Whiteley Creek Homestead

"A little bit about me before you go… " This phrase has been floating around in my brain… song lyrics, I think. Each of us has a story… a song. Here's mine.

Hello. My name is Adrienne Cahoon (a.k.a. "queen of the meadow blooms"). I grew up in a family of fourteen on a 160-acre farm ten miles southeast of Brainerd. I attended first grade in a one-room schoolhouse 1-1/2 miles from my childhood home. The following year, schools were consolidated and we were bused into Brainerd. Throughout my childhood, I helped tend gardens and fields on the acreage that my father farmed in addition to his full-time job with the Minnesota State Highway Department. I had an apron-clad stay-at-home mom who baked made-from-scratch fresh from the oven bread and cookies for when I got off the school bus. It is from this background that I developed a love for all facets of homekeeping, gardening, land stewardship, and related environmental issues. During my eleven years as a full-time classroom teacher (six years in Minnesota and five years in Florida), I was selected 1996 Conservation Education Teacher of the Year for the state of Florida and recipient of Disney's 1996 Teacherrific $3000.00 Top Program Award for a school-wide waste management system utilizing composting. In 1993, I earned a Master of Science Degree in Curriculum and Instruction and completed my Master Gardener certification through the University of Minnesota in March 2000. In 1999, I opened Whiteley Creek Homestead Bed and Breakfast on the property where my husband, Dick, and I have lived since our marriage in 1974. We closed our business at the conclusion of the 2016 season to allow us the flexibility that retirement allows. I have three daughters. My eldest daughter lives in New York with her husband and five children. She is a full-time wife and mother with a background in graphic design as well as an author and illustrator of children's books. My middle daughter lives in New Jersey with her husband and two children where she is co-owner of a graphic design business. My youngest daughter lives and works in Atlanta as a visual manager for Anthropologie.