What are you planning to grow on this 4 acres?Or better yet how much are you planning to grow?Any livestock?
Michelle is the Subject Matter Expert on that, but we are both complete newbies. We are by nature suburban mice. We like the city. We like the country. We have really never lived in either. So if it looks like we are babes lost in the woods with these plans, there is a reason...
My limited understanding is there will be 4 fields of about an acre each. They will be planted with cover crops (a mix of various species -- lentil, chickpea, peanut, soybean, cowpeas, corn, millet,oats, wheat, turnips, radishes, sunflower, clover, beets and sugarbeets) and grazed in rotation with actual food crops for human and hoof (rye/alfalfa for grazing) (oats, 1/3 acre wheat , 1/2 acre of corn) The whole point of "no-till" is that you plant things together that feed you, the animals and the soil all at the same time. Yes, its tricky. Yes, harvest is more labor intensive. This isn't a commercial venture. This is "finding a way to sustain yourself and livestock on 5 acres of land"
There will also be a traditional kitchen vegetable garden of about 25 x 25 feet There are many established fruit trees on the property as well.
5 Acres just isn't much and there is part of me that wants to buy a 20-80 acre farm somewhere else .. but I think that ship sailed. When the govt planned famine hits, they may well use it to confiscate "farmland" - I hope my little 5 acre parcel is not deemed worth the trouble.
so there is a separate 1/2 area where livestock will be penned at night, and set out to graze when appropriate. There may also be opportunities to work with my neighbors to lease land for grazing from them as both have +100 acre plots.
As far as livestock, we plan to start with Chickens and implement a "chicken tractor" to move them from location to location. My Daughter of course still wants a horse, and that will likely come to pass in a year or two. Rabbits have been considered, but MichelleO is allergic. She thinks it would be okay, but I don't want to push it. We have also been looking at Yaks - there are a lot of benefits to the animal, and of course there are those trying to get an Alpaca like ponzi thing going. You can usually get enough fiber off of them in a year to pay for feed, they birth easy, can be used as pack animals, foodies want the meat ( but there is usually little to be had as breeding stock is more valuable - people are still trying to build herds here) and even make good guard dogs- and will charge at strangers. They do need to be "imprinted" at birth with human contact for them to be docile. Yaks will also do better if I end up retreating to the mountain location.
