REAL ESTATE FOCUS: Creativity, hard work turn eyesore in to masterpiece

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN DON RATZLAFF
Where for years residents and travelers along the 13-mile road south of Hillsboro saw an eyesore, John Beeson saw potential for a showcase.

The difference between Beeson and the passersby is that he put his money-and a ton of his own creativity and hard work-where his imagination was.

As a result, he has transformed an overgrown, abandoned farmyard into what even Beeson admits has turned into his “masterpiece.”

So attractive and manicured is his 18-acre spread on the corner of Indigo and 80th, it’s become common for neighbors and motorists to pull in and ask about the nature of this unique “resort” he must be building.

Who could blame them? The place features a large and small pond, a beautiful home with several cabin-like outbuildings, plus a sizeable new shop with matching shed-all cradled in lush grass, a mix of mature and new trees, and accented with a rock garden and numerous other creative touches.

“I guess I don’t appreciate it as much as I ought to,” Beeson said. “So many people drive by and say, ‘I’ve been watching this forever-man, it’s fantastic.’ I’m kind of humble, so I don’t know what to say.”

Beeson admitted he is only beginning to appreciate his accomplishment-to this point he’s been too busy working at it to take stock of what he’s produced.

“I guess I like challenges, because this corner was so bad,” he said. “Everybody has to relieve their pressure somewhere. I don’t drink and I don’t do drugs. My deal is, when I’ve got pressure, I work. And I like to design things and be creative…. This is probably my masterpiece.”

Every bit of his interests and character traits were required when he decided to buy the initial six-acre property six years ago.

At the time, he was investing considerable time and energy in his rental-management business in Newton, where he oversees some 600 properties.

Stressed by the sometimes confrontational nature of his job, Beeson said was looking to get back into the open country, where he had lived most of his life.

After looking at various possibilities in Harvey and Marion County, he was persuaded by a friend who grew up nearby to buy this abandoned acreage.

“It looked terrible,” he said. “We drove in the driveway and the weeds were taller than your head. We just started driving through the weeds-there wasn’t any driveway or anything.

“You could see (the previous owner) had been working on a pond, but that was about it.”

Beeson bought his own bulldozer and began clearing the property.

“After about 30 days, I found three or four old cars and a boat trailer completely hidden in the weeds,” he said.

Beeson also cleared the land of an abandoned trailer house, dilapidated farmhouse and damaged silo, then called the county about clearing the ditches.

“It was like a big team effort,” Beeson said. “They all came out and wanted to help get this eyesore cleaned up. They were just glad somebody was going to do something with it.”

Beeson said he “just started pushing dirt,” as he continued developing the ponds and began preparing sites for the house and shop he intended to build.

He also took note of the trees on the place.

“I measured everything off where the trees were at, then I marked the trees and took out the ones that wouldn’t work-there was a ton of trees here,” he said, and Beeson has been adding more during the intervening years.

He also has expanded his holdings. Twice, Beeson purchased six-acres plots that were adjacent to his original property.

“I’ve pretty much landscaped all that, cut the dead trees down, and planted it all to grass to reduce erosion,” he said.

Once he got the land paid off, Beeson said he went to his banker and told him, “I need to sit down and talk about building something.”

Beeson drew up his own house plans and was his own general contractor.

“I’ve always remodeled a lot of houses,” he said, “and I’ve bought rentals and remodeled them. A lot of places I bought I had to fix up to live in them…. I tried to do this one right.”

The resulting natural-wood structure faces Indigo as a one-story home, but has two stories facing the pond, with numerous decks and overlooks.

In addition to the house and neatly kept outbuildings, the other striking aspect of his work is the attention to detail in the landscaping-much of which is created with items others have abandoned.

The centerpiece is an eye-catching rock garden-the first he ever attempted to create-with a tasteful combination of gravel, large rocks, natural and domesticated plants, an old park bench and an large arched climbing apparatus.

“The archway I bought at a sheriff’s auction in Newton from one of the parks there,” he said. “It’s probably 100 years old. Millions of kids have climbed on it. I bought it and brought it out here-but I didn’t know what I was going to do with it.

“I ended up putting it here,” he said. “This was a poor piece of ground, so I just went ahead and put gravel on it.”

Running along the south edge of the rock garden is a brick-and-stone pathway that leads to the pond.

“I’d sit out here when it rained, and I’d figure out which way the water was going-that’s why I built the brick path all the down and around, and then I’ve got some concrete stops (near the bottom, to slow the flow of water).”

Beeson takes pride in using cast-off materials for his landscaping.

“I like the challenge of it,” he said. “You don’t have to have new things in order to make something look good. Most of this stuff people have just thrown away.”

Beeson said he went to college to study feedlot and grass management-and he farmed and ranched for much of his adult life. Those experiences gave him a knowledge of maintaining grass areas. But most of his landscaping abilities stem from his natural interests-and idiosyncrasies.

A self-diagnosed workaholic, Beeson said he’s also something of a neat freak.

“Every place I’ve ever had, I’ve been picky,” he said. “I want things picked up, I want things painted.

“For as long as I can remember, in my shop, if there’s a tool out of place, I’m upset. With my lifestyle, I always want to know where it’s at when I need it.”

Beeson said he also is stubbornly determined to give his best effort to whatever he sets his mind to do.

In the past, that has led him to develop world-champion cattle, to raise and race successful race horses, and even now to develop a race car that has won titles on the track and in shows.

Success hasn’t been automatic.

“On my race car, I spent seven years and had a lot of bad luck with people putting it together,” he said. “But I just didn’t give up.”

The same stick-to-it trait has come in handy on this project-especially when working with the large pond behind his house-which continues to leak even after several attempts to fix it.

“I don’t get depressed anymore,” he said about the pond. “I just say I’m going to get a little smarter and I’m going to find out what’s causing this-and then I’m going to fix it.

“One of these days, hopefully, I’m going to accomplish it. But if I don’t, at least I tried.”

Aside from the buildings and landscaping, Beeson has pursued other interests on his property. Most noticeable are the chickens, guinea fowl, ducks and geese that roam the grounds. But he said he also has enhanced the natural wildlife by frequently releasing wild ducks, pheasant and quail.

“I’ve given far more than I’ve taken,” he said.

Beeson built a jetty along the pond from which he likes to shoot clay pigeons, but he doesn’t hunt the living wildlife.

“I’m at a place in my life where I’d rather watch the deer walk onto my property rather than shoot at them,” he said.

Beeson said returning to the countryside has helped relieve the stress that is inherent to rental management. He’s to the point where he enjoys being around people again, he said.

“I’m lucky out here,” he said. “All my neighbors are good-hearted people. They’re the best in the world. They do anything for you.”

That realization was never more clear than last December, when his beloved house caught fire, resulting in more than $100,000 in damages.

Beeson credits his girlfriend, Liz Chasner, with saving his life, and he said he owes a lot to an unknown stranger in a white car who pitched in during his hour of crisis.

“I don’t know who he is, but I’d just like to thank him because he stopped and then went to the neighbors to call 9-1-1. Then he came back and helped fight the fire-and I’ve never head from him again,” Beeson said.

“That’s a heck of a thing for somebody to do,” he added. “Most people just want to drive by. They don’t want to get involved-but he got involved.”

More people are pulling into his yard these days-but not because of emergencies. He and Chasner have started hosting a garage sale every weekend-another benefit of his past work experiences.

“I would buy a lot of mobile homes that would be fully furnished, I’d have tenants who would leave a bunch of stuff, and I had storage units where they would leave stuff, too.”

He started selling the items at an auction house in Halstead, but when that closed for several week this summer because of the extreme heat, he started storing the materials in his shop.

“Liz said, ‘Let’s have a garage sale,'” Beeson said. “I said, ‘Man, I don’t want a lot of people out here.’ But we had one and it did really well, so we started going to auctions and buying things.

“We’re making some money doing that, but we’re also meeting a lot of neighbors who were always afraid to stop by. It’s letting us know them, and they’re knowing us.”

It’s also resulted in some inquiries about landscaping work.

The idea of developing his hobby into a business is growing more appealing all the time, Beeson said.

“I think I would rather do that than mess with so many people (through his rental management business),” he said. “I don’t like to kick them out or shut off their water when they can’t pay their rent-but that’s what I’m getting paid to do. I would rather have a mellower life and enjoy the things I’m doing.”

Chasner was so convinced of Beeson’s creative skills that she gave him a sculpted sign last Christmas that reads: “Beeson Landscaping.” The sign is erected in the front yard.

“The more I hear people talking about this place, and the more I like what’s going on, I’m going to start doing it,” he said. “It’s something I love to do-and I’ve got good help.”

Beeson said his own place is a work in progress.

“I’ll never be finished with it,” he said with a smile.

His current interest is in developing “something big” for the southeast corner of his property along Indigo-perhaps a windmill or even a giant horse.

“I let the place tell me what to do with itself-which is basically what has happened out here,” Beeson said. “I didn’t really have all this figured out. I just kind of winged it as I went along.”

He likes what has developed, not only in terms of the property itself, but also the effect its had in himself and others.

“I’m glad to give them a corner to talk about,” Beeson said. “And I like sharing what I’ve got. People ask about the house and I say, ‘Go on in and look around.’

“That’s the thrill I didn’t think I was going to have when I first started this. But they’re really impressed, and to me it wasn’t that difficult to put together.”

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