WHERE WE LIVE.
According to our mailing address, we live in Gamaliel, Kentucky - pronounced by the locals as "GUH-MAY-YUH." But we are not technically within the city limits - we are on the far outskirts of town, in a little community known as Bugtussle. There are several of these old, not-on-the-map communities around, places like Frog Pond or Pumpkin Town.And I love them. I love the bizarre names, the stomach-turning windy roads, the little roadside barbeque stands. I love the old couples in rocking chairs on front porches, the wealth of little churches and crumbling cemeteries, the chickens scratching along the side of the roads. When we are driving back home from "the big city," you can feel the shift as you enter into this remote area. There comes a moment, the farther out of town you get, where every passing driver will wave - with the lifting of a finger or tilt of the hand. It is a sort of solidarity - a knowing nod that connects you with all others who would dare be this far out of civilization. Sometimes we forget, and try to wave as we drive though Gallatin, or Bowling Green, or Nashville, but the connection is gone. And this, more than anything, is what I love the most about where we live. The little wave, the acceptance, the sign that we are on our way home.- Hannah.
A REAL ADDRESS!
I just got a phone call from Monroe County Mapping telling us that we now have an official address! At first it didn't seem like a big deal, but as I started saying the number over and over in my head, trying to lock it into memory, I realized that that is home. I can think of at least 9 different addresses I have had in the past...three of those just within this last year! That is a lot of addresses to remember. But this new number- it is our address - not my parents address, not an apartment or a rented piece of land - it is forever. We are so happy to have a real home for Rough Draft Farmstead - 992 Rack Creek Road, Gamaliel, KY, 42140. But don't rush out and send us any mail just yet....we have to build ourselves a mailbox first!- Hannah