Avenues to Acres™
Home. Land. Resilience.
A living demonstration of how homeowners can use home and land to build greater food, economic and environmental resilience—without sacrificing comfort, beauty or modern living.
What we are building
The Resilient Home Project is a 2026–2030 demonstration and public-education initiative being developed by Avenues to Acres in LaBelle, Florida. Our 1.25-acre property is the first case study: a working home, registered farm and nursery where we are documenting food production, water stewardship, soil and land practices, household energy and transportation, productive-land income, and recovery after extreme weather.
The long-term goal is to turn what we learn into a practical Resilient Home Framework that can be adapted for suburban lots, traditional residential properties and acreage—giving more homeowners a realistic path to greater security, opportunity and legacy.
Our cause
Helping everyday homeowners use their homes and land to build greater food, economic and environmental resilience—without sacrificing comfort, beauty or modern living.
The August 2026 starting point
Residential homestead and demonstration property
Florida farm and nursery
Primary growing area with raised-bed, propagation and specialty-crop systems
Private well and irrigation systems
Electric vehicle and Level 2 home charging
Rebuilding after the 2026 freeze caused complete loss of the established tree and crop system
Our proposed 2026–2030 commitment
Our first responsibility is to measure honestly. Final improvement targets will be set after the complete 2026 baseline is established. The proposed commitment is to:
- Complete and document the project baseline by December 31, 2026, covering food production, water, soil and land practices, household energy and transportation, project costs and revenue, and educational reach.
- Set quantified improvement targets by March 31, 2027, using the verified baseline rather than unsupported estimates.
- Track core measures quarterly and publish one public progress report each year from 2027 through 2030.
- Publish at least 12 practical homeowner education resources per year beginning in 2027.
- Publish a documented freeze-loss and recovery case study by December 31, 2027.
- Develop the first Resilient Home Framework and test it with at least three additional households by December 31, 2030.
How progress will be measured
- Food harvested, nursery production and plant survival
- Water use and irrigation-efficiency improvements
- Soil practices, testing and land-restoration activity
- Household electricity, EV charging and transportation-energy use
- Project spending, productive-land revenue and outside resources secured
- Educational content, audience reach, resources published and participating households
- Before-and-after photographs, receipts, registrations, evaluations and third-party records
Sustainable Development Goal alignment
The project is being designed around a focused set of official United Nations Sustainable Development Goal targets. Alignment describes the goals our work may contribute to; it does not mean United Nations endorsement.
SDG Target 2.4 — Resilient and sustainable food production
Documenting household-scale production, climate recovery, crop diversity, soil improvement and resilient growing practices.
SDG Target 6.4 — Water-use efficiency
Establishing a water baseline and measuring irrigation and conservation improvements.
SDG Target 12.8 — Information and awareness for sustainable lifestyles
Publishing practical, transparent education that homeowners can apply at their own scale.
SDG Target 15.3 — Restoration of land and soil
Tracking soil-building, land-restoration and post-freeze recovery practices at the demonstration site.
View the official United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
Why this story is personal
Founder Shontelle Walton-Raphael’s connection to productive land began in Barbados, where her father farmed. After building a career in American real estate, she returned to those agricultural roots by transforming her Southwest Florida property into a working homestead, farm and nursery.
Avenues to Acres brings that inherited relationship with land into a modern homeownership context—connecting food production, land stewardship, entrepreneurship, residential real estate and public education.
Public value beyond one property
This project is not intended to stop at one household. The demonstration property will be used to produce open educational content, transparent measurements, a documented recovery case study and a framework that can be tested with other homeowners. Commercial partnerships may help finance implementation, but all public impact claims will be tied to documented activity and results.
Project status
Avenues to Acres is currently completing its August 2026 baseline, rebuilding the property’s productive systems and preparing the project’s measurement and reporting structure. We are also evaluating a future voluntary submission to the United Nations SDG Acceleration Actions platform.
Important: The Resilient Home Project is independently developed by Avenues to Acres. It is not currently a United Nations project, formal partnership or endorsed initiative. References to the SDGs describe intended alignment and accountability.
Follow the work
We are documenting the rebuild, the measurements and the lessons in real time—then turning them into practical resources for homeowners.