Introduction - How we came to Storybook Homestead

Welcome to Storybook Homestead.  :)

After spending the first year dipping our toes into homestead life, we are now diving in.

A year ago, my family made the decision to change our lives. I grew up in Calgary, Canada's third largest city. My husband was in a military family, so moved around every few years. Our children were both born in Calgary. We spent our last five years living in one of the towns outside of it, but it grew massively in that time, and still felt like a suburb of the big city.

Then the day came when my husband suggested buying an acreage. As much as I loved my little garden, it was full of limitations and frustrations. I didn't want a bigger garden in a place with such a short growing season, not to mention one of the places where there actually has been snow in every single calendar month. Yes, this means snow in July and August on occasion. Oh, then there's the minus 40 temperatures a few times each winter. (For interest sake, -40 is where Celsius and Fahrenheit are the same.)

Our property search moved a province over. We started looking in the interior of BC, where we'd be surrounded by mountains, while still getting a warmer climate.



We considered more what we wanted. A place where we could grow our own food. With room for the kids to run and play. Quiet, which when looking in a valley, is tougher then you'd realize. Many properties are just off the highway.

We came upon a little homestead that was nearly too good to be true.

The house was straight out of the 70s, but fit our needs. Everything worked and was in good shape.

What came with it though, blew our minds.

A dozen, 20 foot long, raised garden beds for vegetable growing. Four more 60 foot long ones with established strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, asparagus, and rhubarb, along with a few other perrenial food plantings. A fruit tree orchard with apples, pears, and plums. Young trees, but still years ahead of us planting them from scratch. A soft fruit espalier, with peaches, nectarines, and apricots.

There was a double sided chicken coop, for both laying and meat birds. A small barn. A small pasture. A root cellar. A canning kitchen.

We bought the Storybook Homestead.



And now, I'm blogging about it.