Rain Creek Farm        Click Here for Progress Reports


A panorama of the Jurecka Homestead at the time of our purchase.  Today we call it Rain Creek Farm.

Welcome to Rain Creek Farm! 
 

Member - Fayette County

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On our very small farm we grow pecans and breed Mediterranean Donkeys. 


The "Rain Creek Farm" name is Registered with the American Donkey and Mule Society

Rain Totals

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We found the Jurecka farmstead in February 2001 when we were looking for a new home in the Fayetteville area.  It had been more than a decade since the house was last lived in.  We didn't move in until October 2001.  (02.25.01)

Past Owners

Jurecka Farmstead History

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And so we bought the farm in March 2001.

Linda poses with the "SOLD" sign.  

(03.19.01)

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Believe it or not, this is really the key to our front door!  

(03.23.01)

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Check out these door locks.  This is the same style lock that can be found on every door except the front door and the French doors between the living room and the family room.  And yes, the local hardware stores still sell the locks and parts today.  (03.25.01)

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Yes, we're members of the Texas Farm Bureau, Fayette County, Ellinger Chapter.  Update: We're also members of the Texas Pecan Grower's Association and the National Miniature Donkey Association.

(02.28.01)

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And what's a farm without a barn.  It needs a little love, but it appears to be in pretty good structural shape.  

(03.16.01)

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Linda inspects the front porch from the kitchen door.  The kitchen was the 'best' equipped room in the house with TWO electrical outlets, a pull chain light socket hung from the ceiling, and a gas jet.  There was some plumbing with wall spigots over a tiny 8x12 sink, but the days of that working were long passed.

(03.11.01)

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The Farm is 0.8 miles southwest of 'downtown' Fayetteville and 3.8 miles from Highway 71.  That puts the Farm just 15-20 minutes from both La Grange and Columbus via 71.
(see map)

David's parents farm is also shown on this map.  


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Lat. 29-53.78N  Lon. 96-41.19W 

This aerial photo was taken of the Farm on March 18, 1995. 

The white outline shows the boundaries of the 1-1/2 acre farmstead.  

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This is a photograph of a 1940's land map in Linda's law offices.  The farm is in the lower center of this photo with the name misspelled Joe Kurecka (Jurecka).  

(03.09.01)

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Linda poses in front of the farmhouse 0.8 miles southwest of Fayetteville on Farm-to-Market Road 955.  It's estimated that the house was built between 1909 and 1918 by Martin Jurecka who bought the property in 1908.  At the time of construction there was no electricity or plumbing in the house.  

(02.25.01)

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The work begins!  There's lots of cleaning, scraping, sanding, cleaning, and painting to be done.  The walls and ceiling in this room (family room) at all solid wood.  

(03.25.01)


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Want to see a floor plan?  It's drawn upside down, that is to say that the front of the house is at the top and the back porch is at the bottom.  This drawing shows the 'new' kitchen plan and the 'new' electrical plan.  

(03.17.01)

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This is our driveway to the right of the house leading to the outbuildings, sheds and barn.  There are eight buildings in addition to the house.  

(02.22.01)

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Here's the 1/2 acre side-yard with 105 feet of highway frontage. Altogether the property has 208 feet of highway frontage.  Next year (2002) we'll add another house on this lot.   Update: The Scheel House has arrived.  Older than the Jurecka House, the new house will also require lots of love. 

(02.24.01)

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This side of the farm house faces the 1/2 acre side-yard.  The entire house, except for the hot water heater, is on one 50-amp breaker and features tube-and-knob wiring.   Update: The house now has new wiring and plumbing.  We have left the original wiring for the ceiling pull-chain lights.  And surprisingly, the water heater worked and is still in service. 

(02.22.01)

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Check out this great front porch!  Note all the doors.  The door at the left is to the kitchen, which also has a door to the back porch on the other side.  The door on the far right is into the front bedroom/study.  The 'front' door is left of the far right door.  

(02.25.01)

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Screened back porch on this house, with two more doors!  

(02.22.01)

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 Driveway looking towards the highway.  That's a red barn in the background over the top of our Jeep.  

(02.22.01)

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 Inside the front room looking into the family room and kitchen (left side).  Note the bare bulb light fixture in the living room! 

(02.23.01)

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 Inside the front room looking towards the front door and front bedroom/study.  Again note the bare bulb light fixture in the living room! 

(02.23.01)

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 Standing in the French doors looking through the family room into the kitchen beyond the arch. Yes the ceiling and walls (and floor) are solid wood.  

(02.23.01)

This house, as most of it's period, were built from pieces and parts of other houses dismantled for materials.  One carpenter was hired and the family and friends provided the labor to build these family farmhouses.  This house was no exception. 

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 The kitchen.  Okay, so it needs some work.  These cabinets go, but the replacements will be patterned after the wall cabinets.  The bare bulb light fixture will be replaced with our farm chandelier that once hung in our Claremont farm room. 

(03.09.01)

Click HERE for more photos and description of the kitchen and our remodeling progress.  

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 After removing two layers of carpet and a carpet pad the living room floor is revealed.  This photo shows the result of damp mopping most of the floor.  We love it!  Our plan is to leave the floor 'as is' and apply a coat of floor wax.  

(03.23.01)

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 This is the floor of the front bedroom (our study).  You can see that the floor is made of tongue and groove wood taken from different places (pink, green & blue), maybe even different houses.  The blue boards with unpainted gaps were from a ceiling.  This is typical of the entire house, save the living room.  Of course this floor was only painted around the edges at the wall and covered by a rug.  

(03.25.01)

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 Inside the unfinished attic space.  The stairs lead up from the bathroom.  You are looking towards the front of the house. One idea is to turn the stairs around so that they come up from a hallway.  The space to the left could become an upstairs bathroom with shower.  

(02.23.01)

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 More inside the unfinished attic space. This is where we would put a new master bedroom in the future.  In the meantime it will be useful for storage.  

(02.23.01)

We have learned from the Jurecka family that this was used as a bedroom just like you see it in the photo.  

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 One of eight outbuildings. 

(02.23.01)

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 Barn in the foreground with blacksmith shed in background (left).  

(02.23.01)

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 Another view of the barn.  This barn is currently in use with about 50 head of cattle.  The barn is split-level with three different floor levels.  This large barn contains an elevator and corn picker.   Update:  A new fence now separates the cattle and the barn.  Unfortunately, the barn is not in very good shape.  It's well down our list of projects, but we hope to save and restore this wonderful barn sometime in the future. 

(02.23.01)

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 Abandoned horse-drawn farm implements are scattered about on the back 1/2 acre.  Some of the equipment here (dating from about 1910) includes a couple mowers, a hay rake, drag scraper, and several cultivators and plows.  

(02.23.01)

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 View of the farm house from the rear section of the property (1.5 acres).  There are two sheds, a storage building, and pump house in this picture.  Update:  Some of this area has become a pen for our miniature donkeys. 

(02.23.01)

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 Here's the corn-picker in our barn.  

(03.14.01)
Czech Catholic Parish of St. John the Baptist of Fayetteville.

 

Last Updated: July 22, 2003