The Back Field. Day 519.

It’s a warm day with lots of sunshine. The birds are particularly happy and chatty today, causing me to reminisce about summer.

Behind my shed there’s a back field that sits on about half an acre of land. There is a leach field out there, but the rest is green grass. Since planting season is quickly approaching, I need to make a plan, and have been wondering how I could put that land to good, preferably sustainable, use.

Maybe I won’t want to put anything back there, and if that’s the case, I need to leave it be for now. Some ideas that have crossed my mind for future uses of that land are:

• Let the grass grow and turn into hay. It’s beneficial for the bees around, and it would save us on time and gas since we wouldn’t have to mow it. Plus, we could use the hay in the winter to line the chicken coops for warmth.
• Plant corn! I mean, how cool would that be!? I would have to rent a tiller and do some research. I think of how cool it would be to can and freeze corn. There are many other uses for it, too, like corn meal or feed for animals.
• Add a fence for alpacas. I love alpaca yarn and have looked into costs associated with sending their wool away to have cleaned and spun.
• Plant strawberry patches, lots of them. I could make jam for days!
• Bees, bees, bees! Come on, that would be cool, and I do love honey.
• Make a space for a tiny home one day. Who knows what the future holds? Maybe one of the boys would want to live there, or I could generate rental income from it. I picture a cute home with a small outdoor deck and a gravel driveway. I see colorful flowers in the window boxes and maybe a bird house. Sigh.
• Emus?
• Add more herb or vegetable gardens.
• Plant tons of sunflowers. They would bring in the bees and help to pollenate all the other goods I have growing on the property.

Maybe I won’t do anything with the land right now, but I want to start really thinking about it. I tend to dream big with this type of situation, but that’s how ideas are born. Let me know what you think. Perhaps, I could do it all.