What was the First Thing You Did on Your New Homestead?

Signed the papers Christmas Eve, 2006. By 11:30 we were out with ax and saw, clearing for the driveway. Been plodding along ever since.

Bought chicks the first day and started them in the bathtub.

Actually, that Deck was the first thing that got built "After we moved
in!"
Before we moved in", 2 weeks before, we moved in, we put up a yard fence, for our 2 Dobermans. We made the yard 130' x 130'. The ends of the fence adjoin the two ends of the house. so, it's a pretty big dog-yard. It is just for "turn-out". They are basically indoor dogs. And they love to spend their time close to their Humans.
And the yard fence also surrounds the house and a small garage with a lean-to, added on the side, as well as a 12x16' mini-barn.

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Be Intense, always. But always take the time to
Smell the Roses, give a Hug, Really Listen, or
Jump to Defend your Friends & What you Believe in.
'Til later, Have Fun,
Old John

Built a chicken house and started a garden where the previous owners had a garden. Note to self: That was stupid. It was one of the worse places on the property and totally stripped of top soil.

Fast forward: Hauled in tons and tons of free leaf mulch. Literally, by the 18 wheeler load. Today we have great soil in that area. The rest of the place.....not so much. The chickens are working on it, but super hard red clay just needs lots and lots of organic matter.

We had our driveway repaired and kept the dozer man busy for the next month clearing pasture.

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If you think an expert is expensive, wait until you hire an amateur.

We planted two apple trees and a peach tree.

First thing I did was brush hog! It hadn't been done in over a year!

Can't answer that. Great Grandparents bought the place in 1906, I wasn't born till 1954. First thing my dad tells me I did was hammer a bunch of nail in the side of the barn when I was about 4. I can still see the marks I made.

Geen

The first thing I did was to dig a hole at a spring, so I could dip water from it, we then built a platform for the tent, and started digging footings.

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Vicker
If you're born to hang, you'll never drown.

I put up curtains ... just to realize I had no need for them. Then I set about putting the wood stove back in working order - much better use f my time.

I received my keys 2 days before Christmas. It was my sons and I Christmas present.

First thing I ripped out the carpets to reveal beautiful hardwood floors to match the trim and cleaned the house out. It was packed with stuff. We went up in the woods and cut a tree and decorated it. Was the best feeling ever!

After that we cleaned cleaned etc. Replaced roof, wiring, plumbing , walls. Toilet, leveled house, fixed furnace etc etc. Cleaned barns, cleaned 9 huge pastures of old Barbed wire. Tore down broken down barns Hmm. I could go on forever here. Just me doing the work. I didn't know anyone. I moved 30 minutes from my hometown.

First animals were chickens and a pony. Within 3 years we had the hay fields producing and 12 horse. We did a lot of rescue. Not to keep, but rehab and rehome.

We started from un-developed land so the very first thing was a driveway cut in from the county road. Then cut a path to where we picked out a homesite and called the elect co-op then a well. Fenced as time went on. First home was a 8X8 wooden storage shed. We now have a pretty comfortable home, two metal car sheds, nice greenhouse, and all the luxuries that town folks take for granted, except for a tv dish (we still don't have the time for much tv). We have been working on this place since 1980 and have it just about the way we need it. The thing is, you have to go slow and pay as you go so at retirement time you are debt free and really enjoy your time.

I guess the first thing that I will be doing in a week and a half after the closing (12/31/14) is clearing a spot for driveway and house. Of course, that means removing the two feet of snow first and cutting trees in the way first

As soon as we purchased the farm, I started planting fruit and nut trees and grape vines. Since, I knew it would be at least 12 years before we would move here, I knew that it would take several years for them to mature and start to produce. Next, purchased my honey bees. It was a prefect combination!..Then we started cleaning up, hauling out 90yrs of trash, rotten fencing, tearing down falling in builds/ barns.

Our house was a repo, sitting empty for 1 1/2 years, busted pipes and broken into. It wouldn't pass VA inspection, so before we even closed we'd re-roofed half, fixed the garage door, re-plumbed the well house, and pumped the septic. We were about $3000 out of pocket before we even signed the papers. Then, I tore out sheetrock to fix the broken plumbing in the north walls, and had the carpet cleaned.

Once in, put up 1500' of fence for the back yard, and tilled a garden (yes, 50% rocks), and planted 140 trees. 14 years later and still working on the place.

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http://www.ozarktubs.com
"The Big Load Washtub"

I could just about quote Ozarks Tom and say "Me Too". Our place was a foreclosure that somehow or another the owner had managed to get a mortgage on the place for $140K and the house was to the point that it looked like it needed bulldozing and start over. We had looked at it a year earlier and declined but when the broker we had talked to called and said the price was dropped to the value of the land we made a cash offer and signed a week later.

When we took a closer look at the guts of the house we decided we could salvage it with a lot of grunt labor and way less expense than starting over. We literally gutted the house of everrything including windows, all fixtures cabinets, tubs, carport and even the majority of drywall to be able to seal it up and make certain we weren't wasting our time. That was a year and a half ago and even though we only get out there a few days a month, we are at the point where the flooring in the last remaining room is all that is left. The fence will be next after we get 20 years worth of trash hauled off and ready to move in this summer.

How do people live that way?????

We got the keys four months ago and the first thing I did was rip out the dodgy kitchen (its amazing it was standing, they never finished the kitchen renovation and chucked in what they could find - it wasnt hard to tell) and replaced it. Finally have my beautiful double bowl apron sink. Im in love!

Now that Im at home full time were hoping to get the gardens going, itll be interesting to see how much we can squeeze into a small space (:

Demolished a 44 year old single-wide, leaving a handmade stone chimney intact. Cleaned out the loft and stalls and bedrooms of a 45x60 ft five stall barn. Brought in several loads of gravel for the driveway and erected a rail fence at the entrance. Put up bluebird houses, planted blueberries. Next will use forestry mulcher to clear a terraced area for an orchard and start a market garden and a blackberry patch.

Well when I first got to my property I put in a house to live in, got tired of sleeping in the back of the truck, then built a barn, next step was to build garden boxes I build 12 of them 4x12 then I turned over about 20x40 area for planting corn, squash, mellons, stuff like that, then planted trees, built a chicken house. Then come the flower beds. I'm always adding something and building fences. I set on 231 acres about 50 in fields the rest is woods and ridges with trails that go down in the hollows. Check my place out. Here I run my business on the internet and have for years that is how I have what I have. People are asking me everyday how I did it and be debt free, finally I put it on my blog. In my humble opinion a homestead is the way to go weather it's 2 acres or 200. Your goal should be do it debt free if at all possible. Sorry for rambling.

planted 8 apple trees, 20 raspberry bushes, and laid down 5 tons of lime on my 5 acres, gutted the house... waiting for spring to finish and planted winter rye and hairy vetch in the fall. also laying down rock phosphate and cover crops in spring.