Elizabeth Bolling - Backyard Farming: The Beginners Guide to Growing Food and Raising Micro-Livestock in Your Own Mini Farm

1. What is Backyard Farming?

W ITH THE SCARE OF ECONOMIC instability and increased knowledge about the dangers of pesticides, additives, and processed foods, a new movement is sweeping the country. People are changing the way they live and searching for strategies to enjoy a more sustainable, healthy, and natural existence. They are looking to the lifestyles of past generations and seeking ways to live simpler lives themselves.

One of the best, easiest, and most effective ways families have been able to do this is to prepare mini farms in their own backyardsbackyard farms, if you will. These micro farms provide sustenance and incredible cost savings even in times of plenty. They protect families against potentially devastating effects of a job loss or financial disaster. Furthermore, they offer homegrown food that is healthier and less expensive than anything those families could buy at their local supermarket.

This country, after all, was founded on an agrarian lifestyle. Farmers, for hundreds of years, have been the driving force behind our entire system. Agriculture has allowed countless families to create a livelihood while, at the same time, allowing them to be self-sufficient and less dependent on commercial food producers.

The backyard farming movement is a celebration of a back-to-the-land lifestyle. It is an empowering way to reconnect with the food with which you nourish your body. It is an intriguing and gratifying pursuit that is not only fun but also productive. It connects families and communities and creates an incredible link between the human, animal, and plant realms. It provides a common interest and a healthy, sustainable lifestyle. And best of all, its much easier than it sounds! Your mini-farm can start with something as simple as a planter box filled with kale and lettuce and can evolve into something as abundant as a large garden filled with nutritious fruits, vegetables, and herbs, a herd of micro-livestock, even honey-producing bees.

2. What Are The Benefits Of Backyard Farming?

M AKING THE CHOICE TO grow your own crops, fruits and vegetables and even raise your own livestock is a one thats becoming increasingly popular as our collective economic and environmental conscience continues to shift. These days, we have moved back to the notion that we can take control of our own production and consumption of food. If youre not sure that youre ready to begin a backyard farm (or even a small patch of garden), there are a number of benefits that might provide a little extra motivation for you.

N OTHING TASTES BETTER than locally grown produce. And delicious fruits and vegetables grown right outside your door are about as local as it gets. Youll be able to plant a variety of your favorite plants. The food you harvest will be absolutely fresh, unlike the produce at the store, which has traveled from a farm (where it may have been contaminated with various chemicals) to a distribution or manufacturing center and then to a store, where it sits in a bin or on a shelf before you buy it. The food you grow will taste better than any store-bought food, because it will be fresh, free of unknown contaminants, and grown with love and care.

Y OULL SAVE A LOT OF money both at the supermarket (especially as the cost of produce rises) and at the gas pump (since much of your food will be mere steps away, not a car ride away).

N OTHING IS MORE BEAUTIFUL than a well-tended garden filled with colorful vegetables, fruits, and flowers. And a backyard farm will give you and your family members a great reason to be outside in the fresh air, getting exercise, relieving stress, and enjoying the beauty of nature.

W ORKING YOUR MINI-FARM will bring your family together and will teach you and your children valuable skills that will serve you well for your entire lives. Youll feel a great sense of accomplishment as a family as you watch the fruits of your labor grow and flourish.

L ARGE GARDENS ALMOST always produce a surplus of foodfar more than any one family can consume. Youll be able to share your extra produce with neighbors, friends, and local food banks and maybe even invite others to help you grow and maintain your farm.

B ACKYARD FARMING REDUCES your familys impact on the environment in a number of ways. Growing your food organically, without herbicides or pesticides, will ease the burden of extra air and water pollution on the environment. Youll also be doing your part in reducing fossil fuel pollution that results from the air and ground transport of produce from farms to distributors to stores to your home.

Regardless of your motivation for creating your own backyard farm, youll certainly take a lot of pleasure in this healthy, productive new endeavor. And you can be assured that your wallet, your body, your taste buds, and the environment will thank you as well!

3. Setting Up Your Mini Farm

T HE IDEA OF A BACKYARD farm may seem intimidating, but I promise you that its very easy to set up, even for someone with little to no prior gardening experience. Remember, the idea is to set up a micro farm. Your goal is not to grow food for profit and theres no need to get in over your head. Instead, you should think of your mini farm as a backyard garden and expand on the idea. And, as with any garden, youll need to begin with a careful plan as to the crops that will be planted and materials that will be needed.