03/14/2026
I do want to thank everyone that supported the T5R for the 25 years since I incorporated it in 1998 until I dissolved it December 31st 2023. 25 years to the day :) It was a pleasure to serve and provide everyone with high quality foods whether you were a customer from the first day or one of the few customers I could still serve in the last days. It is you guys that allowed me to earn a good and honest living so that I could fully retire at the ripe old age of 55.
25 years of working very often 16-20 hours per day usually 7 days per week 9-10 Months out of the year and a mere 9-10 hours per day in the off season keeping a farm going and productive does take a toll on ones body :) But I loved my work and could not imagine my career being anything else.
I sold the Chuck Wagon to a young couple wanting to get into the food truck business for cheap LOL I want to see them succeed and the old Chuck Wagon to keep chuggin along. The Little All American was purchased by a retired couple to turn into a mobile coffee shop. I sold the farm to my young neighbors there for A LOT less than I could have got for it because they respect the land and I know the farm is in good hands that will be good stewards.
In July 2024 I started thinking about selling the farm and moving to either West TN or into the MO Ozarks. I fell in love with this place in the Ozarks in particular the Cabin and the Creek that is the North Property line in front of the Cabin. What really sold it to me was the stone wall, hearth and fireplace crafted from rocks that came out of the creek and the cabin was built from native pine trees on the other side of the valley. There is around 4.5 acres of valley floor and gentle slop in the valley floor. My back yard is a Mountain if I walk to the top and a hill if I drive up on the RTV LOL It is 812 feet elevation, the other two hills that create the valley are 750 and 875 feet elevation making a nice barrier for wind and storms. Marble Hill is about 10 minutes away and Cape is about a hour drive to the East. The Castor River wraps around me to the west and south 15-30 minutes away depending on which access we go to. The St Francois Mtns and the St Francis River are 30 minutes west and NW. Clearwater Lake and the Black River are a hour away. And 90 minutes away is the Current River. We have some great neighbors on the opposite side of the valley and down the main road Matt and Cecile Straight across, Red beside them and Brian down the road. It is considerably more secluded here than it was at the Old Farm but about the same distance to Marble Hill as it was to Mcleansboro and about the same distance to Cape as it was to Marion from the old farm.
My monthly bills and cost of living is $500 per Month with a $700 Month now and then. My Property Taxes are $459 per year........ I literally saved $22,000 per year in taxes, fees, utilities and cost of living just by moving here. IL was not going to be kind to me in retirement ;)
Since Dee passed away my life had been pretty much chaos and without direction let focus. Taking care of her the last 3 years of her life had became my life and a around the clock job. I would do it all over again but it sure was not easy. Everyone knows about the advanced pancreatic cancer she was diagnosed with in November 2022, few know that in 2018 she was diagnosed with Early Onset Dementia and by 2020 had declined A LOT and required pretty much around the clock supervision. The Cancer was a double whammy. And she was fighting 2 terminal illnesses the last year of her life. It was not Covid that forced me to make the decision to shut almost everything T5R Down. Dee was very adamant that she did not want anyone to know about the dementia. Doc gave her around 4-5 more years of life before the dementia got her. After the cancer with chemo and radiation she would probably live another year and without treatment maybe 3 Months. She died 5 days short of one year from the cancer diagnosis on October 29th 2023. I fullfilled my final promise to here on May 5th 2024 and buried her ashes by her dogs that went before her and put the BIG rock on top of her that she wanted and on the day she wanted to be buried.
I made a half ass attempt to get the farm up and running again but my heart just was not in it anymore. It had been over 3 years since I had even grown a garden or sold anything from the farm. I had kept a small breeding herd of cattle and hogs and finally decided to sell them off. And the farm was just dead in my hands. And I truly had no idea what I was going to do next, no direction and no focus on anything.
When I decided to move the mission and focus became figuring out where to move to. Then going through a entire farms worth of stuff deciding what to Keep, What to sell or give away and what to put in the 30yd dumpster. Then loading every trailer with what I was keeping and moving...... LOL I still had 11 trailers and 3 Trucks at that time. I am a whole lot better now I only have 1 truck and 3 trailers :) If you have never sorted out, packed up and moved a entire farm before....... you really have not moved LOL. I had to buy the new place before I could sell the farm and get everything moved as well. I sold the Black Ram and the White Ford before the move and kept Red my 26 year old Dodge Ram and halfway through the move Red broke down for the last time. So I traded the new Camry in on a New Tundra Seemed kind of weird trading in a new car on a new truck but hey they gave me $5000 more in trade in than I paid for the Camry and I wrote a check for the remaining $36,000 for the Tundra (Yeah I am still very anti debt and credit) And yep I splurged a bit on the new Tundra, I got the trim and color I wanted, the extended toyota warranties and the bells and whistles. After the move was finished and the new barn here build and the trailers unloaded into the old barn, the cabin and the new barn I sold all of the trailers except 2 utility trailers I was keeping and the newest one I bought for the move and traded it back to the dealer for a smaller trailer and some money. A 16' cargo trailer is always handy to have and the 24' I traded down for it was just more trailer than I needed going forward.
Both Lorrie and I love the simple and modest homestead life and being as self sufficient as we can be in todays world. We have a lot of Rabbits, Chickens and Ducks. We spend a lot of time driving around exploring and finding river access points to put the kayaks and canoe in and take them out. Finding campgrounds and sight seeing Like Pink Rocks at the Castor River Shut Ins at the Amidon Conservation Area.
Our big plans are to camp and float down rivers 3-4 days per week and take care of the homestead 3-4 days per week. We really are both pretty modest lifestyle people that enjoy the not very costly things in life.
God Help me but I have the urge to be a farmers market vendor again at ONE small Market. So we decided tonight to use 2-3 acres of the valley floor for gardens and to be a produce vendor at the Marble Hill Farmers Market this year. It won't take a lot of extra work to grow enough and enough variety to be able to keep a produce table or two well stocked one day per week. I have found that I do kind of miss being a simple vendor ONLY not all of the other stuff though :)
And that pretty much sums up life now and for the foreseeable future for us.
