Echoes, Good beginning. There's one or two grammer errors that I found. Try rereading your story again now and see if you catch them. (PM me if you don't and i'll show you which ones I found.)

This sentence,

"The homestead, it has been in our family for as long as I can remember, a stumbling old 3 story house with acres of land, an apple orchid, various berry fields, gardens with a mix of exotic and staid flower beds, grape vines and I could never forget the gnarling but luxurious butternut trees as I once again find myself glowering, looking around the ground for those stubby nuts. "

This is way too long. Try breaking it down into a few sentences.

Also, as moptop said, some of the wording is a bit off, which (for me anyway) made it difficult to read, and I found i had to reread over things. (please do not view this as terribly negative. Your vocabulary is fantastic for someone who's first language is not English. Most English speakers do not have as wide a vocabulary.)

One of the biggest helps that I've found while writing is to have a dictionary near by to look up words in. www.dictionary.com is a wonderful tool.

I do so want to know what is upstairs as well!