Hello Frens! Welcome to the Natural Life!
Last time we talked about how to pick a good spot to build your dream homestead. Starting the Natural Life.
Now, Let’s assume that you found your perfect place, it’s like you voted for Pedro, and all of your wildest dreams came true. What’s next? Good question, lets walk down this trail a little ways and see where it goes.
Today we’ll talk about how to get your farm going. I’m going to give you beginner farm autist list. Later, we’ll have the Turbo Autist list for each of these topics and much more.
NOTE: I know when you see this list, you are going to say, where are the animals, greenhouses, crops, and pastures. All of that stuff will come, but in order to get there, you have to start with the basics. Trust me.
Here’s an example:
Your new homestead property came with a small fenced in area so you went straight out and bought a mini horse, we’ll call her Annie because you had one growing up. The next day you go outside and you start looking around and you see her almost a half a mile away in another pasture (not yours). You have no way to get to her except by foot so you start walking. If you had a side by side you could get a bucket of feed and ride over and probably get her back in no time. When you finally get Annie back in her pen, you realize you don’t have any way to fix the fence where she got out, there was a section of fence that a tree limb had fallen on and she was able to jump over it.
Your neighbor notices the action and comes over to see what’s going on. He sees that you are in a pickle so he goes back home and in a few minutes you see him driving over on a red side by side. He’s got a chainsaw and some other tools in the back. He gets off and cuts the tree limb from the tree and cuts it up into smaller pieces and out of the way in a matter of minutes. Then he gets out his tool pouch with a hammer and some fence staples and fixes the fence up in no time. All you can do is thank him for helping you out so quickly and easily.
This is just one of a thousand issues you will probably run into on a farm. When you are in the middle of a situation where an animal is lost, or something is broken, you tend to panic buy and spend a lot of money just to get the problem solved. It’s better to take the first year slow and set yourself up for success on the farm. Here is the list of what you should focus on first:
Housing: If you don’t already have a place to live on the homestead that will be priority number one. You could technically have a homestead that you commute to, but I would not recommend this. You will end up being gone for too long leaving your animals, plants, and dreams to wither and die. In order to be successful at this type of lifestyle you have to be involved daily, which is why you will need a place to sleep and live when you’re not outside building your paradise.
Shed/Barn: With housing out of the way, you can focus on your work. To do any type of work you will need tools, all kinds. These tools need a home. You can get by for a while using a garage, or room in the house, but it will drive you crazy because every time you need a certain tool, it will be back at the house, never where you need it. You’re also going to need outdoor tools like lawn mowers, golf carts, atv’s, tractors, and millions of other things that are big, and need to be protected from rain/elements. My suggestion would be to build a shed first, if you don’t already have one. I built mine in a couple weeks and it’s not as hard as you think. I can give more information on building sheds later if you guys are interested. If you decide to pay someone to build you a shed, I would build a shed/barn/shop. You’ll want something with storage for your stuff, and added area to keep hay/animals, as well as an area with a concrete pad so that you can work on equipment out of the dirt. Getting all of this built at the same time will actually save money, if you build them all separate.
Truck - you will need a truck on the farm. There just isn’t any way around it. You’re probably going to want to have a truck as your daily driver, and then a “Farm Truck” as well. The farm truck will need to have a bigger towing capacity, so you probably won’t want it to be your daily driver. I used an SUV for a while, and when I finally bought a truck, I looked back and asked what was I thinking? With a truck you can throw anything in the back… dead deer, garbage can, gas cans, etc and you don’t have to worry about it messing up or stinking up your ride. Plus a truck will have a ball hitch and allow you to pull trailers, campers, and whatever else you might want to. I would look for the best deal you can find, on what fits your budget. I go with Toyota since they are almost indestructible, easy to work on, and very reliable. I also recommend buying a truck with four wheel drive. You may only use it once, but that one time you use it, you will be glad you had it, TRUST ME! Where I live it rains basically the whole winter so you will get stuck in grass, you gotta have a fo wheel drive son! This goes for all vehicles on the farm, ATV’s, UTV’s, all of them really need to have four wheel drive.
Trailer - You will need what is called a utility trailer. These are trailers that allow you to haul anything, they make them in all sizes and they are extremely useful to have on a small farm. Make sure you get one that is 6 feet wide so you can fit most anything. This trailer isn’t going to haul a tractor, but it will pull your lawn mower home from the dealer, your atv to the trails, and a load of sand and bricks back home.
Fourwheeler(s) - These are a must have out in the country. You don’t have to have a big fancy one. I don’t have anything nice, its an old honda I paid $600 for. They are super fun to take a break and go for a ride. They are good to check the perimeter of your property quickly. Also helpful to find lost animals, or track a deer you missed because you’re a lousy shot lol! I go with Honda, because they are very reliable, almost indestructible, and easy to work on. You can bring a friend along to ride with you on a fourwheeler, but it’s not very cool looking with another dude riding right behind you, this is where a side by side comes in…
Side by Side/Golf Cart - These are very useful on the farm since you will need to carry stuff in the back, and take people with you. These vehicles help you to get work done, but they can be super expensive. The one we have is probably the cheapest you will find, it’s a land master and its made in the USA down in Louisiana. This thing doesn’t have all the bells and whistles, but it has a dump bed and gets us around the farm. DYOR and get something in your budget. They make electric off road golf carts, but they have to be charged which can be a pain. It’s nice that they are quiet so you can sneak around your property. We like having a gas engine since it’s easy to keep fuel and you are never stuck without a charge.
Lawn Equipment - Grass is always growing where I live, so you will need a lawn mower of some type, paying someone to cut your grass is not an option out here on the homestead unless you want to pay your kids to do it. I suggest getting a used zero turn mower, something that runs, but isn’t too expensive, this will give you an idea of what you really want. Zero turns are so much more efficient than lawn tractors, please don’t buy a lawn tractor, you will waste so much time, which is valuable right!? I bought a used zero turn Gravely for $1200 and it was perfect to figure out what size lawnmower I really needed. I later stepped up to a mid line Gravely 60”, this thing will cut some grass and it wasn’t all that expensive, I got it with 0% financing. You’re going to need a weed eater, I just buy cheap ones from Tractor Supply, but I always get the 2 year extended plan, if I crank it one day and it won’t start up, just take it back and get a new one! There are many other tools you will want/need, but these will get you going.
Tractor - Yes you will need one of these. We went a couple of years without one until there was just no way around it. The biggest thing you will need a tractor for is pasture/trail mantenence (bush hogging), and tree clean up. In fact, if you check out my stories on twitter you’ll see the value tractors bring. Due to the price of tractors you will have to find one that fits your budget. There are several things to consider when looking for a tractor, but, again, I can go into detail later on the different setups and what you want to look for.
That’s all for now, next time I’m going to go over everything I have going on at my farm and what I have planned. I’ll go over what is good, what sucks, and what you definitely should not do.
I’ll holler at ya’ll later.
I loved this post. I like how you are going by layers of priorities. Good work!