Through this blog I will document my experiences as a gentleman farmer in Connecticut and everything that it entails. I bought my farm back in 1999 in a small town in Eastern CT. I originally purchased 10 acres with a small Cape style house and an old barn. The small house dated back to the 1890's and originally was a bunk house for the giant farm that once encompassed the property. The barn on the property dates back to around the same time.
When I moved in, the barn had been set up for Oxen. The half loft was low, about 6 feet from the floor. I was going to use it for horses so I had to raise the loft up. I also added a large three stall lean-to off the back and one on the right side. I more than doubled the size of the barn to accommodate my 4 horses at the time.
There was also a smaller outbuilding, we called the "red shed". Sections of it had a concrete floor but the main section had a dirt floor, which the previous owners had laid down a bunch of carpet remnants. When I was re-doing the barn, I had pulled up some heavy duty pallets that were used for the oxen to stand on. These pallets were bigger than normal and did not have gaps. I arranged them on the floor of the red shed as a base for the floor. I was able to cover the entire dirt floor section with these pallets. I then bought 4x8 sheathing and screwed them to the pallets which locked them all together. It gave me a pretty decent floor. This became my workshop. Of course this quickly became too small and I proposed to my wife to built a larger barn on an existing concrete foundation. There are three existing foundations on the property. There is a fourth one but it was so broken up from time, it can no longer be used.
After some hemming and hawing, my wife agreed to my new barn idea. I had never built a post and beam barn in my life. But, I wanted to show my parents and myself that I could build something by myself with little help.
When I moved in, the barn had been set up for Oxen. The half loft was low, about 6 feet from the floor. I was going to use it for horses so I had to raise the loft up. I also added a large three stall lean-to off the back and one on the right side. I more than doubled the size of the barn to accommodate my 4 horses at the time.
There was also a smaller outbuilding, we called the "red shed". Sections of it had a concrete floor but the main section had a dirt floor, which the previous owners had laid down a bunch of carpet remnants. When I was re-doing the barn, I had pulled up some heavy duty pallets that were used for the oxen to stand on. These pallets were bigger than normal and did not have gaps. I arranged them on the floor of the red shed as a base for the floor. I was able to cover the entire dirt floor section with these pallets. I then bought 4x8 sheathing and screwed them to the pallets which locked them all together. It gave me a pretty decent floor. This became my workshop. Of course this quickly became too small and I proposed to my wife to built a larger barn on an existing concrete foundation. There are three existing foundations on the property. There is a fourth one but it was so broken up from time, it can no longer be used.
After some hemming and hawing, my wife agreed to my new barn idea. I had never built a post and beam barn in my life. But, I wanted to show my parents and myself that I could build something by myself with little help.
Once I catch you up on the progression my farm took, I will talk about recent activities here and my plans for the future. I will also look at interesting new ideas for small farms. My goal is to be as self-sufficient as possible. - wf -
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