<![CDATA[DIY Home and Farm - Blog]]>Fri, 24 Oct 2025 02:30:09 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[Hobby Farm Plot Plan]]>Mon, 01 Sep 2014 03:05:13 GMThttp://www.diyhomeandfarm.com/blog/hobby-farm-plot-plan
The layout of your farm is one of the most important decisions you will make.  Stephen Covey  said it best, "Begin with the end in mind".  We found it valuable to take a sheet of graph paper and pre-plan our home site and locations of outbuildings.  This plan affects all future land use issues on your place. Some of the factors that should be considered are the following;
  • Use  e.g. home site, yard, pastures (including rotation),dry lot, arena, crops, etc.
  • Safety (animal containment is important for their safety and your liability)
  • Privacy 
  • Outbuildings (size, use, and location)
  • Maintenance (the lower the better)
  • Irrigation source (important to those of us who live in the West)
  • Well/Septic location (truck access to well and septic locations should be maintained for future service)
On our small place, I knew that I wanted a small yard.  We had to contain the pooches and keep pastures as large as possible. Why mow when your animals can graze?  This saves on my feed bill too. A quick drag of the pasture preps it for a family baseball or football game. We wanted the barn further from the house to keep the flies away from the back patio. I wanted to see the stall runs from the house (not blocked by barn) to be able to check on our animal's welfare from the kitchen window.  On our family farm, every one pitches in. I wanted to make sure that the horses couldn't escape the property while being led from the barn to the pasture. I accomplished this by having a perimeter fence. As long as we close our gates, if a fresh horse gets away, just let them go and catch 'em again. I've seen people get dragged by a horse while holding on to a lead rope. "Don't be a hero" is what I tell the family when handling livestock. 
Below are three plot plans old and new. 
Tips:
If building new, a plot plan is part of your building permit and septic system application. Make copies and start planning.
Don't forget the dry lot. Taking the horses off of the pasture allows for regeneration and helps you manage your livestock's weight.  
Check out the layouts below and read the caption for more details.
]]><![CDATA[Welcome to DIY Home and Farm]]>Wed, 27 Aug 2014 03:15:34 GMThttp://www.diyhomeandfarm.com/blog/welcome-to-diy-home-and-farmWelcome to my inaugural blog post intended to share information and techniques used in our many Do It Yourself (DIY) projects. Living on a hobby farm gives you all the usual home repair and maintenance projects with the addition of looking out for your animals and landscape maintenance on a large scale. If your projects have included working on an initial poor design, fixing past sloppy workmanship, worn-out parts, or needing something new, then join me on this blog to save yourself the time and effort I have already spent learning this stuff.
In this blog, I tap the knowledge of family, friends, craftsmen, and specialists in many areas who have become my prized resources and share this with you. I will also share the mistakes I've made in hopes to save you that frustration. We have done some large projects and tons of small ones but like our children, our land didn't come with an owner's manual. Having been in the building industry for many years, I know that products and methods change over time and we can’t know it all. That’s why I keep my  “go to” pro list and I am not afraid to use it. Sometimes that tactic actually works!
I envision this place being like an e-friend where you can get inspiration and maybe a few ideas to help make your project better.   If you are another DIYer or hobby farmer, please join me for my weekly posts of projects and hopefully a laugh or two.  

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