Farmhouse on the Field

White Way of Delight

Anne Shirley had such a knack for naming things. 

Her ‘White Way of Delight’ was a flowering tree-lined path that wound through Avonlea to her beloved Green Gables. The townsfolk called it the ‘Avenue’, but Anne wasn’t satisfied with that. By renaming it, she honored its beauty and gave it significance beyond the mundane.

Though the gravel driveway pictured above looks like any other country lane, it’s really the culmination of years of waiting and planning.

After more than a decade of dreaming of our own little homestead with horses and chickens, my husband and I bought 7.5 acres of land in semi-rural Indiana. Out in the country, yet still close enough to bookstores (of course!), shops, and overpriced coffee. The necessities!

Three years passed. We hemmed and hawed, mulled and meditated, and prevaricated and procrastinated. It’s a big project to take on starting from scratch as we are: driveway, electricity, well, and septic, all have to be put in.

We had to obtain permits to build on the agricultural land where sheep once grazed (there’s a little heated shack in the pasture which we prosaically call the Sheep Shack). This took some record digging  as the acreage has sat empty for 50+ years. And, because of the creek running alongside the property, we had to get a variance and buy a chunk of land from our neighbor to even put in the driveway.

Meanwhile, we vacillated on a home design. We got close on one plan, until the architect dropped the price on the table. We dropped the architect and hired another. It was a long process and discouraging at times, but I just kept imagining the day that I would have a gravel lane to drive down. Then it would be real, the beginning of my dream being realized.

Well, the day has arrived!

I finally have my own White Way of Delight.

 

I’ll be posting regularly about building my white farmhouse. So, subscribe to get updates!

 

 

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