Our names are Elizabeth and Stephen Faires. We're married, have 6 children, an extra adopted teenager and 7 grandchildren. This is a second marriage for both of us and as such we have children of varying ages from 14-35, with 2 children married and raising their own families and the rest split between home, college and independence.
We are blessed to have a strong and loving family. We deeply love each other and are committed to having a happy married life. While life has dealt us some challenges over the years we've used the experiences to grow closer together and to reaffirm all the reasons we have for wanting to be together forever. Many people face the same trials and tests and don't do as well as we do, so we're very grateful to have the unfailing love and support that comes from sharing a life together.
Does that sound a bit mushy and idealistic? Well, perhaps it is. But it's the truth.
Elizabeth is 42. She was raised in Germany, England and then moved to Canada in 1988. Her parents are English and if you meet her in person you'll notice a slight accent, even after 20 years. She's lived in the city, on farms, and is now living in a tiny little motorhome awaiting a move from Vancouver Island to the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia. She likes some of the dying arts such as bread making, spinning, and building things with her own 2 hands. She's thrifty and has a great interest in self-sufficiency and reviving ways of doing things to create a more balanced and sustainable future for following generations of her family. Learning forgotten skills and trying new things all contribute to her ability to adapt to new situations with, if not ease, at least a little confidence. One of her best traits is her sense of humour which helps her see the lighter side even when things are going wrong. She is active in the LDS church and is currently a Sunday School Teacher.
Steph is very active and you'd never guess in his 60's. He's pretty quiet unless you get him started on things like Mac computers, Linux, Peak Oil or one of the other things he's passionate about. He works by day repairing restaurant equipment and appliances in the city and around Nova Scotia. In the evenings he can be found fixing or building things, chasing wayward animals, working on his computer or spending time with his family. He is active in the LDS church where he is a leader in our local congregation.
We have a dream to start our own farm. And we've already done it before! We arranged a long term rental of a house, barns and some land. In exchange we paid rent and renovated the house from the sorry state of having rotten floors and drywall to being habitable. The fields were fertilized and fenced and the barns patched and cleaned. For 2 years we worked every day to make the place a little better. We raised pigs, sheep, cows, goats and all manner of poultry. Then the owner decided to sell and once new owners were in place we were told we had to move. Which we did. Qualicum when one is renting. So we placed a wanted ad for a place to park out motorhome (1972 15 foot Class C) that we bought for $1400 and we rented storage lockers for our stuff. Prior to moving we sold and gave away lots of our stuff but still have 2 10x10 storage lockers. Time to give purchased a trailer from our neighbours for $150 that was in very bad condition, covered in tar and green mould. But lots of cleaning and a new roof later finds it now home to 4 children with 2 bunks at either end. It's ugly but functional and has hot running water which is more that we have in the motorhome
Finding that land here is too expensive to buy and rents are also unafordable for many people, we decided to look elsewhere. New Brunswick was a thought for a while but now we are certain that we're supposed to be in Nova Scotia. So off we go! We plan on renting for a little while and then once we are established we shall buy a small farm of our very own. It's going to be something that we can pass down to our children and somewhere to make memories for the whole family.
In order to start our new life and to gain some more material for my new book we are driving 7100 km with a dog, 4 kids, 2 cats and a goat, blogging about and sharing our experiences and the excitement of starting a new life.
Now we are settled in Nova Scotia near Greenwood. We've got most of the things settled down into the normal rhythm of life in a family. The farm is slowly growing and
