Chase Bourn - The Backyard Homestead Manual

The greatest fine art of the future will be the making of a comfortable living from a small piece of land.

-Abraham Lincoln

O ne of the greatest joys in life is to plan, grow, and harvest your own bountiful food supply.
Homesteading can have many meanings. Most commonly, it refers to someone who is living off of the land, utilizing the food that they grow and raise .

There is a big problem with todays modern food production. Everything is over-processed and filled with sugar and other crazy ingredients that you cant pronounce, much less know where they come from.

Many people have grown tired of modern food production methods that are only making them sicker and sicker. They are longing for a solution to producing healthy and sustainable food. That solution is known as homesteading.

While many people dream of owning their own little slice of heaven by homesteading, there is a lot to consider before getting started.

Wouldnt it be great if there was a step-by-step guide that showed you exactly what you need to do in order to set up a successful homestead from the beginning? That is exactly what this book is all about!

This book will serve as your complete guide to everything you need to know in order to start a successful homestead and make your self-sufficient, urban farming dreams come true. I am going to outline everything you need to know, from the legalese of zoning and regulations to how to make money from your bounty, and everything in between.

But before we get started, I want to introduce myself.

My name is Chase Bourn. I have lived as a backyard homesteader for over five years on 2 acres of land that I own. For over seven years, I have been living my dream of self-reliance through a very minimalistic and eco-friendly lifestyle, completely off the grid. During this time, I have made a lot of mistakes and gained a lot of knowledge that I now want to share with you.

When you decide to start your homestead, there is a lot you will need to learn. It is my goal to be able to share my knowledge with you so that you can set yourself up for success right from the beginning, avoiding some of the costly mistakes that I myself have made.

When I lived in the city, I used to dream of being a homesteader. It is a lot of hard work but it is worth every second. Every day, I am working on my farm or with my animals, providing for myself and my family. I relish in the beauty of creating something from scratch and knowing that what I am doing is adding to the Earth rather than taking away from it. Every day I wake up and get to live my dream of owning a homestead where I am self-sustaining myself and my family with my urban farm, and I couldnt be happier.

Over the last few years, I have worked with dozens of people to help them successfully make the transition to homestead living. It is my hope in writing this book that I am able to help thousands of more people successfully transition into their own homesteads. It feels great when I get snail mail and emails from people that are using my knowledge to build their dreams.

I am going to make you a promise with this book.

If you read this book cover to cover you will be ready to start your own homestead in no time. Even if you have never successfully grown a vegetable in your life or handled livestock, this book will show you how to become a homesteader. I am going to arm you with the knowledge you need, you just have to add the desire and motivation to get things moving.

So what are you waiting for?

If you truly want to be a homesteader, then stop putting it off. Stop making excuses and stop saying Someday Ill do it. Start putting that someday plan into action now. Dont look back on your dreams with regret and wish about all of the things that you should have done. Do your research, make a plan, and put that plan into action.

The Backyard Homestead Manual will take you by the hand and show you step-by-step everything that you need to start living your dream homestead life. I cannot emphasize enough the joy and satisfaction that I experience every day, living my sustainable urban farming lifestyle. It is truly an amazing way to live and its all outlined for you in this book.

You might already be asking these questions:

• What can and cant I do on a homestead?
• What will I need to get started ?
• What will I grow or raise?

Dont worry; I will cover all of that and more for you in great depth in this book.

Here is just a small sample of the topics that I will cover:

• The laws, regulations, zoning, and permits required for activities and structures on your homestead.
• The tools and gear that you will need to be successful.
• The growing seasons in different areas across the United States.
• Necessary elements for quality soil.
• How to design and map out your growing spaces.
• How to spot potential issues with your farming.
• Which farm records you should be keeping.
• How to prepare your ground for planting.
• Using raised beds, container gardening, and planting directly into the ground.
• How to germinate plants indoors.
• All about crop rotation and succession planting.
• Pests and disease prevention for your plants.
• How and when to harvest your bounty.
• Activities to do in the fall to keep your farm running smoothly.
• The 13 different categories of plants and what you need to know about each one.
• How to preserve and store your food.
• How to can, dry, freeze, ferment, cold store, and seed save.
• How to raise animals for production and butchering.
• How to profit from the products you are producing from your land.

Keep reading and you will become a master self-sufficient, urban farming homesteader, in no time.

And then make sure to share this book with anyone that you know that is interested in homesteading or gardening (there is a lot of good info on that as well)!