It began with a napkin drawing.
Sounds ridiculous.
Yet, it’s true.
Sometime in late 2014 Dave and I went to dinner and started brainstorming about what we wanted our life to look like. We were newlyweds and with all the best parts of life ahead of us, we wanted to get it right. We started throwing out words:
Farm
Land
Animals
Affordable
Sustainable Living
An orchard with every type of fruit
A garden with every type of vegetable
Tractor
Then, I took a pen out of my purse and the napkin from under my whiskey and started drawing. We went back and forth a bit - but, by the time that dinner was over we knew the direction we were headed - we just had to get there.
Fast forward 7 years. We had saved enough for a down payment. We had two small children. We had taken our napkin drawing to an architect and he made our dream home drawing come to life. Now, we just needed the land. Turns out, land is even harder to come by than housing prices are to overcome! Especially when the only city I would consider was Duvall, Washington.
We kept looking. We did research. We mourned the places that we were outbid on. Then, up pops the Blueberry Farm. We both saw it upload on Redfin simultaneously. My phone was already ringing to our agent when the listing was coming through text from Dave. We viewed it on a Saturday. One of the hottest August Seattle days on record. We came back the next day and spent some time walking around again. We wanted to make sure it felt right. Then, we had the agonizing week of waiting to see if our offer was the one they accepted. Thankfully, it was!
It has certainly checked off a few of the original words on our list. Some we will be able to check off as we are able to do more projects around the farm. One will never be possible, *ahem Seattle housing prices! But, here we are. We did it!
So, while that drawing didn’t mention “blueberry farmers” in distinct lettering, it encompassed everything this farm represents.
This is our forever home. One we dreamed up and solidified on a napkin drawing long before it would ever be ours. A reminder that it’s all possible - all of it - even our dinner time scribbles when its something you’re willing to work hard for.
We are so excited to raise our family on such a special piece of land and it thrills us that it comes with a built in community of people who cherish it as much as we do.