Homesteading wasn’t in the plan when we chose to build our “forever home” on one acre of purchased family farm land 11 years ago. We didn’t even know what a homestead was back then. While we have no regrets with how life and priorities have been laid out for us, if we could do it all over again, there are some changes we’d make to our homestead. In this blog post, we’ll share how we’d lay out our one acre homestead and what we’d do differently. You’ll also find encouragement in knowing if you have 1 acre or less, that there’s actually a WHOLE lot you can do with that space!
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What can you do with a one acre homestead?
In our experience, A LOT.
It just depends on your attitude about “having only one acre”. That’s a fixed mindset.
“We homestead one acre!” is a growth mindset. Looking for the possibilities and thankful for the blessings.
On our one acre property sits:
- a 1800+ square foot home
- a 30×20 shop
- a chicken run
- fire pit area
- seven garden beds
- a greenhouse
- a playset for the kids.
And that’s ALL in the backyard. Less than 1/2 an acre.
I didn’t even mention the wood shed, the fruit trees, many berry bushes, the crepe myrtles, a patio, all the compost bins, the gas tank and utility lines that make what we can do in the backyard much harder and more limited.
The front yard is very open with the exception of some trees on the perimeter.
If we could start from bare dirt again…
When we purchased this one acre of family farm land, it was a harvested cotton field in 2014.
Before meeting with contractor(s), we’d have made a better, more thought out plan for our space.
If we knew in 2014 that we’d one day want to farm our one acre well, I’m sure we’d have asked to purchase more land.
But since we couldn’t buy more land… we’d have done these things with what we had:
- sacrificed more time to get permission to have the power lines run in front of the house vs. the back which would open even more possibilities in the backyard
- put the gas tank in a different location
- probably placed the actual house in a different location
- asked for a whole different part of the farm to purchase instead of the corner at the road
- took more time to consider the land instead of the most attention spent on the home construction
You just can’t foresee the things you’ll want later in life.
Intentional Homesteading a Small Farm or Micro Farm
If I wanted, I could be a worm farmer and have worm farms in small bins all over this property and alas, I’d be a REAL FARMER! *note: sarcasm*
Imposter syndrome is real and I fight it constantly. More times than not I’ve told myself I’m not a real farmer because I don’t own a tractor or more land or big livestock.
Intentionally homesteading by stewarding well the little slice of land you do have, the animals, and garden you put on it is all you can do at the end of the day.
On this one acre small farm or micro farm, some may call it,
- we grow lots of produce to
- put up in our pantry
- give away
- sell on our roadside produce stand
- feed to the pigs growing on a friend’s land down the road
- we also raise poultry
- 13+ laying hens and ducks
- upwards of 70 meat chickens twice a year
- a few turkeys in the fall
- On fresh pasture daily.
Pasture meaning my yard but it’s fresh grass twice or thrice a day by moving chicken tractors and the layers’ electric fencing.
How is that NOT farming?
Being intentional with your space, no matter the size, means you can homestead anywhere! When you look up the definition of homesteading (second definition), I think you’ll be surprised.
How we would design one acre homestead differently:
- a total redesign of how our utility lines enter the property. From the front yard instead of the backyard.
- locating the home structure closer to the road (not ideal now to be at the road with this property but as it stands, we don’t use the front yard or porch much at all) to open up more space in the backyard
- greenhouse on side yard
- workshop further back and right at the property line, again, for more open backyard space
- playset on side yard
- mobile chicken tractor with coop and electric fencing for layers, like a chickshaw (Justin Rhodes); not a static coop and run
Perhaps with a new set up like this, we’d be able to raise our own pigs (maybe 1 or two) using Justin Rhodes‘ idea of a carport turned into pig shelter using wood chips weekly to cover up the stench and muck they create. Once pigs are harvested, the carport pig shelter moves to a new location and a garden bed is made from the old pig pen.
Hindsight 20/20
We cannot predict the future.
Our family certainly had no idea in just 4 years of building our “forever home” we’d have this desire to homestead our land and wish for more of it for beef cattle and hogs.
So for now, we work with what we have and we’re grateful for what we’ve been blessed with.
Get inspired!
If we can raise the vegetables we like to eat to preserve each year (and we could definitely raise way more!) plus poultry for eggs and meat on less than 1/2 acre, you can too!
Coming from an abundance mindset way of thinking, you can flow with ideas for how to make your small acreage teem with food you raised yourself!
Follow along for more one acre homesteading content like this!
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More one acre homesteading blog posts:
- 8 Ways to Make Homesteading Affordable
- 3 Ways to Start Homesteading Today
- How we raise 68 meat birds on a half an acre
