What is your long-term path?
Mother Earth News posted a great article on 9 Strategies for Self-Sufficient Living and I am going to make a series out of them. Here are the strategies they suggest:
- Be Frugal
- Think Long-Term and Stay Put – discussion below!
- Get Back to Basics
- Cultivate your Relationship
- Change with the Seasons
- Create a Homestead
- Eliminate Debt
- Start a Home Business
- Build a Community
The second strategy is to think long-term and stay put. Finding (and funding) your long-term homestead location should be a top priority. Having a homestead in an apartment or rental home is difficult (although there are strategies that will work). I'm certainly not saying don't do it if you are in that situation, but if you can move towards a more permanent location then you should try to do that.
Some things will take years to develop and fund. Fruit trees are a great example and nut trees are an even better one. Nut trees can take 6-8 years to start producing. If you want those on your homestead then it should be one of the first things that you do.
The Mother Earth News article says that they plotted their journey to self-reliance by the decade. I must say that I haven't plotted details by the decade, but I do have details for the next 5 years and an overall goal (which we will hopefully be able to do in the next 20 years). I am not a fan of plotting details past about 5 years simply because things do happen and I don't like the feeling that I am “behind” when it does happen. I plot the near future and have an idea for long-term. As we get closer, those details get pinned down.
My 12 Long-Term Goals
- chickens
- gardens
- fruit and nut trees
- privacy fence
- rain catching system
- solar power
- landscape the front yard
- fake grass
- create a 4th bedroom
- privacy fence
- goats
- sunroom/porch
The first year we listed them by priority and decided to try and focus on 1-3 each year. Oddly as it may seem, we did not end up starting at the top of our priority list. Some other factors came into play. The first thing we worked on was the chickens, but then we got an estimate for a privacy wall and solar power. Unfortunately we only had money for one and solar power won. It was not higher on the priority list, but it would start paying us back, unlike the wall. Then I worked on the gardens.
This year I am hoping to get the fruit and nut trees in along with the start of a rain catching system and landscaping in the front yard. Landscaping came out on top because we found a huge cache of free bricks on craigslist.
When you create your long-term goals it helps to be a little flexible, but also specific with what you want. You can always change your ideas later, but sometimes things will fall into place more or less quickly than you thought. You can always add or subtract to your list. Keep plugging away and eventually you will have your dream homestead!
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Related Posts:
- Concrete Block Raised Garden Beds
- My Priorities in Building a Chicken Coop
- Cost of Purchasing a Home Solar Power Array
- We Added a Shed to our Homestead
- Starting a Mealworm Colony for your Chickens
