The Road So Far

Before we start I want to offer a disclaimer: I tried this blogging thing off and on through collage and never was able to make it a habit.  However, I want to chronicle the changes we make to our farm and our lives over the next few years.  I have no idea how often I will post or what I will talk about.  I am going to try to post as we finish any major project or reach any milestone.

Happy Family: My Dad, Me and the Ponies!!



Where to begin... We have been in our new house for a little over a month and here is the state of things.  We own a 1600 sq ft 3 bed 2 bath ranch built in 1986.  It has a 2 stall barn and 5 acres.  It have not been lived in for 18 month and was a rental without horses for at least 10 years before that.  So things are ... interesting at best.

Just focusing on the issues outside the house this is what we started with.
This muddy sink hole was the barn.

Yay more MUD!

Its an ocean of mud!

I promise under that green is the rest of a very well built gravel driveway!

My S.O. looking like a hunchback trying to prop open the rotten gate.

This is a 1/2 acre field, I promise.

Horses can be turned out on 5 ft tall raspberry vines, RIGHT?


It was just gross!  SOOO..
We have cleared the front 1.5 acres.
We redid the barn's base and matted the aisle and stalls.
We spread 18 tonnes of stone dust by hand in the horses sacrifice paddock to create a mud free zone. Rewired all the lights in the barn and tack and feed shed.
Hung fans and new outlets.
Created a wash bay for the horses.
Removed rotten fence and replaced with temporary fence to create a small turn out.
Cleared a trail through the back 3 acres to connect the front of the farm to the ride-able power line access road in the back.
Cleared and limbed trees to open up space for an arena.

And now we have:

A new front gate to allow the horses to graze on our only grass.

Cleared land with safe and attractive fencing.

Cleared land!!  There was level dirt under all that over growth!

A nice shady spot for horses to relax in the afternoon!  Soon to be seeded.


I know it is dark but this is clean happy barn!

Even tiny sausage shaped dogs like clean barns!


Still to Do:
1. Have than gently scraped and graded to remove debris from clearing.
2. Run temp fence to divide pasture in 2
3. Fix perimeter fence in middle field
4. Seed 1/2 pasture
5. Buy hay feeder
6. Fix side of shed to use as hay storage
7. Spread more stone dust
And more that we have not even thought of yet.

But this view makes it all TOTALLY WORTH IT!

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