Butterball Gets His Own Farm

We closed on 9.6 acres outside of Williston a few days ago. It is essentially vacant - there is a dilapidated mobile home that we will have removed. And there are a bunch of trusses that we will also have removed. 

Trusses do make a nice vantage point to sit on and contemplate life 

But other than that, it is vacant. It is moderately heavily treed- none of the trees are that impressive, I'm guessing it was clear cut 50-60 years ago when the neighborhood was established. It is on a COUNTY MAINTAINED dirt road that dead ends with a loop around several properties, including our new one. I am so excited to be somewhere quiet. The farms where I've boarded the ponies have all been quiet, but I live off a main road and it is NOT quiet and is only going to get more and more trafficky as the area continues to grow and expand. So a county maintained dirt road is PERFECT. We will take so many hacks. There are also several groomed arenas within hacking distance... I'm definitely going to try to befriend those folks and ask about bartering or paying to come school in their arenas sometimes... 

The plan is to get to know the property over the next year or two. 

Hello friend! 

Then we will start clearing small parts to build an enclosed outbuilding to store equipment and various other stuffs, maybe including feed/hay and tack; then fence 2-3 pastures; then build a house. My thought is to do 2 x 2-3 acre pastures and then maybe a 1 acre sacrifice type area. I think I want to just do lean-tos spanning the pasture fences that could have gates closed if need be to stall. I don't want to clean stalls. And my lovely husband certainly won't be cleaning stalls when I go out of town. But being able to close in if need be would be nice. 

So those of you with horses at home or horses that you take care of 24/7, what are your tips/tricks to make things as low maintenance as possible? I'm thinking electric for the interior fence lines and some carefully planned lime rock in the high traffic areas around feed tubs and gates. Also, definitely planning to acquire a hay hut or something similar for supplementing hay from a round bale in the winter months. Then having some sort of fans in the shelter area would be perfect. I would like to minimize hoses, so carefully planning plumbing and electric is also on the agenda. 

Someone asked if I had looked at house plans. No, but I've definitely been sketching out pasture layouts...