A little bit about us



      Our relationship began one night in a restaurant with a group of friends back in 2001.  The way I remember it, the conversation turned to plants and we sort of tuned out the rest of our party and focused on each other for the remainder of the evening.  The rest, as they say, is history. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      Gardening and a love of Nature brought us together and helped our relationship to grow.  We moved into a 400 square foot apartment with no yard and began to scheme that one day we would have our own garden.  Nikki worked as a landscaper, and I a carpenter as we inched toward our dream.  In the Summer of 2008 we married in a wonderful sunrise ceremony on the shores of Lake Michigan.

 

 

    

 

  

      For the next 18 Months we conducted an exhausting house search that found us homeless and living separate, with friends and relatives for a while.  We finally found the right combination of cheap with a big yard and a habitable dwelling, and closed the deal in the Winter of 2009.

 



 

     Our house was built in 1852, and to be honest, it really wasn't habitable when we bought it.  It had been foreclosed and left to the elements with a leaking roof and broken windows.  Now, I am pretty handy, but I really don't see the light at the end of this project.  So far we have repaired the windows, replaced the roof, the furnace, most of the electrical and all of the plumbing.  Not to mention all the drywall and painting (oh the endless painting).  If the to do list has an end, I'm not seeing it.  It's worth it though.  It came with an acre of land, and a nice garage with an attached pole barn.

 

 



 

     These days Nikki is working as a vet tech, and I do maintenance for a retail center.  We have gotten to a place where the house is comfortable enough for now, so we have been laying off the big remodeling projects and spending more time in the yard.  It is so exciting to finally put into practice some of the things we have studied and discussed for so long.  We don't have a lot of money.  We don't wear fancy clothes or drive fancy cars.  We work hard, and often go without.  But I have a beautiful wife and a loving family.  As we develop the land and the yard begins to look less like lawn and more like Eden; I realize how truly wealthy I am.