Table of Contents
For Brian, the best farmhand a girl could ask for.
Introduction
Over the last several decades, our society created a clear definition of what it meant to live in a city. As an urban resident, you could enjoy the benefits of career opportunities, cultural and social events, and endless forms of entertainment. Anything you might want could be purchased.
However, that purchasing power turned out to be a double-edged sword because buying the things that sustained you turned out to be your only option. By living in a city, you were sacrificing the ability to participate in the process of providing for yourself. Everything you used or consumed came to you from somewhere else.
Our insistence that so many things come from somewhere else had its consequences. The separation of the producing (out in the country) from the consuming (within the city) led to a decrease in the quality of what we eat, a propensity for waste and contamination, and a general sense of disconnection from the basic stuff of life.
What we are now discoveringor, more accurately, rememberingis that we can recapture some of what we lost and take an active role in the things that sustain us. Although we may live among skyscrapers and concrete, we dont have to be limited by them. Urban homesteaders look around and see possibilities everywhere. Where there is dirt (and even where there isnt), we can grow food. We can decide to get a chicken coop instead of a birdbath or fill a compost pile instead of a trash can. We can conserve and reuse our resources, and we can find new ways to acquire the energy and water we use to get through our day.
What it means to live in a city is changing. We still have plenty of fast cars and tall buildings, but sometimes those buildings have gardens on their roofs, and the cars have to share the road with bicycles. And some of those commuters are on their way home to milk their goats before dinner. Little by little, we are taking steps to bridge the separation between producing and consuming, and we are finding that our lives are richer because of it.
Around the world, more people now live in cities than in rural areas. We can no longer rely on those who live out there to bear the responsibility for producing everything for everyone, everywhere. We need to take hold of the means of production and move it toward our doorsteps. Luckily, the rewards of self-sufficient livingalso known as homesteadingare more than worth the effort.
How This Book Is Organized
The elements that make up urban homesteading are notoriously diverse yet always interconnected. Ive grouped the chapters of this book into five main parts:
Part 1, What It Means to Homestead in the City, introduces not only the basic concept of self-sufficient living, but also what it means to do it in an urban setting. A city provides a wealth of advantages for a homesteader, but its not without its challenges. In these chapters, I talk about what you can do to successfully meet those challenges and why its worth it in the long run.
Part 2, City Farming, delves into the practice thats at the core of homesteading: growing food. Urban homesteaders can get pretty creative when it comes to finding land (or concrete) to turn into a garden, and theyre able to produce a surprising amount of food with just a little space. In Part 2, I talk about how to begin your plants from seed (even without a greenhouse) and protect what you grow from the weeds, pests, and city critters who might try to share in your harvest. Speaking of harvests, I also cover techniques for extending the life of your garden and getting the most productivity out of your plants.
Part 3, Raising Animals for Food, presents another aspect of food productionthe contribution that can be made by small animals such as chickens and dwarf goats. These city-size livestock fit neatly into a backyard. Some others like rabbits or fish can even be kept in an apartment, while honeybees would be perfectly happy on your balcony. Its true that raising these animals in the city might require a little extra effort with the neighbors or the local zoning officials, but it is possible to integrate them into your urban homestead.
Part 4, A Homemade Life in the City, celebrates the tasks that are sometimes known as the homesteading arts. It begins with preserving the harvest from your garden so you can enjoy your homegrown food even after the plants have died away. I also show you how you can transform the milk and meat of your homestead into other treats like cheese and stock. Expensive and chemical-laden products stand out like a sore thumb on an urban homestead, so I cover how to make homemade body products and natural solutions for cleaning your home.
Part 5, Making the Most of What You Have, acknowledges that homesteading does not always involve creating something new; sometimes its about utilizing whats already there. In these chapters, we explore how you can meet your energy and water needs while minimizing waste and how you might transform what you discard into fertilizer for your homesteads growth. Cities are a resource-rich environment, and I talk about how you can best utilize this as you venture forth on the path of sustainable living.
Following the chapters, youll find some helpful information in the appendixes, including a glossary and a list of resources, so you can deepen your knowledge as you continue along the homesteading path. Youll also find garden planning guides, which you can use as a reference for creating a productive garden, even in the smallest of spaces.
Extras
As you journey through this book, youll find a few extra tidbits to help you along the way.
DEFINITION
Sometimes homesteading has a language all its own. Check these sidebars for definitions of terms and phrases you need to know to fit in with the old-timers.
SMALL STEPS
Tips for making homesteading easier, plus suggestions for starting small when approaching a new task, are highlighted in these sidebars.
ROAD BLOCK
Heed these warnings about tricky situations that could end up costing you time or moneyor maybe just give you a headache!
URBAN INFO
You might find these little bits of information interesting as you venture along the urban homesteading path.
Acknowledgments
I have been blessed with a wealth of support from my local homesteading community, to whom I owe tremendous gratitude.
I would like to thank the following people for contributing their considerable wisdom to this book: Sylvia Bernstein, Ingrid Milinazzo, James Zitting, Jessica True, Tina Axelrad, Mira Gale, Cate Albert, Melanie Brooks, Katherine Cornwell, Charmaine Cheung, Amy Kalinchuk, Diane Buck, Adam Brock, Kenzie Davison, Melody Bentfield, John Carraway, and Pat Williams.
