Jessica, you keep up a rapid pace of trying things and telling us about them. I would be exhausted! Thomas Edison tried about 100 materials for light bulb filaments before he found one that stayed lit for 24 hours. Henry Ford went through the letters of the alphabet, (original) Model A, through Model S, before it all came together in the Model T. I'm sure they valued every "failure" along the way.
Jessica, this might comfort you. In many ways you're better off and at a realer scale as a suburban yard homesteader than are those of us with more acreage. Yes, we can plant perennial food savannah and hope it comes to bear before the roof falls in, which is a joy, but there is no way we could manage my 28 acres with 5 of us, counting our old and our young, who mostly spend their days together while we other 3 do farm work - we couldn't do this many acres without gasoline and diesel fuel. We could keep up with 6 to 10 with donkeys, but to do 10 we'd need at least one more working animal. Plus my day manager has her own farm. We use a skid loader and 3 tractors, plus 2 diesel trucks and various trailers, to manage this 68 acres at 2 locations 5 miles apart.
When the gas stations run dry we'll have to make major changes in management.
Jessica, you keep up a rapid pace of trying things and telling us about them. I would be exhausted! Thomas Edison tried about 100 materials for light bulb filaments before he found one that stayed lit for 24 hours. Henry Ford went through the letters of the alphabet, (original) Model A, through Model S, before it all came together in the Model T. I'm sure they valued every "failure" along the way.
I appreciate your help on this! I think it's important to acknowledge all the hard limits we run up against sometimes.
Thank god I'll be dead by then. And my kids are smarter than I am. I couldn't do a tenth of what you laid out!
It's a work in progress!
Water and food. And seeds. Loving my current crop of snowpeas!
Jessica, this might comfort you. In many ways you're better off and at a realer scale as a suburban yard homesteader than are those of us with more acreage. Yes, we can plant perennial food savannah and hope it comes to bear before the roof falls in, which is a joy, but there is no way we could manage my 28 acres with 5 of us, counting our old and our young, who mostly spend their days together while we other 3 do farm work - we couldn't do this many acres without gasoline and diesel fuel. We could keep up with 6 to 10 with donkeys, but to do 10 we'd need at least one more working animal. Plus my day manager has her own farm. We use a skid loader and 3 tractors, plus 2 diesel trucks and various trailers, to manage this 68 acres at 2 locations 5 miles apart.
When the gas stations run dry we'll have to make major changes in management.
You're in an excellent position.
Thank you for all the reality you serve up. And the knowledge sharing.