Leading Up to the Plan
Somehow, I forgot to share what the main plan for Chayotix Homestead is! A couple of years ago, I bought a book about being self-sufficient on a quarter acre of land. It happened that the land I bought mostly matched the imaginary set up the book gave as an example to. It suggests a house being to the East, a large southern sun exposure, and long and flat West to East.
The book also explains what each individual section is for, like the tilled plots, keyhole beds and trellises, beehives or compost bins, and berry patches. Obviously, some of those are self-explanatory, but it dives in either way.
The Adjustments
Initially, I had a pretty similar layout drawn up, minus some of the plants that’d never get used. All in all, it just felt like I had to multiply everything by four to get my one-acre layout. But as life goes, new knowledge came up and I’ve been adjusting as I learn.
The red “X”‘s that follow from the left corner of my map to my house are an underground power line. And just above my house, though somewhat of a mystery location, is a septic tank. So that’s two significant chunks of my map reduced to, at the very least, difficult to use.
Then during Bluegrass Berries’ class, we discovered non similar colors of berries don’t grow well close together. The plan has a row of each kind of berry basically right on top of each other. Now the blueberries have been relocated to the traditional tilled plots since we had already planted the blackberries this summer.
Reading the Map
It’s way easier to understand my drawn map, but it doesn’t show well on camera or uploaded to a computer. The digital version I made isn’t greatly accurate. You can’t border inside cells on Excel, but it shows the general picture. Anything highlighted currently exists; anything bordered is what the plan currently expects to be added.
Beekeeping
Going left to right, there’s hope for bees in the future, but I wanted them to have food available before I just added them in. I want some of the orchard and perennials set up, then gear and supplies purchased and housed in the shed at the top left, then the hives and bees last. The letters in a grid nearby is the idea for fruit trees. “A” for apple and “C” for cherries. “P” for either peach, pear, pomegranate, plum, or persimmons. Then “U” for unknown and to be determined later. Those could be European elderberries or pawpaw. Or maybe I find some more fruit trees that can handle our climate outside of a greenhouse.
Berry Plants
The blue circles are the blueberries we just planted, and the purple ones further down are the blackberries. The ones not highlighted will either be more blackberries, black raspberries, or black elderberries. I haven’t figured out where red berries can go yet but I’m not running on a deadline. We can figure it out!
Traditionally Tilled
The brown, pink, and yellow squares are the tilled plots we just expanded. The book says to rotate potatoes, beans, and corn each year. Leaving the roots in the plot at the end of the season will allow for an addition of nutrients that the next crop can use the following year.
Animals
Those conjoined boxes in a row are hopes for varying coops for ducks, broilers, breeders, and layers, looking from left to right. I want to find a place for rabbits but don’t want to subject any of these animals to too little room. The grouping in the bottom left corner offers room for a few animals but the overall plan is to add a small house and yard back there for my mother and her dog. Rabbits and chickens probably wouldn’t fare well alongside a boxer that loves dismantling anything squeaky.
Most of the rest of the plan matches the map in the book. Horseshoe beds, raised beds, container stands. I don’t intend to have an asparagus field but maybe it can find a place alongside the tilled plots or where I hope to put a textiles plot.
That is the plan in a nutshell. I can’t wait to keep updating the map and blog as we add and learn more about becoming self-sufficient! I haven’t read “The Self-Sufficient Backyard” cover to cover but I am using it as a loose guideline for how I want the land to work in the end. Wish us luck!
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