How long you been in the game?

[HawkinsHollow]

I have dreamt about owning land, a tractor, some food plots, animals for most of my adult life. In November of 2017 the dream came true when I bought 14 acres in NW Georgia. It's rough, overgrown, got a few tires and a little junk BUT IT'S MINE!!! Now my dreams consist of shaping this land into a tranquil oasis for me and mine to enjoy for the rest of our lives. This spring I bought a tractor to help me realize these dreams. How long have y'all been in the game? (land ownership/tractor ownership) How long did it take for you to get your land to the point you felt good about it? Pitfalls? Triumphs?

For me the first 6 months was slow going, there was quite a bit of junk up there from previous owners (this is the south after all). Cleaning all that up took 3 months of weekend work, after that I dropped a 40' shipping container to make into storage/living space (April 2018). The container is getting there, still a ways to go. Last summer of my 14 acres I had about 1/2 acre that was not complete jungle because I didn't have a tractor to keep it knocked back. This spring with the addition of a tractor I have made some serious strides towards getting my land to where I can use nice portions of it. I am excited what the future holds, I am a long way from it but I have a vision and it is beautiful and exciting. I'm 44 so I hopefully have a little while left to get it there. How old are you.

I'd love to hear your stories...

 

[RUSTBUCKET BRONCO]

Nice idea for a topic.....I'll bite. About 20 years ago the wife and I Purchased 15 acres on a dead end road surrounded by timber company property. It took me 10 years before I bought my tractor. My place is a jungle on a pretty good sloop in areas. We realized the we didn't have the money to get big machinery so it would be a slow progress cleaning the place up by hand. it took awhile to clear the fence line and install new electric fence but once it was cleared we could let the goats do most of the work from there on the steep parts. anyway we aren't in a hurry and it always gives us something to do. Turning 53 this august

 

[JasperFrank]

Lets see, uhm 25 years? Raw Land. Took me 8 yrs to personally build the house - all phases. Lived in a trailer during those 8 years.
Bought the tractor in 1995. Didn't really get to a level of just maintenance till 2010. Its a strange property. Nothing but rocks under three inches of clay. 12 straight years of just removing outcropping rocks so I could get to something resembling a level lawn. I've probably added 4000 cubic yards of "soil." I'm not complaining, this is exactly what I wanted to do in life. Its been, and continues to be, a wonderful experience.

 

[oosik]

My 80 acres was part of a 1892 - 360 acre homestead. My father purchased this land in 1939. We moved down from Alaska and built our house in 1982. The original homesteads were given by the government in the 1890's to encourage oil exploration and land development. I don't think there is a single oil rig within 250 miles of my place here. Got more tractor oil in jugs in the back bedroom than was ever found anywhere in this area.

This land is located immediately north of an area called the Palouse. The Palouse is one of the largest wheat producing area in the world. This land I live on is called "The Scabrock". It's basically multiple layers of basaltic flow lava with a skin of dirt on top. The Scabrock area is the result of multiple outflowing of ancient Lake Missoula. It is said that many, many times a mile high wall of water washed thru this area when the ice dam holding in Lake Missoula would give way. My average soil depth, over basaltic bedrock, is six feet. It varies from zero to over fifteen feet.

We only had to have a driveway built( mile long ) when we moved here. Our current house is on the exact spot where the old homestead house was located. I had the old homestead spring encased with perforated cement rings and have drawn water from there for 38 years. No idea what the spring is capable of producing. We pumped with an 8" trash pump and surged every hour for four days, continuously, to clean out the silt & sand. It drew the water level down one half an inch during the pumping. Recovery of that half an inch was immediate once pumping ceased. In the continuous pumping for four straight days/nights - we pumped over ten million gallons cleaning and flushing the spring. All this water flowed directly into our five acre lake. Didn't make a noticeable difference in the lake level. The little five acre lake is 80 feet deep.

The house and all my out buildings are located in a four acre meadow. For 38 years I've mowed this meadow. It's almost as good as a lawn. For sure, the wild field grass is a whole lot heartier.

 

[Tomtint]

We are on 25 acres, it's not a lot by the standards here on TBN..but it's a giant piece of property where I come from. Most others in this area are 1/2 to 3 acre .. due to zoning. We have owned it for 9 years and although the privacy is really nice, I'm finding it less and less "fun" maintaining it. in the not to distant future we will be moving on from here..not sure I will do the estate property thing again.

 

[oosik]

Tom - it all depends upon how the property is set up. Here, my 80 acres is and always will be wild. Until we moved down here in 1982 - very little was done to or on this land. There wasn't even a dedicated road into the 80. The old homesteader used a cattle trail to drive his Model T to the store in Cheney. The foundation to my current house is exactly where the old homestead house was built.

I have my mile long gravel driveway that I plow snow on. I have the pump in the spring and if it needs replacement - I'll have to pay to have that done. After 32 years my septic tank failed and I had to have an entirely new system installed. Poor design of septic tank, installed in 1982.

Otherwise - anything done here on the 80 is because I WANT to do it. Makes a whole lot of difference.

The ONLY things that can see my house, outbuilding or property is - neighbors cows and the indigenous wild animals. And those who come to visit.

Up until a year ago, the closest neighbor was over four miles away. Now there is a new family right across the county road - a mile from my property.

Current zoning requires 20 acre minimum lot size. Few are willing to pay the price and move out here in the boondocks.

 

[RalphVa]

We wanted 10 to 20 acres but could not find acreage with a house to suit the wife. So, we settled on 8.5 acres west of Charlottesville (VA) with a nice, Georgian house on it. Wife didn't like the decor neither inside nor out, and roof was shot. Turned out a lot of the windows were, too. Redid the entire kitchen and cabinets in whole house, eliminated wall paper and most of carpet and painted over the chocolate trim outside with white. A couple years along, we built a "carriage house": 2 car garage in addition to 2 we already had in the house, walkup storage and concrete basement. Tractor is stored in one bay. 2013 Miata is in the other. Various implements are in the basement.

Much of the 8.5 acres is forest going down to Ivy Creek overflow area down below 100 ft vertical drop. Had a big garden down below that would grow virtually anything well until end of 2012. Aging issues forced me to give that garden up in favor of raised beds up here near the house. This year, we're clearing debris left by the tropical storm of May, 2018 that was far worse than Isabel in 2003. The tractor is invaluable in helping to move stuff around down there.

Ralph

 

[TripleR]

I was born at home on a farm, grew up row cropping, raising Black Angus cattle, couple of goats, rabbits, chickens and Guinea fowl. One brother joined the Navy then DOD. My remaining brother and I had regular jobs and quit farming; too much time too little money. We kept the land and both brothers now live out there. Wife and I had a house built on one of our other farms when the rules on where I had to live changed. 300+ acres about 120 woods, 8 acre pond. My oldest son is living on another farm four miles away. My father in law bought the last two when he "retired". We all worked together putting in the ponds, stocked them, reforested about 80 acres in deciduois and conniferous trees as well as native grasses and wildlife cover. Dad passed away in 1993 and father in law who was like a father to me (long story)

We started out with 130 acres and one very well worn Ford NAA and now have 500+ acres and nine tractors, I think.

You will find there is no end to things you want to improve.

 

[shooterdon]

Moved to the country on 20 acres, 6 1/2 years ago. Got an old JD 855 last year and traded for the LS XR 4140 a month ago.

Added a large pond with waterfall, patio and fire pit. Also put in a 100 yard range. First food plot went in last year. Going to add some chestnut and apple trees.

Have about 2-3 acres of saplings to clear and then we should be done with property enhancements.

 

[Rustyiron]

I spent years building houses in sub divisions. They were not too fancy in the late 80's but jammed right up against each other. As time passed the got real fancy and very expensive but still jammed up with neighbors house's out each window on every side of the house within hearing distance of a normal conversation. From the start (before I owned a home) I said that I'd rather have a trailer on 10ac. than live in one of these houses (that eventually paid for my acreage) :laughing:
Our first place was an old farmhouse on 9ac. The 2nd was 128ac in another old farm house and now we're on over 700ac and built our house. The first tractor came in on property 1 when it became possible in our budget. Never looked back.:thumbsup: