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ENVIRONMENT: EMBRACING FAILURE ON THE HOMESTEAD
homesteading dream. We cleared land and fenced our front two-acre
pasture. We planted 1,500 indigenous coniferous, deciduous and fruit-
bearing trees three rows thick on three sides of our seven-acre parcel
(with the help of lots of family and friends).
We bought a flock of 40 unsexed Chantecler chicks and three
turkeys, repurposed an old pop-up trailer into a portable chicken
coop and cleared bush for their pasture. Twenty weeks later, we
gently and reverently butchered 26 roosters, plucking and dressing
them ourselves. We bought a livestock guardian puppy and started
intense training to get him to bond with and protect our free-ranging
fowl from coyotes and coons. We bought the famed BCS walk-behind
tiller and tilled up, then planted a kitchen garden in the backyard. We
cleared a small woodlot and moved earth so we could build a 20- by
40-foot greenhouse adjacent to the barn. We hosted a permaculture
designer from Indiana for two days while he drew up a 10-year
permaculture plan for our farm. Then we hosted a large housewarming
party with a live fiddle band and barn dancing. And let’s not forget the
work done inside the century-old farmhouse!
We had, in hindsight, accomplished a lot. But there were also so
many unfinished projects, so many tools and resources we didn’t yet
have, and so many weeds. Everywhere. As it turned out, we enjoyed