She went to Penrose, Colorado, a small, unincorporated town 45 minutes south of Colorado Springs, to a five acre piece of irrigated land with her husband, two boys, six goats and two dogs.
She is me. I am her. I am The Goat Cheese Lady, beginning Chapter 2 of the life I am fortunate to be living with the family and animals I am grateful to have.
This new beginning is leading us down a road that we are confident will be the best for ourselves, our marriage, our family, our business, our finances, our stress level and our smiles. We are now the 100% complete, hands down, debt-free owners of our 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1080 square foot house, and barn complete with five acres of currently-used-as-a-hayfield land irrigated with snow melt runoff from Pikes Peak.
But the question begs to be asked:
If you were ever in our last house and enjoyed the breathtaking view, you might just enter our new house and secretly wonder…WHY on EARTH did they give up the spacious, window-laden, deck-skirted house they had to move HERE?
I hear you, and I might ask myself the same question if it weren’t for one simple fact:
1. Our mortgage payment was $2300.00 per month at our 1 1/2 acre farm and 3400 square foot house in Colorado Springs. (aka: the old house). You read that right: $2300.00. (Which, as a side note…we paid on time every month we lived there…to answer the question my son’s friend asked….”did anyone ask you to move?”….No. We made a grown-up decision to live WITHIN our means, which meant choosing to move.)
One of our goals in life is to be DEBT-FREE.
By selling our house and using the equity to BUY this house and land…without a loan…with cash…all-money-down…we are now free of personal debt. And we plan to stay that way.
Some other reasons we chose to move…We didn’t have enough space to increase our herd size to 15, which is what we want to start a cheese creamery. There wasn’t room for horses at the old place. We wanted more land.
We have lots of plans for our new farm, I’ll share them with you in the near future. We also plan on having classes again, and I’ll let you know more about that too.
Keep your eye out for future posts on: How We Moved Our Farm, Cooking With My New Pressure Cooker, Moving In, Fixing Up, Downsizing To A Small Kitchen, Converting The Hayfield To A Food Forest, Starting Up New Chickens, Starting New Ducks (a first time experience for me!), Kidding Season (coming soon!), and Introducing Our New Goats!
It’s good to be back, and I’ll look forward to seeing you or hearing from you soon!
– The Goat Cheese Lady
Hi GCL :o) I ran across your site while surfing the net about farm animals. I saw a post from Aug 2014 about you giving up several foods. It struck me as odd that you would be told to eliminate such a long list all at once. How are you to tell which “food” is causing problems if you give up so many all at once? I would like to suggest that you go on Facebook and look up “Wheat Belly” the results that people are getting by eliminating GRAINS is remarkable! And reading this site is FREE. And FREE fits right into your “downsizing” very nicely. My husband and I have been mortgage free for 30 years, I’m sure there are people who look at our 960 square foot house and think how do they live in such a small place (all the while THEY are freaking out over their mortgage payment) and I’m out riding my horse or feeding the pigs and chickens :o) You will not be sorry for paying cash for your place….. now you can truly say “this is OUR place”. Check out Wheat Belly, it could be the answer to some of your health problems. Congratulations on YOUR house. :o) Sue.
Thanks Sue! I’ll check out Wheat Belly. My doctor had me cut out all of those foods for three months while also taking a few supplements, then, one at a time I added them back. Each time I added a food back, I had to be aware of return of symptoms. If any symptoms returned or I had a two or more pound weight gain in the four day period following the introduction, I was considered still allergic to it and had to avoid it for another three months. A few of the foods, including wheat and gluten, I have to avoid for a year, then can reintroduce. I’m feeling MUCH better since starting the food and supplement regimen!!! Congratulations to you for being thirty years debt free!!! Lindsey
We made the transition from Colorado Springs to Penrose as well! We have our chicken’s and a couple dogs in what I refer to as “Dowtown Penrose.” We love it here – even if we aren’t in love with the lack of trees. Good luck and I can’t wait until you have things up and running!
Rebekah, It’ll be great to met you and your family! Lindsey
Congratulations on your new debt-free homestead! I have a friend who lived in Penrose for a few years – she had a small apple orchard and a huge garden. Both were organically tended and amazing.
Florasforum, Thanks!! We are looking forward to everything at our new place and in our new community! Lindsey
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Our loss is Penrose’s gain. I’m sure you will enjoy the new place and make it flourish and prosper. Love you, girl.
Thanks Melina! We hope you’ll come down and visit us! Lindsey
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I *love* the fact that you bought the “new” farm free & clear! Congratulations!! What a relief to not have a mortgage! Downsizing to a small kitchen makes my heart melt…that’s my passion in life…living simply and helping others do the same 😉
Thanks MollyO! I appreciate your vote of confidence!!! Lindsey
Congrats on the new and awesome debt free home! I look forward to hearing about your new flocks of foul and starting the creamers. You are truly an inspiration. 😁
Thanks Megan, that is very kind if you to say. Lindsey
Great decision ! Good luck on the new farm.. From a New York girl living in Georgia who loves reading your blog.!
Thanks AntoniaDianne! I hope you’re farming is going well in Georgia! Lindsey