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First Family Visit to the Farm

Family visiting The Newton’s Farm for Father’s Day weekend

Our Chicagoland family came to visit us last month at the farm for Father’s Day weekend. We packed a whole lot of memories into just a couple of days.

We also experienced our first tornado here in Shelburn, Indiana. Yes, really.

It was my second tornado ever, and let’s just say I would be perfectly fine if those were my only tornado experiences. If you follow my personal Facebook, you may have already seen some of the posts and videos that Kevin tagged me in. He was, of course, documenting the whole thing…during the storm! More on that in a minute.

A Beautiful Family Day on the Farm

On Saturday, June 20th, we had a blast with family here at The Newton’s Farm. Our kids, grandkids, our great-granddaughter, and my mom all came out to spend the day with us.

The weather was beautiful, and it was one of those days that felt full in the very best way.

There was kite flying, swimming in the pool, walks around the property, a house walk through, and even a truck tour around the farm. We had good food, lots of laughs, and enjoyed our time together although short.

It felt so good to finally have some of our Chicagoland family here, seeing the place we’ve been dreaming and talking about, working on and slowly making our own. I have not posted a ton about our new farmhouse yet because we really wanted our family to see it first. So glad they got to experience a new chapter of our life.

Of course, we missed Tiana, Isabella and Emily, Lily, and their significant others. It never feels quite complete when some of your people are missing, but we were so thankful for the time we did get with everyone who could make it.

Father’s Day Breakfast Before the Storm

On Sunday morning, our family came back to the farm for breakfast before heading back home after a super fun Father’s Day weekend. At that point, we had no idea what the evening would bring.

Everyone headed home, and later that day the weather started changing. Before long, we found ourselves dealing with an EF1 tornado that went right past our front door. We have also since learned that it also went through the back of our property. Still unbelievable.

Our First Tornado at the Farm

It was scary, but we made it through safely, and that is what matters most.

I put Wilbur, our cat in his crate and Kevin helped get us down into the cellar. He and Bam Bam, our Blue & Gold Macaw, stayed upstairs. I was not exactly thrilled about that decision.

If things had gotten worse, Kevin said he and Bam Bam were going to head into the bathroom, but still. You know he thought it would be important to get it all on video. Ha! Note: please don’t be like him!

Note: One of the very first things we did when we bought the house last year and before we moved in was have the cellar and crawl space encapsulated. You can learn more about what that is here (from the company who did ours). THAT was a major but worthwhile investment.

A view from the cellar after EF1 tornado in Shelburn Indiana

We had a few trees and limbs come down. A big tree limb fell and broke a section of our fence, a piece of siding came off the front of the house, and our front porch was a total mess. There was a lot of wind and rain and I had that uneasy feeling where you know you should be taking things seriously.

I am thankful he was watching the weather, thankful we had a cellar, thankful the animals were okay, and thankful the damage was not worse. It was one of those experiences that reminds you very quickly how little control we really have when Mother Nature decides to show up.

Power Out, Generators On

Storm damage after an EF1 tornado in Shelburn Indiana

We ended up losing power for about 26 hours.

Thankfully, we had an portable indoor generator and one outside, and those got us through. I don’t think I have ever appreciated backup power quite so much. We are still in talks about purchasing a whole house generator by Generac but they are SO pricey. Since we don’t have natural gas, I can only imagine how much propane that would use up. It’s not cheap!

Farm life has already taught us a lot, and this was definitely one of those “welcome to the country” moments. Beautiful views, quiet mornings and evenings, wide open space… and apparently the occasional tornado scare thrown in for good measure. Note: Kev is STILL cutting down and cleaning up broken trees, limbs, etc. It will take some time.

Grateful for the Good Stuff

Even with the scary ending to the weekend, I keep thinking about how grateful I am.

Granddaughter peering out the door at the farm.

Grateful our family got to visit.
Grateful we had such a beautiful day together.
Grateful everyone made it home safely.
Grateful the tornado damage was manageable.
Grateful for Kevin, even if he does think every major weather event needs to be captured on video.
Grateful for this farm and this new chapter.

It was a Father’s Day weekend we won’t forget. We are still talking about how fun it was!

We have been sharing little bits of the farmhouse and farm life on social media, so be sure to connect with us there if you want to follow along as we settle in, do more remodeling, explore, and figure it all out.

Follow along @hergrandlife on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok etc.

The Newton’s Farm has already given us family memories, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, plenty of projects, and now a dramatic weather story. Hopefully the next update is a little calmer.

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