Today is July 10, 2009. I am going to attempt to create a blog about our daily life here on a small farm in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains of NE Tennessee. My chronicles will be that of a former 'city' girl who has come to love the country life and all of it's simple and pure ways. May I do justice to the memory of those who have walked this ground before me, and to all of those who will come after.

So. Where do I begin? At the beginning.

The Johnson County Tennessee Deed book with it's old fashion cursive writing, showed that our land was owned by a Col. Green Moore (civil war confederate) in 1836. He had 6 slaves, but it is not known if they lived on this property. In 1857 Col.Moore deeded the property to RH Donnelly who had married his daughter Eliza. That's when the trail of ownership is broken until1951 when it was deeded to the' Heirs of Adam and Virginia Hicks.' Somewhere between 1857 and 1951 , Virginia and Adam Hicks, who were 2nd cousins, built the barns, the house ,and lived here closeby to her parents, Gibson and Julia Linkes. Many members of the Linkes family are buried on top of our 'Cemetery Hill' The first grave in the cemetery is dated 1899 and is that of a 1 month old girl. At this time the property was covered with apple trees, most likely used for food , trade and 'spirits' In fact one of Gibson's son's, Zachariah, died an awful death at the age of 17 when his 'bowels locked up" after drinking bad cider. Much more information about the Hicks and the Linkes families can be found on line. Their lives are now intertwined with ours as we go through our days walking in their footsteps and hearing the trees sing their memory.

Dudley's parents Bobby and Shirley Carter bought this broken down tobacco farm in 1983. We thought they were CRAZY !! But they had a vision, a simpler life where they could garden and raise cows, and give their Grandchildren a sence of how the two of them had grown up. The kids all have wonderful memories of the rope swing, picking fruit and vegetables, fishing and eating the 18" long catfish that PAPA kept in the ponds.

So it is our turn. Dudley and I had a vision too. Not the same as his parent's did in 1983, but one of our own. So read with me each week and I'll let you know how we are doing. I look forward to your comments and suggestions, but don't tease me too much about my sentence structure and spelling okay? Love, Sandi