October 2005 - After the Harvest

It wasn't long before neighbors along Rt. 78 were curious about the out-of-towners who bought the farm on Blue Mountain Road. Dan and Jeff were  dubbed "city boys" by Tim next door and local farmers who saw them coming and going on the weekends with high hopes and a minivan full of supplies.  So Dan did what every aspiring gentleman farmer would do - he bought a truck!
A nice truck!

In mid-October, the corn has been harvested but the foliage is still green with just a hint of autumn color.





                                                                                

A sweeping view of the countryside from the velvety hills to Tim's woods and down Rt. 78 towards Mt. Carroll. The camper (found and purchased by Dan in August) and hay barn are barely visible at the bottom of the woods.

Our home away from home. In late October, the camper was collapsed for the winter. You can almost feel the chill in the air with a daytime fire and changing leaves.

August 2005- ATV Meant to Be

We  had a special delivery in August that made the land a more exciting place to be.  Our first farm vehicle is a Kawasaki ATV with more than enough power to traverse the hills and valleys.



Jeff won the ATV at a casino in Winnemucca, Nevada while we were attending a Ruiz family reunion. What are the chances of winning such a prize? And what are the chances that we could   use an ATV? One year earlier, we would have traded it in for they money.

July 2005 - Knee High by the 4th

The good news is the corn that wasn't showing in May is green, healthy and knee high by the 4th of July. The bad news - for us - is that the corn is not the luscious sweet variety we can throw on the grill. 

This is our future campsite, a little overgrown at the moment, but full of potential. The firepit is off to the right with some logs for benches. Life at the farm is pretty rustic this first summer. 

The milking barn looks very clean on the inside,
but it wasn't that way in the beginning. We're guessing it hasn't been used in quite awhile because the floor was filled with manure. Nick was a good sport and shoveled it out. Poor Nick! The corn wasn't the only thing knee high by the 4th of July.

May 2005 - Moving In with the Cows

We "moved into" the farm in May 2005. There were some uninhabitable barns and a herd of cattle that belonged to David Keller, the former owner. Keller leased back land for grazing, corn and alfalfa. The cows added to the pastoral nature, but made me feel a little uncomfortable when they approached in herds. Jeff and Dan also worried that they would eat baby trees and plants and make it hard for us to transform the farm into a wildlife habitat. The cows didn't stay long - but it was nice to see the springtime babies.

The first priority for a farm with no house, water and electricity was an outhouse. Jeff built the frame in the driveway of our Hinsdale home, then transported the pieces in the minivan - or tran as it is fondly called now because it functions as part truck/part van. He camouflaged it to fool the cattle, deer and turkeys.

Next, Nick dug a keyhole firepit for cooking and warmth, then they chopped fallen trees for fuel. We fit a old grill top on the keyhole and cook over hot coals.   

This is the first alfalfa cutting of the spring season. We're like a real farm with Keller baling and transporting the alfalfa.

An early view of the cornfield. 

February 2005 - Waiting for Spring

There's a reason the real estate market goes dormant in the winter. Nothing looks the same by the pallid light of a bone chilling day. Truth be told, February may not be the worst of all real estate months in a season that shivers and coughs and warms its hands by melting snow, then freezing the dripping drops into icy icicles.  

February is when the melancholy gray sky bears down hard and low to envelop the hibernating earth in somber shades of tawny brown, spent corn beige and slushy snow white. It's the season when bare limbed trees stand stark and forbidding against the ashen woods, barren fields and valleys. There is a harsh beauty and stillness in the winter landscape like the silent glint of gunmetal on a frozen pond. 

But unlike January, February holds the promise of spring around the corner with hints of new growth popping up under the melting snow. It is the time to fantasize, conceptualize and visualize grassy rolling hills, fields of corn knee high by the Fourth of July, blue sky mornings, star-filled evenings, fireflies so thick in the fields you can reach out and catch one, if you tried. These photos of the farm were taken two months before it fell into the hands of the Cortopassi and Voellinger families, either by happenstance or divine providence that we should be united by the land.  This is where the story begins by an ice-covered pond in the northwest corner of Illinois where deer and turkey roam the countryside and life slows to a rural pace. Neighbors are more than a stone's throw away and the nearest cafe is in a small town called Mt. Carroll.      Blog was not part of my vocabulary five years ago so I'm recreating the journey thus far through photographs and eye-witness accounts. This is the proof.