Homestead project
- 1. Homestead Design Project By: Brittany Norton Location: South Berwick, Maine
- 3. Our goal was to be self-reliant, being able to produce a big portion of our own vegetables, meat, eggs, honey, and milk. My homestead is low maintenance and maintained by our whole family, integrating farm work in the daily lives of our children is extremely important to us. We’ve created systems to use everything on our homestead to its fullest potential to maximise yields in every aspect.
- 4. Breaking down all the elements to my site really gave be better insight on where things were, where the sunlight was, the water, and soil type. Getting a better idea of everything I believe is crucial to having a successful homestead. Plotting out everything will make my life way easier come spring!
- 5. My design includes a chicken heated greenhouse. Use the energy, (heat) from the chickens to heat up the greenhouse will be enough to keep frost off the plants, and keep my greenhouse running all year round.
- 6. Another design idea is a man-made pond. Using our existing swell to make a pound would be an easy transition. Being able to grown fish for meat, and plant water loving vegetables such as Watercress and Water Spinach would be a perfect fit for our family.
- 8. Permaculture design principles 1. Choose small & slow. When i started planning i wanted to make sure that my design was something i could accomplish in a little amount of time, I did not want to bite off more than i could chew, so my design is simple but practical. 2. Design from pattern to detail. I wanted to be mindful of my energy efficiency, thus planning to have a chicken heated greenhouse. I’ve always wanted a greenhouse but worried about the coat of heated it, so i have planned to use the chickens i already own to help heat my plants in the cold winter months. 3. Get a yield. Get a yield! That's what we're all here for, and is everyone's goal. I hope my planning has made it so i have maximised my over-all production.