Mike Hammer

Back with the promised link.

http://opensourceecology.org/wiki/Factor_e_Farm

I think these guys are doing a lot in interesting and innovative things.

Later,

Mike

Welcome to permies C.

I have been devouring permies for years and am trying to get our homestead plan in motion.  We bought a 5+ acre woodlot on a west facing slope.  Just about ten miles off I-55 across the county line into Ste. Genevieve.  Mostly post oak, red oak, hickory, and a handful of very nice cedar trees.  Fully canopied, open stand, all the undergrowth thoroughly browsed by the deer.  Know anyone with a portable sawmill?

We closed on the property almost two years ago and after watching it through several seasonal cycles, we are ready to start laying out driveways, building sites, digging test holes and marking trees for removal.  It is in a private development of 5 to 15 acre lots.  Mostly wooded.  There is a HOA with minimal restrictions (1600 sq ft minimum residence, attached two car garage, max two outbuildings).  Annual HOA fee $450 to maintain nice chip-seal roads.

Electric (co-op) and phone at the road front.  Need to drill a well (good water at 200 to 250 feet).  Install a waste water system (planning to do grey water wet garden, black water septic or aerobic).  Being in an unincorporated rural area, county codes apply.  The county requires no permits or inspections, building or waste treatment. Guess you are on the honor system to get improvements assessed and on the tax rolls.  The electric grid-tie will require an inspection from the co-op.

In a perfect world, Jay C. Whitecloud calls out of the blue and says he has time to design a timber frame for the residence, using trees from the property.  I plan to use precast air-crete blocks for infill.  Exterior finish TBD.  Right after that, those guys from western Missouri (I'll find a link and post later) call and say they are interested in using their mob building technique to build it.  Anyway, this is the beginning of our permaculture sojourn.  I plan to share reports of progress.

Tell us more about your property, your plans, and any thing you think we could help with.  I spent the first two decades of my life in the area, lived in the STL metro area all my adult life, and still have strong ties.  If you are not a native or new to the area, I will gladly help with intros or contacts, if I can.

Later

Mike

Greetings fellow Permies.

Been reading, studying and following this site for a few years now. Great fan and finally have a reason to join and post.

My fiancee is finally talking about retiring in the next year or so. We have found a nice patch of land (~7.2 ac., see attachment) we hope to close on soon.

There is about 2 acres across the road that is heavily wooded and very steep. Suitable for a wood lot and goats. Haven't inventoried the timber yet but plan to harvest some with an eye toward stand improvement and sustainability.

The rest has been pastured and or hayed for who knows how long. It appears nearly dead flat to the naked eye, but I guess the 100 year flood plain boundary would suggest otherwise. Regarding the floodplain issue, talked to some of the neighbors and even though this summer has seen repeated horrendous torrential downpours with lots of local flash flooding the creek never left its banks (guess that's why they call it Dry Fork). In any event the house and outbuildings will all be built above the floodplain. There is a small strip of woods on the other side of the creek we plan to keep in a natural state with improvements for wildlife habitat and food plots.

Here are my initial thoughts.

Plant shelter belts down both sides for windbreaks, wildlife, and privacy. The state department of conservation has a very good nursery program providing planting stock at extremely reasonable prices. Every winter they publish the order form in the MISSOURI CONSERVATIONIST (a free monthly magazine that is one of the best uses of tax dollars I can think of, end of plug). Can't wait to place my order. Thinking black locust, Osage orange, black berries... Suggestions welcome.

Along the borders of the creek, willows, bull rushes (native bamboo)... Suggestions?

Of course, plan to over seed the remaining open ground with the usual suspects, field radish, clover, alfalfa, native wild flowers... Again suggestion welcome.

I figure this will give me time to come up with a plan for placement of earthworks, fencing, nut and fruit orchard, improvements...

If you are still with me (sorry for the long introductory post), anything I missed?

Respectfully,

Mike

PS Of course chickens figure into the mix as well.