In which I share the experiences of Lynn (me) and Anni, two modern-day young women, caretakers for a 1940s Florida lakeside homestead in a forest wilderness, learning to balance the demands of running our start-up company, an hour away in the nearest town, with a myriad of challenges living close to nature, out in the sticks.

Enthusiastically embracing the captivating beauty of our rural surroundings, we soon realized that we needed to figure out how to hold the encroaching forest at bay while protecting our geese, chickens, cats and dogs from bobcats, ‘gators, snakes, bears and other menaces.

Throw in tropical storms, a record-breaking freeze, a former Secret Service agent, a discredited evangelical preacher, drunk hunters, and loaded guns, and things would get interesting.