Homesteaders want to do many things, often with limited budget, space, and time. Particularly in those first few years, many will feel overwhelmed by the dozens of projects they want to complete. I feel this acutely, especially when I estimate the expense and time required to complete even half those projects, many involving skills I don’t have yet. Further, because I’m trying to balance functionality, efficiency, and aesthetics, I get bogged down by overanalyzing the project, particularly when it comes to planning what goes where. This is the famous problem of Analysis Paralysis: analyzing, analyzing, analyzing, and never doing.
A Supreme Example: The Fence Project
Currently, I’m planning what initially looks like three phases of a fence project. Currently, there is some old fencing (~3′ high woven wire with barbed wire above) along half of our north and south property boundaries. However, a recent attack on our chickens by a neighbor’s dog, our plan to get goats and pigs in the next year or two, and my hopes to reduce deer traffic near the garden area all lead me to prioritize completing a fence perimeter. However, the details of the fence project have driven me mad for the past couple months.
My property, although a simple rectangle in shape, has quite a bit of character that makes fencing more difficult, namely not flat and partially forested. Part of the analysis paralysis results from thinking too long term. Although it’s always a good thing to have a picture about how you want your property to look in the long run, imagining doing this all upfront can be paralyzing: the project is just too big, requiring too much time, money, and additional prep work. My long term plan involves fencing in two or three areas in our moderately wooded areas for rotating our goats and/or pigs, another semi-wooded spot or two closer to the house for additional small livestock, another area near the side of the house for dairy goats, a fence along the very back of the property, and a fence along the front road. That’s just too much to plan for someone who has yet to construct their first H-brace, let alone even hook up their new augur to the tractor. To make matters worse, some subset of these fences needs to simultaneously keep the chickens in the chicken yard; they all need to look good and not impede future projects (like expanding the barn); I need to have gates in all the most useful spots; the fences should avoid being built against dense forest lines (that will inevitably put pressure on the fence and cause woes further down the line), and most of the fence needs to be buildable by one person (me) with an additional hand available every once in a while. Oh, and I have to actually be able to afford all those materials, and I want it to look good. It doesn’t have to look like a gentleman’s luxury ranch, but a well-constructed woven wire fence that exudes a “farm-y” style is just fine. What I’m saying is, no, I don’t want to hodge-podge a fence out of random lengths and sizes of lumber on hand just to make it as cheap as possible. Although I admire the “do it cheap so long as it gets the job done” attitude, I always keep in mind that I may not live here forever, so I don’t want an eyesore on the property.
So, what have I resolved to do in the short term? I’ve got to get a fence to protect my chickens from predators coming in from the east side of our property (the back woods) first. At last I resolved a reasonable “big picture” plan for the fencing, though I relinquish any hopes of planning out every single detail of all fencing needs years down the line. Instead, I came up with a sketch of what I want the fencing just behind our barn to look like, and I’m taking a leap at that this year. This is what I’m calling “Phase 1”.
Phase 1 will connect the existing north and south fences, which will work well enough for keeping larger daytime predators out. The amount of fencing I need to do is not huge in terms of linear feet, probably only about 250 feet. However, it’s not a straight line, involves partially fencing along an existing tree line, and requires multiple gates to be installed (two for access to the rest of the back property, and one for future access to a goat pasture). It’s a good first fence project that will allow me to exercise all the difficult parts of fencing up front, namely corner bracing, handling large posts, hanging gates, and stretching wire. Phase 2 and 3 are planned out (roughly) as well, but I’ll elaborate on those in a future post.
Because I’m doing most of the work myself and have a long list of future fence projects, I have invested heavily in fencing tools for use with my compact tractor: 1) an augur and 2) a wire stretcher. These are not cheap! I only justified these because I’m saving a lot of money by not hiring any help, and also because I hope to get 30+ years of use out of them. Phase 1 (minus any tools) cost me about $1750 in materials (all sourced from Tractor Supply). This is actually an overestimate, as I bought quite a few more posts than I will need – just to hit a 5% discount at the 25 post count. I’ll need those extra posts in Phases 2 and 3 of the fence project anyway.
The Lesson Learned
The moral of the fence project is to plan far ahead, but not too far ahead if it prevents you from actually doing anything. Divide your big projects up into bite-sized chunks (“phases”), helping you progress despite large time and money requirements. A hidden advantage of doing things in phases is that any learning (e.g. mistakes to avoid) acquired during Phase 1 can be applied to later phases of the project, potentially saving you time and money in the long run. In summary, the key to overcoming analysis paralysis is to divide and conquer.
Never stop growing,
Christian
Born for the Barn 