Check Out Von & Carol Kinsey’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Von & Carol Kinsey

Hi Von & Carol, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I think it all started with dreams. I remember Von and I standing in the kitchen of our home in Cincinnati talking. At the time, Von was working as an engineer at Proctor and Gamble, but we were both at a place where we were ready for something different. I asked Von if he could do anything in the world, what would he do. Von said, he’d build a house on Grandpa’s Farm and teach woodworking classes. His answer wasn’t a great surprise. Von had studied fine furniture making under James Krenov at the College of the Redwoods in Northern California early in our marriage, and even as a P&G employee, taught woodworking classes for a group of homeschooled teens. Encompassed in his dream, were a whole lot of other dreams. Dreams we both shared strongly: raising our two daughters on a farm, starting a small business, and having some kind of Christian camp on the farm. It all seemed to mesh, and yet, how to make it happen?

Author, Robert Kiyosaki wrote, “So dream daring dreams, and then underachieve a little bit each day. I recommend setting attainable daily goals that, when achieved, provide positive reinforcement to help you stay on the path to the big goal.” With our daring dream in mind, we started praying, and when Von was given the opportunity to start building our house on the farm, we sold our house in Cincinnati and moved to McKee Farm. Little by little we began finding ways to make our dreams a reality. After building our house, Von began building tiny houses we could rent out through Airbnb, Hipcamp, and VRBO. We also created campsites all over the farm where guests could come enjoy the almost 240 acre farm. We started having what we called “Farm Camp” each summer, where dozens of children came for a weeklong day camp to learn about farm animals, gardening, bird and tree identification, and more. Eventually, Von was able to get a full service woodshop up and running and he began offering woodworking classes to junior high and high school students. His students have built stools, chairs, bookshelves, as well as many smaller wood projects. We also started hosting retreats on the farm, and have had the joy of seeing people from all over come and enjoy praise and worship services in the barn, workshops, hiking, barn dances, and more. By setting attainable daily goals—bit-by-bit we have been able to see our dreams evolve into something beautiful.

Von hopes to offer even more woodworking classes in 2025, and we hope to expand our cabin rentals to include even more unique structures. The barn is a classic, and we plan to invest into it and see it used for more events. We are so thankful for the opportunity to live on our family farm and pray it is a blessing to all our guests!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Financing our dreams has been one of our biggest challenges because we don’t want to go into debt. Von’s grandpa saw many farmers in the early 1930s lose their farms because of debt, and he instilled in us that he did not want any part of the farm in debt. Making improvements without going into debt has meant being patient. It took us several years to earn enough money to replace the farmhouse roof and siding, but it looks so much nicer! We still have a lot to do, and a lot of dreams, but we have been blessed to see how God has provided.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Von’s background is engineering and business. He also studied woodworking at the College of the Redwoods in Northern California. He has combined his love for woodworking with his vision for what the farm can be and it has been a joy to see that evolve. Carol’s background is communication and writing. Her love for hospitality and creativity blends well with her husband’s passion for design. Making 240 acres of farmland and woods a place where people can come and stay, get off-grid, enjoy nature, fellowship with friends, and relax, is what McKee Farm is all about. We’ve tried to cultivate creative places where people can enjoy themselves, leave their stress behind, and experience the peace and quiet of the farm.

We’ve created an unusual tree house – it’s every kid’s fantasy to have a tree house. I don’t think that ever goes away. It definitely didn’t for Von! He’s been designing tree houses on paper for years. When the power company came to us and told us that they would be replacing all the electric poles on the farm and that the ones they removed were ours, he immediately began drawing up designs with our oldest daughter, Autumn, that would incorporate electric poles into a tree house structure. It took us two years to build. We call it “Tullihas in the Trees” because it’s not actually attached to a tree, but it’s surrounded by them. By not attaching to a tree, we didn’t have to worry about killing a tree to build it, or building into a tree that might die someday, making the structure weak. Von’s engineering mind and his artistic eye for design came to life as he drew up the plans for Tullihas in the Trees. Von has always loved steep pitched roofs, so that was a must for the tree house. We also thought of things that would make the tree house even more fun, so we incorporated cool old ladders leading to the lofts, swinging chairs, swings, and places to hang hammocks. The stream behind the tree house is called Nickel Valley.

The treehouse is totally off-grid. There is no electricity, no running water, and most people have limited cell service due to its location. Guests can get drinkable water at the McKee Barn. We provide guests with a propane heater in the winter months and plenty of propane tanks. We encourage guests to dress warm and bring sleeping bags as it can still be chilly. We also have lots of solar lights and a single-burner propane stove for cooking. The A-Frame will be set up the same way.

The name, Tullihas in the Trees was something we came up with as we researched the many Native Americans who lived in this part of Ohio. Being situated so close to the Wakatomika River, Tullihas is not far from a known Native American trail. From what we’ve learned, Tullihas was a Native American village, only mentioned in a few historical documents. The village would have been located somewhere between the Muskingum River and the Walhonding.

Beside the treehouse is a composting outhouse. Von designed it and built it with a couple of our Amish neighbors. He wanted it to be roomy inside so people don’t feel claustrophobic. The fact that it’s a composting outhouse makes it unique as well. We are told all the time that it smells like pine inside from the chips used in the composting toilet.

In 2021, Von began working on an A-Frame treehouse with our youngest daughter, Breanna. The A-Frame gave Von an opportunity to pull in some of his fine furniture and woodworking love. The house is nestled on a hillside with an amazing view of the surrounding hills and valley. It has a loft, a double bed, two single beds, large deck, and plenty of places to swing and hammock. It is sided with Sapele wood, a tropical hardwood native to West Africa. The wood’s rich reddish-brown color adds a splash of color against its wooded backdrop. The inside has maple walls, a sapele ladder and trim, and a repurposed red oak parquetry floor. They named the house, “Oxley in the Woods.” The name Oxley was chosen as a way to honor Von’s family heritage. One of his great-relatives was Ohio Oxley, so named because he was born on the Ohio River. The Oxley is also off-grid and has it’s own outhouse.

Von and Carol hope to continue crafting tiny homes on the farm, as well as teaching woodworking classes. Introducing young people and adults to a craft where they can use their hands to create something beautiful is exciting to Von. Each summer, Von has been teaching free woodworking classes to local teens from our church and community. He is hoping to start expanding these classes and offering them to the public. Von had one of the premier woodworking instructors in America, James Krenov at the College of the Redwoods in Northern California. There, Von excelled at the intersection of fine craftsmanship and artistic design. Von’s desire is to teach others what he has learned so that they can learn the discipline of the craft and the freedom of design.

How do you think about happiness?
What makes us happy is being able to set a goal, figure out the steps to reach that goal, which Von calls “reverse engineering” and then work each step of the goal until it is accomplished. When that goal can be a blessing to others, it is even more rewarding.

It also makes us happy to share our farm with others. One of the things we do on the farm is allow camping. We have six campsites spread out around the farm. Camping does not bring us a lot of money for the effort it takes to show the guests to the spot, prepare the sites, bring them the firewood they need, etc. What makes it worth it though, is to get to meet these people, and share the beauty of our farm with them. Ninety-nine percent of our guests have been so thrilled to be in a beautiful spot without campers right next to them, that they have returned their gratitude by leaving the campsite picked up, and leaving excellent reviews. Making others happy makes us happy!

When what we create can make others happy, when they walk away feeling refreshed and encouraged, we feel rewarded. It is a beautiful thing to bring joy to other people. In order to do that, it takes goals, and how we incorporate those goals into McKee Farm is all a part of the process.

Pricing:

• Tullihas in the Trees $125 per night.
• Oxley in the Woods $125 per night.
• McKee Farmhouse $125 weeknights. $150 weekends
• Camping $35 per night.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hipcamp.com/en-US/land/ohio-mckee-farm-treehouses-and-camping-y0zhzpqj
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mckeefarm/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/McKeeFarm/
• Airbnb: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/927568467676029773 and https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/44015434