Homesteading in Zone 5, the honest math behind frugal living

Onondaga County, NY  ·  ryan@ryanzarnowski.com

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My Approach

Run the numbers first. Then decide whether the romance is worth it.

Fifteen years in lending taught me how banks make money.

Now I use the same discipline on my own land: underwrite the decision, track the outcome, publish the result, failures and all.

01

Track every dollar

Nothing gets estimated. In and out, capital and recurring, it all goes in the ledger.

02

Run the real math

Turn it into a fair unit, per jar, per egg, per BTU, so the comparison actually means something.

03

Test it on the homestead

Theory is cheap. Every claim gets run on four real acres in a real Zone 5 winter.

04

Share the failures

The over-budget projects get published too. That’s where the useful lessons live.

What this looks like in practice

  • Cost-tracked DIY projects with honest budgets
  • Real numbers on land, livestock and food
  • Debt payoff steps that actually stick
  • Season extension and firewood economics
THE HOMESTEAD LEDGER

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