Michelle Kuckelman designed a homestead to be self-sustaining for food and minimize waste. The goals are to enhance soil fertility, create minimal waste by recycling nutrients, and facilitate community. The site has strengths like slope and size but challenges like pollution and trees. The design follows permaculture principles like catching and storing energy using solar panels and a greenhouse. Nutrients will be cycled within the system using chickens, compost, and cover crops. Water and plant variety integration enhances the system. Community is fostered through visitor access and sharing surpluses.

1. M I C H E L L E K U C K E L M A N
Final Homestead Design
Project

2. Goals Articulation
 The goal of my homestead is to provide all
yearly food needs for myself and my
husband using as few outside inputs as
possible. Enhancing soil fertility, creating
minimal waste, and recycling nutrients will
be a top priority. In addition, community
development will be facilitated by sharing
any surpluses and encouraging neighbors to
visit or volunteer.

3. Site Analysis
Strengths Challenges
•Slight downward slope to
facilitate water movement
•Central community location
•Good mix of shade and sun
areas
•Large enough to provide for
food needs
•Capturing enough water to
self sustain
•Pollution from surrounding
streets
•Some unwanted trees on
property

4. Homestead

5. Permaculture Principles
 Design from Patterns to Details: This has been the overarching theme
in designing my homestead. I started with the base map, then did a water
analysis, and then the microclimate and circulation analysis. By combining
all the layers, I was able to place specific elements of the homestead with
much greater ease.
 Catch and Store Energy: Solar panels and a green house embody the
principle of storing the energy nature provides. The solar panels are used to
provide power for the house. In addition to season extension, the
greenhouse will provide heating for the house. The greenhouse heats up
and the warm air is drawn into the house during winter.
 Produce No Waste: “Close links between the yields, surpluses or wastes
of each element – and the needs of another – mark a well- organized
system.” (Bane, p.33) This quote represents a major goal of my homestead
as well as a major problem in our world today. Too often we forget that all
elements of a system are connected causing humans to produce massive
amounts of useable waste materials. On my homestead, the chickens and
compost pile will help recycle food waste. Chickens dine on leftover kitchen
scraps while other garden waste and tree leaves will be composted. The
chicken’s manure, produced from the kitchen scraps, will then also enter
the compost pile to decompose and re-enter the food cycle.

6. Crops
 Annual Vegetables: Currently, vegetables constitute a large portion
of my diet, so I have devoted a large garden space to them. In my
previous food needs analysis, I determined my primary vegetable crops
would be the following:
 Broccoli
 Carrots
 Potatoes
 Sweet potatoes
 Corn
 Green beans
 Okra
 Peppers
 Garlic
 Tomatoes
 Onion
 Some of these deter pests, some can be stored for long periods, some
can be frozen or canned, and some are best fresh. A wide variety will
ensure that my family has something to eat throughout the season and
even in the face of environmental stressors. Bane stresses the
importance of plant diversity to ensure productivity and even survival
of plant species in our ever changing global climate (p.225 & 226)

7. Crops
 Legumes: My husband and I are vegetarian, so
beans are a very important source of protein for us.
In addition, they can be stored dry through the
winter. I will grow the following types:
 Black beans
 Pinto beans
 Red kidney beans
 Cow peas (black-eyed peas)

8. Crops
 Fruit orchard: I used semi-dwarfing fruit trees to create a
small orchard with five trees in it. Bane notes that some good
fruit trees for my hardiness zone (8) are peach, fig, and
persimmon (p. 324).
 Berries: Berries are a staple of my diet when they are in season.
I know that blueberries and blackberries grow well here but I
would also like to try strawberries. A surplus of berries could
allow for a U-pick where community members harvest fresh
fruit.
 Melon/ squash patch: This area will provide necessary food
for my family and also an opportunity for community. I
purposely dedicated a larger than necessary plot to these crops to
allow friends and neighbors to come join in the harvest.

9. Crops
 I believe that with conscientious land management
choices, such as crop rotation, adding compost, and
using cover crops, the land can support all the crops
I plan to grow. I used my previous food needs
analysis to calculate how many square feet of beds
would be necessary and then added some room just
to be safe.

10. Nutrient Cycling
Manure

11. Nutrient Cycling
 I hope to cycle all necessary nutrients within my own
farming system. As the previous diagram showed,
chicken manure, compost, and cover crops will
provide nutrients to the main crops. Chicken manure
will first be added to the compost to decompose and
be sanitized. The compost pile will also contain
leaves, grass clippings, crop residues, and kitchen
scraps. Cover crops, grown in between main crops,
will add nutrients such as nitrogen back to the soil.
When their time is over, the cover crop will either be
incorporated into the soil or used as mulch to plant
the next crop into.

12. Integration and Connection
 The nutrient cycling system just mentioned is a great
example of interconnection within the system. Some
other examples are:
 Water:
 Rain water roof catchment system waters plants on south end of property.
Its overflow is to the pond that stores water and provides for the north
end of the property. Overflow from the pond is to a swale. All of these
elements combine to make crop production possible.
 Plant variety:
 Much of my pest, disease, and weed management will be done by
strategically placing plants. Every plant has specific properties that
when combined with other plants can be beneficial. All of my
garden spatial arrangements will integrate many varieties of plants
with careful consideration to enhance the benefits of each plant.

13. Social Connection
 Community connectedness is very important and is
manifested in several elements of my homestead.
 Visitor entrance: This entrance is at the opposite end of the property
from the house, providing privacy for myself while still allowing
visitors access to the orchard, berry patch, and melon/squash patch.
There is free public parking along the street at the north of the
property and a large parking lot across the street on the west side.
 Abundance: I purposely created enough area to grow a surplus of
berries and melons/ squash. This creates opportunity for a U-pick or
even a pumpkin patch in the fall. While there would only be enough
produce for a small number of visitors, this would encourage
learning, community, and personal involvement in food acquisition.