The permaculture site is my family’s home and property, on Graham Terrace in Montclair, NJ, USA. Montclair is a suburb of New York City. Our street is one block long, with single family wood-frame homes on small lots. Most houses were built in the 1920s.
The property measures approximately 116 feet N-S by 50 feet E-W, consisting of a front yard, house, back yard, and detached garage.
In the front, a steep hill runs up from the sidewalk up to a flat area with a slate walk leading to stairs up to a small front entry porch. The east edge of the front yard has 4 raised beds in the shape of U. Shrubs line the front of the house to the left and right of the stairs to the porch. The driveway runs up the west edge to the south west corner of the lot to the wood-frame 2-car garage, dimensions approximately 19 feet wide by 20 feet deep.
The wood-frame house, 40 feet wide, 25 feet deep, sits more or less in the center of the property. There is a paved patio in the back that extends 10 feet at its maximum point.
Between the house and the east edge of the property is about 2 feet of shrubs. The property line to the east is delimited by the curb of the neighbor’s driveway which runs up from the street as far as our house, and then further delineated by a fence running to the far end of the yard. Our yard also is fenced in on the north end.
