I bought some land and I'm finally going to be moving onto it later this year! I have about 5 acres of cleared land to use. This diagram is a rough plan for my homestead layout. Does anyone have any feedback? This will obviously be a slow process but I'm really excited about it. I'm listing out the projects and things I want to build here. I'd love to hear from seasoned homesteaders with any feedback, maybe what projects I should start with, or things you've enjoyed that I should add to my long-term plan.
by Thetinylife
13 Comments
You can you use the measurement tool in Google maps to measure and see exactly how large an area of 5 acres is, and do so in an area that you are familiar with for context.
I always imagined it in football fields. Each About 10% smaller than a football field.
I love the idea of laying everything out on paper. I would reconsider the placement of the woodshed. If you’re using wood heat, you’ll be making that trip often, and it’s the farthest thing from the house.
Only feedback I’d have is to imagine yourself actually doing the chores.
Big spaced out animal pens are nice on paper. Not so nice when you’re lugging water buckets 5 acres back in the middle of winter.
Speaking of water, you certainly want to factor that and electrical access into your plans.
When you move in, don’t do too many things at once. Live with the property for a while and get to know it so you will have a better understanding of where things should go.
For me? Livestock, garden, and outbuildings are all right next to the house. It’s easier to take care of the animals that way. The only stuff way back into the property is pasture space and the orchard because those don’t need daily attention.
In a square plot, 1 Acre is 209 feet by 209 feet.
It would be nice to think about shade and sun direction. And erosion.
Trees and bushes on the east end west side of a house cool it in the summer and insulate it in the winter.
Midday summer sun is almost directly overhead to somewhat north. Rising and setting is still east west, but there’s less angled sun and of course no low southern light. Would be nice to avoid shading annuals with fruit trees. It looks like the plan you posted doesn’t have any trees near the vegetable beds. You can put some in or leave some if you can figure out how not to shade the sun lovers. It is possible to grow water loving cool season crops in dappled shade.
Especially if they are already there, native trees and shrubs on the property border (and anywhere) do a good job keeping the soil intact. No fuss.
Some people use 4 foot wide vegetable/fruit tree plots with two foot walkways in between. Especially if primarily hand tilling. You can build up the organic content in vegetable plots and not worry about trampling the walking paths. It looks like the plan already does this. Beds can be longer so you can cultivate more. But keep the parallel strip walkways.
You could put the solar panels on the roof (if it is sunny) or turn them into a shade pergola so they don’t take up much space and can do double duty.
Enjoy your five acre paradise!
~2 hectares
You will want a LARGE compost area far away from the house. This will give you an area to put you animal, garden, yard, and kitchen waste… to cook. Also, I am assuming you will have a tractor to help move things such as compost, firewood, feed… which is why I would make sure all areas can accommodate a tractor with a bucket. I know from experience that moving wheelbarrows or carrying stuff such as mulch, soil, garden waste would have been much easier if I had designed my garden with my tractor in mind. My Kubota is the greatest old man wheelbarrow!
Also, new projects take up a lot of time in the start-up phase. Be sure to add to your workload slowly, or you will get burned out. Also, spend time making it right and take time to enjoy it all.
I wish you and yours good fortune, great weather, and happiness!
Unless you think you’ll be needing to visit your solar array everyday, is there any other reason that it’s the closet thing to your house ? Or is it positioned there because it’s the best sun?
The garden is close so that good, compost is close to garden so that’s good. I would have the chickens and compost closer together but perhaps that’s a personal choice.
Carrying wood from the far end of the property to the house may prove to be your undoing when there’s a foot of snow on the ground.
I’m in the camp of live with your property and make slow changes over time as you use it and become more accustomed to your context
43560 x 5 ~ 218,000 SF. That’s how big 😎
Here is what I know about pigs. In a self-sustaining situation, penning them won’t work. You would need to grow so much of your own grain. Penning them on pasture and woods with a solid rotation is the way to go. Even if you’re happy to buy feed from the store, I still wouldn’t want a pen that close to my house. If you’re not moving pigs around that’s when they start to stink.
I wanna know what you used to make your map! So lovely! I’m also a visual thinker and I’ve been using procreate to put the map of our homestead together. I use drone footage and the plat from sale of the property and just start sketching.
Best advice I received when I moved onto acreage, was to live there for a year without making any big changes.
After a year on the property you will have a much better idea of what you need and where you need it. There’s nothing worse than investing time and money into a project, just to realise it’s in the wrong place or not really what you need.