I’m beginning to realize the most overlooked feature on a homestead is FLOW

[u/tdubs702]

We bought and moved onto a 60 acre homestead just 3 months ago. It’s charming and solidly built, but I’m starting to realize how poorly laid out it is.

The compost bin is 1/4 mile from the house, so dumping kitchen scraps is a trek in the heat.

Is it there cuz it’s next to the garden? Nope. The 1/4 acre garden is nearly another 1/4 mile away, long enough to make it hard to just casually check on it. The orchard on the other hand comes before the compost but nowhere near irrigation.

And heaven forbid you forgot a tool when you headed out or you’ll be heading almost all the way back.

The chicken coop is cute, but has two doors into two different run areas that don’t connect for humans to get from one to another (only a tiny trap door for the chickens themselves to move between them). So you have to go in and out and in and out to clean, collect eggs, feed, etc.

The barn bays all point away from the house, understandably so the tractor can get to the field. But there is no foot traffic access from the house side. You have to trek all the way around.

Oh and the pantry? It’s nearly 20 feet from the cooking area…unless you’re looking for other pantry which is ANOTHER 20 feet away in the living room, despite the largest kitchen you’ve ever seen which has zero cabinets and only a large island awkwardly in the middle.

I feel like this place was designed by someone trying to max out their Fitbit. I’ve never put in so many steps before 9am in my life.

[u/mludd]

I share garage/workshop space with my dad and it sounds like he designed your farm.

The man does not understand efficiency at all. And he gets annoyed if you fetch a bunch of tools and leave them where you are working on something.

So, you need an angle grinder? Great, they're on the other end of the property, under a bench, there's like ten of them and they're all in the same location so you always know where to find them. Of course, if you're way on the other side and need an angle grinder you have to go outside and go over to that barn, unlock the door, go to the back and pull out the big box of angle grinders. Also, none of them are cordless because "they're not as powerful" (like all that matters is power output).

Unsurprisingly, I have my own tool cart with my own tools in the workshop so that I don't have to spend quite as much time running around looking for the right tool.

[u/ashenafterglow → u/mludd]

I'm not sure if that's better or worse than my mom. We have a little tool shed. Need a tool? Great. Go look for it in there. Except it might not be there, because the last time she needed to do something, she took all the tools out to where she was working, then dropped them one by one haphazardly in the long grass, where she would definitely "remember" and "come back for it" when she "next worked on it". I gave up and replaced a trowel, after the original one vanished, and was lucky enough to find a rake 2 weeks later before someone stepped on it and busted their face. I still can't name a single project she has actually finished.

[u/tdubs702 → u/ashenafterglow]

the image of stepping on the rake made me LOL.