farm lifemilestones I Think We Made It. Amy Smith ·November 4, 2024 ### We may still have a long way to before it's perfect, but it's home and we made it! 💛 As the seasons change, there isn't much about our lives that isn't changing with it. We have each other as the constant and the promise of winter around the corner. Every day is another day closer, every day is more work and a little progress, new lessons, and new friends. But with it comes more love and more laughter, and most importantly another step closer to bringing the full scale of our little leafy dream to life. It really is harder than I expected to put into words the whirlwind that has been the last six weeks! We purchased our, soon to be, new home just this past September! Now as we waltz into the first week of November our once beautiful empty lot is bustling with glimpses of our future! One baby step at a time we have officially begun phase one of the leafy expansion!! Since purchasing our property we have managed to lay our first gravel pad (which we had to tamp and level by hand), bring in a shed to be converted into our tiny home, haul out a massive fallen hackberry tree, start clearing brush and branches from the wooded portion of our property, discovered a couple of partially condemned buildings full of unimaginable treasures and even more unimaginable amounts of garbage, framed out our first wall, had the bottom of the cottage insulated, and trenched for electrical to be installed! Nick and I can both openly admit that the total off the grid living isn't our favorite experience of all time, but it is kind of fun. Campfires, cooking over fires and eating by flashlights and candle light. But the lack of running water, not being able to flip on a light so you (I) don't trip on some invisible object — all very superficial first world problems that certainly take a little getting used to. I will say, as "annoying" as it can be from time to time to live without power and running water, there is something very peaceful about the stillness found in lacking these amenities. At night, when we sit by the fire and talk, share ideas or just play around, the only sounds we hear are those of the world around us and the crackling of the fire. We have so much wildlife. I think the deer have realized that we aren't hunters which is a rarity in our area and they seem to gather around us as if they've all declared our home a safe space. We have foxes, deer, coyotes, cats. It's really nice to see all of their activity on a daily basis. As with all of our adventures we have a fairly large learning curve. But building a home, running electrical, massive tree removal — we would be at a complete loss without the amazing people we have helping us on this adventure. We are using local labor, or ourselves, for every project. It really is so special to see our new and old community come together to help us achieve this. My biggest fear when we started Leafy was how traditional farmers would feel about the work we are doing. I come from a family of farmers. My parents have land, they've had chickens and sheep over the years, I grew up in a garden. Being outside, working the land, providing food by growing it is just a natural thing for me. I've never been afraid to get my hands dirty or put in a day of really hard work. This company, this passion has in so many ways brought me back to life. Having Nick being the little tech guru he is, makes the technical aspect of our farm possible. It has brought us closer together; bringing it to our community has helped me get out of my shell. Traditional farming uses the most water out of any other industry by a landslide. Our system recirculates water — we fill our tank once a week or so and that's it. That water waters our plants and provides a simple method of providing nutrients to all of our crops evenly. There is no competition for water or light. Our yields have very little waste. We were able to borrow my parents' camper which helps with the warmth, and we've managed to borrow a couple generators so we have a little light and the ability to charge our phones and laptops. In many ways it's like being at camp, except you live at camp. Today we sit and somewhat impatiently wait for water and electric to be installed so we can bring home our farm and finish turning our little shed into our little cottage. It's small, but it feels like it will be very cozy when we're finished. Thank you to everyone following along and rooting for us near and far. We love you all and we truly wouldn't have the courage to do this without you and each other. Until next time friends, Peace Love and Leafy Dreams from us to you. Stay Leafy, Amy A Amy Smith Leafy Dreams Iowa ← Previous A Story About Lettuce All Posts Next → Peace, Love, & Leafy Dreams
