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Introducing The Farm Chronicles by Donna Rieder The Adventures and Misadventures of a City Girl Gone Country By Donna Rieder I'm happy to announce that CM is letting me share excerpts and stories from my book! The Farm Chronicles was birthed when I moved into a rotting, abandoned Georgia farmhouse in 1989. It had been uninhabited for about 30 years, after the owners decided to move into town. I had been recently divorced and was renting a room while I looked for a place to move, and I had been boarding my horse at my friend Robin's place but really wanted a place in the country where I could have my horse at home. I was working part-time laminating countertops at a cabinet shop and doing carpentry and handyman jobs on the side, when I got asked to give a bid on finishing a basement. In 1989, I only had a pager, and communications were made by using payphones, and I got lost on the way trying to find the jobsite, but rather than drive back and call for directions, I just kept driving around. I turned around and backtracked a couple times, and a few times I passed a rundown place with a barn roof peeking out of the overgrowth. I finally found the jobsite, and after taking some measurements, I told the people I'd get back to them with an estimate. I kept thinking about that old barn, and something told me to just go check it out. I drove past a rusty gate dangling from its post, up to the barn. At that point, I could see that the driveway made a circle, and as I pulled around, I saw the house. The back door was standing wide open, as if inviting me in, so I got out of my old Ford F-150, walked up onto the porch, and looked inside what once was a kitchen. The roof had rotted and fallen in, and over the years, the rain had caused both it and the floor to rot, and I could see blue skies above and dirt below. Being a carpenter by trade, I saw that the framing was full-dimension oak lumber, so I knew the house had good bones. I carefully walked from joist to joist from the kitchen into the dining room. The windows were busted out, there were holes in the sheetrock and an old mattress on the floor that was covered in mouse poop, but the floor was intact. I walked through the house and assessed the damage. I was desperate to have my own home, and I saw potential, so I drove into town, went to the courthouse, and was able to find out who owned the property; it just happened to be the County Magistrate Judge, so I went to his office and knocked on the door jam, and was invited in. I introduced myself and confessed to trespassing, and then my story spilled from my lips like water from a spring. I told him that I was renting a room with my five cats and everything I owned, and I desperately need a place to live, and that I could fix the house up if he'd just give me a chance. He looked at me like I was a crazy woman, so I explained that I'd worked in residential construction all my life, and that I could put a roof on that house and fix it up and I really wanted to have my horse in my yard and please please please rent me your house! Shaking his head, he wrote a number on a sticky note and said that he'd talk to his wife, and for me to call him tomorrow. I barely slept that night, thinking about that house, what needed to be done, and how cute it could be fixed up. I called the judge the next morning, and he and his wife met me at the farm that afternoon. I brought pictures of some of the work I'd done, and convinced them that I could, indeed, breathe life back into that old house if they'd just give me a chance. When it was all said and done, I was offered five years rent-free in exchange for fixing up the house. They wished me luck and drove off, and I turned to look at the house with tears in my eyes. I felt relieved, excited, and a bit overwhelmed, but I knew I was home. More to come... Donna Rieder's Clifty Creek Farm is located at 3190 White Oak Church Rd, Russell Springs, KY. You can reach Donna by email at cliftycreekkikos@aol.com, or on the Clifty Creek Farm Facebook page. This story was posted on 2026-02-28 10:34:24
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