The closed-loop homestead, step by step
Interactive lesson: how kitchen, garden and barn leftovers become compost and food for the soil and the animals, and where a homestead leaks.
Free sample Chapters 1 and 2 (8 steps) are free. The full lesson comes with the Closed loop module. Already bought? Unlock
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The whole lesson as text
1. Five stations of the loop
On a homestead there is no waste, only resources in the wrong place.
- Soil and sun — Plants turn sunlight, water, air and nutrients from the soil into food. Living soil is full of earthworms, fungi and bacteria.
- Plants feed everyone — Vegetables, fruit, potatoes and grain feed people. Grass, hay, grain and leftovers feed the animals.
- Leftovers and manure — People and animals leave kitchen scraps, manure, bedding, feathers and ash behind. That is raw material, not rubbish.
- Back to the soil — Leftovers and manure become compost. Compost, mulch and green manure return nutrients to the soil and the loop closes.
Why: Every plant takes nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and calcium from the soil. When you eat a potato or sell eggs, those elements leave the garden. If they don't come back, the soil gets poorer every year.
- The loop is never fully closed: some nutrients leave with food, rain and erosion.
- The goal is not a perfect loop but as little bought in and as little lost as possible.
2. Where a homestead leaks
Before you build a new compost bay, look at where your loop is leaking.
- Manure in the rain — Rain washes most of the nitrogen and potassium out of a heap in the open. The manure drains into the stream or the well.
- Burnt leaves — When you burn leaves and prunings, you lose all the organic matter and the nitrogen goes up in smoke. Leaves go to the compost and mulch.
- Bare soil over winter — Rain carries off the best topsoil and the nitrogen. Protect it with green manure, mulch or winter crops.
- A roof over the heap — The easiest first step: a roof or a tarpaulin over the muck heap, on a concrete or compacted base. It costs a day's work and two pallets.
Why: The usual holes are the same on almost every holding: manure left in the rain, burnt leaves, bought-in feed and bare soil over winter. Nutrients and money drain out through every hole.
- Animal urine carries most of the nitrogen and potassium: use enough bedding and an impermeable floor.
- Don't put kitchen scraps in the bin: keep a compost caddy in the kitchen or set up a wormery.
3. The compost area · Locked
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4. Animals in the loop · Locked
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5. Plants that feed the soil · Locked
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6. Manure back into the garden · Locked
Buy the Closed loop module and you get the PDF to download and print, plus lifetime access to this interactive lesson: all 6 chapters, 24 steps.