Observe Your Land for Homesteading
Observing your land is a vital step when it comes to ensuring that your homestead stays productive. Every plot of land is different, so it’s essential to observe your land to see how it is affected by the weather. Ideally, you can do this for at least a year to learn how your land works and what you need to do.
- For family A who already has a home on a plot of land, could be one of two results. They have already been living in the home for a while when they decided to start a homestead. So, they are in some form aware of the sunny and shady spots, where it floods, or how the land is during the winter months. If they know those details, they could get started on smaller projects and build from that.
- If family A just moved into the home, then what they want to do is observe their land for a year while they are working on budgeting, and doing their research on the plants and animals they want.
- Get storage moved around and work on their store-bought food and water storage. Prepare their home for the food and animals they are wanting. That way when the year has passed, they are ready and can get started.
- For families B and C as they look for the land or work on building the home, they could visit the land throughout the year if possible or research to see if the land is in a flood zone. They can even do the same as family A – budgeting, researching, and food storage.
Observation is crucial for agricultural success
Observation is crucial for agricultural success on your land plot because it will allow you to foster a deeper understanding of the functionality of your landscape, ultimately letting you make better decisions about where to put everything.
Homesteaders that observe their land about the wind, sun, and other weather patterns can guarantee an increase in crop quality. These are learned behaviors, hence the recommendation of observing for at least a year. The good thing is that you will become more proficient and efficient over time.
- In the first year of observing, you can safely plant most things in containers and pots that can be easily moved. Reserve planting bushes, seeds, or trees into the ground for when you attain sufficient knowledge of your landscape. You don’t want to take up all your sunny spots with fruit trees and then have no place for your garden.
- You want to exercise as much patience as possible during this process to preserve your costly investment; otherwise, you risk losing all the plants and produce you want to grow.
- In the case of families B and C, you risk building your garden in an unfavorable area for growth due to the trees giving you lots of shade.
- This area may benefit your chickens if you are family A or your larger livestock if you are family B and C, but certainly not for your plants.
- If this is also a flood zone. You don’t want to put any animals’ homes in this area.
- A nice duck pond or a large watering hole for your animals to drink from when you let them roam would be good.
- You want to ensure that you are keeping track of all the sunny areas, as these are fertile ground for an orchard, garden, or vineyard.
- You must be careful about selecting these areas and devise ways to bring your water supply closer if possible.
- You could think of creative ways like running hoses underground to make it happen. It is easy to see how landscape observation automatically leads to design wins.
- Another important concern will be flat spots, or the lack thereof. Observing your land helps you choose where to place certain buildings. If you are doing a backyard homestead like family A, this will likely be resolved.
- However, you still want to ensure that your plants or animals aren’t located in a low area where they can easily become flooded during rain.
- Similarly, families, B & C will be interested in this information regarding the land.
- These areas require detailed observation as you don’t want to discover that these areas flood after you build important structures on them.
- If your family is building a house like family C and possibly family B depending on what they purchase. You could find where the lowest part of your land is. If it is ideal, build your home there assuming you will have a basement, and then, if possible, build up your land around the house that way you could get rid of the flood area and make your land leveler.
- Or you could look into building your home on the land, which is called earth-sheltered homes. If you observe your land and think outside the box. You can have endless possibilities for your homestead.
- Just make sure you do your research and talk to a builder you trust that will give you an honest opinion on why something could or couldn’t work. You must be clear to them about what your goals are.
- Observing your land is not only reserved for the common days but also for the days where there is heavy frost, snow, or rain so that you can understand your extremes. You get to see how these weather conditions interact with your plants and overall design, and you will learn to better understand your landscape.
- Finally, observe any animals that are naturally attracted to your property. These would be any bees, pollinators, rabbits, or deer. Get an idea of what the weather conditions are like on your homestead, how often it snows, where the meltwater goes, and the history of summer hailstorms or drought, among other natural disasters.