If our assignment to New Hampshire broke down one of the last barriers to horse ownership, the house we found to live in sealed the deal.
Nestled in the wooded hills of South Central New Hampshire on just under 15 acres, it included a four-stall pole barn with a large run-out, another older barn now serving as an equipment shed, and four other small buildings, the purpose of which wasn’t clear to us when we looked at the house online.
About 3 acres was pasture in various states of improvement, with the rest comprising a small tree farm.
It ended up being the last property we saw on our househunting trip, and after we toured the property (between snowstorms, of course), we fell in love with it.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, those out-buildings? Emu huts. The previous owner was in the process of selling the last two members of his breeding stock, and had evidently been hatching and raising up to 50 at a time.
(Previous owner with a new emu egg)
Very soon after returning, we had negotiated a deal for both the house and other equipment (including the tractor and attachments), and dubbed the property “The Flying T Ranch” with a nod back to our experiences in Texas.
We had a house, we had a farm, we had a tractor, and now…
…Oh, I didn’t talk about the tractor, did I?
We know that horses are one of the apples of my daughters’ eyes. A tractor, though… that spoke to me and my son. A real-deal tractor in John Deere green.
All you tractor folks want the specs, so here they are: 48hp turbodiesel John Deere 4320. Hydrostatic transmission. 400x loader with bucket. York Rake with grader. Bush Hog. Near brand-new 8’ snowplow with hydraulic angle. Filled tires. 4-wheel drive. Aux lights. Heck, it even has cruise control. Overkill for our little farm. Oh yeah. When I go to Home Depot these days with my youngest, he asks if he can sit in the “miniature tractors,” and I love it.
We had a farm. We had a tractor. Soon we were going to have horses as well.