The Purchase - In the fall of 2020, we had decided we would like to purchase a piece of property where we could have a small farm. After researching online, we decided we liked the area around Hurt and Gretna. We made an offer on another piece of property in the are that had fell through and then happened to stumble upon our property. When we first went to look at the property, we could tell that it needed a lot of work but fortunately we were on now schedule to have it completed. As you can see, the one house was completely grown up around and you could hardly even see it was there. The white house wasn’t very grown up but needed a ton of TLC. The white house was built in 1940 as best we can tell and the other house we really have no ideas about, maybe late 1800s early 1900s? Regardless, we have had fun going through them and finding old items.

Late 2020/Early - Mid 2021

Clean Up - First task was to start cleaning up around all the old structures, mainly the old house. As you can see, compared to the pictures above, it was really overgrown. we have spent, and will continue to spend, hours trying to get everything cut back.

As we cleaned up, we found all kind of old structures, small barns, and old equipment berried in the brush. One video shows cleaning up a fallen building and ruble pile that turned out to be an old blacksmith shop. We’ve found a lot of neat stuff as we clean.

There is still a lot of cleaning, but we have finally gotten to the point that we can at least get around most of the old structures and see what’s inside. We are still trying to thin out some of the undergrowth through the woods, but I think this will be an ongoing project.

We found Bees! - Our best find, and the driving force behind even having this website was the bees! As I was walking around the old house one day I happened to see a lot of bees coming from a hole in the side of the house. Not knowing anything about bees, I called a friend who was a beekeeper and asked for some help. We first installed a nuc box in a tree across from the house to see if we could catch a spring swarm that may come from the house. Well about a month or so later, I went over to check the swarm box and saw bees flying in and out. We had caught a swarm!

Still under construction, but feel free to look at what’s here, check back for more