Fox Pines Homestead comes from a combination of things. We’re not exactly a farm – no livestock – but more than a house we live in.

First, our address is Pines Road – named for all the tall Red Pines that grow in the sandy soil of the area.  Cut them down and in a few years you have a whole new forest of Red Pines started up. I like watching them bend in the wind, and the red squirrels make their homes here.

The fox part comes from the pair of red fox that live either on the property or somewhere close by.  I occasionally see them pass through during the day, but more often at night they visit to find the scraps I throw out and to the compost pile.  They are not our only visitors – turkeys come for corn, and the deer are plentiful.  Raccoons also come by in the darkness.  Once in a great while a snowshoe rabbit (the first time my husband saw one he thought someone’s pet had escaped).  But it is the fox that hold our wonderment, when they bark and carry on if we are outside late, or if the dogs disrupt their visit. I purposely put up a game camera to capture their image.

And “homestead” of course, for the life of living in the country, having a garden, and where neighbors are free to drop by anytime for a cup of coffee and a snack.