When we bought the land, there was a rough  12' x 16' hunters cabin on it. We  added a small wood burning stove, benches built around the walls that could be made into beds and a table and chairs for comfort. It was very primitive living. 

We would drive down from Arlington, Texas (about 3 1/2 hours north) to spend weekends occasionally and it was fun to 'rough-it', exploring the undeveloped land and camping. And, it was fun dreaming of the house we would eventually build. We did not begin building our dream until 1994 after Bud retired.

We began in January 1993

 First we had to cut a road through the dense woods. After much cutting, burning and sweating, we cleared a road. It was rewarding to be able to drive into the property and begin the serious work.

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Once we did decide to 'go for it', we found that deciding was the easy part!

This is rural Texas with lots of 'wee-beasties' lurking in those woods. There are scorpions, very big spiders, vicious ants, timber snakes, water moccasins, copperheads...the list goes on. Can you see the hidden danger in the picture on the left?

Don't accidently put a foot down here! The picture is of a broad-banded copperhead snake (Agkistrodon contortrix laticinctus). Fortunately, we began clearing the area for roads, building sites and gardens in January when most of the creatures are hibernating.

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We had basic ideas of what needed to be done and things just began to become clearer to us as we worked. We would decide to do something like clear trails through the dense woods and a new idea would result as we saw what we had. For example: Bud had to back the tractor up with a shredder on it to clear trails through some areas so we could look them over. When he did, we were delighted to find many species of useful plants. I was anxious to study more about the native plants we were finding.

Now we had beds, chairs and a table, a sink, and a bathroom.  Luxury! Of course we didn’t have running water or electricity, but the promise was there.

 During the month of January we got co-op water and electricity connected. A septic tank was installed and a propane tank delivered. (HOT BATHS!) At long last the phone was installed.  We were finally  reconnected to the world!

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As Bud says, we just “bit the bullet” and the two of us began building one thing at time.

 The first building we worked on was the 24X30 foot metal garage. We needed a place to store our household items when we sold our house in Arlington and Bud needed a workshop. 

The buildings on the site are grouped in one area to minimize the disruption of the land.  We built greenhouses, a garden room and potter’s studio. The last building project was our house.

 Now we could begin developing the gardens.

Our theme and display gardens allowed us to find out what would grow well in our area. We laid out the theme gardens and planted perennials and evergreens in key areas to provide the beginning of the display gardens. The gardens are also grouped into an area that is easily strolled and studied.

We decided to  offer tours of our display gardens and share what we were learning. We try to have the same plants that we see in our gardens available for sale to our tour participants. We hope they will be encouraged to grow and enjoy herbs and Texas wildflowers. We are in our eleventh year of welcoming visitors to The Purple Gate Herb Farm.