Long-term project

I can't believe that I've been thinking about this project for over 2 years and still have nothing to show for it. Actually I have a lot to show for it, but perhaps nothing recognizable to anyone but me.

First, an update on Dale. Dale turned out to be very helpful. He had lots of great ideas for getting started and getting past the design block. I got stuck again, though, and failed to follow through. Why? I don't know. I just couldn't seem to get in touch with the heart of the project. I am grateful to Dale for his contributions to this epic.

Over the last couple of weeks I've had a flurry of renewed interest and been back to researching. I feel like a plan has settled in my brain and is ready to move.
I have the outline of a plan. Now I just need the money to carry it out.

Here's what's changed:
I realized that I have been trying to do this the way that other people have said I should do it. I've been trying to follow their models, and it hasn't worked for me. I'm not a farmer, a gardener, or an activist and so haven't been inspired or propelled by stories from those kinds of folks.
About a year ago, I was describing my inertia on this project to a young guy in his 20s who had a self-professed interest in permaculture. Right away, he was able to diagnose my block: "see yourself as part of the project." He was right, but it's taken me a year to figure out what that meant.
I don't like to do a lot of maintenance, nor do I have the time or energy to carry it out. I barely have time to cook my own food, let alone grow it. So, here's a thought -- maybe I don't need to grow my own food. Maybe I can give back to nature instead, while building into the design a possible succession plan for a day when I might want to and have time to grow some of the food for myself. During a conversation with a friend where I was describing my disinterest in the permaculture project, she suggested, "maybe you should do permaculture for animals."
I started thinking about designing for all the wild creatures that I get on my land, and it got me interested. How do I create a douglas squirrel garden? How do I create a pileated woodpecker garden? A varied thrush or a bee garden? Why not?
Then it all became easy. There are lots of books with wildlife garden plans for birds and butterflies. All I had to do was take those plans and create plant lists optimized for my growing conditions, for perennials, and for possible human consumption at a later date. So the current thinking is to divide the property into 5 sections and do the planting in 5 phases: 1) Hummingbird and butterfly garden, 2)Stream-side passerine and amphibian garden (I really want to see a salmander), 3) Stream-side squirrel and woodpecker garden, 4) varied thrush/towhee garden and fruit orchard, and 5) Greenhouse human-food garden that is safe from dog participation.

We'll see where it goes.

The strange thing to me is that a wildlife garden is what I wanted when I started this whole thing, but I let other people's interests and agendas pull me off track. How did that happen?