When I was little, I loved video games. It was a way for me to bond with my dad. He’d have a computer game running and I’d pull up a chair and watch him for hours (no screen-time judgement, it was the 90s!). As silly as it sounds, my desire for homesteading started with a video game. Harvest Moon 64. From the moment I started it up, I was hooked. Raising livestock, harvesting home grown vegetables and selling them, managing farm life.. It all seemed like a dream! My 11 year old city-kid self couldn’t believe people lived this way! It put a thirst in me that only the garden hose can quench.
Since the pandemic of 2020 there has been a huge uptick in people wanting to return to a simple way of living. Having nowhere to go forced a lot of people to turn to basic homemaking just to pass the time. People began to do more home improvement projects and spend more time in the kitchen.
I think seeing bare shelves in stores prompted a lot of people to realize that the convenience of our modern day has come with a price. While these skills may not have been passed down to a lot of us, they are important skills to improve if we want any sense of self-sufficiency. And while homesteading in real life isn’t quite as simple as in the video games, it’s still an attainable lifestyle that anyone can learn. It can be done even if you don’t have a large chunk of land call your own.
What is Urban Homesteading?
A homestead typically refers to a house. That’s right, it’s nothing fancy, just the home that you live in. There are no boxes you need to check in order to consider your residence a homestead, although I like to consider homesteading more of a lifestyle. Your idea of a homestead may be completely different than mine, and that’s okay!
When I think of homesteading I think of self-sufficiency, a deep connection to our land and food source, intentionality and a desire to continue to build new skills. It’s an umbrella term that can encompass a magnitude of different things: from canning and cheese-making to raising animals and baking bread. It can be as little or as large as you want it to be!
Urban homesteading includes a residence within city limits. This makes is possible for anyone with land (or not) to participate in homesteading. You really don’t need a large plot of land to participate in most of the traditional homesteading activities. While you should always check with your local city ordinances, most towns will allow you to keep a few chickens and build a garden.
While my ultimate goal is to have many acres with a cute little farm house, I haven’t let that stop me from living out my homesteading dreams in the city. We live on barely a quarter of an acre, but we have plenty of room to start some of the things that help us be more self-sustainable. The only thing I feel like I’m missing out on in our little town is a family milk cow and some chickens.
Why a homestead?
In our modernized culture, it’s easy to get most things pretty immediately. We just have to pick up our phones and Amazon will deliver almost anything to our house in the next day or so. While this comes with a ton of perks, it can also take away a lot of the satisfaction that comes with a life lived slowly and simply. Usually that leads to the type of instant gratification that just leaves us wanting more. It’s a weird cycle that’s easy to get caught in.
People desire to be connected. There is something awesome about learning a new skill and seeing a product materialize out of that skill. It gives you a new appreciation for what you created and a greater understanding of how everything works together.
Our brains are wired to think and create. We need activities to keep our minds working and our hands creating- things that are bigger than just scrolling aimlessly through social media. We are designed for community with others and to cultivate a life that brings us deep satisfaction through hard work and seeing the fruits of our labors.
The value of self-sustainability.
Let’s be honest for a minute- 2020 was a sobering year. Shelves were bare, products were hard to come by, and the future continues to remain a little uncertain. While I like to believe that most people have good intentions, there is no denying the security that comes with self-sustainability. I’m not a doomsday prepper by any stretch, but I do believe that we should all be doing what we can to be able to feed ourselves (and our neighbors) if things get a little crazy.
While we were once encouraged to keep backyard chickens, it is now not quite so common and even illegal in some areas. Maybe it’s my rebellious spirit, or maybe it’s my desire to know exactly where my food is coming from, but I want to exercise my freedoms and be able to keep as many animals that will serve me well.
How Do I Start?
There’s no better way to start than to just start! You truly don’t need much to begin homesteading. Homesteading can begin inside the home, even. What is it that you want to learn? There are no shortage of opportunities when considering homesteading. Making bread and soap, cooking food from scratch, fermenting foods, keeping animals, starting a garden, learning to mend clothes or sew your own-these are all ways you can start homesteading with little to no land.
Nothing tastes sweeter than a sun-ripened cherry tomato picked right off the vine. Gardening can be done on a small scale with just a few pots on the back porch. It can also be done on a larger scale with raised garden beds and designated garden plots. The goal on our homestead is to grow enough vegetables to feed our family for the season and then be able to have enough left over to preserve for the colder months. This year is a baby year, so we likely won’t be reaching that goal this fall. Any food grown is money saved at the grocery store, and I know exactly what is going into my body. You can have a big goal, but start small so overwhelm doesn’t take over.
What tools do I need?
The tools needed to begin homesteading largely depend on what goals you have in mind. If the goal is to learn to make bread then you can start today with some flour and a mixing bowl. If you want to start a garden, you’ll need seeds, soil and some pots or a garden bed. A little research on a specific topic can go a long way. I also find that I tend to over complicate things in my mind. Usually a project doesn’t require quite as much as I think it does.
We live in the age of knowledge. A quick google search can tell us the basic tools we’ll need for just about any project. And if you know someone who’s well versed in the skill you’re interested in, ask if you can tag along to learn how it’s done. There’s nothing like building community while also learning some self-sustainability skills!
It doesn’t take a lot of money to get started with some of the basics of homesteading. By asking around, checking out thrift stores, or even utilizing Craigslist, a lot of second hand tools can be found for cheap or even for free.
Simplicity in doing
Oftentimes we can get hung up on the logistics and keep ourselves from jumping into a project head first. “What if’s” can begin to run through our heads and the fear of failure can be debilitating. For me, I can fall into the knowledge trap. I want to know the ins and outs of every side of the project before I even begin to go in. But a lot of the knowledge I’ve gained has come from simply doing. I’ve learnt more in my failures and trials than any book or internet article has ever been able to teach me.
The garden might not grow any food. The bread may turn out dense and burnt. If raising animals, there will be some that don’t make it. This is all okay and it’s part of the learning process. Homesteading is a lifestyle and a lifelong process. One of the things that makes it so fulfilling is that there is always a new skill to improve or a new way to try something.
Have you considered urban homesteading? What do you think of when you think of a homestead? Let me know in the comments, I’d love to hear from you!
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