what major features would your dream homestead include?

What do you want and why?  For example chickens.  Type of chicken house?(raised or building doing deep liter or other)  Root cellar(seperate or built in the house.  Garden(raised bed, normal etc)?

This is fun.

10 acres for orchards and garden (yes I need that much , especially for all the fruit trees grown from seed)
30 acres for animals
Movable animal houses for rotational grazing
Fenced paddocks for above
Small off grid home with solar
Well
Sept Holzer style root cellar

My dream homestead would have a little village of about 8 off-grid cabins (small ones) around a common area and a common kitchen/gathering area. Then when my kids are grown, they could live with their families in the cabins and we'd also have room to have other family live with us too.

The land would slope gently to the south with just right sized stream at the bottom to enjoy but not risk landslides or floods.. There would be 20 acres of old growth forest at the north side which would abut some greater forest that would, for whatever reason, remain untouched forever.

And this would all be within 30 minutes of a town/city to provide good emergency medical care, a strong church community, and a place for us to buy and sell things locally.

And because what's a dream good for if you don't go all out, the cost of this would be affordable so we could quickly pay it off and live mortgage free.

I pretty much live on my dream property. The one change I would make would be to add a sunroom on the east side.  This would serve as a dinning room and additional space for plants.

My dream homestead has changed a lot over the years - mainly shrunk! I'd like about 1/2 acre for the garden, orchard, and house, and then maybe another 1/2 acre or so as a woodlot. A small south-facing sun-warmed earthen construction house, all on one level - no steps, less likely to be buffeted by wind. A dense food forest to the north including lots of hazelnuts, curving around the house as a windbreak. A reliable well, but good rainwater harvesting meaning I rarely need to pump from the well.  I'm not sure about animals, but I'm leaning toward not having any just to keep things simpler. My place would be not too close to other properties, but near enough to not be isolated. On the outskirts of a village with a local shop, a farmer's market, post office, doctor, public transport, and not too far from a bigger town. No conventional agriculture close enough to get water or air contamination from chemical spraying.

I'm hoping I just described my cottage in Bulgaria! The only bit I'm not sure about is whether the farms nearby use stuff I wouldn't want near my property. Traditionally Bulgaria didn't use much in the way of agri-chemicals, because in the communist era they couldn't afford them. Organic is big there, but the agri-chemical companies  are also pushing their products hard.

My dream property would come pre-equipped with a stable of Ogdenville "barleyjacks" to do all construction and heavy labor.

For me, a water feature would be pretty amazing. Direct access to a river or lake, or a big pond/dugout that naturally refreshes itself.

I guess my exact perfect homestead varies by the day (hour?) based on exactly what I think is perfect.  Generally it would look something like this:

1/2 acre garden of raised beds (this is more than enough for me)

1/2 acre of fruit patch/orchard

Enough pasture to provide me with beef, milk, mutton, pork, chicken, etc. plus enough for someone else to make a profit (I am not really familiar with raising animals so I would be happy to let someone else do it for me).

10-20 acre wood lot for firewood and milling some small amount of lumber.

100+ acres of mature woods that will stay that way.

Running water,

Lakes and/or ponds


I already have a much smaller version of this minus the pasture for animals.  Basically I can’t complain.

Eric

I have 10 acres of hardwood. Small River runs through the property. Three acres of fields but I could use more. Located on edge of an Amish community, great people in every way.  All in all very nice setup, now if I could only get 5 acres of more field! Agree with Eric, 100 acres untouched...utopia!

These are things I want to include and am working towards them;
- I would have a railway track 7 1/4 gauge around the property.
- 1/4 mile speedway /Flat track
- 2 post hoist for vehicle maintenance
- Dedicated barns for my different vehicles I race, drive or build
- More bee hives
- more bird boxes
- Food forest completed
- 9 Pin bowling alley
- Bocce court
- fish in the dam with a trap to prevent fish escaping when it floods
= Mens kitchen
- L.O.K.- Ladies Only kitchen

Scott and others got me thinking so I have to update my list here:

My "home" acreage would be 1-2 acres and be large enough for a house plus outbuildings for tractors and such.

My pasture acreage would be 20-50 acres (Midwestern soil and climate).  The land would be divided up into 5-10 acre smaller pastures or paddocks.  The fence line might have an actual fence in it but would definitely have a living fence 20'-50' wide, varying at points.  The living fence would definitely consist of Osage Orange which could be trimmed here and there for firewood.  The trimmed areas would simply grow back at an astounding rate as established Osage does.  The Living Fence does not detract from the pasture acreage so perhaps add 20% extra for all that space taken up by the hedge.  The hedge would also be a haven for wildlife and have all sorts of other native vegetation growing in it.  All pastures would be connected by gates but aside from the gates, the pastures have a completely natural look.

The woodlot exists for firewood, lumber and wood chips (not fruit or food--that is for the orchard) and is already magically established (this is ideal right?).  It has the following trees:  

Black Locust for firewood and Lumber and it grows fast (5-10 acres)

A small amount of poplar for wood chips as it grows fast and replenishes easily (maybe 1/2-1 acre)

A dedicated Osage plot for actual Osage trees as opposed to gnarly Osage bushes? Incredibly durable wood. (1-2 acres)

Some other hardwood like Oak or Hickory for lumber?  Red Oak is beautiful.  Hickory is incredibly durable (5-10 acres)

So this looks like a 20ish acre woodlot that is harvested on a rotating basis.  All trees coppice or are replanted immediately.  I would include ash in this list if it were not for the ash borer.  Is there a borer resistant ash?  Maybe I would include that.  Another option would be American Chestnut if I could get my hands on blight resistant varieties.  Is there another species that I should be thinking about?

The land is gently rolling and does have some running water in addition to some lakes/ponds.

The climate has 4 distinct seasons.

There are really good neighbors.  I like the idea of having Amish on one side and "Barleyjacks" on the other side!

If I had this much land, I would share 1 acre with a family that wanted to raise livestock for profit so long as I had meat for each season.

Did I miss anything?

At any rate, since we are talking about IDEAL conditions, this would be about what I would want in addition to my previous post.

Eric

this is fun! my answer keeps on changing...but this is my answer today...

10-20 acres. located somewhere near a city where there is a Masters swim team so that I may continue to work out , near an airport (about 1 hour drive from one, for husband's job requirements)
an acre of garden to start out with and plans to expand over the years , with a greenhouse or two
an acre or two of orchard (apples, cherries, peaches, cherries)
an acre of food forest (elderberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries
not sure how many acres for chickens and goats: chickens with coop or chicken tractor for eggs and goats in rotation in pasture, for milk (cheese etc)
5-10 acres of wooded land for firewood, hiking and growing mushrooms
a pond or stream/small river for water

I would love to have an off-grid cabin with solar, wind power etc, but not sure that will be possible since my husband works from home and needs plenty of electricity and reliable internet etc.