A brown, shingled farmhouse beyond a rough green lawn. In the foreground, bare tree branches reach down from above.

When I was a child, my parents would bring me to visit my grandparents and my aunt in a rustic old farmhouse deep in the forests of Oregon’s Coast Range. Those visits were magic, from drinking pure spring water while chewing a sprig of spearmint, to picking daisies on the front lawn. It was always my favorite part of vacation.

Time passed, and my grandparents are gone; even my parents’ generation is growing older, and it’s time my aunt passed the torch to a new caretaker. By the kindness of fate, and an unexpected touch of luck, that has turned out to be me.

This is a newsletter about fixing up the house, often known as Truepenny, and the five acre homestead around it I call Three Creeks. There’s a lot of work ahead, as time and nature have been hard on the place, but the magic is still there. My plan is to use a lifetime of skills, guided by childhood memory, to help it become a working homestead again, and inspire a new generation of family.

I will send out updates every quarter, as close to the solstice or equinox as I can. If something extraordinary happens, I may send out a bonus post. And if you find that you can’t wait a full three months to find out what’s been happening, get in touch! Who knows, if enough people ask for more frequent updates, I may change the posting schedule. So don’t be shy.

Finally, in the tradition of my aunt’s fifty years of mailing her own irregular newsletter, I will start each post with, “Dear Everybody”.

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Restoring a five-acre homestead to glory

People

Maker, baker, crafter, geek. Plant scientist. Dreamer.