Friends Don’t Let Friends Build Barns on Crooked Ground

Friends Don’t Let Friends Build Barns on Crooked Ground

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.”

Dale and the machine worth more than my house

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. 🐐🚜


Want farm chaos delivered to your actual mailbox? That’s the book — signed, and yes, it’s real. Or just toss hay money in the jar — the fur and feather babies vote yes.


Fall further down the hole

Six buckets of regret. Pick your poison.

The Origin Story — browse these posts
The Animals — browse these posts
The Property Is Trying to Kill Me — browse these posts
Hired Help and Hardware — browse these posts
Rural Community SOS — browse these posts
Book Teasers — browse these posts