Emerging Patterns&

Goals Articulation

By Shawn Lynch

My process began with taking stock of the land that I have available for the Homestead

site. I am using a 2 acre by 2 acre square of flat farmland in central Michigan, which has

historically been used for corn, soy beans, and wheat.

I then began to focus on possible ways to attain self-reliance and sustainability – which has

become a major goal. This in turn led to numerous items that became my main categories.

Some items overlap into multiple categories but I ultimately I decided to allocate them to

only one category. For example, I have the categories “Animals” and “Food Sources” in

which my chickens could fall in either.

I did not experience much difference between the various iterations of categorizing the

cards. In fact the only real changes came about when certain items could be slotted into a

second category, which led me to re-think the categories. Also, the categories “Security” and

“Income Sources” showed themselves not to be as important to me at this point. I believe

they may be areas that could become relevant in the future, but I left them out for now.

Main Categories

Food Sources

Buildings

Energy &Resources

AnimalsIncome Sources

(dropped)

Self-Sustaining

Eco-Farm

Outside Rooms

Security(dropped)

Aquaponics

• Main protein source• Rainbow Trout,

Yellow Perch, possible Tilapia

• System housed in Walipini to utilize colder temps

Forest Gardens

• Nuts• Berries• Roots• Various Herbs

Rabbits

• They are strictly pets

• However….they provide the option of “fitting” into this category

Chickens

• The girls will provide eggs (and entertainment)

• No Rooster at this time (perhaps in the future)

Raised Beds

• Intensive gardening

practices

• Utilizing square foot

methods

• Bed/Crop rotation

• Main source of food

Food Sources

Ducks

• Egg production

• Possible meat (if needed)

Chicken Coop

Duck Coop

Goat House

Rabbit Condo

Deer Stables

Main House

Storage Barn / Workshop

Greenhouse

Walipini

In-Law Cottage (future

project)

Buildings

Animal Housing

People & PlantHousing

Fire Pit /

Picnic Area

Outside Rooms

Fireplace

Outside

Kitchen

Outside

Gathering /

DiningArea

PetsCats

• Ari and Sasha will be the main mousers• And they eat a lot of flies

Food

Poultry

• Chickens

• Ducks• Pheasants (in the future)

Fish

• Rainbow Trout

• Yellow Perch

• Tilapia

Animals

Rabbits

• They are strictly pets (but don’t step out of line bunny)

Goats

• Entertainment value is thru the roof• Milk production

Deer

• Would like to keep a few as pets, but I’m not sure that can legally happen at the moment• Possible food source (if needed)

Solar Power

Energy &Resources

Micro

Hydroelectric

Thermal

Rain (collection)

Ponds

A Second Reshuffle

Plants Natural ResourcesStructures Animals

I tried re-categorizing my cards, but I really didn’t come up with anything profoundly different. It turned out to be more “re-naming” of my categories and I decided to stick with my originals.

However, it did make me realize that “Plants” would eventually become a sub-category of “Food”. And further categorizing would lead to Plants being labeled as perennial, annuals, etc. So the exercise of re-shuffling does provide a chance to think about each item further.

As I look at the categories I have created, some overall goals begin to present themselves.

• Being able to produce nearly all my own food

• Creating the ability to produce my own power (off-grid capable)

• Comfort – living the way I want to and providing adequate space and

protection for my animals

• Working toward the development of Home Based income sources and the

ability to work Remotely

• Creating an environment in tune with nature while remaining actively involved

with the rest of society – no hermits!

Some larger goals

Going through the exercise I did not include much that seemed odd or out of

place. I did leave out “Security” as that doesn’t necessarily have as much to do

with the course as the other categories. I will certainly include that category in the

overall design of the my property, but it felt like the odd man out for this particular

exercise.

Also left out was “Income Sources”. I began to realize that this would/could

become a future project sometime down the road. It wasn’t what I wanted to focus

on though initially. I feel as though this area will flesh itself out naturally in time.

I really like the idea of using hydroelectric power but my site does not include this

option presently.

What doesn't "fit" or seems out of place?

I took a “dream big” prospective for the project. I’ve realized that it will be an on-

going process to include all that I may want for the Homestead. There always

seem to be a new idea or better way of engineering a process that I stumble upon.

Overall, I feel this is a beginning that will provide a flexible foundation to continue

developing.

It is also a project that will take some time to implement. Some of the follow on

questions I have for myself are:

• What order to implement the plan?

• Cost? How to create a baseline for the project?

• How much Time will be needed to maintain the property?

Some final thoughts…