George Yacus

Matt McSpadden wrote: The obvious would be to cut the trees and sell the lumber, but I'm not sure the trees are big enough to be worth much. The property is also fairly hilly... so even if it was clear cut there is not a lot of places for a flat garden.

If you can clear enough trees to get a 20ft x 20ft sunny patch (even on a slope), then I think you would particularly enjoy having a Well-Watered Garden to start:

https://www.wellwateredgardenproject.org/

Since the trees are small, they should be easier to cut yourself. You could use them for garden crafts or edging along trails, fencing and making pens and shelters, terracing, etc.

Obviously wood heat is one of the most valuable "crops" you can harvest if you have a wood stove and time.

If the trees are a little bigger, you may be able to find a local, mobile sawyer who could mill up some lumber for free. Regardless, definitely spend time discovering the useful trees that are already growing. Also, since you have hills, maybe think about small pond possibilities.

But there is no substitute for sunshine! For food and for morale sake.

Hi Mike, did you ever find a good diverter setup and/or escape from the golden clutches of a NoVA HOA? I know many libraries have 3D printers so that may be an option for the DIY route.

As far as metal pipe goes:

3/4" EMT conduit weighs about 4.6 lbs per 10ft.
1/2" EMT conduit weighs about 3 lbs per 10ft.

A fun "Buy it for life" product I recommend is MakerPipe, which allows all sorts of connections. Not quite tinkertoys, but it's fun enough and highly modular. When I'm in a place in my life to raise chickens, my plan is to design a few pens with this material.

Check out https://www.makerpipe.com for products and https://connect.makerpipe.com/homesteading for homestead ideas with MakerPipe. There are plenty of chicken pen builds for inspiration.

8x8x12 + 5ft eaves.  Does this mean it needs an 18 ft x 22 ft roof?

Here's a permies wiki for ways to get logs out of the woods:

https://permies.com/wiki/205378#1709766

I kinda want to appropriate the word "funky" to also mean "multifunctional" in the permaculture context.  Like stacking multiple functions through elegant design and integration of farm elements or natural materials.

Maybe a homonym, spelled func'ky or phunky?

"Did you see that func'ky tree over there during the farm tour?"

"Yeah, I saw they were simultaneously using it as a grape trellis, a fence post, a shady nook for seating, and I hear they will soon be pollarding it for tree hay and firewood."

or.

"I like how the see-saw and the swing set on the playground pumped water up to the sheep pasture. Super phunky"

I built a two story farm shack and am looking for some design inspiration regarding stairs/ladders/other means of getting up and down levels.

Right now I use a home built rope ladder indoors, and an aluminum ladder outside. Eventually I'd like more permanent and multifunctional builds in place, such that I can carry loads up and down.

Have you come across any really cool, funky, or multifunctional stairs and ladders builds lately?

Yay! Thank you both!

I really enjoyed seeing the smorgasbord of projects (Badge Bits) people were working on in the PEP forums.

Is there a way to bring back the "recent" view in the PEP forums?

Right now I only see "best ever" topics, rather than a full on stream of "recent" permie projects. Below is an example from the natural building pep forum. Thanks for being awesome and letting the inspiration flow!

Step 1: Join tacoies forum.
Step 2: Talk about bacon, pie, and tacos ALL THE TIME.
Step 3: Apply 8th permaculture principle to integrate, rather than segregate bacon, pie, and tacos. (see photo of B.P.T.).
Step 4: Return to permies forum to design a permaculture homestead to make Gir Bot's culinary dreams come true. 🤤