After 18 years of pouring our sweat, blood and tears into our homestead, after spending all this time and effort to create our paradise, we will leave this beloved patch of Earth to move downvalley in June.
Our homesteading lifestyle made a lot of sense when we were homeschooling our kids, growing a lot of our food, and raising animals for all these years. It was an incredible way for our children to grow up and live in nature.
Ever since our kids started public school 2 1/2 years ago, things shifted. The school bus ride is a daily 2 1/2 hour schlepp. Driving the kids back and forth to sports and social events costs us countless hours and money. The public school they go to doesn't offer what they need.
Transitioning from being the primary homeschooling parent, my life has shifted, too. My job as a Feminine Power coach requires fast internet and reliable electricity, which isn't always the case up here.
And we are not even mentioning Steve's 3 hour commute to work.
It doesn't make sense any more.
So we are renting our homestead, starting the middle of June, and moving downvalley to a property in the Skagit Flats. We'll still come up to Marblemount to visit, connect with friends and maintain our property.
>> If you want to rent our homestead, you can check out our ad here <<
Our new place is in the beautiful Skagit Flats, feels very rural, but is right between Bellingham and Burlington. It's right on scenic Chuckanut Drive, where the organic dairy is where Steve and I met and fell in love. Our oldest, Kai, was born at our friends' place on Chuckanut Drive. I've ridden my bike there for 25 years, always wondering what it would be like to live there.
Now we're coming full circle.
We'll have a garden, of course, and start from a blank slate. I'll document it all in the blog, so you won't be missing out, and we'll come back to Marblemount on the weekends and summers, so you'll still see beautiful pictures of the wilderness!
And we're excited about teaching homesteading and survival skills classes and workshops downvalley!
Here's the view out the backyard from our new property:
I know this is a lot to process - for us, and maybe for you, too. Many of you have followed our lives for a decade on the blog, and I'm sure this comes as a shock. Please know that we feel 100% right about this, so at least we're not agonizing about this new development!