Farm Planning: Planning the Farm on Paper

We closed on land in Manitoba in early 2016 and have been living in Yellowknife, NWT since then. As a result of this technicality, paper planning has been the primary feature of our farm life thus far. Our paper planning has been fairly extensive over the last two years and while nothing physical exists I have still learnt several very important lessons as a result of the planning process.

(Mr. Frank Silver, June 2016) 

Expect a Large Learning Curve
As my experience with indoor composting worms highlights, all new projects come with a steep learning curve. It is important to anticipate and react to this learning curve to prevent discouragement when projects do not go as planned.

Limitations of Paper Planning
There will be unexpected realities when attempting to follow any plan - no matter how detailed. I like to plan some flexibility into the official paper plan to accommodate these unexpected realities. Accepting the limits of paper planning allows one to embrace changes as new information is presented.

(The land, April 2018) 

The Importance of Permaculture
Even though we have yet to begin a farm project, I have embraced the importance of permaculture. I research and detailed an Angora rabbit plan to begin in Fall 2018 but soon discovered that if the rabbits exist outside of a permaculture system the cost of inputs and the problem of their outputs results in an expensive, time consuming and unnatural system. Instead I opted to delay the rabbit purchase until they can exist within a permaculture system which will be more beneficial overall.

There is a time and a benefit derived from paper planning, I am excited to begin projects IRL!