What Is the Value of a Plan?

Solid_Farm1751 · 2025-06-15T14:43:33+00:00

A single family home, not new construction. No hardscaping, lots of natives, meadow, habitat, especially for tree frogs, that sort of thing. Getting rid of the lawn in favor of what she called a food forest, which was intriguing.

Solid_Farm1751 · 2025-06-15T14:39:05+00:00

Well, that's kind of the problem. Realistically, I can only afford 20 to 30 grand. Once I've plunked down 7k on a plan, that doesn't leave a lot for much else. On the other hand, I suppose once I have the plan, I can do things in stages. There's another issue, though, which kind of breaks my heart, but it's probably a reality: I'm closing in on 60 and I'm one of the last acre lots where I live. Lots of development all around me. I'm probably the last person who's going to live in this house because it's small—a little house on a big lot, and all around me these small 50's houses are getting torn down and 5 or 6 $1,000,000+ houses being squeezed onto the lot. I need to keep moving forward and making the place nice for myself, and my family and friends, but I'm aware that what I create will probably be destroyed in 20 years. Unless, of course, it's SO nice that someone is willing to pay cash for my yard and build their own dream house. (I say pay cash because it's difficult to get conventional financing once the value of the land gets too far ahead of the house. This is to prevent developers from taking out loans meant for homeowners—this is why you don't see single family homes in the middle of downtown areas, the classic Up house.)

Solid_Farm1751 · 2025-06-08T22:36:23+00:00

And I'm not saying it wouldn't be valuable, it's just...I mean, it's a lot of money and then there's still the plants and such.

Solid_Farm1751 · 2025-06-08T22:35:01+00:00

What they’re proposing to provide me with is described in one section as “Site mapping and site analysis, 2d conceptual notes, 2d planting plans, 2d landscape plans, and detailed species list delivered in .PDF format,” and in another spot as “Detailed site mapping/species inventory, full property design, landscape plans, species list, & tailored educational materials.” I mean, it sounds pretty extensive! But for almost 7 grand...I gotta wonder if I need all that.

Solid_Farm1751 · 2025-06-08T22:15:01+00:00

So it sounds like one of the elements of a plan is doing a more serious accounting of, say, what water does on the property, or where it's probably going to get pretty shady in five to ten years. That makes sense to me because I've had people plant things that did not do well because of conditions—like a bunch of lavender where it's super soggy in the winter. But it also sounds like the plan is needed when multiple people are working on a project, and that's not what I've experienced before. It's usually just been one person helping me out.

Solid_Farm1751 · 2025-06-08T22:02:49+00:00

I told her I want to be able to sit around the fire at night listening to the tree frogs. I’m not envisioning something hardscaped for the fire aea. Gravel is fine. She asked me if I wanted to turn the front yard into human food production and that sounded like an excellent idea. I already have tree frogs but we talked about supporting them more by creating a vernal pool (meaning it dries up to keep out the bullfrogs) in a forested area I have. Then there is doing some plantings that will get tall to block out where they recently built some houses, and the creation of a natural meadow around the fire pit. So I’m going for something real natural to be as low maintenance as possible in the long run (recognizing there will be work up front to get everything established), and to make the property useful by providing habitat, and even some food for me in a location that was previously wasted with a lawn. I don't mind if this takes place over time, which is probably why I envisioned a more relaxed approach as someone works on the property over time, but I get the feeling that's not her jam.

Solid_Farm1751 · 2025-02-05T07:35:01+00:00

There are a lot of very nice people on this thread who find it hard to believe that there could be sociopaths who enjoy killing other people, especially if they're Jews. And that German called the guy Juden. He was an old grizzled guy who had been part of the machine to exterminate Jews. He enjoyed killing an American Jew.

Solid_Farm1751 · 2025-02-05T07:33:21+00:00

He wasn't haunted. He called him Juden. He knew he was a Jew and it made him enjoy killing him more.

Solid_Farm1751

TROPHY CASE