What comes first: a five-year investment plan

In short

• Water before everything. Without a reliable summer water supply, don't invest in the garden, a polytunnel or livestock.
• Plant what grows slowly early: fruit trees, hedges, soft fruit and asparagus give a crop only years later.
• Housing and fencing before the animal, compost and soil before a big garden.
• The rough order: 1. water, compost, vegetable garden, hens → 2. fruit trees, soft fruit, polytunnel, bees → 3. rabbits, table poultry, goats or sheep → 4–5. harvest, processing, expansion.
• Each year one or two new areas, never everything at once.

What's inside

Chapters

1. Why the order matters
2. The scale of permanence
3. Seven rules of order
4. Year zero: observation and paperwork
5. Year 1: water, compost, vegetable garden and hens
6. Year 2: fruit trees, soft fruit, polytunnel and bees
7. Year 3: more meat, milk and a field
8. Years 4 and 5: harvest, processing and expansion
9. Know-how has its own order
10. When two things compete
11. Adapt the order to your homestead
12. Common mistakes
13. Printable checklist

Worksheets

• Priority calculator
• Readiness for a new area
• Investment calendar
• My five-year plan
• Decision log