing. We have inhabited this 9.36 acre land with a lovely log cabin. It feels so good to be here. It also feels very overwhelming. It’s a lot of land and it has been neglected. The house itself is completely filthy. Grimy actually. I’m honestly shocked that people live in such dirty spaces. Years of grime and uncleaned spaces everywhere amounting to cakes of sticky ickiness in all the wrong places. I’m working slowly one room at a time and detailing and shining. It is all completely carpeted and some is quite nasty. I’m going to clean it and see what happens. We really don’t feel like we need a floor project yet. There are plenty of projects to get started first. The dining room is even carpeted. Thank goodness the bathrooms aren’t. I am in love with the logs inside, even though they are filthy and in need of a serious dusting from top to bottom. Once we get settled I’ll send pics of the inside. I’m overwhelmed with the amount of cleaning needed. We are also having to learn how to use all the systems that we aren’t use to. We’ve never had propane heat or a well and water softener. There has been a little remodeling in the basement and some things left unfinished. They also left me with a shitty washer and dryer from the 70’s that leaks like crazy. Urgh! I left my nice new ones at the Oregon City house. I do love my new kitchen. If you’ve followed us in the past, you hear me talk a lot about cooking from scratch and eating healthy. I now have a large kitchen that has more cub-bards than I will know what to do with! This is exciting. All in all, we are so in love with this house. Yes, it needs some updates (who builds a log cabin and puts carpet in it?! ) and a lot of TLC and elbow grease, but in the end we will be so happy here. The kids already love their rooms and are ready for their belongings to arrive. Now, if only hooking up the internet would be simpler.......
 Finally got our cars today! The poor things have been on an 18 wheeler for 11 days! They are completely filthy inside and out! But they arrived safe and sound. Funny seeing this big ol’ truck on a lovely country back road. And even funnier how excited I was this afternoon to get my van back. Nick thought I was hilarious. I’ve been driving a giant RV and my friends truck for over a week. I love my little van. Missed it!
Things are moving along as we are taking the steps to settle in. We still do not have internet. It seems that all things can’t be simple all the time. Lol. Oh well. We are back to teaching our online classes and private sessions tomorrow, Tuesday the 20th. Let us know if you want to get on the schedule. We are looking forward to getting into a routine as we clean up and get acquainted with our new home and area. Nick and I were talking about setting up some zoom sessions to chat and give a tour to anyone who was interested. If you are, be sure that you are on our mailing list. We will let you know when we get our belongings and are a bit more settled. Then let the farm tours begin! It was hard to leave that beautiful camp site on Lake Erie. But we had one more driving day! And this was the biggest of all with a good almost 7 hours! We drove though Ohio and straight through the tip of Pennsylvania. Then right into New York! This was a big day! While driving, I was also setting up the electricity and a prepossession of the house with our agent when we made quick stops. We drove long and hard to get there before dinner. And yes!!!! We made it! We arrived at our new home late afternoon. Road weary and in a bit of a daze, but we made it safe and sound. We had our first dinner on our camp chairs as we have no belongings! Lol. Thank Goodness that damn road trip is over! I’ll debrief you all on the details soon. It wasn’t all cupcakes and rainbows. But we are all alive and safe and happy to be home!
After a lovely night in Illinois, we headed straight through Indiana and crossed into the eastern time zone! Yay! The drive was good and not very exciting. Which is just fine with me! The kids have been such good sports with all this driving. We made it to our final campsite in Ohio right on Lake Erie. What a beautiful spot! We saw 2 bald eagles on the way to the park. This place is just as magical as the last. A bit busier but absolutely amazing. It’s like a bird sanctuary here. Cormorants, swans, red winged black birds, Canadian geese, ducks, cardinals, chickadees, bobb whites, and so many more we heard and couldn’t identify! The boys spotted an otter and we sat to watch it play and Bob around. It’s absolutely beautiful here!
This will be our last night camping. Tomorrow will be our last long day of driving. We will keep posting as we get settled. The eastern landscape is beginning to take place as we head straight through Iowa. Rolling hills of green grass, mostly Deciduous trees with a few spatterings of small evergreens like juniper and pine, and corn fields a plenty. Oh, the corn fields! It’s amazing how much corn they grow in Iowa and sad that this mono-crop has taken over the land and our food source. Makes me thankful that our little family doesn’t contribute to either. And how about the wind turbines?! Holy moly! We’ve never seen so many in one area. I’ve been telling the kids that I wanted to see a real tornado while we were headed through tornado land. They weren’t pleased. Lol. We made it to a little town called Amboy, Illinois to find the best camp site yet! Located on Sleepy Hallow Rd , it’s tucked in, off the beaten path, and completely empty!! We are the only ones here besides the owners. Who are absolutely amazing!! We heard coyotes and complete silence. Had a nice little fire, our first one of the trip, and celebrated with s’mores! We saw a bald eagle on the way into the camp which told me that we were in the right place! There was a fantastic play Structure for the boys and it was SO nice to relax in a wonderfully quiet camp.
 I think we are finally settling into the groove. The day’s drive is going well. We have our stops all worked out to be short and sweet. The dogs did much better this time. Everyone slept through the night last night! Nebraska was less boring than I thought. I welcomed the flat road with less wind. We made it to Lincoln, Nebraska to a lovely little camp ground with nice play structures for the kiddos and a great off leash dog park. It’s huge!! The pups were happy to stretch their legs and run like crazy. I was happy to stand there with them and watch the sunset last night. So beautiful. It’s also a lot warmer here! Lol. Didn’t freeze last night.
We will be driving through Iowa and sleeping in Illinois on the next leg. We are half way!! Woohoo!! Oh and we are in Central Time Zone now. One more to go. Beautiful drive through Wyoming for day 3. I was expecting it to be boring. But it is quite wonderful seeing the dramatic changes in the landscape. Our camp site in Cheyenne had a mini putt golf that was open and fun. The boys enjoyed it even though it’s only 26 degrees. We are at 6,000 feet above sea level here. So fun! Haha.
Let’s talk about boring scenery. We will be driving through Nebraska tomorrow! Day 2 was so much more uneventful than day 1, thank goodness. No weather, just more wind. But all was well and we made it to Salt Lake City for a nice quiet night. This camp ground is pretty cool. During the summer season it’s a sweet water park with a mini put golf! The kids were sad to see it all closed. But we had lots of space to roam and explore. We got to share a dinner with some friends who live just a few minutes away! So happy to spend the evening relaxing with great company!
Big day of driving for Day 3. We are headed to Cheyenne, Wyoming. One down, 6 more days of driving to go. That was quite the day. We were 2 hours later than we wanted. But we made it to Boise for the first night despite the rain, hail, snow, and horrendous wind blowing the RV all over the place. I’m getting the hang of driving this thing, though.
Not all had been glorious. The puppy doesn’t understand that when we go for a walk, that means potty break. She’s so excited about all the smells and exciting new things. I hope she gets it down. She also whined all night and I’m quite sleep deprived from her freaking out all night. Today is a short drive to Salt Lake City. Here we go! Letting Go of old identifications and Flying in the new intentions. We had a little family ceremony before bed to make some closure of this place and set intentions for the journey ahead. This hasn’t been easy for any of us. But we are all growing and here for the wonderful experience of being human. I was proud of the boys (especially Kaleb) with their heartfelt thoughts of what they wanted to leave behind and what they wanted to bring or practice more as we move forward.
There was a lot of symbolism as the four of us crawled into our sleeping bags last night. Like each of us settling into our cocoons where we will sleep while on this trip, only to emerge in a weeks time into a new life, new experiences. Ready to face the world changed by our experiences of letting go and closing a door. I’m looking forward to opening a new door. Perhaps the symbolism will be when I open the door to my new house (of which I have not seen) and am ready to embark on a new journey of country/farm/homestead living. All that packing, over a month’s worth, paid off today. We had a great moving crew! 6 strapping young men to take all our belongings to a storage place in PDX. Then to unload it into crates for it to sit for a few days while we begin our trek. The stuff will be loaded onto a semi truck and shipped across the country only to meet us there. However, it looks like we will get access to our new house earlier than we thought! We might have a week or so without our belongings. Nick says it might be nice....we might want to keep it like that. Lol. I currently intent to empty each box VERY mindfully. We shall see how that goes. Do we really need all that stuff? Do I find meaning in it?
Tomorrow is the big day. We are taking this evening to relax and prep the RV for the journey. Nick and I are exhausted and I see an early bedtime for us tonight! And we now have an RV! Looks like we are one step closer to Cruising across America in style!!
Funny, I’ve been dreaming of living in a tiny house again. Nick and I lived in a tiny house WAY before tiny house living was a cool thing to do. I’m slightly obsessed these days. Guess it’s looking like I will be able to try out tiny house living for a week! Not sure how this will look coming out the other side...... Reservations are Made, Boxes are Everywhere,
and Trip Meals are Planned Things over here in the Hancock House are getting a bit....um.....REAL. We have entered the final push for the adventure ahead. We have closed on our Oregon home and are packing and preparing like crazy. The road trip is planned and reservations are taken care of. We have decided to ship EVERYTHING and rent an RV, one-way, to get this crew across the country. That way we are self-contained and prepared. We are only planning to drive about 6 hours a day to give ourselves time to relax and enjoy the journey. We will also have the 2 dogs and 2 cats along. So it should be interesting. We've been calling it the Hancock Ark. Erin will be posting the adventure on Instagram and Facebook along the way. For those of you who do not have social media, she will send out an email when we land in NY and have decent internet again. We load up the Ark and leave Oregon first thing Saturday morning, April 10th. Over the past 19 years, Nick and I have had some wild and amazing adventures. For those people who know us well, our current adventure should not seem like a huge surprise. We have been told that we should write a book one day about all the things we have done together. Perhaps one day we will start adding history posts to our blog on our website. It is hard to believe that we moved here to Oregon about 17 years ago in a small two door sports car, owning only what we could fit in the car. Nick had his guitar, I had my djembe, we had camping equipment and some clothes. Now, as we are packing up our current belongings, I wonder how in the world did we collect all this stuff? What is the meaning to all these material items? Over the past several weeks we have been handling each and every item we own, one at a time, as we box it up, give it away, or trash it. As we shed layer upon layer of acquired material, we are reminded of the simplicity, the lightness, and the freedom that comes from having less. In working with our outer world, our inner life is also observed and reflected upon. What other attachments can be released? Does this thought-form or opinion suit me anymore? Or is it cluttering up my inner world like the broken old chair in my garage? How about my habits and my weird identities? What about social conforms? Am I living a life true to my deepest Self or am I living a life that is full of should's and long held dreams that will never come to fruition because it isn't "what people do"? Am I happy? Truly, deeply happy? Do I LOVE myself unconditionally? And do I remember who I am? What are YOUR long lost dreams? Remember those? We have had this wonderful opportunity this past year to go deeper inside and take a look at our lives. To evaluate what is important to us. In order to make change in the world, we first must learn to love ourselves, know ourselves, and be willing to change our lives to create a better space for learning, growing, sharing, and changing the world. With Light & Love, The Hancock's (Nick, Erin, Kaleb, & Isaac) |
The HancocksWe are stewards of the land. The land called us here to care for it. So, we bought 10 acres in Chittenango, NY in the spring of 2021 and left the hustle and bustle of our busy West Coast Oregon lives to build a long held dream of homesteading and living in tune and rhythm with nature. This is our journey to living our truest potential. Archives
May 2021
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