You'll Never Believe What Happened When I Bought an Abandoned but Wonderful Farm
Table of Contents
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What Happened When I Bought an Abandoned Farm
Why I Bought the Farm
I was looking for an investment when this land came up for sale and ended up buying it site unseen just because it touched my family’s farmland. Really, I wasn’t planning on visiting very often or doing much with it.
But during my first trip to the land, I fell in love with the little farm! I knew I had purchased 40 acres of farmland, but I didn’t realize that it came with a magical view, an adorable pond, two old barns, a garden plot, some giant oak trees, beautiful pasture, untamed woods, and a cabin! Soon I realized that I would be spending time there, and the ideas and plans started flowing!
Luckily, my boyfriend loved the land too! And my dad already had the farm equipment and expertise to make my farm dreams come true!
Read on to find out what happened when I bought an abandoned farm, take a virtual tour of the farm, and find out my plans for it!
The Farm's Location
The farm is in Poughkeepsie, a tiny little place in Northeast Arkansas on the Ozark Plateau. It’s so small the roads aren’t paved, and there isn’t even a general store!
My mom’s family has been living and farming in Poughkeepsie for over 100 years. She grew up spending summers in Poughkeepsie visiting her aunt and grandparents.
When I was growing up, we continued the tradition and spent our holidays and free weekends there visiting the little country church where my grandparents and my mom’s aunt attended and hanging out on her aunt’s farm. My grandparents didn’t live there but owned land in Poughkeepsie as well.
I have so many fond memories of summer days spent running through the fields, swimming in the creek, feeding the cows, and cooking in my aunt’s kitchen. We ate a lot of chocolate gravy and waffles around her kitchen table!
Eventually, my parents bought their own farm in the area.
My family history and my own memories made the farm’s location incredibly special to me.
Work to Do on the Farm
Trash
I told you the farm was abandoned, and that might not be entirely true. It has seen a string of renters and owners (some that lived too far away to visit often) but no one to stay for long and love it like it needed to be loved!
We spent the fall and winter cleaning it up, and we still aren’t done! We’ve burned a pile of rotten wood and paper taller than me, carried off loads of scrap metal, hauled off dump trailers full of large garbage, and filled many, many black trash bags full of small bits of trash.
I was most intrigued by the toilets. Yep, the toilets. There were so many! I don’t know how that many potties could have possibly collected in one spot. There were whole toilets, half toilets, broken toilets. And there were so many toilet colors! We also found deep freezers, refrigerators, and a barber’s chair.
Fencing
Unfortunately, most of the fencing had to go in the trash pile as well. There was twisted barbed wire and broken wire and not much that could keep an animal inside. Many of the posts were rotten and had to go on the burn pile. Replacing all of that will be a task for next spring!
Garden
Structures
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- pasture full of trash
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- trash in barn
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- barnyard trash
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- bonfire
The Hay Barn
The old hay barn is one of the first things I fell in love with on the barn. Isn’t it adorable?!
It’s leaning a bit now, is missing quite a few boards, and is, of course, full of trash. Also it has a few scary holes up in the floor of the hayloft!
I plan on propping it back up and preserving it. It’ll need some new posts and a new roof and loft floor for sure!
We’ll have to use some of the barn for storage, but I’m hoping to turn the old hayloft into an outdoor living room one day. I can see my friends and I enjoying a coffee up there!
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- animal area
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- dad between boards
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- dad and peter in the loft
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- the loft
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- trash in barn
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- holes in loft floor
The Milking Barn
At some point the farm was producing milk, and this was the milking barn.
I’m sure this is hard to believe looking at the picture, but the milking barn is actually in better shape than any of the other structures on the farm! Someone began converting the side of the barn with the brown door into a workshop years ago.
Since its bones are pretty good, we’ve decided to turn this little barn into a tiny house! Construction will start in April!
Tiny House Plans
The space above was the milking parlor!
Dairy cows would enter after walking up the concrete ramp. Someone down in that hole would milk the cows above, and then the cows would go out sliding doors on either side of the barn.
This will eventually be our bedroom and bathroom! (Of course, we’ll be filling in that big hole in the floor!)
You can see from the picture that this space is currently full of trash, goat poop, and old bee boxes, but it will be beautiful one day!
The picture below shows the workshop space that will become the kitchen and living room.
Watch for future posts to see the transformation!
The Pond
Isn’t the pond beautiful? It’s one of my favorite places on the farm.
This winter we’ll clear off the banks. Right now it’s so grown up you can’t cast your fishing pole without catching some brush! Then we’ll stock it with fish in the spring!
Eventually, we’ll build a platform to fish from and add a boat! And my boyfriend made me a bench for Christmas, so it will live on the bank as well!
The Cabin
Unfortunately, the cabin isn’t in great shape. A tree fell on it while no one was living on the farm and destroyed the roof. The floors are rotten, the wiring is bad, and it isn’t well insulated.
It has three bedrooms and would cost more to fix than I’m willing to invest.
We decided to tear it down and concentrate on building our home in the milking barn. (I’ll definitely be preserving the old outhouse, though!)
The area where the cabin stood will one day be my pumpkin patch!
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- living room
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- bedroom
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- bathroom
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- bedroom
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- mailbox
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- old outhouse
The Pasture
I love the pastures! There is this pasture behind the milking barn and another behind the garden.
It needs some cleaning up and will have to have new fences and accessible water before it can hold any animals.
But eventually I hope for it to be home to 4 or 5 retired cows who will live out their remaining years in retired bliss acting as my lawn mowers.
Originally I thought I would cut and sell hay from the pastures, but then I realized that I would have to spend so much money returning the nutrients to the soil after a cutting that I would probably lose money.
Instead my happy cow mowers will keep the grass trimmed while returning my land’s nutrients back to it!
Then one day I might even get some goats and alpacas! And I plan on having a sunflower and wildflower field!
We’re hoping to work with the United States Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service of Arkansas to improve the pastures’ quality, ensure the animals are properly cared for, and prevent natural resource loss.
The Woods
The woods on the farm are beautiful but haven’t known much care in recent years leaving them vulnerable to forest fire, disease, and not ideal for wildlife conservation.
We’re hoping to work with the Arkansas Forestry Commission to thin the woods to a level ideal for wildlife to flourish. We’ll start a prescribed burning plan to prevent fire, encourage new growth, and open up the woods to a level ideal for wildlife habitat.
Then we’ll work to plant new trees where needed and will encourage the return of native species.
The Garden
The garden was covered in grass and surrounded by a tangle of old, broken fences when we arrived.
I think it will be full of surprises in the spring, though! And I can’t wait to see what might pop up! There are two massive oak trees within view of the garden that are absolutely stunning!
We’ll be replacing the fence with a deer-proof fence and concentrating on improving the soil health in the spring.
The property has a well, and we’ll try to get it working again to irrigate the garden. Then we’ll also be converting the pump house to a garden shed.
I won’t plant too much this spring because the garden still needs a lot of work, but I have already ordered blueberries and grapes to start this year!
Eventually, I hope the garden will be full of beautiful flowers and vegetables and will also be a place where I can serve farm-to-table food to my friends and family and entertain.
I’ll be incorporating a fire pit and dining table in the plan!
Then I’ll be adding a greenhouse, garden shed, and composting station!
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- old pump house
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- oak tree
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- hedge apples
For the Bees
Of course, I have to do something for the bees!
Right now, I have one working hive! Hopefully, it will produce some honey! I hope to add more in the future!
These bees will pollinate my garden and the wild plants that feed the wildlife on the farm!
Later I plan to establish pollinator gardens to help bees and other pollinators thrive.
And then I’ll be installing bat boxes as well. Bats are pollinators too! And some of them eat mosquitoes!
The Farm
Well, y’all. That’s the farm! Make sure to follow my posts to see progress on the farm, tiny house, and garden!
I’m hoping to make this a beautiful place for my family (and maybe even your family!) to visit for years to come.
On the one hand, I’ll concentrate on preserving and restoring natural resources, establishing pollinator habitats, wildlife conservation, and native species restoration in hopes of becoming a good steward of the land.
On the other hand, I’ll concentrate on creating beautiful spaces, building places perfect for entertaining, and producing delicious, local, farm-fresh food.
I hope the farm will be a place where we can create wonderful experiences and amazing memories.
And I can’t wait to share the changes with you!
Hopefully, one day I’ll even be able to invite y’all to visit!
And that’s what happened when I bought an abandoned farm!
Some helpful links:
- Here is some information on the NRCS Arkansas programs for preserving and restoring natural resources.
- This is the page for the Arkansas Forestry Commission.
- Find some information on pollinators from the US Forestry Service here.
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10 Comments
Cindy · February 28, 2021 at 4:20 pm
So exciting, Megan!! I can’t wait to follow the progress!
mholifield09 · February 28, 2021 at 7:18 pm
Thanks for reading, Cindy! I can’t wait to share it!
Sue Morgan · February 28, 2021 at 4:44 pm
Your farm is absolutely beautiful! I miss living up in the area. It is going to be so much fun seeing the progress that y’all will be making!! Congratulations and best of luck!💜💜💜💜💜
mholifield09 · February 28, 2021 at 7:17 pm
Thank you! I can’t wait to share the progress on all our projects!!!! Thanks for reading!
Hannah · February 28, 2021 at 7:48 pm
I cannot wait to attend many parties and take lots of pics of my little in the wild flowers.
This is going to be awesome!
mholifield09 · February 28, 2021 at 7:53 pm
Yes!!!!! It’s going to be so fun!
Abby · February 28, 2021 at 8:31 pm
Wow! I love your plans. This is the coolest thing. I’m so happy for you!!!
mholifield09 · February 28, 2021 at 10:46 pm
Aw thank you!!!!
Callie · February 28, 2021 at 10:43 pm
Yay can’t wait to move in with you!!!! 😈
mholifield09 · February 28, 2021 at 10:47 pm
Yay can’t wait!!!!!!!!
Comments are closed.