“Willow Bend” is our home in southwestern Dane County, Wisconsin. It covers about thirteen rural acres with a house, an abandoned house we intend to renovate to be a photography studio, an old chicken coop, and a large outbuilding (originally the garage for the now-abandoned old house).
The Name.
When we purchased it in 2012, we found ourselves struggling with everyday language to describe the place. “Our new house” didn’t really seem to cover it. “The land” implied, well, more land. While we aspire to someday fit the term, “the farm” is simply inaccurate at the moment. Amy thought of “Willow Bend” for its simple descriptive accuracy – we’re at a bend in the road, and have a row of large willows lining our (also bendy) driveway.
This Site.
Willow Bend is a work in progress, and will remain so. We were attracted to its potential, and to the gap between its current reality and what we know it can be. That gap will be filled by our “making”, and this site primarily exists to catalog the work we do to realize our vision. We think of this vision in three main parts: home, farm/garden, and studio.
We have significant amounts of work to do in all three areas, and as time passes will doubtless see our goals for each evolve. We expect the “Making” to continue indefinitely.
About Us.
We’re newly transplanted to the country, having both grown up in the suburbs and having spent most of our adult lives in Madison, WI. By day, Josh works in information technology, and Amy is a family portrait photographer. Our family includes two wonderful children, a house cat named Mo, and an English Springer Spaniel rescue named Molly. We can be reached .
