The Self-sufficient Homestead

We are also planning a sustainable community , but on a smaller scale. Aprox 6 dwellings with one acre of vegitables to feed them , 4 cows, one of which is for milk, 2 horses for recreation and work, one mule, a couple hogs, a flock of chickens for eggs and meat, a flock of gineas for bug control, a music recording studio and an art studio. The workshops will develope as the needs arise. This is all on 20 acres, which should be enough to sustain the livestock and ourselves. The other 20 acres that we have ( it is all one parcel of 40 acrs) will be an organic orchard and berry patch. Not sure yet if we will be selling directly to grocery stores as well as farmers markets or possibly u-pick. We just bought it and are headed out there as much as possible to build the pole barn we will live in until we finish the main house. My husband and I , 4 children, and so far, one friend....

Hello Steve, I would like to introduce myself as Maya in my final
year Architecture course in Chennai,Tamil Nadu, India. We are
required to do a thesis project in our final semester. I have
chosen to do a self -sustaining community on the outskirts of
Chennai citing increasing globalisation, industrialisation and
global warming as major concerns and that unless man chooses to
live an ecological way of life, reducing his "comforts",the future
generations may not have a rosy life. DESIGNERS` VILLAGE Design is
from the Latin de signare, which means “to trace out, define, and
indicate”. We are all designers. We constantly make decisions that
shape our own futures and those of others. We choose our everyday
reality: where and how we live, how we use our time and energy,
what we value and whom we care about, how we earn and how we spend.
All these choices involve dimensions of design. “A village is a
clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet, but
smaller than a town or city[1]. Though generally located in rural
areas, the term urban village may be applied to certain urban
neighborhoods too.” A self-reliant community evolving gradually
over time on the principles of ecological design. An intentional
community of assorted individuals who have come together to lead a
life that depends less on non-renewable resources such as coal,
petroleum, natural gas and their by-products but instead on
resources that are available in nature in abundance, for their
energy requirements. Ecological design: “Any form of design that
minimizes environmentally destructive impacts by integrating itself
with living processes”. This integration implies that the design
respects species diversity, minimizes resource depletion, preserves
nutrient and water cycles, maintains habitat quality, and attends
to all the other preconditions of human and ecosystem health. The
current building practices that are standardized solutions require
enormous