This series just keeps growing.  I cant tell you how many posts I have left because I haven’t finished it all yet.  I will be sure to finish the next series well before posting any of it. When this series is completed I will go back and tell how many parts are there and clean it up and put it into the Library (not set up yet).

In the first part (Part 1) of this two part series I tried to lay out the philosophy I hold for the reasons of choosing a self-sustainable farming lifestyle. In the second part (Part 2) I wanted to lay out the mission for which the philosophy will be applied.

For many, this lifestyle is lacking excitement for the most part, or it is unattractive in the least.  That’s okay because this is something people must love and feel called to do, not be under pressure by anyone to do.  When done of free will, one will excel in the implementation of the principle application and as a result they will excel in its practical application.

In this part I hoped to explain the more technical side of the plan.  Rather than theories or principles, I want to say for exact what it is I wish to do and define better why I want to do them.  This not only explains my ideas to the reader, but it also cauterizes it in my mind so I have a tangible idea of a plan.

Now, to describing my ideal self-sustainable model I must break down the options available. I currently have about 4 acres.  If you have been following me you will note that I have said we own 3.5 acres in the past but we are in the middle of having a land survey done and it looking like we actually have 3.98 acres!  The survey is complete and we hope to build fence once we have settled our dispute with our neighbors in court (which who knows how long that will take).  But to continue with the ideal situation, I must make some assumptions of which I have no control of currently but must in order to plan. Ultimately our current land situation prevents us from fully implementing the entire plan as I cannot maintain a horse for work on such a small section of land, though I can continue with smaller hand methods and methods.

If I were to have a section of land capable of living self-sustainably (10 ac minimum), this is the model I would implement.  Though it is possible to attempt to be self sustainable at a smaller acreage as with what I have (4 ac) the methods would require more help from humans a model I cannot follow as I currently only have myself for work outside. One of the main considerations is fuel production- aka…Firewood.  The trees need to be managed carefully as to provide a continuous supply of firewood.  Our land (once we can use it all) has about 2 acres of firewood.  That is the land I hope to keep the various livestock on (goats and maybe one horse).

When evaluating ones land it is important that it is evaluated to understand its strengths and weaknesses.  For the most part I believe that many of the weaknesses can be over come by careful planning.

I am breaking up the Physical essentials first then we can move on to the Physical non-essentials:

Water:

Water is first because it is the most important besides the air we breathe. There are many methods of getting water.  I plan on using a combination of two ideas I have learned about.  First, a well equipped with a solar well pumping system will provide good drinking water.  This is an expensive investment but it is not done to save money par se, rather, it is to become independent of the “system” which is currently intact.  The Graphic to the right shows a grid tie option of which I would not be using but it allows one to produce electricity back into the electric grid causing your meter to run backwards thereby charging the the electric company a fee for you to produce electricity for them.  Its called Net Metering. Backwoods Solar is a good resource to find good prices on quality solar equipment.

While the well is the main source for drinking water, it is important to work towards getting a good purifier as in the event of a contamination to the Aquifer. The second method I plan to use, as part of the water plan, I want to employ a rainwater catchment system on every building all of which return to a cistern.  I would prefer that the cistern would be located uphill from the gardens and at least some of the buildings uphill from the house so that the water may be allowed to run down hill into the house and avoid pumping but with our current setup it is difficult.  That means that all of the roofs will need to be metal (more costly unfortunately) or a cleanout on ever gutter downspout to clean the grit from regular shingles. One or more large cisterns will need to be installed capable of housing thousands of gallons of water under ground (to protect from freezing) which lowers its fall and thereby reducing water pressure.

As a side note, it is a consideration which we have to build a house.  If we were to do so, the house would be situated on the down hill portion of our property and would give us approximately 10 feet of head (head means the amount of fall in a given run).  So if a water catchment system was set up on the barn (built) and the Rabbitry (not built) we should have enough fall to reach the cistern buried at the highest point of the property.  Underground PVC would be run to get to that location.

A few people I know use a windmill to power their well pump.  This is a good idea because it cost less than the solar and produces from wind.  The downside is that it only pumps when it’s windy which makes water drawing in our area not as dependable as we can go several days without any wind of substantial strength in the area we currently live.  I think that if it were to be had a reasonable price, I would add a windmill as a backup or a way to lower my solar output which could allow the charge to be used elsewhere, so when wind is good, use wind; when wind is not good, use solar.

I’ll be discussing food on the next post as part of the physical essentials.

Continue to Part 4