Barefoot family - home and farm life

Last week, I told you about the characters in my "Barefoot" world.  Now I'll set up where they live, where they work, and other important things they do in the next three posts.

UPDATE 9/27/2012: I moved the homes side-by-side and added a common room.  This allows for the other areas (fishing pond, hunting grounds, farm plots) to be contiguous.

UPDATE 12/8/2012: Added more detailed descriptions.

UPDATE 10/13/2013: Changed house into single structure with different living spaces, downsized the property, amended school location, added waste receptacle.

UPDATE 10/25/2014: Changed name of original school location and role of teacher.

The Barefoot farm house

The 13 members of the house share a single, 1,850-square-foot space at 2118 Barefoot Road in Newton Grove, NC, on the border of Sampson and Johnston Counties about halfway between Raleigh and Fayetteville.

Each of the four families that have merged in the home have been assigned a separate living space and bedroom.  They are identified by color based on a ledger Buddy Wayne uses to organize their daily activities.  Imagine "looking inside" the house as pictured, and seeing these spaces from left to right:

• The red room contains Popeye and Annie in one bed and Ralph and Harvey in another bed.
• The blue room has Buddy Wayne and Brenda in one bed and Bobby Ray and Jennifer in another.
• The green room has only Brandy and Bunky in a smaller space.
• Finally, Belinda and Bryson are upstairs and sleep on a bunk bed.

As there is an uneven number of residents, Hambone was assigned a portable bed and usually sleeps on that bed in the green room, although she spends most of her time with her immediate family in the red room.

The house has an underground wood-fired heating system and primitive tubing that connects to the bathroom.  In this way, residents can take a modern-style bath even without the use of electricity or indoor plumbing.

A common room is in the center of the house, between the red and blue rooms.  This is the site of open discussions, game sessions, social meetings, and formal dinners among other things.  It was also the original site of church services, until Ralph purchased the Long Branch Disciple Church and moved the services there.

As shown, the house was built using classic wood materials with a modern touch, and is the fourth on the property.  The first was a shack built in 1835 and lasted for over 70 years.  The second, which dated to 1907, resembled an antebellum Southern plantation.  A fire destroyed it in 1961, after which a new structure which more closely resembled a trailer replaced it.  The current house was built in 2009, shortly before B.W. won the Sing for the World contest.

Other parts of the property
Also on the 35-acre property is a fully-functioning farm, pond, and hunting ground (which I will touch on in the next post), a fruit orchard, a briar patch where berries and wild grains grow, a picnic and relaxation area with the land's famous loblolly pines, a meadow with wildflowers and natural grass, and a mud pit.

One-room schoolhouse

While the adults work on the farm and in their shops, the two youngest family members (Bryson and Belinda) attend a one-room schoolhouse whose interior resembles what you see here.  The Barefoot Family School was recently established with 21 students in the first through eighth grades.  All of them come from the fifth through seventh generations after the birth of Miles "Pink" Barefoot, who is considered the patriarch of the entire family.  The teacher is Noah Barefoot, Jr. ("played" by Scott Ruttencutter, a junior executive at a tech company).

The school year typically runs from November of one year through March of the next, when the farm land is fallow.  Students at all grade levels attend together, with more advanced students helping the younger
children with their lessons.

In their first few months on the new Earth, Belinda and Bryson attended the Meadow School and were taught by Shirley Mae Crabtree (BMN Superfan season 1 winner Brittany Ramos).  It was a transition school that was operated while the students were being re-assigned to the permanent, family-based schools.






Crafts, bedding, and bath items
The Barefoots who aren't farmers work at home.  Harvey does most of the craft work, although Brenda and Jennifer also contribute some crafts.  Items handcrafted in the house include wheels, horse and mule shoes, glass items, dolls, wooden toys, kitchen items, and baskets.  Furniture and other things already in the house are also maintained regularly. 

Bedding and bath items are also homemade, mostly by Brenda and Jennifer.  Brenda organizes a weekly quilting bee, at which homemade quilts, blankets, and pillows are made and at which the older females socialize.  The bath items that are homemade include soaps, fragrances, and lotions that are used in body care.

And one more thing...
Believe it or not, people poop and pee, even in Heaven!  When that occurs, family members relieve themselves in an outhouse and deposit these items in a butt, which is actually a large water barrel.  (As they say, insert your own joke here.)

A tube from the butt leads to an underground pit, where some chemicals break them down and turn them into fertilizer which can be used for future agricultural needs.

I will cover housework in the food and clothing post.