By Deborah Camacho
In 2001, my husband and I, with four children ages 9, 4, 2 and 10-months-old, purchased a piece of property in Vail, south of I-10. Before JD Ranch Estates. Before Sonoita Hills and Windmill Ridge at Mountain View Ranch. Before the Rincon Valley Fire District Station 2. When it still felt like we lived ‘out in the country’.
Our parcel had no utilities to the lot line—we brought them in for our house and all subsequent homes now surrounding our parcel. With pick and shovel my husband and I cleared the desert land for what would be our home’s pad.
The first thing we built was a pole barn for shade to camp under as the owner-builders; and, secondly, we set up a 2,500-gallon water tank and pump with pressure tank system as we have no city or county water piped to our property.
We affectionately call our homestead the Cozy Acres Farm. We went on to have three more children and homeschooled our seven kids up to their high school graduation. We know most of the neighbors within a five-mile radius of us and we have, whom we would consider, the best people in Vail as our immediate neighbors on our street.
Our children have cleaned yards or scooped horse manure for many of the area neighbors and have participated with Vail rodeos, 4- H Clubs and the Vail Country Fair. They are neighborhood house and pet sitters. Our children know just about every inch of the surrounding desert as they ride the trails horseback and have occasionally chased after our escaped cows. They are called on to help catch runaway horses or look for lost dogs. All of this—along with the hardships of life—accomplished with the grace and blessing of God.
I have written a book for children about the abounding love Jesus has for them and who they were created to be in Christ. Many of the stories are about what happens on the Cozy Acres Farm. If you would like a copy for your child(ren) or grandchild(ren), or a young neighbor friend, you may contact me at cozyacresfarm9@yahoo.com or buy it from Amazon or Barnes and Noble. The book title is MEMAW’S TURQUOISE NUGGETS Helping Children of all Ages Manifest Good Fruit.
Twenty-one years later, and with the majority of our children grown and out on their own—the oldest two married, we look forward to when everyone ‘comes home’ and bring the grandchildren over. Even though the city has caught up to us, we continue hauling water and growing a garden with chickens and horses and the occasional hog. I’m asking my husband for another milk goat, here’s hoping he says ‘yes’ soon. We love our neighbors and hometown of Vail.
