Humble Beginnings Aren't Just for Suckers

A few years ago (three, to be precise), we looked at this piece of property you see pictured here, and we thought to ourselves, "This is it!"

If Google Earth were your only guide, you'd never know there was anything to this runty little rent house to write home about.

But it's not a runty little rent house anymore.  In fact, it was the cheapest house to be found in the only neighborhood in College Station where we could feel even partly at home.  College Hills actually looks a lot like the Shoal Creek neighborhood in Austin, for those who need a reference point.  And the nature trail running behind the elementary school a couple of blocks away from our house completes the illusion that we are in a peaceful, pastoral setting, rather than also being just a few blocks away from that dreaded little farming school with which we associate this city.

Sooo.... what made us think, English Literature students that we were, that we had what it would take to make a one-bedroom, one-bathroom house sitting on a half-acre of weed-and-bramble-infested land even remotely like the country escape we always talked about retiring to, a place like that our grandparents owned?

Simple, really.  We'd done it before.  When we first got married, we went through what we lovingly refer to as "marriage boot camp".  We worked in downtown Austin, but we lived in Blanco, a lovely little hill country town about 50 minutes away... or make that an hour and a half, given Austin traffic.

We commuted about 2 1/2 hours every day... to and from this 398 square foot cottege, sitting on an acre of land.  And we gardened there.  Our landlord was a pleasant fellow who brought us trailerloads of goat manure.  Our little dog Sallie loved running down to the Blanco river, just a block away.  And we worked ourselves to the bone.

When we moved, we realized just how empty the whole renting experience had been, and we vowed that the next time we worked that hard, it would be on our own property, and that it would be something truly remarkable.

Two kids and a lifetime of bizarre experiences later, here we are at Big Myrtle's Tea Shoppe and Egg Emporium.  The start of a new year is a great time to reflect on all that we have done, and all that there is yet to accomplish.

For all that we have, we are grateful.

Happy farming!