What a grand Grand Opening! We sold out all the tickets we had and it turned into an absolutely perfect sunny day. My sisters saved the day with helping out with bb'qing and serving food and we managed to feed 100 people without skipping a beat. I think it came together just beautifully. I think my favourite part was the last minute "merch" that came in. We waaaaay overspent to have that happen, but we thought it was worth it. Every member of the family got a hoodie and it looked awesome. I loved seeing every kid from the youngest to the oldest walking around with their Urban Tractor Farm hoodie. Having everyone involved and having their friends involved was amazing. It was a blessed time.
You would think we'd sit back and go, "Ahhhhhh, finally a break!" But, no. We're already scheming. We have to! The grand opening was great, but it wasn't free. We had to pay for the musician and all the food and even though people bought wine, it wasn't enough to feed the family for very long. So, after much thought and much input from multiple sources of people, we decided to move forward into our newest venture - starting up an AirBnB on site. Or two.
Yesterday, we made the first investment and bought an Airstream trailer. These are super cool vintage trailers from the 60s that are the hottest thing right now Everyone is buying them and redoing them in super cool modern styles. They also double as tiny homes and resell at incredible prices. We are also doing this as a way to host my daughter and her husband when they come over, or as a way to possibly host grandparents one day or even just extra guests who need a place to stay sometimes. Either way, if we get it done in time, we should be up and running by spring if all goes as planned. Depending on how fast it goes, we could ultimately have two or three if we do well with our first trailer, which is arriving ON FRIDAY! It's already gutted, so that'll save us some time, but there's still lots of hard work ahead.
We got a really good deal on this trailer and we can't wait to get started. We're going to document the process so that we can get the hype working for us. The hope is that it'll be fully booked all spring and summer. So fun! It'll feel like we're making money in our sleep, literally, while people stay on the property. We just have to keep at it. There's no slowing down. The difference before this was that we were doing all this scheming but somehow still had to manage meetings, phone calls, on-site work, etc. Now, we just work for us, so it's still a lot of work, but there's this underlying feeling of freedom. So hard to explain, but we just love it.
It's forcing our hand again. We have a shed full of stuff we want to get rid of so that we have a place to store the trailer. Now, ugh, we have to clean out the shed. This is no garden shed for lawn mowers. This is a HUGE building full of things we've stored for years including vans, cars, riding mowers, etc. Most of that is gone now, but we still have lots of stuff in it. So here we go again on the ultimate clean up. I really think our life is reality tv worthy sometimes. It's hard to keep up with all that's going on. People just shake their heads, but they don't know what it's like to feed a large family and keep a farm running.
We had quite a few people from the Toronto area recently at the winery. They came from the exact area we used to live when we were first married in a condo in downtown Mississauga. They wondered how in the world we went from condo living to a 47 acre farm. So I told them our story in a few brief minutes. In their minds, we were living the dream. I have to always let that sink in because I look around always see what "isn't done" instead of what "is done". This is what we've had to do - we've had to prioritize things that make us an income. This has put all renovations on the house indoors on hold. That remains to be a challenge for me. But I get it. So when I hear we're living the dream, in a funny way that helps me. All that to say, hopefully things like the trailer will bring the necessary income to not only feed the family, but to start up the renos again that have been on hold for what seems like years!
In great news - our son finally got a job at the eye doctor's clinic. This is a dream job as he's working with a world class surgeon, assessing his patients and being alongside him in his work. I'm so happy for him. I can't wait to hear the back story of how they decided to hire him. I'm sure it's going to be great. Of all the jobs he applied to, this one was the one we all hoped for, so I'm praising God.
We also had a week off school this past week. I needed that so badly to help set up for the Grand Opening, but also just to clean up the house that has been neglected since the farming season started. I went through all the bedrooms yesterday and we finally got on top of those. The main floor has been mostly cleaned up. Laundry has been behind, so not doing so great on that, but hopefully getting on top of that, too. Today is my final day for all that. I could have used two weeks off, but oh well, back to the grind now....
Wow-amazing-something new every day 👍❤️🙏🏻
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