Seven years, one fence post at a time.
We didn't inherit this. We built it, badly at first, then better. Here's the whole thing, year by year.
- Year one
Bare land and a borrowed truck
We bought a piece of land with a slope we hadn't noticed, a wind we definitely hadn't noticed, and no fence. The first thing we built was wrong. The second thing was better. We learned where the water went in spring by watching it go there.
- Year two
Six hens and a very optimistic coop
Chickens first, because everyone says chickens first, and everyone is right. We lost one to a fox and rebuilt the coop with hardware cloth and a buried skirt. Nothing has gotten in since. We started a garden the same spring, and fenced it after the deer found it.
- Year three
The goats arrive (and leave, and come back)
Two goats taught us what a fence is for. We rebuilt a quarter mile of it in one long weekend with a rented post pounder, which is the weekend we realised other people would pay to borrow a post pounder and someone who knows how to run it.
- Year four
The first horse
A run-in shelter went up in August, facing away from the wind this time. The horse came in September. A miniature horse came in October, because a horse alone is an anxious horse. We carried water buckets through one winter and installed a frost-free hydrant the next summer.
- Year five
Trees, drainage, and the yard finally looks like a yard
We planted a shelterbelt we won't fully enjoy for fifteen years and fixed the driveway that flooded every April. Neighbours started asking how we did it. Then they started asking if we'd do it for them.
- Year six
The barn
Stalls, a tack room, a dry aisle for the farrier. We built it in a summer with help from the same friends we'd helped the year before. It turns out that's how this works.
- Year seven
Hoof n' Around
A full stable, a working ranch, and a phone that rings with people asking the same questions we asked seven years ago. So we made it official. Hoof n' Around Stables & Landscaping exists to get you to year seven faster than we got there.
Start your own chapter one
This isn't a sales call. It's a conversation about your land, your animals and your first season. Bring your questions; we'll bring seven years of mistakes you don't have to make.