Hobby Farming 101

 Hello, reader!



Fox Point Farm is 27 acres in west-central Minnesota. The property was originally developed in 2004, when the house was built; the barn was added a few years later. The farm came to my husband and I in 2017. While advertised as "turn key" we moved in and discovered it, like many farms... needed some work. Here's the run down on what we've been up to for the past few years:

  • Redoing the existing barn interior to create 5 good sized stalls, with mats, and a functional storage area
  • Adding on to the three sided hay storage building to double it's capacity
  • The pasture and hay field project:

    • Remove 100% of the previous fencing
    • Straighten existing sacrifice paddock fencing and re-do with safer materials
    • Till, roll and re-plant  all but 1 of the pre-existing pastures, along with the field that was planted in soy beans when we purchased the farm to put it into hay
    • Fence 2 pastures out of the new growth; re-do the fencing on the only remaining original pasture and set up for rotational grazing.
    • Along with tilling, rolling and re-planting the pastures, we also put the previous soybean field back into alfalfa/grass mix hay
  • 1500+ feet of drain tile installed to move water on the riding arena, pasture and "back back" (then yard, soon to become a 4th pasture) 
  • Unlock the standing water puzzle of the property, and how to take care of it - a semi-trash pump and lots of hose. 
  • Battling pocket gophers, daily, weekly and monthly
  • Redoing all of the previous poly rope (Electrobraid and generic versions) fence into tape and polywire combination


These are the heavy hitters I can think of, but like any farm, it's been a lot of work, and a huge learning curve for a couple who grew up in the suburbs. I felt, and still feel, a certain amount of frustration because there aren't a lot of people out there talking about the topics that I needed information on. Now that life is getting a bit more manageable, I figure I'll spend some time on rainy and snowy days sharing information here. Content may be slow, but I am happy to talk about my experience with nearly anything, and hope that someone finds it useful. 

So... here we go? 

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