Welcome to Copeland Cedars!

Wow, If you’d’ve told me I’d be the owner of a 5-acre river front farm, in my hometown, complete with +140-year-old farmhouse, I wouldn’t have thought this was possible.

Yet, HERE WE ARE! just a few hours after closing, looking back on the pain & stress of closing and dreaming about everything I want to do! Having 2 ginormous cedar trees on the property led us to the naming, Copeland Cedars.

I grew up here, my grandparents moved into this house the year I was born (note my grandfather lived on this street his whole life). I played in the yard, picked apples, berries and walnuts and enjoyed the river. When my grandfather passed last year, I was proud to jump in and keep the house for us and dream of making it something greater.

Yes, this sounds super random and even "bandwagon”-y almost, but I don’t care. I work in tech by day and am a travel blogger but even my love of travel started here, with my grandmother sharing international foods with me in this kitchen. I’ve always had a passion for self-sufficiency (education), agriculture (food) and wildlife (animals), and I am extremely excited to continue that here!

House Renovations

Now the hard (fun?) part, updating this +110-year-old farmhouse on a flood plane to this century… there is sooo much work to be done and I’ll be sharing alll of the details (my planning steps, hurdles and cost) with you in this newsletter.

From the normal stuff like updating the bathroom and kitchen, to the wonderful rural specific challenges this gift has brought us like:

• Figuring out internet options, with only an original Bell Atlantic phone line, in a valley

• Navigating heating oil fueled appliances and insulating the house to eliminate the $600+ electric heating bill

• Sorting out 3 water wells, that aren’t listed in the state records

• Where in the world are the utilities underground, if we even have them

• More odd farm things you couldn’t possibly even think of

and of course, the beautiful stuff like (hopefully) restoring the 3 stone fireplaces and designing our river front outdoor area (outdoor movie action and river dock anyone?).

We’ll be kicking off all of this, this month! I’ll be sharing all of this in this newsletter! I hope you’ll join us in our ceremonial 1970’s wood paneling bon fire (sans asbestos).

My Farm Plan

Our lot is long and thin, and very close to many outdoor activities like fishing, canoeing, hiking and the national bike trail that will soon go from Washington, DC to Seattle, Washington, so I plan to break a chunk off for commercial use for a Farm/Trail Stand. Where you can get a quick lunch, some essentials, enjoy a nice bathroom and relax by the river.

My site plan also includes a 10-tree orchard, pasture for a few cows, horses and sheep (for wool production) and movable chicken coop!

We have many local farmers (generations of which our families have gone to school together) in the area specializing in dairy and vegetables (which I’m so excited to highlight on the farm) so I plan to farm wool, flowers, tea and plants for natural dyes and essential oils for farm crafts! (yes, there will be sourdough).

I also plan to build out a multi-use space for events and hold farm science workshops!

Want to learn how to make cheese or butter? or maple syrup? or even how to process wool? maybe how to make chocolate and coffee? learn how to make essential oils or natural dyes? or even just come for a farm tour and look at farm stuff under a microscope and learn about it? or just watch migrating birds on the river? or how I navigate farm business stuff & grants?

#farmscienceworkshops - all still aligning with my love of making education (adding agriculture to my work in travel skills) more accessible for others!

My goal for the space is to celebrate the diversity in agricultural science and local wildlife while contributing to education of local wildlife and even agricultural too!

So, If you want to come along with us on this journey, Sign Up for this Email Newsletter! (top /bottom of this page) Where I’ll be sharing all the deets on our renovation progress/upgrades, farming in PA, farm colabs! and eventually farm activities and products too!

Thanks for Joining Us,

Lydia - Owner of Copeland Cedars Farm

Instagram: Copeland Cedars Farm