I’m Kelly Ferry, a native New Englander, transplanted to Northeast Ohio via New York. I moved here to live with Chris—the man with the great thumbs and the business he owns with his brothers—after our daughter was born. My teenage son from my first marriage lives with us as well, and we are forever grateful for the sacrifice he and his father have made so we can be together.
For the fifteen years previous to the move, I lived in various areas of New York (Brooklyn and then upstate in the Hudson Valley) and commuted to various graphic design jobs in NYC at big, glossy magazines and then finally one less glossy weekly news magazine. I don’t miss that life. I do, however miss having access to a lot of the things that made that fast-paced life worth living. Food. Live music. People. Food. Food. Oh, and did I mention food?
For the first three years here, we lived on four acres in the country. We homeschooled, ran a small market garden and tried our hand at homesteading. Sort of. We unfortunately spent most of our time driving into the nearest big town. So in the summer of 2006 we moved there, into a beautiful little farmhouse on an acre. We’re right in the heart of town, within walking distance of wonderful things like a library, a grocery store, a used record (CD) shop, an old movie theater that’s now a stage and hosts many a live music show worth seeing, a natural foods store, the music store where Chris and Tyler take music lessons and best of all as far as I’m concerned—the farmers’ market and the homemade ice cream stand—and we are loving it.
I quit my full-time job as a copywriter to pursue the freelance life and have more time for some of the other things I love to do like gardening, canning, freezing, cooking, writing, writing and writing. We have less money while I build up my base, but it’s worth it because I no longer have to force myself out of bed in the mornings with a churning pit of dread in my belly. I have cool clients and get to work with people all over the country and still manage to keep up on the laundry.
I dream of one day living in the mountains of Vermont, being part of the growing local food entrepreneur movement there, and having my family a little bit closer. But for now we’re here and it feels so good to be making the most of it in every way.