My family and I are planning on moving to this 2.2 acre plot and I think the best thing to do with that much land is use every square inch for living off of.
It's going to be 4 adults and one child.
I plan on having chickens, rabbits, 2 goats, and a bee hive. Also a koi pond with ducks if there's enough space.
The chickens are for laying eggs, maybe occasionally meat. I plan on having a coop with a run. I want to plant a sunflower patch next to the chickens for chicken food.
The goats are for dairy products. Milk, butter, cream, cheese. I plan on having a spacey pen with some enrichment stuff like a tire, crates, and a big spool. I want a barn for milking and a barn for shelter from the elements.
The rabbits are for meat. Like the chickens I plan on having a hutch and run. I want to feed them veggies from the garden.
Bee hive for honey. Not much to say about that.
For the garden I want to plant a variety of vegetables and fruits in a green house. I think ill use raised beds. Definitely plan on having a worm farm for the garden and chicken food.
I love fish so I'd love a koi pond with 2 ducks. I plan on housing the ducks with the chickens, I heard they get along well. Maybe use the ducks for laying too.
I want a shed or barn for butchering the rabbits but I'm not sure if that'll work. I don't know if that's better or worse than doing it in an open area.
I do plan on having guard dogs for the whole property. Im not sure what breed though.
The squares going from the garden to the pond is a walkway. The round cloud looking stuff around the outside of the property is a fence.
Hopefully this is roughly correct scale, I used the trailers and a random truck in the back to help scale everything. I know this is super ambitious and I dont plan on doing it all at once, maybe over a couple of years.
Any advice, critiques, tips, or experience stories are welcome. Thank you in advance.
by Murky_Soil_
9 Comments
I’m sorry I have no advice, I just want to say how cute your drawing is 🥰
Good luck!!
Looks awesome! You should do it!
Looking at it I’d maybe consider the following:
* Workshop and material storage space that’ not shared with cars
* If you heat with wood, add wood storage
* You have a lot on your list, I’d start with one animal at a time unless this setup is similar to your current
* Since you’re starting fresh, I’d trench for water and electrical to bring it close to where you need it
Where will you be living? I don’t see a house
bees are too close to the house, youll end up regretting that lol
it’s all good and you can do it, i only (always, not only right here..) do feel pity for goats being caged in such a small area. this is the proportional size / proportional to the trailers for example, right?
i just got to know goats different. in the european Alps, roaming through the high meadows and steep rocky terrain, and now, living in Turkey, where in every village there is a shepherd who moves many many kilometers daily with the sheep and goats through unfenced meadows & forests.
maybe in the future you can look around and try to lease a bigger meadow/shrubland/forest, electro fence it and let them have some space 🙂
I just like your goat picture
No goats. Don’t do that to yourself. It’s going to be cheaper and easier for you to buy milk than raise it.
I’d plan for more bee space. You can have one hive but 2 is much better to start with. From there it will probably become 3-4 the next year and can continue to increase until you run out of money to buy hives. I started bees this year and bought one bee colony. Just before it was ready I caught a swarm (2 hives). The swarm grew like crazy and I split it (now 3 hives). Then I caught another swarm (up to 4 hives). Then I did one more split so now I have 5 and I started in April.
Placing the bees isn’t rocket science and they will do OK where ever you put them, but in an ideal world they would face the E/SE to catch the rising sun and if you have hot summers a bit of late afternoon shade is awesome.
Couple of things to consider…
What’s north south? Where is the sun hitting in the summer? What about the winter? Understanding where the sunlight hits naturally will help tell you what the layout should be.
Ducks and chickens do not inherently just get along either. You may want to plan on having a coop / run just for the ducks.
I don’t see anything for composting either. If you’re going to have a stationary coop, rabbits and goats, composting their litter and manure is an inherent next step.
In permaculture there is a concept for land design called zones and sectors. Consider how where things are located will dictate how the day to day of the home flows.
Think about how daily chores work in practice. Try to make it as easy on whoever is doing the chore as you can. Like a kitchen, a good layout can make the work (cooking) easier than a bad one.
(Think smells as well) I’m not sure surrounding yourself with the animals is the best way to approach this property. Think prevailing winds and how smells might carry.
https://www.freepermaculture.com/permaculture-zones/
It’s okay to take these things in steps as well. Like focusing on chickens and the garden first. Things going well? Add the pond and some ducks. Still working? Add rabbits. Have the ability to handle more? Then add the goats.
You may not even want goats once everything else is up and running. A backyard orchard with a variety of dwarf fruit trees mixed in with fruit barring shrubs and bushes may give a better roi than goats.
Understand that this initial design will likely change. (Which is okay!) Starting with something like this is exactly what you should do.
Good luck!