grace farms

You can learn more about our farm at www.gracefarmsnc.com

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The beginning of 2020 jumped off to a crazy start.

Completely unexpected, an opportunity arose to potentially purchase the most breathtaking land in our favorite corner of the earth…Cane Creek Valley.

The first two years we lived in North Carolina, we lived in a cozy mountain home tucked high up in the mountains while I renovated it. We always knew this would be a temporary home that I converted into a luxury vacation rental…but were never quite sure how long “temporary” meant for us.

Coming from a sprawling 4,000+ sq. ft. home in California that I used approximately half of for my work studio, the 65% space reduction to a ~1,400 sq. ft. work in progress was an adjustment. Within the first few months of moving to NC (and paying over $500 monthly for 4 crammed full storage units for all of my inventory & equipment)…I decided to rent a 1,500 sq. ft. warehouse approximately 20 minutes from our home.

I was constantly on the lookout for the perfect piece of land to build my permanent shop/warehouse for my businesses. Of course I also daydreamed that it would be large enough to also reserve a spot for our future forever home (and possibly a barn + some other wishful things if it’s not too much to ask ;). But my primary focus was a small piece of land at least ample enough to build my shop. Heading toward my 3rd year into a commercial lease that automatically increases 4% per year…I’d constantly be SCOURING for any scrap of suitable land for sale…and crunching numbers to see if it would work.

Well after roughly 2 years of that…about a mile down the road from our current home (a constant ongoing renovation project in itself), this gorgeous site for sale by owner came available. I love FSBO properties because with my background in real estate, I prefer to keep agents out of transactions and buy/sell direct.

In late January, I called the seller to find out a bit about this property. It was a long shot in that it was a bit too good to be true in terms of location and acreage. But just like that…less than 48 hours later we were approved for the loan and my offer to purchase was accepted.

It was a miracle, and the beginnings of my wildest fantasies coming true. However, it wasn’t without a crazy amount of work (and a number of bureaucratic obstacles to overcome).

On this beautiful land, there was a very small, run-down house on the property that needed a ridiculous amount of work. It was actually not livable in the condition it was in, and also did not have a water source and a questionable septic tank situation…thus the really, really, really great price. I wasn’t deterred in the slightest. I worked myself senseless making this deal go through.

It was an unbelievable journey with a hell of a lot of hoops to jump through. At SEVERAL points when I was knee deep in crazy mix of it all, it looked like the deal was surely dead. In fact, at one point when a gentleman from my lender’s compliance team called to deliver some bad news that this loan was going to die on an insane technicality…I pushed back HARD and said “NO! This is NOT dead, and here is what is going to happen next.”

One thing you should know about me is that I’m relentless, persuasive, persistent as all hell, and I will drown you in so much documentation that eventually it’s just simpler and easier to give me what I want. ;)

After some hard fought battles (and the scare of things possibly not settling because after ALL of my battles and just weeks from closing…COVID-19 hits the world), I came out triumphant. My heart was over the moon! At the end of March 2020, we FINALLY closed on the property. This will be the source of my lifetime’s worth of projects to come.

Pulling off this purchase the accomplishment of my lifetime. Now getting everything whipped into shape will be my most ambitious project yet. I needed to quickly transform this abandoned house into our new home in a matter of months. Thankfully, that’s right up my alley.

This creek-lined stunning 6-acre spot lies in the heart of Cane Creek Valley (my favorite place on earth)…minutes from Asheville. I’ve got big plans for this small farm in the works. ❤️

There’s much to do before we can get our little farm up and running, but I couldn’t be more excited to begin this journey.

I’ve started with baby goats, which are just a shot of pure joy to you soul. Next up, an assortment of adorable baby chicks who will grow into beautiful, rainbow colored egg layers will be arriving soon.

Next will be a couple of miniature dwarf donkeys. Then as time goes on, I plan on adding some ducks and quail too. (There may or may not also be some serious talk of a baby bison ;)

Eventually, we’re going to add alpacas into the mix.

We’ll have fruit trees, berry bushes, flowers upon flowers, and an assortment of vegetables to boot. My wildest fantasies involve a greenhouse on stilts out there on that flood plain...where I’ll nurture more succulents than one could imagine. Hey, a girl can dream.

But first, I had to tackle the challenges at hand: a 58 yr old fixer upper that is very small, VERY abandoned, and has been all but left for dead. The plan: renovating / repairing / adding onto that home, drilling a well, repairing (or replacing the septic system), and getting everything up to livable standards so our little family could make this our home.

You can learn all about grace farms at www.gracefarmsnc.com