First our apologies for the lack of updates and replies to anyone who has tried to contact us through the farm email address or site. While we were looking for land to expand the farm in rural Wisconsin our family did some serious soul searching. In the end, we all decided we loved the farm but Wisconsin just was not where we felt was home.
Now don’t get me wrong. Wisconsin will always have a place in our heart. We met and befriended some of the most wonderful people. Everyone told us when we were moving to Wisconsin that there’s just something about midwestern people. They really are some of the nicest you will ever meet. We found so many families around us through the farm and the community that grew from that as well as our family’s very active involvement in the county and statewide 4-H program. I really can’t say enough good things about 4-H. If anyone is looking for a good club, check out Astico Perseverance club as part of Dodge County’s 4-H program. It’s not just farm kids showing steers and sheep. There are so many programs and inclusive of all from visual arts, budding writers, future agronomists and of course animal husbandry. There is certainly something for everyone.
But that being said, we felt the familiar pull in our hearts that we just had not found home yet. It was a hard decision but we knew we had to try again. Now, when you have a farm, you can’t just go wandering the country for weeks on end trying to determine where home is. This posed a rather serious problem that actually has a funny solution. As Mandy and I were driving back from the library or a 4-H kid drop off we got to talking. Something that basically went “wouldn’t it be nice to just be able to travel around the country for a year trying to figure out where we want to go?” That simple joking question led to a longer and longer conversation. By the end of it we both probably wanted to move forward but were afraid to admit it. So we said, let’s ask the kids what they think, certain that they would shoot us down and that would be that. With a high schooler and another almost there they wouldn’t want to leave their friends. And the farm is amazing so who wants to leave.
At dinner that night we asked them. “What would you all think of taking an RV around the country for a year to decide where we want to move next?” And to our amazement they jumped on board enthusiastically and started planning what they would keep, what we would have to store and what to sell. What would the grandparents think? What about the animals, we would certainly have to find good homes for all of them. What seemed like hours later we had practically decided to do it. But we told them to sleep on it and we would talk about it again later that week.
By the end of the week we all knew the decision. We were going to sell the farm. We were going to buy an RV. We were going to sell almost everything we own and put some in storage to have when the year is over. We were all going to live in less than 400 square feet. That’s 7 people in 400 square feet. But, we would have an experience that so few have the opportunity to have. The kids would see so many things they only read about in their geography and US history lessons. We were really going to do this.
And so our adventure began. Three months later we had the farm sold, the flocks dispersed, truckloads to Goodwill and the special things in a storage locker for a year. October 12th 2015 we cast off onto the open highways of this great country to find home. That was a year ago and we haven’t made it far. We’ve seen 15 states and still haven’t found home. Our one year plan has now morphed to three. We are still on the road and having a blast.
Now I’m also getting around to updating the site. Stay tuned for a new family travel blog. The Wandering Peacock Farm will keep wandering for the time being.