Fall plans: homestead forecast and some quotes for inspiration

It's fall, and all the homesteaders are coming out on steem. The GHSC discord server is booming, y'all head on over!

Good thing post earnings are up and SBD is back after HF20. That means it's time to start buying all y'all some @treeplanter votes again! My VP hasn't been keeping up the last week or so, I guess that's a good problem to have :) Let's kick off with a quick quote from Bill Mollison:

I'm gonna put some of those quotes in this post. Their sources are in the watermarks.

Just wanted to stop in this Wednesday to let y'all know what we're planning this fall. There's a few big items on the to do list that I've mentioned in passing. Outside of them, most will be "on a whim" experiments like @buckaroo points out homesteaders are prone to doing.

The big ticket items are

1. The mandala hugelkultur bed
2. A makeshift hay barn for leaf storage. A leaf barn, if you will.
3. Swales, berms, and ditches to make better use of runoff.
4. Tree trimming and pruning

The leaf barn is going to be prioritized because fall is here and I'd like not to waste any time gathering leaves. We're going to fill every bag and box we can for purposes of chicken bedding, mulch, and compost through the year. Since it's our first time, I don't know how many we'll need, so we'll start somewhere and adjust later. My plan is to make a platform of a few pallets on top of buckets with a tarp roof. Super inexpensive and easy. It'll keep the leaves off the ground and out of the rain, which will help them keep longer. I'm not keen on putting up a permanent structure yet. Of course, some leaves will be used in the hugel bed, and most will probably not be collected.

I've been back and forth about swales since we first moved in. In the heat of summer, I was wishing I had them. In the flood a few weeks back, I was glad I didn't. I had a misunderstanding about them. I was seeing swales and drainage ditches as mutually exclusive until either @goldenoakfarm or @mariannewest (I don't recall which, as they're both incredibly insightful) pointed out that swales need an overflow spillway for big rain events. It was a big "Duh, Nathan, you big dummy!" moment. So with that realization, I'm going to install a swale or two to collect water and help in times of drought as well as some serious berms and french drains to help handle water in excess. Any unused soil will be added to the hugel bed, which will be a season-long project.

I'm going to try my hand at pruning the plum tree and trimming dead branches from the oaks. Not sure what to do with the mulberry, but I'll figure it out. I think it is a tree that's supposed to be pruned so that it'll fruit better, but I'm not really sure. It'll take some research. It'll all be used on the hugel as well. We need all the stuff we can get for that big ol thing.

It's cool, all our projects tie into each other and support each other. Soil from the berms going to the hugel. Leaves to the hugel and compost and chickens. Chicken bedding and compost to the hugel and other beds. Branches to the hugel. The hugel breaks down into soil, and all life benefits from awesome soil. And it all works together to feed and support us! That kind of a symbiotic ecosystem is the big goal in homesteading and permaculture, isn't it? It's awesome to see that happening on our little half acre.

Those are the big plans. Somewhere in there we'll plan the spring garden and probably make a couple smaller beds, but that's not a big rush. I've got a business idea I've been bouncing around that I may be able to turn into something too. That's all tentative of course, no real plans yet and we'll see how it goes.

Hope y'all got some encouragement from the quotes, I quite liked them myself. That kind of inspiration goes a long way for me.

Have a blessed day and, as always, stay relevant.

Nate