We are looking to move back to the Halifax region, but realistically could be anywhere in the center sections of the province.

Moving to Nova Scotia

For many years I dreamed of moving back to Nova Scotia, however, my husband always had a job here in Illinois and his mom and brother were here. When we moved here to the farm three years ago, I had pretty much settled into life in Illinois. Then another death in my family occurred. My husband’s second bout of unemployment in six years was encroaching upon a year and we threw the idea of moving back to Nova Scotia out there. To my surprise EVERYONE was on board…everyone but me. I was the least excited person in our family. ME!? My husband wondered why we had not thought of this back in 2013 when he lost his job and so did I. We got our passports, started researching moving back, farming, housing, etc. with the intention of visiting Nova Scotia in the fall of 2014.

When we visited Nova Scotia in November/December 2014 we checked out some farm properties and I worked on our children’s proof of Canadian Citizenship and getting other paper work started. Let’s just say it is not a simple or easy move! When I moved here to the United States, it was just little old me with a few pieces of luggage and boxes. Now we have a boat load of children AND stuff!

This beach is in the Pictou section in the map at the beginning of this post. And no, not all beaches in Nova Scotia are rocky!

We are in the process of selling our animals. It is rather bittersweet. We thought these were our “forever” animals. There is a lot of paper work and expense to transport animals across the border to Canada. We held out hope we might be able to take them with us, but finally decided it was just too much. We have a buyer for our cows, a farmer friend, thankfully. It is a relief to know they are going to a good home. We have a buyer for the 33 chickens we have left, they will be picked up soon. We have a buyer for our compact Kubota tractor. Our horse is returning to his owner, he was just with us on a free-lease (meaning we paid for nearly all his upkeep for the privilege of “owning” him). If we had of been moving within Illinois, his owner would have allowed us to keep him. He is nearly 31 years old and she couldn’t bear the thought of not seeing him again, plus a three day drive would have been rough on an older horse. Only the goats and sheep left to sell, plus a few odds and ends such as a goat milk stanchion, cow panels, t-posts (though we priced them in N.S. and are thinking we might take them with us!) and things like that.

It is a bit surreal and I do not think it has really sunk in yet. I have not even seen all there is to see in Chicago, let alone Illinois. You do not know how many “if onlys” we have been voicing! Guess we will still have lots to do when we come back for a visit.

Meanwhile we have sooooo much to do to get ready for a major move across country.