The House and The Water

I have lived in the same house less than half of my life. We moved in when I was seven years old, and I moved out when I was eighteen. I moved back in at twenty-five, so that's a total of eleven years in and fourteen out. However, this house was the same one that sheltered my mother and her brothers nearly their whole lives. My gramma bought this house, with its 1.6 acres, for $5,000.

The house she purchased was originally part of the house next door. In fact, our house was the servants' quarters. The house next door, our house and the house 2 lots down the road were all part of the same farmhouse.

I have always loved this place. I always will. My youngest sister and I used to dream of someday owning it and raising our children here. I believe it has one of the most beautiful properties around. I know every inch of it, but there's still something to discover everyday. It sits up from the road, well out of the valley-bottom, so the seasonal floods do not affect us, and never will.

However, as my calling in life has changed to more of an agrarian-based homestead I have come to the heart-wrenching conclusion that this property will not do.

Since it was a farm, I asked gramma (the property owner) about buying the acreage behind us (all of which is new-growth woodlands, and used to be cow pasture). She said that she had asked the property owner (who lives next door to us to the left) to purchase it. He declined and informed her that upon his death the land was going to a state organization that "preserves" natural areas. Upon speaking to my mother about this, she confirmed and added that she believed it was already in the possession of this organization.


(This was taken in early Autumn and looks out from the back of the driveway toward the road.)
How frustrating that prime farming land has been given to the state. I don't know which organization owns it, but most of the state-owned land in this county belongs to the watershed of New York City. My county hosts several of the reservoirs, but the Pepacton holds the largest amount of water of any of NYC's other reservoirs, and provides 25% or more of NYC's daily water usage.

As much as I love it here, the more I think about it, the less desirable my county seems as far as aligning with my future.