Homestead mailing list

[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Lynn Wigglesworth wrote:

> Once something happens, it's too late to head for the hills. I've 
> been doing this for 12 years, and I still have crop failures and lots
>  of things going wrong...it's a BIG learning curve.

I've got 10 years in, and I wholeheartedly second that.  Whenever I talk
to people who are interested in survival/homesteading, but still live in
an area where they can't garden/have animals (and it doesn't have to be
in the city), I stress that when it gets bad, it's already too late.


I'm learning that it's more about
> learning to deal with the failures, not prevent them...always have a 
> plan B, and C, and D, and an emergency plan....

For me, it is about making the best of resources you have..a slight
slope, a 'wet' garden, a gravely hill, etc.  I think organization and
planning prevents a lot of failures.  Permaculture design, that is.  But
yeah, there must always be multiple plans, because there will alway be
the possum in the henhouse or the eagle you can't shoot, or the ice
storm that laid trees on your barn, etc.  One of the reason's we built a
new coop is because we could not stop the flow of water from the roof of
the old coop.  After the tornado laid a tree on the barn, there was a
dip in the roof that just funneled water right into the coop, and as we
know, chickens need dry, not wet, conditions.  We now use the old coop
for temporary housing of meat birds, like turkeys..always have a plan.

Bev
--
“Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to
hate. Hate leads to suffering.”        Yoda