Well it's finally happened! "What?" you may ask. Freedom, Tennessee!! I am beyond excited about this adventure and it finally came about. But before I get into the details of our first days let me explain how we got here.
About 5 years ago I was sitting with a group of close friends and, like the good homeschoolers that we were, began discussing our society as a whole. We felt like the government was getting too big for its britches and needed a reboot. Adelynn, my good friend, wanted a simpler society that was based on agrarian practice. Ward, the political science major, wanted to create a form of government and run it as president. And I wanted a combination of the two; also someplace where I'd be able to create and sell my wares. We decided that the best way to accomplish all of this would be to buy some land and start our own country.
And thus the idea of freedom tn was born! (Yeah, I know, pretty crazy) But that's all it was for the first year that we talked about it. Just an idea. Because we were all still in school, we didn't have the funds to just pack up and leave home to start an entire miniature society. I mean get real! And it seemed more like a fairytale then anything else to us. An escape from our world. It wasn't until the second year that we started to actually plan out the logistics of the situation at hand. The more we planned the bigger and closer our dream became!
At the two year anniversary of the birth of our idea we decided to make our dream a reality. But there was a lot of planning, learning, and saving to do over the next few years. We didn't really know how big we had dreamed or how large the expenses would be. Ward and I prepared a document outlining the rules that would need to be followed in Freedom: a constitution of sorts. We sent Adelynn to research about our potential livestock. The farming part was easier because we all had been raised with gardens.
We spent the next three years planning and preparing to embark on this journey together. Within that time we procured 500 acres of land, a tractor, gardening equipment, seeds, fencing for animals, lodging for ourselves, and an unbelievable amount of know-how. We convinced our friends Wesley and Laura, Rebecca and Thomas, and Adelynn's brothers Will and Lance to join us. Adelynn also married Jesse during that time.
The last thing we had to do to prepare was pack up our belongings, say goodbye to friends and family that weren't going with us, and head out. We set our starting date for July 4th. The same day that the U.S. declared independence from Britain. (We thought that would be fitting) We spent the Saturday and Sunday before unpacking and worshipping God for our "new country". We had a celebration on the 4th and then after that our real work began.
Our meager group of 10 homesteaders started out bright and early getting our crops into the ground. Because we were starting later in the growing season we planted the fall seeds and late summer starts. We worked long and hard our first week. We knew that people were watching us from the outside just knowing that our little society could crumble at any time. But we believed in a better life and we desperately wanted to succeed.
And now we are all caught up to now. It's been a wild and exciting journey so far but it hasn't finished yet. I hope to use this blog to share with y'all about all the "goings on" that happen on the farm. I have high hopes for this project. Internet connection isn't the greatest out here so I won't be able to post updates everyday, but my goal is to write to y'all at least once a week. So until next time my wonderful readers!
Sincerely,
Ann
