Our Farm

The main farmhouse
The main farmhouse

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We live in a four-walled timber-frame farmhouse near Frankfurt, Germany. The house was built in 1834 and we have the tallest barn in town. When we bought the house it was a 3 bedroom, 1 bath. It’s now a 2/2  with a 1/1 guest house…and we hope to make it a 4/4 within the next few years by building out the attic.

The farm is built in a U formation with a gate across the front serving as the fourth wall. The barn and several other building complete the U and behind the barn we have a 1,000 sq. foot garden. We’d like to be  self-sufficient here and eventually get off the grid…but we’ve got plenty of other things to complete before we worry with that.

Recent Posts about out home renovation projects

The renovated guest bath downstairs

The renovated guest bath downstairs

Projects we’re working on

Projects we’ve finished

  • Pingback: No Ordinary Homestead » Before and After: The Old Kitchen Becomes an Office

  • amanda

    i like your blog!!! well done. good luck with all those projects. i too want to get into sustainability. we live in the outer banks, north carolina.
    have a great day!!
    amanda

    • Tiffany

      Thanks for dropping by, Amanda! Sometimes it seems like our to do list has a to do list of its own…but we hope to get our act together in 2010 and really push through with a few important projects and start making our farm easier to take care of. There are so many items that require so much maintenance and attention…and we just don’t have that sort of time. All the best in your sustainability efforts! Remember, you can start nearly anywhere — even if it’s just making your own cleaning solutions and baking your own bread.

  • http://www.gettingthere.typepad.com Laura @ Getting There

    I smiled so hard when I clicked on the farmhouse link and saw the picture…a farmhouse in Germany is definitely nothing like what we call a “farmhouse” here in Canada–but it is beautiful! And timberframe houses are really built to last.

    • Tiffany

      I laugh to myself all the time when I think about this being a “farm”…because in Texas our farms are so very different. But this place is fairly typical for a German farm in the city. We’d love to have something with a bit more land around it…but here it’s usually either hardly any land or tons of it…and you need to have millions if you want tons of land!

  • http://www.applefarmservice.com/ Ted

    I love old farm houses! Great job on really bringing yours to life.

  • http://fraudietz.blogspot.com Frau Dietz

    Wow Tiffany, you are so very lucky, this looks fabulous and I love your plans to be eventually self-sufficient. Great work; great blog; truly great dog :)

  • Allison

    what a great house!! I love your blog! Thanks for stopping by mine :)

  • http://www.mygrandmastime.blogspot.com Jessica Fuller

    Oh your house is beautiful!! My grandmother’s family is all from Germany near the black forest. I have only visited once by dream of a day when our family may be able to take an extended vacation and really immerse ourselves in the old world ways!

  • http://www.carpediemacreage.blogspot.com Carpe Diem Acreage

    Hallo und danke fuer deinen besuch auf meinen blog! Your farmhouse is wonderful! I miss Germany – I lived by the Bodensee for a year in the mid 80s.
    Funny thing you were the second person from Germany to visit my blog today. Good luck in your ‘homesteading’ adventures!

  • Chrissy

    Love your house!!!! The outside is incredibly pretty and storybook like compared to most US homes. =)

  • http://www.bullrockbokeh.blogspot.com Alana

    Your farmhouse is beautiful!

  • http://www.quatre-saisons.com.au Maiden Farmer

    I was really suprised when I realised that the ‘gingerbread house’ is the farm….what an interesting and lovely home to live in!! I found your blog while searching for information about a german farm that one of my daughters friends has done an exchange to earlier in the year, and now her german family are coming here. I think our Australian bush with its browns and gold and olive greens will suprise them too!! Anyway I was completely distrcted with enjoying your blog and haven’t looked any further- I loved reading your thoughts and sharing your expat experiences. thank you

  • robert hillman

    we are a single parent family of three
    dad 45
    alisha 24
    matthew 16
    we want to farm we can help a older couple farm

    all we wanted to do was farm our whole life
    we wanted to do chores and care for animals and farm

    we live in ontario canada and if you know anyone that needs help farming and has a place for us to stay
    even a old run down country home
    we are looking for a farm we can live and help at
    integrity@cyg.net

  • http://kimberlys-cup.blogspot.com/ Kimberly

    What a truly lovely home! Our farmhouse sure needs a ton of work. We’ve been here one year just fixing everything as it all has been neglected so long.

  • Barb and Fred

    Tiffany, great job on this blog. I hadn’t foung it until tonight and thoroughly enjoyed the replies. Your farm house is indeed quite beautiful and with you plans to update that second story that should give you some 5000 sq.ft vey soon. Your barn area is “knock down gorgeous”, and so neat. The old sleigh is awesome……

  • Heidi Stevens

    Love your old farmhouse as you call it, it’s truly a dreamhouse, looking @ your canned potatoes, I knew those jars were german, I am a native of Kassel, Germany and have been canning for over 40 years, since it is a dying art I have given time to some church ladies to teach them. keep it up girl. Heidi

  • http://thefamilyceoblog.com Julie @ The Family CEO

    Your house is so beautiful and charming! We were in Germany three years ago, visiting my sister in a little village outside Stuttgart.

    • Tiffany

      Thanks so much! It’s a labor of love. We’re so pleased to finally be getting around to some long awaited projects. ;)