This Week at Ramsey Farms

This Week at Ramsey Farms ~ August 11-17, 2014

The first full week of school for the kids and we missed the bus Monday! But they didn’t get too many miles away before pulling down a long dirt road and we were able to catch the bus and the kids hopped aboard!

Farmhand Chris started our small autumn garden. On Tuesday we planted roma bush beans, Sumter cucumbers, and dill. It only took four days for two cukes to sprout! Then a bean plant and before the end of the next day, another cucumber plant poked it’s leaves above soil!! He said he loves digging and tilling this sandy loam by hand – it’s so easy compared to the red clay of NC. This is mostly a gray sand with very little vegetation already growing in it (like weeds and grass).

It’s been dry and hot this week with no rain and full sun pushes the thermometer way past 100 degrees. It makes the pool even more tantalizing, but the dry air seems to be impacting the kids’ allergies or causing sinus issues. I’m trying to find ways to ease their symptoms and get them through this using natural products like vinegar, ginger, salt water, pure honey, and other herbs.

I was able to visit my wonderfully kind neighbors and take them some roses from my front yard along with a bread recipe Ms. Sue had requested. We enjoyed a good long hour or hour & a half chat! They sent me home with a cucumber, tomatoes, fresh basil, 4 pumpkin –pecan muffins, and a recipe for tomato pie! J These are wonderful women next door and I’m so happy to have them as my neighbors. They are strong and independent and hardworking as well as experienced , wise, and been around here long enough to know the lay of the land.

I made up batches of deodorant and hand soap; almond bread, oatmeal bread, and basil bread, and lots of home-cooked meals. I have yet to find someone from whom to buy eggs and fresh produce and I am anxious to get our own!

It dawned on me the other day, I left my aloe root stem pot on the back porch at the NC house. L Those old, discarded roots had already sprouted four babies and they got left behind along with the potted chocolate mint, spearmint, and stevia plants I had intended to bring with us. The moving day was so crazy busy and the space on the truck was super limited, but I’m near heartbroken that those are gone. Just have to start a band new, bigger herb garden and take care of all the aloe plants I did bring with me.

Funny the things we miss!  I miss those plants and the vegetables we left growing in the garden (I hope my neighbors picked it), but I miss my friends too. Especially Katie who would drop by usually once or twice a week for a quick afternoon visit with wine or candy or Diet Coke to laugh and catch up on the zaniness of our lives. And Stephanie – I have our bocce ball game ready to go in the front yard here! Just bring some beer and funny stories and come visit!

~ Friends come & go out of lives but we keep a cherished piece of them in our hearts wherever life may take us ~

This Week at Ramsey Farms

For the week of Monday, August 4 - Sunday, August 10, 2014 ~ 

Wild muscadines grow all over our riverbank!

This week has been busy with registering for school, school open houses, and the first day of school was Friday! My son went to his first day of full-day pre-k and my daughter began high school. They both rode the school bus to and from school! The school is about 13 miles from our house so I am very thankful for the buses. The kids ride the same bus and their driver is a very kind woman who lives right down the road from us. In fact, the bus driver's husband once owned our piece of land! (Small town!)

I made a batch of chocolate drop cookies for the kids when they got home from their first day of school. It must have been a hard day, my daughter reported that our little boy fell asleep on her four times on the bus ride home. Bless his little heart! :)

My daughter baked bread Tuesday and we delivered a small loaf to our only real, actual next-door neighbors. They weren't home at that time, so we left the bread and a note on their front porch. The next day about noon, two older women rode up our 925-foot dirt road to the house in their John Deere utility vehicle to introduce themselves. We swapped phone numbers and promises of calling if either of us needs anything. Friday afternoon, Ms. Peavey saw me at the end of my driveway (waiting for the school bus) and hollered my name. I ran over to see her - she wanted to give me a farm bulletin and some tomato pie, and fresh basil and fresh parsley, and another magazine! Such sociable ladies and kind-hearted too. I know they must have some awesome stories and wisdom and experience to share, so I am so happy to have them as my closest neighbors.

Saturday morning, Ms. Sue called and spoke to Chris for a few minutes. The next thing I knew, Chris was heading next door then Sue and Chris showed up at our house on tractors and Z-mowers and spent the next four or five hours mowing our front and back fields!

Chief Farmhand & Head Mower, Chris

I sent over a mess of muscadines, homemade raspberry jam, and some chocolate cookies - but that just isn't quite enough to thank her for all that hard, sweaty work she did! What wonderful, wonderful people! How do you repay someone like that?

Another neighbor (from a half mile away), Ms. Patty dropped in to visit us Saturday afternoon while Sue and Chris were mowing. Ms. Patty brought us still warm from the oven tea cookies that were so delicious (they did not last long). She is a hoot and loves to chat! I am looking forward to more visiting with Ms. Patty! On our way to church Sunday, we dropped off a loaf of homemade farm bread to her.

We are so blessed to have some new, wonderful neighbors. We had fantastic neighbors in North Carolina and now I am seeing that we've picked another good spot to live near some terrific folks!

Friday afternoon Chief Farmhand, Chris and I selected a spot for our inaugural garden here at Ramsey Farms, Georgia. He tilled two three-foot wide rows - one is 26' long and the other is 21' in length - by hand with his shovel.

Thank you, God for bringing us to this place of beauty and genuinely nice, good-hearted people. I know this is all part of His plan for us and the people we happen upon are a part of that plan. I don't believe in coincidences or luck, I think all things happen for a bigger, great reason. I'm looking forward to the week ahead to see God at work in our lives here.

Life isn't something to wait for or look forward to, Life is happening right here, right now! Live it loud! Happy dreamin'! ~Ramsey

Egret or "Cow Bird" in our front field

This Week at Ramsey Farms

For the week of July 28 to August 3, 2014

What a week! It seems that many more than seven days have passed. This time last week I was sitting in my house in North Carolina and through many prayers, blood, sweat, tears, and two nights sleeping on the floor, I am proud to tell you that I am writing this article from my desk in my living room on my own little 14-acre farm in southeast Georgia!!

We picked up the moving truck on Tuesday afternoon. Did you know you could fit almost 2,200-square feet of stuff plus tools, yard equipment, and some houseplants onto a 26-foot truck? Well yes, you can. My Chief Farmhand is one of the best puzzle solvers in the world and he can pack a bag, pack a car, and obviously pack a truck like nobody’s business! Give him a round of applause please.

We spent all Tuesday afternoon and night packing. We finally crashed on the floor to sleep about 4am.  We were back at it by 6am. That house had to be empty and clean by 2pm. Physical exhaustion and stress and a tight deadline will really make you reconsider personal possessions. I am sad to say that many of my back porch plants were unable to make the cut. L Moreover, we totally ran out of time (and or forgot) to harvest the leeks, the green tomatoes, and the green beans to take with us.

The mourning of plants aside, my daughter and I made it to the law office on time for the 3pm closing. It took about ten minutes to sign papers to sell our home of the last 14 years and we hit the road – southbound to Georgia! We caught up with Chief Farmhand / Head Truck Driver, Chris and his co-pilot, our 4.5-year-old son on I-77 and caravanned for about three hours. The cheap motel in Augusta was a sight for tired eyes. We grabbed some dinner and showers and all four of us went to bed about 8pm and slept until seven the next morning. I could have slept longer but I was so excited that that was the day we were buying a farm!!!

Another 2.5 to 3 hour road trip this time no interstates, but state roads, county roads, and back country roads to…HOME! We pulled in that long dirt driveway about 11am and as my car crested the hill and the house came into view, my heart skipped a beat and I knew. I knew we were home. For a minute! Then my daughter and I rushed off with our Super Realtor, Susan to the lawyer’s office for my second closing in as many days. Chris stayed home to unload the truck.

Our dear realtor had left us all a super spread of welcome home gifts from a basket of bath and hair products for my daughter, a fishing pole and lures for our son, pool toys and floats for the kids and grill tools and party platters for us!!

After the closing (which took over two hours by the way – many more papers to sign this time!) and more truck unloading, we drove about 12 miles to our nearest grocery store for supplies. There was more truck unloading Thursday night and hardcore unloading Friday, as the truck was due back! Therefore, we got to make another trip into town Friday but had set aside Saturday to just hang out at our new house.

Chris and I took an extended hike around a big portion of our land. We discovered tons of wild muscadines growing all over the riverbanks and in the woods, saw wild hog and deer tracks by the river, sought out good fishing spots, and heard wild turkeys clucking off in the woods. We’ve enjoyed a bunch of cute little frogs coming up to the pool at night and an owl sat on our fence only 25-feet from where we sat next to the pool.

So much to do and get started. I am ready to start a little garden and create a nice little herb garden…

I just want to stop my storytelling to let you know that this entire process and feat was not mine alone. I give thanks to God for making it possible and providing us the things we need to achieve the goals He has ordained. Closing on two houses in two states in 30 days is not an easy task to undertake and without God and a wonderful team of people – this would not have happened. Thank you Jesus for the dream and the love that inspires the courage to go after a dream. I know this could not have happened in the way that it has transpired without God’s blessing. Thank you.

Thank you to Chris for facilitating, coordinating, and being the muscle behind my dream. Thank you to my kids for their trust in allowing me to upheave the only life they’ve known. Especially thanks to my daughter who helped carry, lift, pack, move, navigate, communicate, and just generally helped so much more than a fourteen year should and whom without we could not have accomplished this. 

Thank you to Mary and Katie for helping us pack and load the truck. We could not have gotten done on time without you. 

Thank you to Debi for being so willing to make this happen in time for us both!! Thank you to Melissa for pulling off the mortgage side of this in what I bet is record time. Thank you to Warren for selling the impossible. Thank you to Nikki for the road trip snacks! Thank you to Susan for her Super Realtor status – not only is she a detailed, on the ball realtor, but she is a truly wonderful person with whom I am happy to begin a friendship here in Georgia with. She made sure this deal was going to go down, on time. 

And thank you to the people who have encouraged, inspired, supported, listened, and been a part of this learning process, search process, selling/buying process, moving process, and just the people who helped reduce the stress during the past three months of extreme house hunt/move stress. THANK YOU! 

Dreams to Goals to Reality! If you dream it, you can achieve it! Anything is possible! :) Ramsey