Humble Beginnings

The following year, we dropped the boys at camp and drove around since we still needed to get a campsite. We didn't have GPS, so we'd turn down random roads and find ourselves driving past the old farmhouse again.

This time we stopped. 

Janette greeted us by saying the property was her parent's farm. The property had been Don and Jeannie Culver's dream, and she told us stories about how they had built it. She hadn't sold the farm yet because she hadn't found buyers she felt would love it as much as they had, but instantly felt like we belonged there. Even though we had no idea how we would come up with the money for a down payment, we felt we belonged there too.

The money found us in the form of an unexpected check from a life policy, almost the exact amount needed to buy the farm. 

We learned that Janette's cousin, Jeremy Culver, is a screenwriter and producer. He has a Lifetime movie he wrote with his sister Morgen called An Evergreen Christmas. It starred his fiance - now his wife - Charlene Chlossey, and the late Naomi Judd. 

A credit at the end of An Evergreen Christmas says, "For Mr. Don Culver, our very own Christmas tree farmer." Janette's cousins would visit the farm when they were young, and Jeremy has said he loosely wrote the movie about the property. The kids even had a "secret field" referenced in the film.

We also learned that when Janette's sister, Juanita, had been murdered by her husband at Pictured Rocks, Don had planted grapes in her honor. He died before he saw them come to fruition, but they were in full bloom that first summer we lived on the farm. We made wine and named it Juanita's Wine. I ordered wine bottle labels with her photo on them and planted a flower garden in her honor. When Janette visits, she says her parents would be happy we're here, and when the butterflies follow me around the farm, I can almost feel their presence.