Through the Green & Clean Mom Forum, I have met the most amazing women (and men) that have great ideas, are passionate about going green and learning and most of all are doing something. If you haven’t joined the forum, you’re missing out. One recent topic of conversation is Urban Homesteading. A forum member, Beth, got my attention when she posted this topic to the forum and after visiting her blog and seeing what she was doing, I asked her to compose a guest post about her experiences. I am positive you will love what she has to say…
Our Little Patch of Heaven:
Urban Homesteading in Idaho
By Beth of Coming Up for Air
What comes to mind when you think of a homestead? Perhaps a cozy little farm somewhere out in the country? What about a homestead in the city? Think it’s impossible to have a little farm inside city limits? Well it’s not! It’s called Urban Homesteading and it’s more prevalent than you might think!
My husband and I have embarked on such an idea for our family. Our journey into living “green”, being environmental stewards and growing our own food began last fall of 2007 when we began to make plans for a garden in our backyard. As we researched methods for gardening, we stumbled upon several websites that described a unique way of living. People inside city limits turning their suburban grass into food growing farms, big city apartment dwellers turning their balconies into small gardens by planting vegetables in planters and large corporations devoting the tops of their sky scrapers for food crops. Many cities, large and small, declaring vacant lots as community gardens and giving out “allotments” to citizens to grow food. Quite a few of these private property owners have chickens, goats and ducks! Many even sell some of their yields for profit to their communities. Of the websites we found, all were practicing organic farming and humane livestock practices.
We got excited! We didn’t have to move out to the country to have our own little “farm”! We could remain in our dream home and learn to be Urban Homesteaders. We live on roughly ¾ of an acre in the middle of Nampa, Idaho, 20 miles west of Boise. Plenty of room for a small “farm”! The first thing we needed to figure out was what type of garden we wanted to plant, what veggies and fruits to plant, and what kind of animals we could raise within our city codes. My husband and I chose to build raised garden beds with a plot of dirt beds for corn. The best thing to consider first is what types of veggies and fruits you like and can plant in your area. Then think about how much your family will consume and how you plan on preserving the food for future use. It’s also a good idea to talk with your city about what types of small farm animals are allowed within the city limits.
Our garden this year is modest. We both felt it was best to start out small and work our way up. If you’ve never gardened before, it’s a good idea to start small, see if you can handle the proceeds of a small garden. This year we have 4 raised beds and 4 rows of corn. We also have an apricot tree, plans to plant several grape vines this year and we are hoping to plant some apple trees in the future. In our raised beds, we are growing 4 types of tomatoes, Serrano chiles, jalapeno peppers, 3 varieties of bell peppers, spinach, green onions, strawberries, 12 cucumber plants (mmmm…pickles!!), watermelon, cantaloupe, pumpkin, zucchini and yellow squash.
After the planting of our garden we stumbled upon a method of gardening that we will be implementing this fall. It’s called The Mittleider Method created by Dr. Jacob Mittleider. His method of growing food will allow us to grow food in a smaller area, with greater yields. We will be using his design for greenhouses to build one next month. It is our hope to use our greenhouse to grow certain foods year round from February to November, as well as to start new seedlings for planting next growing season! Then, next spring, we will be converting our garden over to his method for grow box (raised bed) gardening. I am also in the process of learning all I can about raising hens for eggs. Nampa allows 3 chickens within city limits – no roosters. Fresh eggs! Can you imagine how delicious they will taste? It is our goal, as a family, to be able to provide a majority of the food we eat for ourselves and only rely on the grocery store for certain staples. We also support local growers by purchasing meats locally and frequenting farmer’s markets for those items we won’t be growing ourselves. Better food produces better health, doing it yourself gives an amazing amount of satisfaction!
The goal of Urban Homesteading is to be more self-sufficient and self-sustaining. In order to do that, you need to be well organized, keep good records, practice safe food preservation using proper sanitary measures when canning, freezing, drying and so forth. It’s also a good idea to learn all you can about any animals you plan to raise. Find out if there are courses taught locally on how to raise livestock. Understand that making mistakes is part of the learning process. Get your kids involved! Find others in your area that are already doing this and glean what you can from their knowledge – or share yours!!. But most of all, enjoy what you are doing!
For more info in Urban Homesteading, you can visit my blog to read more about our journey! Coming Up For Air
Also, check out these wonderful websites I personally frequent on Urban Homesteading, organic gardening and livestock raising!
http://www.pathtofreedom.com/pathproject/
http://www.backyardchickens.com/
http://www.homegrownevolution.com/
