Homesteading: Think Outside the Farm
2 min read
All across America, families are talking about the future. They dream together about having their own “Little House on the Prairie”, complete with cabin, family cow and that neatly tended garden outside the kitchen window.
The conversation will, somewhere, contain the phrase, “When we get our own place…”. No, I haven’t been eavesdropping. Your home is not bugged. Well, I guess I don’t know that for sure, but I know I haven’t bugged it. I have, though, participated in that very same conversation hundreds of times.
As we face an uncertain economic future and as we grow weary of the American Rat Race, we long for something simpler, away from the hustle and bustle, out from under the watchful eye of Brother Government and Sister Home Owners Association. Autonomy and Independence are hard-coded into the DNA of millions of Americans. We want to strike out on our own, build something from the ground up by the sweat of our own brows. We want to lie down to sleep at night with dirty fingernails and clean consciences. Oh, for that great someday.
I have news for you, Someday isn’t on the calendar. Somewhere isn’t on the map. Sometime isn’t on the clock. We have right here and right now. And I think that’s awesome.
If you really want to homestead, you can. You can start now. You don’t have to wait for that little place out in the country. You can begin to blaze your own trail, right where you stand.
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”, may be cliché, but it’s also true. Do you have 5 acres, 1 acre, a half, a quarter, one tenth? You can begin today to grow your own fruits, vegetables and some of your own meat, fish and dairy. You can even do a great deal inside your loft or high-rise apartment. I’m not kidding.
The rise in popularity and affordability of aquaponics gardening systems makes small space gardening easier than ever. Container gardening is aesthetically pleasing and can be organized to appease even the snootiest Home Owners Associations. Nigerian Dwarf Goats, rabbits, Tilapia and bantam chickens mean that even small spaces can be big providers of food, dairy and fertilizer.
See, you don’t have to wait. Sure, you might not be able to achieve all of your long-range goals where you are now, but you sure as heck can get started. Here are a few links to some wonderful resources on Urban Homesteading and Urban Farming.
I was lucky enough to find that “place”!
planning on making so many of these
I am one of those people that keep talking about someday, somewhere, somehow. And yes, I am expanding my garden space as much as I can in a very tiny space. I need to get inventive to get stuff to work. Going vertical…. because there isn’t room for horizontal… LOL
its a shame that so many homes in the vegas valley have barely any dirt surroundng the house. i think the minimum space between the house and wall is 5 feet. no room for gardening
wow with so much real estate. my garden plot od bout 35′ by 20′ plus a fewe e fruit trees on other side and 2 grape vines.