Hello friends.
I have read a few
books on
Permaculture and I'd like your help and ideas on what I can do with my
land. I live on 1.8 acres right next to a good size hill, in a valley, on a slope at 4500 ft in Zone 5 or 6 depending on the year. The
yard has a bunch of weeds/ sage brush and very little has been done to improve the yard. I have a
fence on the west and east side, but nothing on the front or back. Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of what it looks like. See attachments.
Here are a few facts about the yard that I learned from neighbors, previous owner.
-Land slopes toward house and has had leaking in basement due to snow melt, rain run off-- the previous owner dug a 4ft deep pit behind the dog run to help with run off.
-Soil is a good mix between clay/sand. Not too hard to dig up with few rocks.
-for the last 10 years there have been dogs/horses/cows/goats in the backyard.
Here is my wish list, but not sure where I
should put them and would LOVE to have any input from the group.
-chickens
-goats
-currently have
rabbits, but would like to grow their own food
-Fruit
trees, 8 peach, 3
apple, 2 cherry, 2 apricot, 1 plum - Any chance I could incorporate swales to
water these trees?
-Windbreak/firebreak trees. there have been fires and there is a good amount of wide coming from the west and south. Any recommendations on windbreak/firebreak trees?
-Greenhouse
-Pond - I'd like to have a backup water supply, but where the current pit is located to catch run off it would be hard to gravity
feed garden, trees. Any ideas?
-Grape vines
-I plan on following the Back to Eden method of having 3-5 inches of tree
mulch spread over and around garden, trees.
-I would like to have 1/4
acre of sod directly around the house for the kids to play on. I will have to install sprinklers for that and wonder if I should put any drip lines/irrigation spouts for the back pasture area?
-Firepit area surrounded by swings
I would really appreciate any input/ideas on how or where I can put these things and group them to take advantage of sun, run off,
permaculture ideas, etc. Feel free to ask any questions as I am at the beginning of a very exciting adventure starting my own homestead/sustainable yard. I'm also open to adding/removing anything as I am new at this and many of you have great
experience and success. Thanks and look forward to the conversation.