About the Homestead
Homestead Stats:
Lot Size: 6720 sq ft (between 1/6th and 1/7th of an acre, or 0.154 acres for you decimal freaks)
The House: 3 Bedrooms, 1 bathroom, roughly 1150 sq ft. Built in 1929.
Location: Arbor Heights neighborhood of West Seattle
Total Wood Chips Hauled In: ~26 yards as of March 2012
Total Soil Hauled In: ~10 yards of soil mix for garden beds, and about 5 yards of sandy soil to fill in behind a retaining wall.
Total Grass Removed: ~2200 square feet as of March 2012
Total Large Perennials Planted: 4 Apple trees, 4 Blueberry Bushes
Seattle Homestead History:
We purchased the Seattle Homestead on March 24th, 2011, and quickly began a 2 week process of painting and moving. Then I ripped out a big chunk of lawn and made raised garden beds covered in white clover. Most of the winter of 2011-2012 was spent preparing to build an earthen wall around the house and sheet mulching most of the yard (we’re almost entirely grass free now).
The Homestead Plan:
I’ll have a full post on the homestead plan soon. For now, check out the Homestead Goals for 2011 and take a glance at the bullet points:
Get rid of most grass to make way for garden(done winter 2011/2012), chickens (coming soon…), social space , and other more useful things in life- Build a wall / fence to block noise from street and to simultaneously support raised beds (happening summer 2012)
- Harvest plenty of vegetables, fruit, herbs, mushrooms, and medicinal plants
- Convert front yard into a more usable social space including fire pit area, picnic space, pergola, etc. (lots of hardscaping left on this one)