Master Plan 2020 (I Need Your Opinion)

The last time I showed you a new master plan was four years ago. But now I’m working on images for chapter four of 5 Acres & A Book The Sequel, and realized that I need to update it. In recent years, I’ve worked with smaller close-ups, for things like pasture management, pasture rotation ideas, the goat corral, soil-building, and the tractor gate. The time had come to incorporate those, plus other changes, into the big picture.

I’m going to show you two versions (and an idea for a third) and ask which you think would be better for a 6-inch by 9-inch paperback (with half-inch margins). The first version is labeled with text, the second with numbers and a key. I prefer the text labels for an “at a glance” view, but when I try to label everything it becomes too cluttered. So I must be selective.

Version 1 with text

The other concern is that in print, the text becomes very tiny to fit the map on the page (becomes about 5 inches wide in the book). The numbers and key let me put more in, more legibly. The map below is more detailed and accurate.

Version 2 with numbers.

Key:
1. house
2. greenhouse (planned)
3. peach and plum trees, herb gardens
4. cherry, pears, apples, elderberries, and hay growing
5. kitchen and canning garden and hoop house
6. grain
7. apiary and bee garden (to be revived)
8. rainwater tank
9. rainwater runoff tanks (for the garden)
10. woodshed & outdoor laundry Future outdoor kitchen (formerly carport)
11. solar panels
12. sawmill
13. goat barn
14. goat corral
15. workshop
16. tractor path
17. barn water catchment tanks (1 large round, 2 small totes)
18. chicken yard and coop, pecan trees
19. duck house and pond
20. compost bins
21. goat path to browse areas (failed hedgerow)
22. buck barn
23. buck shelter
25. forest garden hedgerow
25. hay growing
26. crabapple tree and field crops
27. seasonal pond
28. Leyland cyprus privacy hedge and windbreak
29. wooded browse areas to become silvopasture
30. wooded, unfenced

Dotted lines are electric fences subdividing pastures for rotational grazing.
D1 – D7 = doe paddocks
B1 – B4 = buck paddocks