A Trip to Casey County

Note: None of the photos were taken by me - they are from the Internet - I forgot to take my camera with me on my trip to Casey County - 8-(

On Saturday, I drove SW of Lexington to Casey County, where I will be moving at the end of September. I met a great Mennonite couple, Mr and Mrs W, who have a small home or cabin that they may rent to me - if my references check out! LOL

Some of these photos are ones of Amish and some are Mennonite, I know that there is a difference between the two, but I wanted to share some of what I found on the Internet.

The cabin is small, just 16 x 20 with a half loft for sleeping. There is a porch on the main level, and also one on the loft level, which has a porch swing. The area is hilly, and down from one of the hills comes the spring that furnishes the cabin with water. The cabin also has a dumbwaiter where I can put items that need to keep cool, and it is lowered to an area that is in the sub-basement, or below the basement, into a spot that has a spring running in it. The full basement is poured concrete for plenty of storage area, and a lot of shelves for keeping canned goods. The cabin is built on a hill, so the basement is a walk-in.

There is a kitchen area with a deep sink, counter space, and cupboards that run high up towards the ceiling for plenty of storage space. There is a small vanity next to the kitchen counter to wash hands and face. The source of heat and of cooking is like this Pioneer Maid wood cookstove.

Up the hill behind the cabin is an outhouse and a woodshed. There is a large boiler tub where a fire can be started under it to heat for a bath in the warmer weather. I haven't figured out how I am going to do laundry yet, but could conceivably get a gas powered wringer washer, and put that in the woodshed. There is one of those umbrella-type clothes lines so that soon the back of the cabin will take on this look.

For the time-being, when I first move in, I will be doing laundry at a friend's home and bringing it out to the cabin to hang and dry. There is a laundry line in the cabin on pullies that is located in the loft for drying clothes during cold weather. One thing that concerns me is that the lines from the spring to the cabin may freeze in the winter, at which time I'll need to haul water from my friend's home.

I was glad I just bought Ruby, my truck, last Monday because I couldn't have gotten to the cabin without her on the one lane gravel roads. On the way back from the cabin, we drove on a road that went thru a creek, and then up a steep hill. My Toyota Echo would've never made it.

It's going to be an adventure. And I'm not sure how much blogging I will be able to do except maybe once a week when I go to the public library in town to use my laptop. I'm not even sure I can get cell phone recpetion out at the cabin. My current carrier Sprint doesn't have any reception in that area, so I will have to find one that will. I was hoping to get a BlackBerry and keep up with email that way, but time will tell.

I'll keep you all posted on what transpires with this move. My first concern after moving will be to get a good supply of wood for cooking and heating before the weather turns too cold, and the prices go up. I imagine I'm gonna be eating a lot of store-bought canned food for a while until I get my feet under me and figure out how to cook from scratch on the Pioneer Maid. I really want to be able to do some boiling water bath canning and pressure canning to stock up for the winter, but I'll just have to see what time allows. I could easily see myself getting snowed in if we have a bad winter. Oh, and there is a large pond on the property, so like FarmerPam at Life on a Southern Farm, I may be taking my Ivory soap and take a dip in the pond to bathe while the weather is still nice.

Wish me luck, Ya'll. Take care, from soon to be Liberty KY in Casey County.