Homesteading Class - Day 1

Today was the first of our homesteading class in Waco, Texas at the Ploughshare Institute for Sustainable Culture. The classes are taught on a 5 acre working homestead that is part of a 400+ acre working farm – these people know their stuff.

We tackled the subjects of water, soil, the lay of the land, the planning of buildings and farming on the land and composting. Of course we only scratched the surface on these subjects, but we wanted to go ahead and give an overview of what we discussed. Some of the points discussed here can be found in previous posts, but since the topics are so pertinent to homesteading, we thought it worth the slight repetition.

Land:

When looking at the process of beginning farming (whether in your backyard or on a just-purchased spread) the first thing you need to consider is water. Now-a-days we consider the view first, but if you are going to start relying on your land to provide for you, you need to make sure you are able to give it what it needs, and it needs water. An ugly piece of land with water is better than a beautiful piece without water. Think about how much the average rainfall is in the area you live, how much water you have access to and what your different sources of water are. If the only source of water you have is rainfall and your hose you’ll soon find that your options on your farm are limited. The instructor recommended that you have at least 2 sources of water and 3 sources if one of them is from the city/municipality you live in (because you just don’t have much control over that one in the end). For example your own private well, a county irrigation system and a rainwater catchment system would be a pretty good covering of 3 different sources of water. When you look at possible properties begin to think about the layout of crops, house and outbuildings. A hill can be an asset or a liability depending on where it is placed.

Soil:

Consider the quality of your soil. Soil has three components that must work together in order to give you a good crop; Biological, Mineral/Chemical and Physical. Biological is the organisms living in the soil. Most of these organisms are good and without them the soil doesn’t move, become areated, etc.. The biological component can be affected by pesticides killing the worms, bettles, etc. as well as intense heat that is not insulated against by mulch. The Chemical component is the specific nutrients or negatives that are in the soil. To learn about the specific make-up of your soil you can take a soil sample and send it off to a local soil testing lab (www.westernlaboratories.com) . Knowing what is in your soil will help you to more effectively grow foods suited to that soil as well as add helpful nutrients that your specific soil might be lacking. And last, the physical component of soil is just that, what is it like to work with and grow in?Is it hard clay? Soft sand? Rocky? Whatever it is, it can be made to be fertile soil if you work with it and take the time to learn how to prepare your soil before you plant your first crop.