Friend’s don’t let friends build barns without making sure the ground is level first.
Or, in my case, they just call Dale Devore, who casually shows up with a machine worth more than my entire house like it’s no big deal.
Meanwhile, I’m standing there with a shovel and a tape measure thinking, “Yeah… I was close.”
People ask me all the time, “How’s the farm coming?”
Buddy… buying a farm is one thing.
Building a farm from scratch is like being handed the blueprints to Rome on Day One.
Where do you even start?
Roads?
Fencing?
Water?
Electric?
A barn?
A driveway?
Nah…
Goats it is.
Everyone loves to tell me they grew up on a farm.
Good for you.
That means somebody before you already survived all the expensive mistakes. Your parents and grandparents built the infrastructure. They figured out drainage, fence lines, barns, gates, and where not to put things.
I’m figuring all that out in real time after working a full day behind a desk.
Then I come home to become a project manager, purchasing department, fence builder, labor coordinator, gravel estimator, accountant, and occasional unpaid stuntman.
Every day starts with a plan.
Every evening ends with me learning there were twelve things I should’ve known before I started.
The good news?
Ohio people are something special.
I’ve met complete strangers who have shown up with equipment, knowledge, and a willingness to help because they know what it’s like to build something from nothing.
So thanks again to Dale for saving me from building a barn that would’ve had more lean than a country song.
One project at a time.
Rome wasn’t built in a day…
But apparently it started with goats. 🐐🚜
Dispatches like this one are being collected in What The F(arm): Sixty Dispatches from an Unqualified Ohio Farmer — $40, half of which turns straight into hay for the horses, the mini donkey, and the baby goats. The presses roll when 100 people pre-order.