Backyard Homesteading, week 6, June 23 2016,Backyard Homesteading, week 6, June 23 2016,By Gloria Fortin

1- Resilient food production: provide year-round security

2- Self-regulating system: able to flourish by itselfitself

3- Best use of entering energies: Sun, Air, Water and Earth (thermomass and biomass)

4- Personal development: a place for humans to develop to the best of themselves and connect with Nature

This place will be full of life, joyful, nourishing bodies and souls; an abundant realm setting an example to inspire others

Land:South facing slope on whole property Well balanced shade and sun areasDiversity of habitatsProtected from most destructive winds (west and northeast)

Land:Relatively short growing season: major and prolonged Water availability year-round

Precipitations adequate to supply majority of plantsClean soil and waterHuman Resource:Dedicated and interested peopleAccess to much knowledge, tools, handsIntergenerational dynamics

Relatively short growing season: major and prolonged freeze (winter time)Water source (other than rainfall) is largely depending on a well (not resilient)Young forest soil not yet well established

Lawn space soil lacks organic matter

Human Resource:

Limited in time

Aquaponic system: fish produce fertilizer to the Ducks eat slugs and bugs and food

Waste is only an unused resource… In my design, I have planed that outputs of one system will be used/ cycled back in another system:Plants eat the animals’ produce fertilizer to the plants, plant residues feed the fish

bugs and food scraps inedible to humansPlants eat the animals’ manure

Greywater from laundry is filtered and nourishes the orchardCompost is transforming decaying matter in plant fertilizer

Mushrooms are producing bounty out of decomposing matter

(This specific guild will guild will be put in a berm and swale system near the pond)

Example of uses for the house:harvesting rainwatersupport for solar panels

and obviously living quarters!

thermomass for greenhouse support for vining plants

root cellar

Perennials are grown in associations, or self-sustaining guilds, using MNNNT [2] so outside inputs are greatly reduced Annual garden beds will follow crop rotation and include cover crops to maintain fertility Mushrooms to compost right under the plants Composting on-site Composting on-site

I designed with the idea that every element is used to its maximum, considering all effects they can have when grouped with others so they benefit each other… This way of integrating is a way to help our system thrive and be more productive (Bane, p.36)

by creating a community, we will be stronger together

- At guild level, plants are associated in a way they benefit from each other, they produce more than if they were alone;each other, they produce more than if they were alone;-At the homestead scale, small guilds of plants and the moving inhabitants in between them create a larger ecosystem; cycling energy and nutrients through it and creating a safety net of resilience;- Destructive forces (such as west wind) are dissipated by careful arrangement of the different systems on the property: e.g. the food forest slows down the west wind to protect the more fragile orchard guild and annual gardens;

References: Bane, Peter, The Permaculture Handbook [1] Sheppard, Mark, Restoration Agriculture , Real World Permaculture for Farmers, Book [2] Silva, video Design_Project (Final Project) time: [2] Silva, video Design_Project (Final Project) time: 4:11