Two years ago, I began establishing myself in this far corner of Russell county. I spent nights building my own 4 acre field fence.
Not my idea of fun.
After moving into their miniaturized version of their former 100 acre field, my horses and oxen peacefully coexisted, oh, two months. Ingrates! Plan B: I was offered a patch of open ground, wherever I could find it. The closest and largest was 1.5 miles from my house. The field I chose hadn't been bush hogged in years, fifteen foot tall trees carpeted my future 13 acre field. But, I saw the potential.
I bush hogged, sprayed, limed and fertilized, then replanted.
As I was still not finished paying off the first fencing project and all the current fertilizer and herbicides, I opted for a lesser expensive option: electric fencing.
A choice I still regret... But, my three horses were happy.
I saved up some more and Dad helped me build a run-in shelter for them.
It was perfect.
Until a pack of wild dogs entered the pasture and killed Bella.
The remaining two horses were pulled out and the Boonies Pasture became a ghost town... ...until a couple of months ago when I realized that we needed more grazable land for the farm's 11 horses. With my $4000 already invested, the farm sprang for field fence and labor... The Boonies was on the way to becoming a Boom Town again.
With a little bit of mechanical help prepping the new fence lines and bush hogging 6 months of neglected grass.
But most of it was day after day of manual toil in 100'F heat indices temperatures.
Flynn and I split all the tasks for the first 2000' feet of fence while Tommy kept everything at the barn going by himself.
By the last 1/4 mile, we called in for backup. Mayday, mayday...
Tommy come fence with us!!!
Not this kind of fencing... This kind:
9 sections of fence spliced together.
We'll all have nightmares of crimping splicers.
Our 4x4 farm truck valiantly stretched 14 sections of fence (a square pasture with 4 corners would've been asking too much).
At times, the dogs came to lend moral support.
It takes a village.
And two great guys to help me resurrect The Boonies. Tip of the hat to Farm Team, once again.
Baked, delirious, but finished! Video of our maiden horse drive on August 26th to shuttle the horses the 1.25 miles to and fro from the stables. There's no way you can enjoy it as much as we did, but please try.
Large screen and with volume recommended.
Until next time from the most beautiful pasture on Earth.
