MOM's Self-Reliant Homestead

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Shed and Chicken Scratching Yard: The shed to the northwest of the greenhouse will serve as tool storage, a small workshop, and a loft for hay and grain amaranth grown on the perimeter of the chicken scratching yard just north of the greenhouse. Grain amaranth will be grown at a number of locations around the property, and storing it in the shed loft will keep it convenient to its consumers-the chickens.

Annual Food Crops: We picked the area right behind the house as the primary location for annual beds because it's on a southfacing slope. This hill has been terraced and banked with rocks for solar mass to extend the growing season, and we're in the process of erecting fences that go straight down the middle of each bed. At the end of each row is a gate that can close of either half of the plot. The fence network is linked to the chicken coop in the greenhouse, and the fowl (maybe the rabbits, too) will be allowed to run in alternate halves of the growing beds, where they'll fertilize the fallow soil, scratch, and keep the insect population under control. (Annuals have the greatest trouble with insect pests.) The gates will be flopped annually so that the chickens can get into the other half of each bed. As of January 1, 1985, the beds are all ready, and we have cold-weather greens, such as collards, kale, and spinach, growing under a cloche on the lower terrace, and hairy vetch and rye on the upper beds for the chickens to forage in the spring.

Note also the gate in the fence at the northeast corner of the annual area. This barrier can be opened to allow our flock of chickens to forage the entire area to the east of the house-bounded by the fences in the east windbreak, along the path east of the house, and at the south end of the experimental covercrop area.

East Windbreak: The area to the east of the road leads up into another valley that is a major funnel for chilly winds. Scrub pines and vines are the main plants that grow along the road now, but we plan to replace these with white pines limited to 12 feet in height. Dogwood, Japanese crab apple, and some other hardwoods are already present and fighting for their lives, and we'll do all we can to encourage their survival.

Biodynamic Compost Production: The area directly to the east of the house isn't well suited to the intensive growing of food crops, so it'll be used largely to generate green mass for biodynamic composting. A tremendous amount of this compost will be needed to properly vitalize the many growing beds being added on the property.

Mint will be grown high on the bank because its thick root system will hold the soil in place. But directly across the path from the mint we'll add more stinging nettle (which has been found to greatly increase the production of essential oils in mint) to what we planted this year. Another complementary pair of crops, potatoes and comfrey, will be planted next to each other in this same area.

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