← Start: planning your homestead H00-01 · Module 1 of 7 · Pages: 21 · Worksheets: 7

Getting started: from idea to first step

From wanting a homestead to your first bed, your first hens and a plan you can keep up: what comes first, what it costs and where to learn more

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This module is free, and the series gives you all the others.

Getting started: from idea to first step

In short

  • Start small and do it well: one bed you really look after is worth more than a big garden lost to weeds.
  • First settle why, who, how much time and how much money. Land and animals come later.
  • The rule for beginners: one new area per season.
  • The first three things on almost every homestead are water, compost and the vegetable garden. Hens, fruit trees and everything else come after.
  • Keep records from day one: what you sowed, how much you harvested, how much you spent. A journal is the cheapest teacher there is.

What's inside

Chapters

  1. What a homestead is, and what it isn't
  2. Five questions before the first spade
  3. Where you are now: your starting point
  4. Start small: first projects
  5. When you start: first steps by season
  6. How much time and money a small start takes
  7. Safety from day one
  8. People and know-how
  9. How to use the 4freelife library
  10. How you know it's going well
  11. Most common mistakes
  12. Printable checklist

Worksheets

  • My homestead vision
  • Your starting point
  • First-plan calculator
  • First-season calendar
  • Plan for the first 90 days
  • First-steps journal
  • Contacts and mentors

Fields and checkboxes can be filled in with Adobe Acrobat Reader (desktop and mobile), and the calculator adds up by itself. Filling in may not work in some browsers. A print version comes with the screen PDF.

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