Making the most.

    I've often fantasized about having the perfect homestead with everything arranged just so. We'd have this many cows over here and that many chickens over there.There would be a super-duper rain catchment system with filters and pumps that run on solar power and automatically water my beautiful orchards, massive garden and fat animals. We'd have a storage building with long aisles of every kind of good food, perfectly organized in awesome FIFO roller shelves. I'd even have an underground propane tank and a sound-insulated generator shed as a backup.

  The thing is, we have a smallish plot of land and an even smaller house (26 x 30). Our land is covered with huge oaks, magnolias, hickories and a half dozen creeks. It's very beautiful and nice to walk around on but it doesn't lend itself to gardening in most places. Definitely not a massive garden. It is also too small for standard cows and too shady for anything resembling a real orchard. And If all that weren't enough, I have yet to win the lottery to pay for all the other stuff!
   
   Most of those things seemed like serious limitations at first. I have learned, however, that most things are a matter of perspective. With a little creativity, flexibility, and a good attitude, almost any liability can be easily turned into an asset.

  For example, our tiny house is easy to cool and the mortgage is cheaper that a 1-bedroom apartment. The  same abundant tree cover that blocks the garden's sun also  shades my house from the scorching Texas sun and helps protect my chickens from flying predators. Those many creeks that wind through the property churn out crazy amounts of bugs and help keep my chickens fed, cool, and laying eggs throughout  the summer. Beef is beautiful, but cows don't eat bugs. The small, sunny area i do have is extremely fertile due to once being forest floor. It may not be massive but time has shown that it can be massively productive!



   You could wait a lifetime for the perfect land, the perfect time, or the perfect situation to come around,

      -OR-

 You can take what you have now and look for ways to make it as productive as it can be. There are always ways to make your home productive if you look hard enough. Even if it's only a small salad garden in your apartment window, you can grow or raise something today!