Hey everyone, My name is Rich Weiss. Our family relocated from a small home in Montauk New York to our zone 4B 26 acre homestead in NEK Vermont. This property sits at about 1200 ft and is mostly wooded. Unfortunately the land was selectively logged about 20 yrs ago. Mixed throughout the property there are mature trees that have brambles, black berry bushes and such mixed with a mix of ash, pine, maple and beech trees anywhere from the size of a pool stick upwards to about a 6 inch diameter between the mature trees. In our front yard we have 11 old growth apple trees that are being pruned to make them manageable again. In our zone 4/5 we do have a small year round stream. Over that past 3 yrs of owning this property we have cut about 3/4 of a mile of trails, raised chickens for eggs and meat, quail, rabbits and pigs to help clear some land and of course meat. We have planted berry bushes and a few peach trees, started an anual garden and built a 10x30 high tunnel. Unfortunately last winter we decided to step back a bit and filled our freezers with our own meat and let the garden slip by the wayside. Having twin 8 yr old boys can be a handful especially when they are homeschooled. On top of that we decided to expand our family by bringing an Australian shepherd puppy into our family about a year ago. Well we are rdy to start moving forward again. Our family is not new to the permaculture idea but do not have any formal training at this point. One of my inspirations is Ben Falk the owner of whole system designs and author of the resilient farm and homestead. His property is about 48 miles from us so it’s nice to see what someone can do in Our area. Well that’s using a nut shell. Over the next few months I look forward to discussing our future endeavors.