Forty-three years ago my husband and I began looking for a small hobby farm a short drive from the city. A love of gardening and three active boys stimulated this search. We found 70 acres with a quarter of a mile of riverfront on the Apple River in Wisconsin. It was never good farmland — too rocky with steep slopes. We put 22 acres into prairie, dredged a pond next to the river and planted 16,000 evergreens. And over 20 long years we built our cabin, called Honeywood.
Friends and family helped every step of the way. We scraped the logs and pounded every nail. We gathered every stone for the fireplace and planted fruit trees. We kept bees for their special wildflower honey.
Our progress was painfully slow but full of adventures. We were set back a few years when a large oak fell on the south deck. The project was delayed yet again during our year in Australia exploring the Outback.
One day we were feeling especially proud, because our cabin finally looked like an open park shelter.
One of our country neighbors visited and asked, "Why are you taking it down again?" I still chuckle at the memory.
A large home went up across the river one spring. By summer they were mowing the lawn! But we were undaunted. We continued to toil away.
Even without a cabin, our land was a gathering place for many years. We found an arrowhead and scraping tool on the site. The stone outline of a trapper's cabin still holds great mystery.
Now our sons own Honeywood. Even though it was never their dream, they love it as we do. We know our children and grandchildren will care for it for a long time while making their own memories there.
Honeywood's magic has always been that no people actually live there. Bears, deer, coyotes and other wildlife move in when we leave. It is neutral ground where we all come and go — enjoying it, caring for it, then leaving, in gratitude, while looking forward to our return.
JANIS MARTIN, MINNEAPOLIS
Tell us about your favorite hideout, be it a lakeside lodge or a fish house. Email your story along with photos to cabins@startribune.com. Don't forget your name, city of residence and the general vicinity of your cabin or campsite.
