Scott Meyer - The City Homesteader: Self-Sufficiency on Any Square Footage

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Table of Contents

To my grandparents,
MARCEL & HANNAH MEYER,
for showing me that food, fun, and family love
can be found in cherry trees.

INTRODUCTION

THOSE EARLY HOMESTEADERS must have been the bravest people. Imagine the confidence it took to walk away from civilization and move to the wilderness, where they had to provide everything for themselves. Not even a butcher or baker or candlestick maker to rely on: just the whole family pitching in to reap, make, or use what they needed from the land. Those folks were both determined and resourceful.

Nowadays, our food is produced and processed, packaged and shipped, and often even cooked for us. We live in climate-controlled rooms and are surrounded by stores offering us everything we need, and too much we dont. We spend our daysand more and more of our spare timeconnecting to other people and gathering information remotely, even while we live closer to each other than ever before.

And yet the urge for self-sufficiency is a powerful force in the human DNA. Across the country, in city neighborhoods, suburban developments, and small towns, people are once again catching the homesteading spirit. Theyre not pulling out of civilization and moving back to the land, but they are producing their own food, storing it for the off-season, rediscovering the old ways of keeping house, and raising animals for a purpose, with little or even no land of their own.

Homesteading today is a step out of the virtual world we live in most of the time and into an authentic experience. Its a way to connect with the seasons, the weather, and the natural world outside our windows while getting your hands dirty and producing something real and essential. Grow even a little of your own food and you begin to appreciate the hard work and knowledge of people who do it for a living, and you cant help feeling reverence for the bounty around you. Deal with your own kitchen and yard waste and you take more control of your own little corner of the world. Be more aware of how you use your resources and you see how small steps you take on your own can add up to a meaningful difference for the whole planet.

City homesteading is not about living without indoor plumbing and modern appliances, but it is about knowing you could if you had toat least for a while. The world around us can seem so out of control and while we cant change that, taking care of your own basic needs can give you a strong sense of competence thats not easy to come by these days.

The pioneers took along with them a few supplies and all the know-how that had been passed down to them from the generations that came before them. For todays homesteaders, its knowledge and experience that are in short supply. With this book, you have the knowledge of countless modern homesteaders and many of our predecessors right in your hands. From my own experience and from that of many other experts, Ive gathered practical ideas you can use right away for living more resourcefully wherever you make your home. Ive made sure you have the specifics you need to get started doing it along with hints on ways to get better if you already are.

Within the limited space of one book, though, I cant give you everything now known about gardening, foraging, preserving food, raising animals and caring for your home more self-sufficiently. Whole books have been written on each of those topics. Instead, Ive focused in this book on strategies for doing each of those things while living in a city or suburbnot where you have acres of land to work. I realize that you might not be able or ready to fully commit to every aspect of the homesteading lifestyle, but I am sure that even if you try only one skill, youll feel the great satisfaction that comes with gaining competency. I predict that soon you will want to try and know more.

One of the greatest rewards of trying to live more resourcefully is that the learning never ends, no matter how much you know, you continue to find more and better ways to be self-sufficient. Thats been one of the great rewards for me of working on this book. I have been an organic gardener for more than twenty years, but I picked up some new ideas as I researched this book. And while I had a lot of familiarity with the topics in this book, the experts I spoke to and the references I consulted taught me over and over how much I still have to learn.

This kind of know-how is no longer systematically passed along from one generation to the next. We are all indebted to those people who have kept it alive, and in particular to the new pioneers who are homesteading in cities, suburbs, and small towns and sharing their discoveries with a virtual community through blogs and forums. Personally, I am thankful for the countless homesteaders and gardeners who have taken the time through the years to share their knowledge and experience with me.

While were on the subject of thanks here, I also must express gratitude to a few people who helped with this book. Running Press publisher Christopher Navratil tops the list for his encouragement and guidance in developing the books idea. All that a writer can ask for in an editor is a thoughtful reader with enthusiasm for the topic, smart ideas, and dedication to quality. I so much appreciate that Kristen Green Wiewora has been all that and more. I can never thank Buz and Janet Teacher enough for their friendship and support. Finally, and yet always first and foremost, I must thank my dear wife Dawn, whose love and understanding are the most precious resources I know.

CHAPTER ONE:

GROWING YOUR OWN

Supermarkets today are packed with more food in a greater variety than our grandparents ever imagined possible. You can buy every kind of vegetable and fruit year-round, not only frozen and canned, but shipped in fresh from all over the world. While just a few generations ago, growing food at home was a necessity for most families, vegetable gardening had started to become the quaint hobby of a relatively few aficionados.

And then came news reports of fresh produce tainted with toxic pesticides and potentially lethal bacteria. News about climate change prompted many to begin calculating their carbon footprint and food miles, the long distances their meals traveled before reaching their plate and the resulting environmental impact. More and more people began to recognize that they had lost touch with where their food came from and that it had become nothing more than fuel for their busy lives, that they were out of sync with the seasons and nature.

Now, the generation raised on food from a bag or box is rediscovering the simple pleasure of producing some of their own food and sharing it with others. Not just people with acres to farm and experience raising crops, but anyone with the desire and nothing more than a small backyard, balcony, or sunny windowsill to grow a few food plants.

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