Mapping The Homestead

As Spring approaches (yes, I know it's going to come, even though we got MORE SNOW last night and everything is coated in ice), I am thinking more and more about how to plan what goes where, what stuff gets planted, and where, and how there are already areas of the property that are used daily, and some that are barely visited at all....  

Here's an aerial view, and I have done a preliminary job of mapping out how the property is used right now.  Some of this might change slightly, but, due to the slope of the land and access points, I think these "zones" are going to stay pretty much like this going forward.

Here's how I mapped.

Green- Zone 1.    These are areas that are visited every day, multiple times a day.  This is the core                                             homestead area.

Yellow- Zone 2 - This is the area that might need to be tended once or more per week. Right now, there are

                           the already existing fruit trees there, plus a sloped hillside that will be good for berry 

                           planting.  But, the point is, it's not an area I need to visit daily (at least, not once things are

                           established)

Red - Zone 3 -   This is primarily the back pastures.   I only need to go out there rarely.  Perhaps to cut if                               we decide to hay this field.... a few times a year.

Blue - Zone 4 -  This right now is an area that, while being close to the house, is a tangle of undergrowth on                             a steep slope from the front yard.  It is low priority for even developing, though it is                                       possible it could be planted, and then it might be more like a zone 1 or 2, depending on 

                         what gets planted there.

Purple - Zone 5 - This is our small patch of wild woodland.. it's not very big,  but it is completely                                             undeveloped, and it is on a steep slope downhill.  We will leave this as a buffer zone along                             the road, plus as an area for cutting some firewood.  There is also a small stream that runs                             through there.  

Orange lines.... these just show the typical traffic patterns coming and going from the house.  Knowing that these pathways are already established by habit, I wouldn't want to place a structure in the way of these paths, and any fencing should be planned to have gates where we would normally want to walk through. All just planning aids....

Mostly, you can see these zones are in a  kind of concentric circle around the house, which makes sense. The closer to the house, the easier the access. Its like in your kitchen...  you want the stuff you use every day (silverware, cups, plates, etc) in the most handy spot, and the stuff that you only need once in awhile can go in that bottom cabinet.

 Mapping these "zones" helps me to plan where I might want to plant certain things.  Fruit trees that don't need daily visits don't need to be in zone 1, but the main vegetable garden certainly does.  I would not want to walk down the hill to the woods area to have the vegetable garden.  Also, things like the garage and barn, and tractor shed will need to be easily accessed from the house, so of course they are in zone 1.  Animals that need daily care need to be in Zone 1.  If we had beef cattle out in the pasture, they are okay being in zone 3, because they don't necessarily have to tended daily during the grazing months.  During winter, they would be brought up to a barn nearer  the house, in which case, the zone 1 area might get extended to include that (as yet unbuilt) cow shed.  There is room for it.  

What you can't see from this picture is that our entire farm is on the shoulder of a hillside.  There is a flat area where the house, garage, and garden area are... everything else slopes up or down.  the horse paddock area is above the house... the pastures  and woods are all downhill... sometimes steeply.The area of  trees behind the chicken coop and garden  is probably 15 feet down, with an old stone retaining wall on part of it.   Without creating some walkways, or steps, down to those lower areas, it is not necessarily easy access.  Especially in winter with snow cover.  

I had considered incorporating ducks into the homestead, and they would be super happy down there in the bottom where zone 2 and zone 5 sort of meet, because the stream that runs down there would be a source of fresh, flowing water for them year round. However, not only is access hard because of the slope down from the house, but I can't even SEE that spot from, say, the kitchen.  Ducks need daily care, and certainly I need to be able to look out and see how they are doing. So, while that is a great spot for ducks because of the water, it is NOT a good spot for conveniently being able to take care of them. 

Well, anyway, this is the sort of thing that occupies my mind when I am not boiling sap or caring for chicks or cooking meals..... With spring's arrival, we will begin to get the garden soil prepared for planting, and making final plans for the barn build.  That's going to be a huge undertaking, so it's good to get a handle on how best to place things NOW, before we are in the midst of the big projects.

As a side note.. despite the fact that it did't get above freezing today, and we have an inch or so of ice covering everything, the rest of this week is supposed to warm up and even the nights will be above the freezing mark.  This may signal the end of sugar season.  As of right now, I have a little over 3 gallons of finished syrup. What a blessing.  And, maybe it's good that the season is about done, as I am getting close to being out of scrap wood to burn for evaporating all that sap!  Things have a way of working out.