With our block of land now cleared and cleaned up, fenced and gates in place, we were now ready for the next stage. Designing the layout of the block would help to us to decide where to place all the various elements we desired (shed, house, veggie patch etc) in such a way as to complement and support each other and ensure we did not make extra work for ourselves in the future.
Once again we generated a list of what infrastructure and landscaping we wanted on our block. It was important to take the time to think about what we wanted our block of land to be able to do for us and how were we planning on using it. Taking the time here can reduce a heap of regrets later on.
What infrastructure did we want on our block:
- House
- Entertainment area
- Big Shed
- Garden Shed
- Dog Kennel with run
- Veggie garden
- Food forests
What did we want our block to do for us:
- Provide us with a home that met our needs, secure, easy to clean, comfortable, open plan, private.
- Potential to earn us an income in the years to come, though what this looked like was still vague.
- To support us through food production, fruit, veggies, maybe meat.
- We wanted to be as self as reliant as we could, so our own power, water, septic, possible fuel.
- Minimal maintenance, we were getting older, so did not need a high maintenance home or land.
The land and the house that we were going to build needed to add value to our life, not become a millstone around our neck, with high maintenance and up-keep costs. So we needed to plan carefully where we would locate the various infrastructures and landscaping.
The first principle of design (in permaculture) is observation and interactions. It is through observing what enters and leaves your land (wind, water, animals etc), identifying what already exists on you land (soil, flora, infrastructure), and what the various interaction are that help your design. Sandy and I had been observing our block of land for a number of months, undertaking various tests and doing a lot of research around local climate, flora and fauna.
Other topics we talk about in permaculture, is zones and sectors. These elements help us to decide where to place various items on your land. I found this invaluable in planning our block.
Sectors help to identify various energies external to your land that may impact on you such as; wind, sun, pollution, views and noise, to name but a few. Here are the sectors I identified for our block, they included prevailing winds, pollution and noise, I also looked at sun rise and sun set for both winter and summer elevations.
Zones can help you decide where to place various objects on your land, for example, where was the house going, how far away was the veggie patch, how much driveway would we need to put in, how many rainwater and river water tanks did we need, and where on earth were we going to put them?
The diagram above is a little simplistic, but basically zones are areas identified by how often you will need to visit them. For example zone 0 might be your house, whilst zone 1 might be those places you visit daily, such as the garage, kitchen garden, or chook house. It makes sense that you locate those objects you will be visit daily close to the house - zone 1. Whilst zone 2 are those places you may need to visit once a week, such as the veggie patch, garden shed. Zone 3 might be areas you visit fortnightly, say the worm farm, your food forest. Zone 4 might be visited monthly, this may include the outlying areas of your block, for example the trees I had out in my paddock. Zone 5 tends to be natural or wilderness areas. The amount of times you visit various elements in your design is not hard and fast, but merely a guide, so zone 3 is not set in stone as fortnightly etc. Of course how often you visit an area is dependent on the size of your land, someone's back yard is different to 60,000 acre property.
You do not need to use all the zones in your design, for example the smaller the block the less likely you are to have zones, 3, 4 or 5, especially if you are in a large town or city. Zones are there to help you locate items on you land, making sure you do make type one errors like placing your chook house all the way down the bottom of the paddock if you need to collect eggs every day and ensuring your chooks are healthy and safe.
One caveat to bear in mind when looking at my design is that the time from the purchase of the block to the final design, took place over 2 years. As we got to know the block of land our ideas firmed up identifying what it was we actually wanted. At this time I was also taking my Permaculture Design Course (PDC) with Geoff Lawton.
It is important to understand how your land changes with the seasons, so don't be in a rush, take the time to observe the land. However, if you are already very familiar with your piece of land, this journey can be expedited. Sandy and I lived on our block for 6 months in a caravan, which helped us to get to know the piece of land we were on.
So here is my plan/design for our block. It is important to bear in mind that this is also a dynamic process, things may change over time, so don't get too fixated on keeping to the design, be flexible, start small, take stock regularly and don't be afraid to change your plans as you move forward.
For Sandy and I, our main priority was to decide the location of the house on the block, as well as it's orientation, especially if you are considering solar. The prevailing winds were important to us as we wanted to use the wind as a method to cool the house. Also sunrise was important as I like to wake up to natural light. More about house design in another post.
You need to take into account any nearby trees, or structure that may impact upon the position of the house. Also consider the length of your driveway. Every meter of driveway adds cost to your build, so how far from your access point to you want your house? A long gravel driveway can look lovely, but it adds cost and increases up keep, however can improve your privacy.
So here is a Google Earth image of my block in 2017. How did I do?
Did I make any mistakes? There are probably things I would do slightly differently, but I did not make any type one errors, which I am happy about. It is more a case of the order I would have undertaken different projects.
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