Can you picture it?

Squeeze and I have a dream of living more closely with the land: in a rural community. Not suburban. Not even semi-rural. RURAL. Presently, we live in Minneapolis (a mid-sized city) - in a sweet little 1920's bungalow on small lot. As in: if we wanted a garden, we'd have to nix the yard. We live 4 blocks off the freeway, on a fairly busy street, on a busline, and right under a flight path near the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. It can be rather loud.

We need a place that isn't out-of-this-world expensive and near a large enough town for Squeeze to find a job. Other than this, our main requirement is to be near some kind of family. I absolutely cannot live stranded without any family. Therefore, we have been looking around the rolling prairies in eastern South Dakota and western Minnesota and...this weekend...I think we may have found The One.

Imagine this:

• An old, interesting home that has been updated and impeccably cared for
• An apple tree
• A root cellar [!!!]
• Wood heat
• 2,000+ square feet
• 1 sun room
• 4 bedrooms (with curved ceilings)
• 2 dairy barns
• 1 hog barn
• 1 chicken coop
• 2 silos
• HUGE gardens (already in use)
• 15 acres
• Near a pretty valley town
• Near a lake
• Near a park
• Near a Natural Health store (in the middle of nowhere!!)
• Within a half-hour of my in-laws