Track 1: The whole homestead

10 diagrams.

BonesAndAddOns

Build the bones once and leave room for the add-ons. Solid parts are hard to move later; dashed outlines are space kept free to grow.

Text description

A plan of a homestead layout. Drawn solid, as things that are hard to change once built: the house position and orientation, the well, the septic area, and the underground water and power lines between them and the house. A note says setbacks between the well, septic, house and property lines are set by the state or county. Drawn dashed, as space left for later: more solar panels next to the first ones, a second water tank next to the first, more garden beds, and an empty conduit laid in the open trench beside the power line. A key explains solid as built now and hard to change, and dashed as room left to grow.

BriefOnePage

A homestead brief fits on one page: where, who, what, how much, and what you will not give up.

Text description

A sketch of a one-page homestead brief with labels for each part. Where: the climate zone from lesson 3, shown as a small box reading 4A, and a few lines of site notes from lesson 4. Who: everyone who lives there most of the year and any special needs. Goals: three to five, numbered in rank order, where the higher goal wins a clash. Money and time: a budget bar with a low and a high figure and a reserve set aside, plus hours per week in your busiest season. Must-haves: three to six, with tick boxes, kept apart from a shorter list of nice-to-haves. Open questions: things you do not know yet, to ask professionals.

ClimateZoneBands

An IECC zone is a number for how hot or cold, plus a letter for how moist. This is a simplified schematic, not a map.

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A schematic grid, not a map. Rows are zone numbers from 8 (coldest) at the top to 1 (hottest) at the bottom. Columns are moisture regions: C, marine, along the Pacific coast; B, dry, in the interior West; and A, moist, in most of the East. Cells: zone 8, the coldest parts of Alaska, and zone 7 have no letter, because cold sets the rules. Zone 6 has 6B and 6A. Zone 5 has 5B, such as Denver, and 5A, such as Boston and the upper Midwest. Zone 4 has 4C, such as Seattle, 4B and 4A. Zone 3 has 3C, such as San Francisco, 3B, such as Las Vegas, and 3A, such as Atlanta. Zone 2 has 2B, such as Phoenix and the low desert, and 2A. Zone 1 has 1A, such as Miami and Hawaii. A note says real zones are set by county and to check the IECC climate zone map.

DegreeDays

Heating degree days add up how far the daily average falls below 65 °F. The bigger the shaded area below the line, the more heating a place needs.

Text description

A chart of daily average temperature through an example year in a cold US place. The temperature axis is marked at 25, 45, 65 and 85 °F. A horizontal line marks the 65 °F (18 °C) base. In winter the temperature curve falls well below the line; the area between them is shaded and stands for heating degree days. In summer the curve rises a little above the line; that smaller shaded area stands for cooling degree days. A marker on a fall day shows that a day averaging 45 °F adds 20 heating degree days, because 65 minus 45 is 20.

HardMonth

Solar makes plenty in summer and much less in winter. The winter gap, not the summer surplus, decides how big the system must be.

Text description

A chart of one year from January to December. A curved line shows the solar power made each month: low in December and January, highest in June and July. A flat dashed line shows what the home needs each month. In summer the solar line is well above the need, which is a surplus. In late fall and winter it falls below the need, which is a shortfall, shaded at both ends of the year. A label says the winter gap sets the system size. A note says the chart shows shape only, not real numbers, which depend on your site, system and use.

HardMonths

Each budget has its own hard month. Energy and heat are both hardest in midwinter, so that overlap needs planning first.

Text description

A year chart with a row for each of five budgets and a column for each month. Energy is hardest in December and January, with short days. Heat is hardest in the coldest weeks, from late December into February. Water is hardest in late summer, August into early September, when rain is low and the garden is thirsty. Food stores are lowest from February to early April, before the first harvest. Time is tightest in spring, April and May, and in fall, mid September to mid October. A dashed box marks January, where energy and heat overlap, labeled: overlap, plan for this first. A note says this is a common pattern in a cold US climate, and yours may differ.

IndependenceRange

Independence is a dial for each need, not one switch. This example homestead provides all of its water but only part of its food.

Text description

A chart with one horizontal scale for each of four needs. Each scale runs from connected (you buy it or share it), through partly provided (you make some and buy the rest), to fully provided (all of it, on site, all year). In this one example homestead, water is fully provided by a well and rain tank all year. Power is mostly provided by solar on site, with the grid kept as a backup. Heat is mostly provided on site, with some fuel bought. Food is only partly provided: a summer garden, then winter groceries. A note says each need sits on its own dial.

PhasingSequence

Plan and check the rules first, then cover water, sanitation and safe shelter, then power, then food. Stages overlap.

Text description

A timeline with four columns: before you build, year 1, year 2, and later. Bars show seven stages in order, each starting before the last one ends. First, watch the site and plan, before you build. Second, check zoning, permits and road access, running into the start of year 1. Third, safe water and a legal toilet, early in year 1. Fourth, a dry shelter with safe heat, through year 1. Fifth, power for essentials, from late year 1 into year 2. Sixth, a small garden and building soil, from year 2 on. Seventh, animals and more food production, later. A dashed bar shows living on site in temporary housing, such as a camper with hauled water and a generator, through most of year 1, labeled often cold, cramped and costly. A note says the years are only an example.

SitePlan

A simple site map: sun to the south, winter wind from the northwest, ground sloping down to a creek, and a road for access.

Text description

A plan view of a piece of land, north at the top. A road runs along the north edge, and a driveway curves down to the house. The house sits in the middle, its long side facing south, with a small garden just south of it. A windbreak of trees runs along the north and west sides of the house, against winter wind from the north and west. Two arcs show the sun's path: the summer sun rises in the northeast, passes high and to the south, and sets in the northwest; the winter sun rises in the southeast, stays low in the southern sky and sets in the southwest. Arrows show the land sloping downhill to the south. Rain runs downhill to a creek along the south edge, where the ground is low and wet, with a flood risk. A key lists sunlight, wind, water and slope arrows.

SlopeSection

Cold air and water both run downhill. A gentle south-facing slope stays warmer and drier than the hollow below it.

Text description

A section through a hillside, north on the left and south on the right, not to scale. A house sits on a gentle south-facing slope, with a windbreak of trees on its north side slowing the cold winter wind from the north and west. Low winter sun shines in from the south. On still nights, cold air drains down the slope and pools in a hollow at the bottom, where a hedge holds it in place. This is a frost pocket. Rain also runs downhill toward the hollow.