Welcome to the last installment of the Ultimate Homestead Designing Guide. Today we are going to be talking about how you can make those dream design ideas come to life. Permaculture Design can seem daunting but if you lay it out step by step anything can happen. Let’s get growing!
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Show Notes
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Time Stamps
Intro 00:41
Write Your Goals Down 03:38
Making Our Goal List Manageable 14:11
Don't Hesitate to Push Yourself 20:11
Tips and Tricks- Put Perennials in Your Garden Plan 22:50
Be specific 26:40
Tell Others 30:33
Breakdown Your Big Goals 38:57
Growing With God- Psalms 118:6-7- 42:17
Get Started 44:40
1% Change Everyday 49:50
Welcome
Over the past episodes we have discussed what is permaculture and how you can bring the 12 permaculture principle to your homestead with a few ideas we have been doing here at Red Ridge Farm. And today we are going to take it just a little bit further and talk about how you can bring your permaculture homestead designs to life.
Once you have your ideas figured out the next step is to bring those designs to life. This can feel overwhelming. But you can overcome that feeling by taking each design and breaking it down into manageable pieces.
I do want to tell you right now that this process is going to take time but all things that take time are worth waiting for. You may not get everything on your list done this year but you can get started with a plan!
A plan that can make the biggest dreams come true!
Write Your Goals Down
Start by writing all of your goals and design ideas down in one place. I like to call this a brain or dream dump!
Once you get all of your and your family’s ideas out of your head. You will be able to take the next steps. Like, deciding on what you are going to start with first, second, and third.
So start with a blank piece of paper or screen and just start writing. Spend about 20 minutes on each topic. For example if you are thinking about adding a dairy to your farm. Use that time to think about all of the things you will need to do, purchase, or plan to make that one aspect come to life. Think about where you will put the barn or shelter. Think about the amount of feed and where you are going to store it. This can go on and on but I think you get the idea.
On a little side note here I do want to say that if one of your goals is to add animals to your homestead you need to start with the infrastructure first. “If you Build it he will come!” I think I am showing my age with that quote from one of my favorite Kevin Costner movies.
But it is so true. If you get your animals before you build a shelter or pen for them you are only putting yourself, your family, and your new animals in danger!
Making Our Goal List Manageable
Once you make your list. Make it manageable!
You are one person and you have limits to your time and resources. So just pick a few things to get started with and then slowly move forward with each item. This is not a race and if it was you want to be the tortoise the wins every time.
And remember some things on your list will take time to develop. A forest is not grown in a year but over a span of years and this is true for your food forest as well!
Don't Hesitate to Push Yourself
With that said don’t hesitate to take chances and push yourself out of your comfort zone. Growing is all about pushing ourselves beyond the day to day and into the future. You are not the same person you were before you started reading this blog post to the person you are reading this very line. You are growing right now. Growing is going to take effort and time but you have to be willing to do and experience the unknown to make your dreams come true!
Be Specific
Goals are essentially a plan so make them specific. How many trees are you going to add to that food forest or how many goats are you going to add to your dairy? Knowing these details will help your goals unfold. You will know how big of a barn or shelter you will need and so much more. And also think about the future too. If you find that your pasture can raise 5 dairy goats then you need to build a barn that can function for 5 dairy goats and their babies. This will allow you to start small but not need to redo your infrastructure to expand your herd.
When you are specific with your goals you can also then break them down into steps. My goal for 2022 was to set up, plant, mulch and irrigate a raspberry patch of primo cane raspberries in the lower section of my garden by May 2022. By being specific I can see from this goal where I will be setting up my patch, what step I need to follow to set it up and even what type of raspberries I will need to purchase.
Tell Others
Next is you need to share your goals with others. Accountability is a huge asset when it comes to moving forward with your goals. You can tell your husband or family. But I also encourage you to reach out to others trying to accomplish like minded goals. Having a friend who understands what it feels like when homesteading goals don’t go as planned is priceless. For one thing you might find a mentor or better yet a person you can show the ropes to. But whoever you find, share your goals with them this is going to do two things.
Give you some out of your everyday to bounce ideas off of. They are going to be able to see your project or goal from a different perspective. They may see the flaws in your plan and help you tweak them out or they may have an idea that you may never have thought about.
Telling others about your goals will give you accountability! They will be able to call you out when you are not reaching the goals you set. Or even remind you of the goal you put on the back burner.
I thought of two more. They help you with your goal. If you are needing a few extra hands to complete a project they should be the first on your list!
They are going to be there to celebrate your wins too. A Lot of the time as growers we forget to give ourselves a pat on the back when we have achieved something in our growing journey. Do we need to gloat? No, but all jobs well done should be acknowledged for at least the hard work put forth. You did it! So celebrate that win!
One way that I would love to help you with this step is to invite you to the Red Ridge Farm Fellowship of Fellow Growers. Growing can be a lonely process. But it shouldn’t be, that is why I have recently created a Facebook Group designed to bring growers just like you and me together. So that we can support and encourage each other!
It would be a great pleasure to have you in our group too!
Breakdown Your Big Goals
Okay back to making our design ideas come to life. Many times when we make design goals on the homestead they can feel huge and overwhelming. Of all the things I hope you learn from this blog post, I want you to learn and internalize this one statement.
All Things Can Be Broken Down Into Smaller Things!
Big goals can be broken down into medium goals. Medium goals into small goals. Small goals into Tiny goals. And Tiny goals into daily tasks.
I hope you see what I am trying to say here. Every goal can seem like a huge daunting task but if you take just a few minutes to break it down into digestible pieces anything can be accomplished.
“A mountain is climbed one Step at a Time. Not one Mountain at a time.” ~ Crystal Mediate
When you look at that specific goal I gave you about my raspberry patch you can see that it can be broken into smaller parts too.
Order Raspberry Plants
Collect Cardboard and Mulch Materials
Purchase Irrigation System
Build Beds
Plant Raspberry Plants
Place Irrigation
Place Mulch
Create a Watering Schedule
Create a Harvest Schedule
I hope you see what I mean!
Get Started
Next you have to get started. Don’t let that list of goals, design ideas, and dreams just sit in your imagination or on a piece of paper. You can make them come to life if you don’t just start! The motto we have here on the homestead is “Pray, Just Plant!”
What this means is every day we start with a prayer to our Lord and an action plan. We ask for guidance for our plan and then we just start. I think this is the hardest step of homestead design or a growing journey. It is easy to make the plan. It is easy to draw up your goals. It is easy to dream. But it takes guts, courage, and strength to get ourselves off the sidelines and into the game. And that is why an integral part of succeeding on your growing journey is to include the Lord in your plans. He loves and only wants the good for you. And He will help you find the courage you need to take that first step up that mountain you see in front of you.
So remember as you stand there staring at that long list of goals and dreams that you are not alone. God is there ready and willing to give you His strength so that you can take that first step!
A small side note here. Did you know that this is why the title of our podcast is Pray, Just Plant! It is because I wanted to share this motto with all who listen and take me along with them on their growing journey.
1% Change Everyday
I know this has been a lot to take in. But I just have one more thing to think about when it comes to making your goals come true. And that is to always keep moving forward everyday. Change on the homestead can take time and the things on your list will not materialize in a moment but over consistent moments of momentum. Over consistent moments of growing 1% at a time.
You and are not just growers but mothers, wives, homemakers, and so much more. So sometimes it will feel like the homestead dreams will never be accomplished but I am here to tell you if you constantly work on your goals every day. You will see results. And that slow and steady progress will win the race. This progress does not need to grow in leaps and bounds overnight. But instead with steady daily commitment to move forward one step at a time.
You can do this!
I want to thank you for joining me in this last installment of the Ultimate Homestead Design Guide. I hope above all the things I have taught you, is that you are not alone on this journey, that there are others just like you and that the Lord is ready to walk down this growing path with you. He is just waiting for your invitation to the journey!
Have a blessed day,
Crystal
P.S. Be sure to check out the other post in this series. Because the goal for this series is to help you design your homestead so that you can create more abundance in your garden, homestead, family, and life!
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