Hello Steemians!
This is probably my most comprehensive post ever. It's taken me a long time to write all of this (on my phone). Just thought I'd let you know that going in, in case you want to turn back now.
I'm going to show you the four corners of my plant-based homestead and talk about how in such a small space I'm able to grow so many trees/food.
Northeast Corner Looking Southward
Here I've placed the "garden" part of the homestead. I wanted to focus more on greens, although I do have a few trees in there. Here you'll find ginger, turmeric, a lemon sapling, two longan saplings, chaya (tree spinach) beefsteak tomato, yuca (cassava), spineless prickly pear cactus, and a few mango trees.
Same corner looking westward
At the northern and middle section of the yard, I chose to plant my banana circles. Here you'll find different varieties of bananas such as Nam Wah, Apple bananas, Red bananas, regular Cavendish, and I even have some plantains (cooking bananas).
Northwest Corner Looking South/Southeast
Here I've decided to plant mostly fruit trees, you'll see many Ever-bearing Black mulberry trees, most are young but two or three are giving fruit already. Besides them you'll see loquat, Hamlin orange, coconut trees, more prickly pear cactus, another mango, Katuk (close to house) jackfruit (2), soursop, pink guava, papaya.
Here are the two largest mulberries producing fruit (Pointing at mother tree, nearer is clone #1 which started as a cutting I took from mama tree)
Clone #1 fruiting after a couple short months
Mother Mulberry Girth of Trunk
Clone #1 Girth of Trunk
Northwest Corner Looking South
Southwest Corner Looking Northeast
Here I'm growing pineapples, star fruit, Moringa, mulberries, coconuts, and this is where the driveway is.
Southeast Corner Looking Northward
Here I have my most mature morninga tree, another mulberry, jaboticaba sapling, mango, and Barbados cherry. I'm leaving this area kind of open either for a small guesthouse or pool or something.
Southeast Corner Looking Westward.
This is where the shed is, as well as the carport. There is some sugarcane on the other side of the shed (the big one from yesterday's post)
The Well
This is a shallow well that uses a 1/4 HP well pump to suck up water from the table likely 20-30 feet down. I used to use this water before I got serious about rainwater harvesting, which I was prompted to do so by the drought of the dry season.
Rainwater Harvesting Barrels - 275 Gallon Potential
Right now I have the downspout from the roof of the lanai going into one barrel. I then have to use a bucket and bail water from the first barrel into the other 4. (I know, I need to make it more efficient and autonomous)
Current Mulch Pile
Picnic Table
Bonfire Area
As you can see, I'm growing so many things on just a 1/3 acre property. I'm able to do that because I purposely sought out a smaller home on a larger area of land. I have had people come over and tell me "I'd love to have this kind of place to grow what I want," or "I'd like to have more land." The truth is that I'd like to have more too because I'm going to run out of room to grow stuff one day lol but I tell people (especially down closer to the tropics) that if you can minimize the size of your house, you can utilize the size of the yard you have to grow more food. I don't care much about having a big house to be honest. I spend most of my time outdoors in the sun or under the lanai for those really hot hours. I mainly only go inside to eat or sleep.
I believe I have over 100 different trees/specimens planted on this yard. It's definitely possible to grow your own food and have your yard work for you. I watched a John Kohler (from Growing Your Greens) video a while back that really hit home. He said that way too many Americans have these big yards and all they have growing there is grass!!! What a waste of space!!! Plus, you have to mow grass! The more trees and food you plant on your lawn, the less space you have to mow! (Granted, there is a lot of other work like weeding, etc., but it's so much more rewarding harvesting sugar cane or tomatoes or bananas or mulberries than it is coming in sweating your ass off from just having had to "mow the grass.")
I've even heard of communities or neighborhoods in the USA that don't let people grow gardens in the front yard! What kind of stupid laws is our government coming up with, now? Why do people even obey them? We've become a society that is so obsessed with aesthetics and we've gotten so out of tune with where our food comes from.
Please don't think I'm boasting with this post. That's not my intention. We purchased this property for only $40,000 almost a year ago and are paying it off. All there was was a single-wide trailer and grass. Oh there was one pine tree. I've worked many days and put good money into the place so that it is what it is today.
So, I'm encouraging everyone, please start growing your own food. Find out what grows in your area and plant it! If you fail, don't worry! Find out why and try again! I never used to have a green thumb! Everything I used to plant died on me but I found out why and corrected what I was doing!
There may come a time when you can't find groceries at the store. There may be a time when your rice and beans and canned goods in your prepper closet runs out. The US can and could turn into Venezuela one day. Nicholas Maduro (hijo de puta) even recommended that people start planting gardens. Guess what? It's too late for that in Venezuela. The people on average lack the skills necessary to grow their own food and relied too much on their government and now they're living in a dictatorship hell (ask any Venezuelan with a brain.)
Do what you can to start slowly but get growing!
I'm also making this post to show people what's possible small-scale. There are people out there that think that they could improve upon what I'm even doing and grow things more efficiently on my plot. That's great! I'm just doing things the way I want to and it seems to be working out well here. My ultimate goal is to turn this small piece of land into a fruit forest.
Thank you for reading this rant of a post. I congratulate you if you made it through the whole thing.
