We purchased Two Barn Farm in January of 2007. It is about 3 acres just off the Raccoon River Valley Trail south of Cooper, Iowa.

Why, well here’s the story….

We saw several small towns that we had lived in give in to the big box corporate stores, which always hollow out the downtowns and family businesses. Yes, we saw this. We did not see much hope for Colorado.

Then Reagan’s dad was getting ready for a new hip. We all are avid cyclists, and he wanted an epic events before the replacement. He asked us if he did RAGBRAI, would we do it too. The whole family signed on instantly. We had always heard of RAGBRAI, never had planned on it.

So we went on RAGBRAI and saw plently of small towns, that were still independent without the corporate big boxes. Cute downtowns were everywhere. Iowa was suddenly on the list.

Then the strangest thing happened. We went out for dinner after the drive home from RAGBRAI. The regular, friendly waitress at our favorite watering hole heard about our adventures suggested we check out her uncles website, since we were into RAGBRAI, cycling, and Iowa. Her uncle was Chuck Offenburger.

A couple of weeks later, we were back in Colorado. Jan (Reagan’s mom) finally visted that site, and had to show Reagan a picture of a neat barn that was featured. There was an ad from a local real estate company that featured for 2 barns on three acres, on the side of a bike path. We sent the in-laws back into Iowa to look at this. Apparently, the barns were incredible and in good shape. The nearby town of Jefferson “was like Mayberry”

We placed an offer over the phone.

We already tele-commuted, and wanted more land. We had been gardening for several years, and moving more organic each year. Here was our clean slate. We considered several alternative homes, including domes and round houses. Then we finally visited the property ourselves. It was clear, we had to restore the corn crib, and turn it into the house.

Goals moving forward:

  • Go Organic
  • Add a degree of self-sufficiency; have large gardens, chickens, etc
  • Lower our living costs, try to pay cash for our new home
  • Enjoy ourselves
  • Use that bike trail.
  • Create a blog, so we don’t have to keep repeating the story or progress updates.

Chuck Offenburger also gave us some coverage, here is the story on his site:http://www.offenburger.com/lspaper.asp?link=20070319

Visit our gallery to see pictures of the farm!