A little history...

Cottonwood Farm: Abridged History

I just started my job in Houston and this particular day didn't seem any different than the others
when I reported for duty, which turned out to include a fateful meeting with Nisha. I was excited
to have the opportunity to meet with her a few more times after that as she was the coordinator
for Compaq Code Wars, a programming competition for high school students around the Houston
area and I was the Security Manager for Compaq's HQ. A perfect excuse to see her again and
invite her to dinner.

We made our dinner date, and the rest, as they say, is history. We were married three months later
in Round Top, Texas at the Heart of My Heart Ranch. You can say it was an unconventional
wedding we had pot luck supper and a live bluegrass band playing on the front porch. Nisha's
brother Tom presided over the ceremony with our friends and family enjoying the country
surroundings. We still enjoy hearing folks talk about it as "the best wedding they have ever
attended." It was a perfect day in December believe it or not, the weather warm enough for shorts
and rowing boats on the pond. Santa Claus even made an appearance to the delight of the kids
and Christmas crazy Nisha!

We made our home in Kleinwood which we eventually outgrew and moved to Cypress where we
stayed for about a year before the country bug bit us. We have always enjoyed searching all over
Texas for antiques and passed through Brenham many times during our travels. The urge to get
out of the city was overwhelming and we started our quest to find a few acres and a country home
within commuting distance of our work at Compaq (now HP).

We found our old home in Brenham, which was as much by happenstance as it was by fate. We
were contemplating the purchase of a circa 1916 home nearby that was very small, needed
complete renovation and upgrading to current standards. I found the listing for what is now
Cottonwood Farm and I thought that it might fit our needs as it was already renovated and it has
considerably more land for the price. We asked our Realtor (Gay Perque) to show us Cottonwood
and we instantly knew that it was HOME. We just fell in love with it and the land! We moved in
one week before Christmas in 2004, which proved to be a challenge as we had accumulated a
considerable amount of antiques and large pieces of furniture over the years. After a few garage
sales, we were able to reduce our belongings to fit into our "new" home at Cottonwood.

About the Cottonwood Farmhouse:
The home was built c. 1896 and the first known inhabitants were Otto and Hedwig (Ott) Gaedeke,
married in 1907, Brenham. Hedwig Ott's parents were immigrants to this area and her father was a
minister in nearby Industry. The home remained in the Gaedeke family until the 60's when it
changed hands about 4-or 5 times until we bought it. It had not been a permanent residence for
anyone for about 20 years, as it was mainly a weekend home for Houstonians. Although it has had
many upgrades and renovations, Cottonwood still retains the original floors, walls/ceilings, pressed
glass windows, and doors, as well as the occasional creak and pop associated with its age. Homes
built in that time were taxed according to the number of rooms in the house and due to that fact
we have no closets and must rely on our armoires and other antique furniture for storage. Not a
bad sacrifice, lots o' character! Only one instance of a ghost sighting so far...

Nisha once told me about her dream to one day own a Texas Longhorn....after buying Cottonwood
I started my search for local Longhorn breeders. Right after Christmas 2005, that dream came true.
I secretly bought two bred Texas Longhorn cows, Joyful Jubilation and Psalms 70:4 from Joe Assad
(www.assadtexaslonghorns.com). Just a few weeks later Joyful gave us our first calf, Joyful #7. We
definitely caught the "bug" and have since added to our herd. We bought Galatians and Isaiah
from Joe and they all have had calves since then. We are in our second calving cycle as of this
writing. We also bought Blacktop Beauty, Coach's Cotton and Painted Warrior from Jason Page,
Thunder Ranch. We couldn't stop there and bought or rescued miniature donkeys and Llamas.

We have been here for over 3 years now and have bought and sold Longhorns in an effort to
solidify our foundation herd. We are almost there! Our llamas were bought by a goat breeder as
we reduced the number of animals in the pasture with both sets of teeth to preserve our pastures
for the cows. We now only have Silverbelle and Earl for guard animals, Georgie Girl and Luke
went to Thunder Ranch and Lucky is with Larry & Annette at 2Kreeks Ranch. Our association with
the Longhorn community has produced many wonderful friendships that encompass more than just
the livestock and the competition.

It is now 2008 and we have returned from our incredible trip to Australia that we won from the
Tennis Channel. What an incredible experience! Everything just came together perfectly for us and
we have memories that will last a lifetime. It really helped open up our creative energy as we
wrote a blog detailing our travels in Sydney & Melbourne which was posted on Tennis Channels
website for the world to read. If only we could do it FULL TIME! What a great job that would be!
I think we have become full-fledged Tennis nuts now and have found a new respect for the
athletes that play the game. Can't wait until we get the chance to attend another
tournament...maybe we can win the French Open sweepstakes!

We are both at a crossroads in our professional lives. I left HP in March of 2006 to start my own
Farrier business which seemed to be working out nicely as clients were being added every week. It
wasn't long after that before I had some back trouble and decided to have it checked by a doctor.
The career curve ball came in the form of the MRI results showing a fracture in my L5 vertebrae,
apparently a congenital condition and only manifested complications after spending so much time
bending over working on hoofs and anvils. The bottom line is my Farrier career was finished and I
had to return to the corporate workforce. Eventually I returned to HP as a contractor managing
the Deployment projects for the Austin area data centers.

Nisha just finished over 15 years with HP and is looking forward to this year for many reasons. The
boys are signed up for baseball this spring and her garden has been planned and mapped out in
anticipation of warmer weather. Her "girls" are laying about two dozen eggs everyday and I don't
think I have ever seen her more happy when the boys bring those buckets full of eggs. She is a
very gifted writer, she was published in "That Texas Magazine" last year and maintains her blog
with the stories that naturally occur with this many boys running around and our farm. This is
going to be a good year...just wait and see!

Life is such an interesting adventure and we are glad to have a network of friends and such a great
family that are positive and are genuinely in support of our dreams and aspirations. It is still hard
to believe that Zachary is in college already with Ryan right behind him this year. All of the boys
are tremendously gifted students and are all maintaining superlative grades despite very busy
schedules. Jake stays on the honor roll each six weeks and is one of 100 students selected to visit
with an Astronaut from NASA. Adam, Ethan, and Jake have a friendly competition when report
cards come out to see who has the highest average. The winner gets a small prize and a trip to
Dairy Queen or to Blue Bell for ice cream. Life on the farm is good....one day at a time.

"Spread your arms, hold your breath, and always trust your cape..." Guy Clark

Reading our Brand:
The Cottonwood Farm brand consists of two "J's" which represents our first Longhorn Joyful
Jubiliation. Those J's are then laid down head to head to form the Longhorn symbol. In Texas,
brands are registered in the county "Brand Book" and are valid for renewable periods of 10 years.
We are registered in Washington and Austin counties.

1993-1994 Southern Watch
Indian Ocean / Somalia
Attack Squadron 85
A-6E Intruder
"Black Falcons"
From left:
Murphy, Maisonnet, Borris
Harris, Dungan, Frankie
Copeland, Mike Webster, Tom
McKinney, Me, Phil Witt,
Trollope, Costello

Cottonwood Farmhouse
Built by Otto and Hedwig Gaedeke. "Hattie": Born Hedwig Ott, 24 Sep 1887
in Texas to Jacob Ott and Fredericke Hoehne. Jacob was a minister in
Industry, TX, he immigrated from Germany in 1866. Fredericke immigrated
to Texas from Saxony (Anhalt), Germany with her parents in 1858.
Fredericke died in 1892 of typhoid (I believe) and Jacob remarried in 1893 to
Auguste Kielemann. Hattie married Otto in 1907 and they had 2 children
that I know of, Lorine and Waldo. The Cottonwood (Gaedeke) Home, c.1896,
still has its original wood floors, pressed glass windows, doors and 10' ceilings
and 12" baseboards. It has been upgraded with modern amenities such as
dual zoned A/C & Heat, electrical and plumbing systems.