My new/old house in a small upstate New York town has a tiny yard. At first I thought I could make do. I'd get some foliage up on trellises to provide privacy, fence the deer out all around so I could plant anything I wanted anywhere I wanted to, and eventually make it a little paradise. I suppose I could still do that, but I long for open spaces, and fragrant woods, and running brooks, and and and...
So today I went a lookin' for the perfect retirement getaway property. Check out what I found!
I pulled up to the beginning of the driveway to the house, waited for the land specialist Paul (from Whitetail Properties) to arrive, and wondered how on earth we were going to get up the muddy, rutted lane. I knew my car wouldn't make it up the first fifty feet of the more than three thousand feet to go.
Paul pulled up with this contraption on a trailer! I spent the afternoon riding (if you call being scared shitless "riding") around a ninety six acre parcel on this thing. At one point bramble got tangled in my hair and nearly pulled me out. My hair ripped out instead. Paul seemed to think he had taken his vehicular mischievousness just a tad too far, and took it easier on me after that.
I could show you shots of several streams, forests, fields and muddy roads, with not a single sighting of another house, road, power line or car, but what I really want you to see is the cabin. Whitetail Properties says:
Open concept in its design, and impressive in its construction, this all hand hewn log home boasts massive cabers for the center beams, which are 14” x 10”, with 18” x 24” log faces. The joists are 8” x 6”. The floorboards are made with wood from the property harvested by the Amish, and are a medley of Pine, Hemlock, Cherry and Ash alternating in width from 7”, 8” and 10” and fastened with custom made cut nails. The kitchen floor is pine, with a hardwood subfloor is laid at 45 degrees to the joists. There are three antique interior doors custom made from chestnut, and the main doors are detailed with custom made wrought iron hardware crafted by a Dutch Blacksmith. The chimney is central to the home and made with Georgia Brick, and the flue Ohio Superior Clay with a 6” I.D. This home is a true green experience with no plywood, no poly materials, no glues, etc. fashioned with dowels, windows with wood muntins and all natural materials throughout the home, living here is a fresh breath of being in sync with nature and the joy of experiencing an off grid lifestyle and green footprint.
Who cannot understand my wanting to see this cabin, and to meet the now-elderly woman who has been living in it for the last thirty years?
Although I took a great many shots of the inside of the large cabin, it feels a bit invasive to publish those, so I've selected just two for you.
Here are two shots of the woods near the cabin.
So far so good, eh? You want to have this property in your life too, right?
Let's move on to the day to day living.
Madeline is quite an interesting human. She has an impish smile, and she effusively exudes joy. I expected this of someone choosing to live as she does, and was very excited to meet her. She did not disappoint.
Madeline, who does not want me to publish her picture, is moving to Kentucky. She doesn't know where yet, and she knows no one there. I have no idea why she is leaving. If I had to make a guess, I'd say anyone who has been trying to live as she does in New York State can see the writing on the wall, and wants to flee to a more sane state. Perhaps she doesn't want to work quite so hard, but she is moving a second, smaller cabin on the property (in the shot with the vehicle) to Kentucky with her, and hopes to live in it, so I don't think that what I see as hard living seems hard to her.
She has lived on this property with nothing more than two propane fueled generators, one for a small fridge, and another to pump water when she needs more than what she can pump by hand at the kitchen sink.
She does not have a contraption to bring her up to the cabin when the road is impassable which, by the looks of it, is often. The road is on an old railroad bed, and has a rather long section that drops off steeply on both sides, not much wider than a railroad trestle. This was one of the points that scared me shitless. When her Subaru can traverse the road, she somehow manages to cross. If she needs supplies when she can't drive, she walks the 3/4 mile to the road and back again with those supplies. I expected her to have raised and preserved a lot of her own food, but she does none of that, so nearly everything she eats or uses, and everything her six cats need, has to make that that trek across a muddy expanse, often by foot, cart and sled. She probably forages; the property is abundant with natural food, and I saw a large box full of tinctures that appeared to have been homemade.
When I arrived, she was bringing a wheelbarrow full of wood in from the woodshed. The cookstove was blazing and the cabin was toasty warm, even though it is not insulated.
The house is not insulated, but the chicken coop, which appears to be in excellent shape, is. I understand that she did tend some livestock in past years, but there are none there now.
Then we got to the oddest thing of all.
Madeline eschews toilets in the house. The listing boasts a compost toilet, but apparently I am the first interested buyer to ask to see said toilet, as Paul had never looked inside that particular shed.
Use your imagination to figure out where human waste goes. I was grateful I didn't feel the urge, if that gives you any ideas.
All this is not enough to turn me off, because this property is gorgeous, has had no toxic chemicals used on any of the 96 acres for more than fifty years, and the cabin is in excellent condition as far as I can tell. It was certainly built to last. But I cannot pay her price, not since I see a good hundred thousand dollars of work that needs to be done for me to even use it as a getaway. It needs a good road, a full bathroom, electric brought in and the house wired and plumbed, excavation near the pond, which is turning to swamp. How I had hoped to love this place, and its resident, and I do. But I can't afford the work that needs to be done, and I can't envision spending my retirement in the manner Madeline is spending hers.
My search for a retirement getaway continues. Maybe 2022 will be the year.
Happy New Year to all!!!
footer by our dear SilverFish, @mondoshawan
