Guide Rock - USA

A small homestead fits in the Nebraska plains. 15 miles to the nearest diner. An hour to any major city. Any trip to town for supplies, groceries, or repair parts is a major event taking hours of the day. The isolation of the property is only equalled by the solitude and silence away from freeways and industry. A small stream runs through the property filling a pond dug by farmers long ago before it continues down the watershed.  Both are lined with large cottonwoods and Box Elder shading the land in creating cool breezes. Uphill from the home site is a large pine windbreak, many rows deep. Narrow and forgotten meadows lay between the contour planted tree lines. The soil is rich and loamy.

We terrace the hillside for annual crops near the house. Fence off the residence, add a small orchard and kitchen garden. We collect the roof water to swales heading under the road to a field of row crops. We thin the windbreak trees before they out-compete and collapse on themselves after years of neglect. This is an immediate source of timber, organic material and new ground covers. The meadows are now pasturing livestock in rotational grazing. The pond is a shoreline of fruit trees and shrubs, a perennial wet prairie oasis. A small windmill pumps water to the upper field tanks and fills the cascading swales. Water, sun, soil, solitude, and the agrarian adaptability makes for independent living and an economically resilient lifestyle.