This photo was taken on the land sometime around 1930.
Pictured are, left to right:
Top row - Hoyt, Glen, Lois, Paul
Bottom row - Henry, Nina, Annell, Ola
Henry and Ola are my great grandparents. The others are siblings. Annell is my grandmother; I call her MeeMa. Nina is my great aunt. They are the only ones still alive (see second photo).
Two years ago, I went to the land for the first time with some of my cousins who own adjacent property. We brought MeeMa and Aunt Nina with us — they hadn’t been back to the land in quite some time (they lived there for a few more years into the 1930’s, then the family moved closer to town). MeeMa will be 87 years old this coming December, and Nina is a few years younger. Both of them are still sharp as a tack.
MeeMa is up front holding the hat, Nina is behind her.
Old Land Photos
On the Land in 2006
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Last weekend Ben and I spent four days on the land literally chopping our way through to see what’s going on. We spent hours slicing through briars and knocking down small trees just to carve out a mere three trails, none of which connect yet. I can’t even put into words how much of a mess it is. In most places you can’t see past 20 feet in front of you, not like you can when you’re standing in an old-growth forest.
But, it’s all ok. There’s a part of me that is very happy it’s going to take so much work to make it nice. This is absolutely a labor of love and to confirm that, Ben asked me to marry him after three hours of chopping through the woods and asking me a bunch of questions about whether I think I’m up to the task of building a house there with him. I said yes… and I couldn’t (seriously) COULDN’T be more excited about the next few years.
Our next trip back will be during the last week of December and we’re hoping to bring better tools than just our machetes.
Fall Break In Toccoa
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