Our Farm: then

We met, fell in love and married in the summer of 1998. At the time, I was living and teaching high school in Coldwater, Ohio. Cinda was living in Marysville, Ohio and working as an intervention specialist at Ohio State. After consolidating two households, we decided to look for a place of our own.

1999 was the year of many big decisions. I decided to retire after 30 years of teaching social studies in Coldwater and adjuncting at Wright State University as a history professor. We bought a small farm at auction not far from where I grew up in St. Marys. We had decided to move”back home” as my parents health was failing and as the only sibling nearby and retired. I could best look in on them. Cinda left her position at Ohio State and joined the local Head Start agency as an infant/toddler consultant.

At the conclusion of the auction, that cold Saturday morning, Cinda and I just looked at each other and said “What have we done?” The price was right. I was retired so I had the time. Ever since I was old enough to hold a hammer and carry a 2x4, I have been involved with carpentry in one way or another. Whether helping my Dad build house and do remodeling or going out on my own and building homes during the summer months while teaching to building custom made cabinets and furniture,

We were looking at a house built sometime in the late 19^th century, added on to here and there over the years by well intentioned but poorly thought out and constructed remodelers, inside and out. It still had a functional outhouse, complete with a catalog and resident garter snakes!

Slowly but surely, and with a lot of doubting looks from friend and family, the house became Cinda’s dream house. New siding, new roof, new windows, a garage, removal of “growths” attached to the outside of the house her and there… Years of paints and wallpaper came off. Lowered ceilings were removed. New plaster went up. Old trim and woodwork were carefully sketched, detailed and replaced in new oak. 

Then came the kitchen – after months of using a hotplate to cook on and the bathtub to do dishes while the kitchen was completely gutted floor to ceiling, wall to wall. Windows ere shortened and doors moved.