Carolyn Binder

Cowlick Cottage Farm

By Carolyn Binder

Cowlick Cottage Farm is the name we gave to our country homestead near Tallahassee, Florida. We purchased the property, a 100-year old bungalow on a couple of acres, about five years ago to support our desire to live a more rural, peaceful lifestyle. That is my husband’s way of explaining it. In reality, it was a mid-life epiphany (an optimist’s mid-life crisis) that caused this sea change in our lives. I was enchanted by the old cottage encircled by massive and spiritual live oaks, and by a newborn calf that scampered across the pecan grove that borders the property, kicking up her heels in joy. I knew that if I could see those oaks and the happy cows every day, I would be a better person. Within a month, we had traded in our stock options, quit our high tech jobs, put our city house up for sale and moved to Cowlick Cottage. My husband wasn’t quite sure what hit him, but I knew we were home.