My Sustainable Farmhouse Renovation in Maine – An Introduction

During the pandemic, my husband and I, like so many others, started to question certain aspects of life that would lead us down quite an unexpected path. Could we work remotely for years to come? Would we be happier in the countryside? Does life when you’re young work outside of a big city like London? Will our businesses suffer with us on zoom rather than face to face?

With so many discussions and thought processes happening, of course it all came down to a split minute decision without much consideration at all in the end. An old farmhouse in my hometown in Maine came up for sale and all of a sudden our life savings were going towards something we couldn’t really have imagined even a year earlier – what would become a life in the country sustainably renovating a home and working with regenerative agriculture.

I left Maine when I was 18 and shortly afterwards found myself at university in Paris where I lived and loved for five years, then London for ten years after that. London was the home I created for myself, where I started Rêve En Vert, and where I met my husband and the majority of my dearest people. Only something truly exciting could have ever made me leave. 

But the only thing I could ever think would outweigh the excitement and thriving lifestyle of London was for me the call of nature – working so diligently towards sustainability in all aspects of my life and business made me want to be connected to the land and the sea again. To be able to try all the practices of regenerative farming that I’ve spoken to so many incredible people about myself, to be able to explore what the local community looks like here as I learn about entities like the Frenchman’s Bay Conservatory that work to buy local lands up to prevent development and keep nature intact here, and to see what restoring a house truly sustainably could look like.

Already I can see the beautiful parts, like picking our green certified paints or restoring vintage furniture we find throughout Maine, and the more mundane, yet arguably much more important, things like solar panels and geothermal heating systems. I wanted to create a section of Rêve En Vert that would document my personal journey with the land and the house for anyone else who might be embarking on a move to the country, picking up organic farming and gardening, or even thinking of re-doing a house or flat themselves and would love to know about the things we’ve found like where to get upcycled tiles or ethical furniture.

Follow along the day to day journey @corahilts on instagram!