I have spent more hours than I will admit daydreaming about moving onto our future land and getting things started. I have also put considerable time into taking notes and creating a sort of homesteading cycle that includes the things we will do each season. Certain assumptions have been made about what kind of equipment may be available to us, weather cooperation, etc.
Thinking about these things in detail (and writing them down) really help someone just starting out in being able to foresee problems and make corrections, not to mention plan for larger purchases and get a clearer picture of their vision. I have had a few emails and questions from readers who want to know what our plan is and I decided I would sit down and sketch out the “Cliff Notes” version of it. Please keep in mind that this is largely in a ‘perfect world’ and my daydreams: I’m aware that there are things I don’t even know to ask or be concerned about yet.
You might want to grab a cup of coffee or something, this is going to be a long post.
Moving In and the State of the Land
When we move to our land, it will be pretty darn simple and mostly a blank slate. The home I designed (using a garden planning program) is 36’ x 24’ with a nice sized partially covered deck (the total roughly 950 sq ft). The land itself will be at least 5 acres with about 2 acres cleared out for building. Our water will come from a rain catch system plumbed into the house, which is very common in Southeast Alaska. Heat will come from a wood stove where we will also heat water. It is possible we may have a propane water heater but that is extra money in both the water heater itself, plumbing, and the extra propane used. I expect water will mostly be heated on the woodstove which is more than fine with me.
For electrical, we aren’t quite sure how that will pan out. It will greatly depend on the location of the property and if there is a grid to hook up to. Initially, hooking into the grid will help out while we get things going and get a solar system built up over time. If that is not an option, we will use a generator for the freezers and charging batteries with the end-goal being to have the majority of our power come from the sun. Either way, we will have a diesel generator backup. The whole goal is to be off the grid while still being comfortable, as this is the place we plan to live the rest of our lives on.
We are 100% willing to go without running water, reliable electricity, and use an outhouse if that is what it takes to build the life we want. To be honest, I don’t know that we will ever have a regular toilet in the house. They require a septic tank, more plumbing, and maintenance than digging a hole and putting an outhouse over it would. It is also a lot cheaper and you don’t have to worry about frozen, plugged, or blown pipes either!
So, going forward, assume that the house is in place and ready to be occupied. The water catch is installed , the electricity situation is either on grid or generator (hopefully a small solar system too!), and we have some pre-bought/bartered/free building materials for high priority projects. Also assume we are moving onto the property in early spring, around the end of March.
The First Building Projects – Infrastructure
Mister Dreamer and I had a lively debate about which structure to build first. With so many things needing built, it was hard to decide! We ended up agreeing that the very first thing to be built is the outhouse area. After that, we will build (in general order):
Wood Shed – We will need a place to get wood seasoned and drying out for winter burning and future building projects.
Garden – This will be a very large project, consisting of three stages after marking off the area. It is assumed that the cleared area will be bedrock that has been flattened out and graded. Since we don’t have much topsoil here (and what we do have is incredibly acidic), this is something we actually prefer! The first stage will be installing the cold frames. As it currently stands, we have 4 cold frames with a total of 62 square feet of growing space. The raised beds we have in our current greenhouse will be taken along with us and turned into cold frames that will give us a total of over 200 square feet of growing space. The second stage will be building the greenhouse and getting it ready to be used. The last stage will be getting the raised beds in a fenced area.
The cold frames will allow us to get a good jump on the first growing season and have some fresh greens to eat while the stuff inside the greenhouse and beds have time to grow.
Chicken Coop and Run – I put this one after the garden because while we want to dive in and have chicks delivered right away, they will require some extra attention and time. The chicks will need to be kept warm until their feathers begin to come in which likely means inside the house or inside the coop we build with a heat lamp. Trying to get all that taken care of and make sure the chicks survive while we are getting other infrastructure in place seems to be a recipe for disaster. Plus, it takes roughly 6 months before a hen begins to lay eggs so there isn’t a huge rush on getting them. We want to make sure we have the coop and run in place before we even get the chicks delivered. I really look forward to this part of homesteading.
Chickens will give us eggs and meat but they will ALSO keep the garden in great shape. I have visions of letting them loose in the fenced garden area and greenhouse at the end and beginning of the growing seasons. They will scratch and till up the soil, getting slugs and bugs out while leaving enough fertilizer behind to give it a boost without running the risk of having too much. Chicken manure needs to be composted before it is good to use because of the high nitrogen. Too much and it will kill off your plants. A little is a nice boost though.
Canning Shack and Shop – The last major structure we will want to have built by the end of the first growing season will be a canning shack and shop. Roughly half of the building will be a shop area for Mister Dreamer’s tools, toys, and tinker projects. It will have a cement floor for ease of cleaning and garage door so we can back the truck (or 4 wheeler) up with deer and totes of vegetables to be processed. There will be a rack installed in the ceiling for hanging meat. There will, of course, be some long counters and pegboards or shelves on the walls for Mister Dreamer to organize all his stuff.
The other half will be my ‘canning shack.’ I get extremely giddy when I think about this part! I can see how it will look in my mind’s eye: stainless steel counter tops, a deep sink, sturdy shelves to hold empty jars, equipment, and other supplies. A propane stove/oven combination to jar the tasty food from the garden, forest, and ocean on. The idea is we will be able to process and preserve all of our food in this one building so it won’t take up a bunch of space in the small house.
Other Building Projects
We want to have a nice sitting area around a firepit, of course. We also want to build a brick ‘pizza’ oven to cook outside with in the summer months. We certainly won’t have any kind of air conditioning and somehow, I just don’t think I will want to use the oven when it’s 80+ (with 90% humidity) outside. Next to the brick oven will be another area for me to do some water bath canning over the fire which will free up space and save money by using less propane. I have been watching the videos from An American Homestead has about pressure canning over a fire! I am not that brave yet, but water bath canning (which we do a LOT of) over a fire is just a smart, money saving idea!
The Ongoing Cycle by Season
Now that the infrastructure is in place, the homesteading cycle truly begins! As you will see, each season ties into the next and you are always looking ahead.
Winter into Spring – In winter, we will work on the indoor projects and home improvements. After the holidays are done and decorations are packed away, the time for deep cleaning both in the house and outbuildings will likely take a couple weeks. Most people wait until Spring to do their major cleaning but when you homestead, spring is filled with doing many other things that do not leave time for big projects. Winter time is the time for indoor work and improvements. Plus, planning for the upcoming growing season and building or repair projects for the year.
After the cleaning comes the seed sprouting and waiting for evening temperatures to come up enough for planting early greens in the cold frames. We would also be ordering any new chicks to replace the ones that may have been killed by predators or were taken for the stew pot.
Spring into Summer – This time of year is all about the gardening. Amending the soil with compost and letting those chickens work for their feed again by turning the soil and eating bugs is something I really look forward to! Getting things sprouted and hardened for planting out into the beds, sowing the seeds directly, and general upkeep of the area will go a long way to ensuring a successful harvest. If the rain, wind, freezing and thawing loosen the fence, we could end up feeding a bunch of deer instead of ourselves. Granted, having deer trained to come eat at the garden would make hunting easier, haha! Other things to be done in late spring include picking salmonberries and turning them into tasty jams (using the area outside to water bath can!), getting the materials ready for whatever building projects we have planned, and getting started on them. The salmon are just started to run when summer officially arrives. All plants are set out and we are enjoying some greens and foraged treats.
Summer into Fall
This is where the hardcore work of the year takes place. Summertime is when you are working 16 hour days to harvest, gather, and preserve your food for the upcoming winter. Our days will be filled with chores that allow us to be outside and enjoy our land. This is when we will get all of our salmon caught, smoked and jarred, or vacuum sealed for the freezer.There will be some camping in there that is always fun but most likely, the place we are camping at is chosen because of its location near resources.
Building, repairs, and maintenance will be planned during this time of year for Fall and early Winter projects (barring anything that needs to be done right now! of course). Canned fruits and veggies, dehydrated herbs, spices, and veggies – all of these activities start to become daily chores of garden processing at the beginning of August around here (Zone 7b).
Toward the end of August through the end of the year, there will also be hunting open to us. We are allowed 5 deer per person and though I never see us harvesting that many, it would be safe to say that we would hope for 5 a year (total) to give us enough red meat until the next hunting season. Our meats would consist of seafood, venison, pork from the pig we raise each year, chicken, turkey, and possibly rabbit. I am sure there would be additional variety in there but the remoteness of where we want to live makes for some incredibly expensive prices. Yes, we would still have internet capabilities, even if it was satellite or having to drive 15-20 miles into ‘town,’ the island is connected with cell towers and most of what the rest of the world has.
Anyway, I would much rather spend the money on feed and supplement with the leftovers from the garden. Chickens love gobbling up the stalks and leaves of plants left over from the harvest. Of course, you could always compost that stuff too, but why not turn it into proteins instead?
Fall into Winter
Whew! Here we are at the end of the year. During this time, final harvests are done and preserved, the garden is cleaned up, and certain things like garlic are planted. The homestead in general is picked up and scrubbed down. Getting things in place for the livestock to over winter, along with gathering truck after truck of firewood make for a busy season! On top of all that, hunting will be in full swing and there is a lot of time put into the processing of the 5 deer we hope to get per year. The holidays come back around and it all begins again in one, beautiful cycle.
Of course, there are about a million details I did not cover because I could ramble on forever about this stuff. If you have made it this far, you are a trooper! Consider it a sneak peek into what I will be blogging about in the next few years. It will be a very wild ride and I cannot wait for the experience! The back breaking work, the sweat, the frustrations, and the bleeding from various injuries – I welcome the good and bad with open arms because it is all part of the beautiful life I dream of. 🙂
Lady Locust says
I love it! Except there will always be the special interruptions like “remember the spring the creek flooded and we had to move everything upstairs,” or “the winter the snow was above the door and we dug a tunnel to the barn?” Just by what you have, I’m thinking you’ll appreciate the reminiscing of those times once past.
Many joys.