Project 10 -- Design of Farms and Residences
This Project 10 is connected with:
"Rebecca
Hosking ... explores ways of farming without using fossil fuel [FF].
With the help of pioneering farmers and growers, Rebecca learns that it
is actually nature that holds the key to farming in a low-labor, low-energy future."
The basic idea of Project 10 was inspired by Rebecca Hoskin, about the way four-acre farms of could be arranged where Ideal Customer families could grow food, live and support themselves: But, avoid using 90% of the fossil fuel [FF]/person used by others living by conventional lifestyles.
RDL considers this idea, for specification of farms resided on, and/or managed by Ideal Customers, located within:
- MiniUtopiaVillages,
- Project 1o farms,
or on land nearby.
The basic principles are set forth in Permaculture. RDL has especially studied the improvements which can be added to Permaculture by utilizing symbiosis and mutualism.
The estimated hours/person to:
design and plan an acre of land is 100 hours
Organizing, planting etc a plot is also 100 hours/acre
Spring takes 24hours/person/acre for spring management,
Summer harvest 16 hours/person/acre
Fall care12 hours/person/acre
Winter maintenance16 hours/person/acre
Total initialization 200 hours/person, plus 68 hours/person/year,
A four acre farm saves 20% of the total for four acres:
Initialization takes 640 hours/person or 16 weeks (a little over one quarter of the working days of an Ideal Customer, or Utopian Planner) Annual management takes 544 hours or 13.6 weeks/year (slightly over one quarter of the year by one Ideal Customer)
RDL also estimates that approximately 10% of the 18,000 homes within a Utopia will manage in average 4 acre of land within Utopia or manage land nearby, ie
1,800 farms including 7,200 acres (~12 square miles). This is planned
to grow food for 72,000 people. In addition, farms on land from ourside Utopia may be associated with Utopium and resided on or managed by a family of Ideal Customers.
Typically such farms would be located on at least 120 acres with 30
typical four-acre farms, supplying food for 300 people. Also,
typically 2/3rds of such farms would also be resided upon in Alpha, Beta or Gamma type , and 1/3 managed by other Ideal Customers living in GaviHas occupied on nearby farms,
This version of GaviHas , designed to be used on farm(s) can be Alpha, Beta or Gamma houses: But, specially arranged so that the central (Alpha) section of the Beta or Gamma house can be driven on roads as a conventional GaviHas, while the rest of the house can remain on the farm.
