Emerging Patterns and

Goals

by Heather Kleinman

I live in Marblehead, a small coastal town of about 18K residents on the North Shore of Massachusetts, about 18 miles north of Boston. My two-story colonial sits in the middle of about a quarter acre in a typical residential-style neighborhood. Most people have golf-course quality lawns and ornate landscaping that is tended by a yard service every week. As for me, I like to tend my own yard and have a mix of fragrant flowers and food for my family, as well as an area for my three kids and dog to run and play.

Coming up with ideas for my homestead at first was easy...

- herbs- salad greens- vegetables

I am already growing these things in containers on my deck, but I’d love to grow more.

My First Arrangement of Cards

Since I’m keen on reduce/reuse/recycle, I used scraps of paper to write my ideas. My first categories were:

● Structures● Sustainable/Renewable● Animal-related● Veggies● Fruit

I’ve enjoyed container gardening to this point, but I know my property can support more, and I am eager to think about all the possibilities, even if they seem far-fetched. We are looking to replace the roof on our house, so then I thought we should look into adding solar panels. My second grader is interested in science and nature, so she has asked for a worm bin to tend. I hope to grow more of the produce we tend to eat, like salad ingredients, so I can rely less on the supermarket.

Structures include house, chicken coop, barn, worm bin, garage, outdoor canning kitchen, and raised beds. Under Sustainable elements, I wrote solar power, rain barrel, compost pile, and kitchen graywater container. I put eggs from chickens, bird feeder, bee keeping, and butterfly garden as Animal-related, and the other categories are fruits and vegetables (for the fruits and vegetables we eat most).

My Second Grouping, New Categories

This time I arranged the cards in fewer categories: Structures, Functional, Ornamental, and Food. I wanted to see how simplifying the groupings would make me think about the individual elements. It became clear to me that food production is important, as are functional elements that promote sustainability, like composting, solar power, and capturing water.

A Third Version of the Same Elements

My last arrangement of the elements helped me further hone the things that are important to me when I envision my burgeoning backyard homestead. I still have the house and possible barn under Structures, and Functional sustainable elements like solar power and water collection resources, but in addition to just a Food category, I added Canning/Preserving, which would allow me to take the fruits and vegetables that I grow and turn them into jam, sauce, or even wine or cider.

Reflections on the Process

I was surprised to realize that large scale food production is not my number one goal. The thought of ripping out my entire yard for the purpose of growing food does not feel like the balance that I would like for my homestead. Ultimately, this is my home and I want both function and beauty, a refuge from the rest of the world. Through brainstorming these elements, I kept coming back to the sustainable practices that I’d like to implement, like solar power for the house, figuring out a way to capture kitchen greywater to use for my plants (other than just taking bowlfuls outside constantly), and making more of a commitment to canning and preserving what I grow.