I love reading the homesteading blogs. The self sufficiency, the ingenuity, the audacity and the critters all engage my interest. I get jealous when I read about folks with large gardens and chickens, goats, cows and horses. Don’t get me wrong, taking care of farm animals is really not for me. I’m a suburban forager, remember? That said, I am hosting a new feature on Real Food Forager that will celebrate these adventurous homesteaders so that my readers and I can experience vicariously your incredible homestead. I’ll tell you how to get your homestead featured…
Send me answers to the questions below and 5 to 6 of the best photos of your homestead (with captions if possible). Also, size the photos to between 450 and 590 pixels. Send this to Jill at Real Food Forager dot com. You do not have to answer all the questions if you do not want to. I may not use all the photos and I reserve the right to edit your answers for length or content.
What is a Real Food Homesteader?
A Real Food Homesteader is someone who cares about the earth, the soil and the animals that give us food. You don’t have to have acres of prairie land to be a homesteader. You can be an urban or suburban homesteader with a tiny plot of land, a rooftop garden in a city, or a community garden. You could also be a more traditional homesteader who is concerned about organic, sustainable methods of farming or gardening, who supports pasture raised animals.
Real Food Homesteaders don’t use genetically modified seeds. They don’t use poisons on the plants and soil. They don’t feed poisoned grains to their animals.
They cook traditionally with raw dairy from grassfed animals and eggs from chickens on pasture. They shun processed vegetable oils like margarine and other processed foods. They try to buy as little packaged food as possible — growing and preserving their own instead.
Are you a person like this? Do you have an urban, suburban or rural homestead? Please share it with us.
Here are the questions:
- What led you to become a traditional, urban or suburban homesteader?
- What do you love about your homestead?
- What would you change?
- What new skills have you learned and how have you applied them?
- What skills would you like to learn?
- What animals or plants do you have?
- What makes you happy with your life as a homesteader?
This post is shared at: Freaky Friday, Fight Back Friday, Seasonal Celebration, Sunday School, Farm Girl Hop, Monday Mania, Barnyard Hop, Real Food 101, Meatless Monday, Traditional Tuesday, Hearth & Soul Hop, Allergy Free Wednesday, Sustainable Ways, Whole Foods Wednesday, Healthy 2Day, Whole Food Wednesday, Real Food Wednesday, Creative Juice Thursday, Full Plate Thursday
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What a great idea! I love checking out others homesteads!!
I currently have 7 different fruit trees, a berry cane, parsly and 5 chickens and 2 chicks.
One of my fav things is to sit down with a cuppa and watch the chickens “play”
yes! chickens are so funny to watch…much more entertainment value than tv:)
I think I might do this. I will email you some details as soon as I can! I’d love to share how we are transitioning even though we are a bit limited with HOA rules.
I love these stories too. There is such purpose and logic in homesteading. I’m reading a great book right now – Animal, Vegetable, Miracle – by Barbara Kingsolver. It is her year-long journey on a farm raising food for her family in season and local. Our present system looks so out of whack. It is hard for the small farmer to make a living and we want that kind of food and find it is not available to us because of pricing in supermarkets. If it’s not organic – I’m not eating it!
Donna, this book graces my shelves as well–fantastic read! What an inspiration!
I’m looking forward to reading the posts in this series.
I would love to participate and can’t wait to read about others! Great idea!
I’m an urban forager too and I always feel a tinge of jealousy when I read homesteading blogs. I know it’s not really for me but it has such a romantic idea to it.
One Magic Square: Grow Your Own Food On One Square Meter
Its a great book and I think there are websites about it too.
Also on an average size house block (if your shire/counsel allows) you can keep around 3 chickens.
I mean you might have to give up a bit of lawn space or grow tomatoes in your flower bed (with the flowers) but it just adds more bio-diversity!
This is a lovely idea. I am currently in the process of transitioning my backyard into an urban homestead. We have about a 1/4 acre and have finished two out of the four 4’x16′ cinder block beds. We installed drip irrigation and are following the SFG (Square Foot Gardening) method as well as vertical growing of all our vine plants. Including pumpkins! We have planted 4 dwarf apple trees, 4 dwarf peach trees, and 4 dwarf bush cherries trees. I’ve got a log that I’ve just recently inoculated with oyster mushrooms spore and am hoping to enjoy the fruit this fall.
We will be getting some chickens next spring, but have to be careful because of our HOA.
Within two years we should have enough for a 5 acre plot that we’ve been eyeing for a year now. There we will have a more traditional homestead. I plan on having bees, a few cows, a few pigs, a couple goats, nut trees, fruit trees, more foul (including geese and ducks), and rabbits as well.
I am planning on learning how to butcher my own meat if I can do it. I’m an animal lover, and although I believe in the idea of it, actually DOING it will be tough. As well as harvesting my own honey and beeswax to make homemade cosmetics out of. I have a long way to go, but that is our dream that we’re slowing working towards.
Grateful for this post and excited to see/hear about other people’s journeys!
Hi, have you heard of Straw Bale Gardening? This is ideal for most situations including concrete patios, rooftops, etc. I’ll be moving to Montreal soon and will be trying it there, but here is a link to my last year’s attempt in suburban Southwestern Ontario. I had tomatoes coming out of my ears until late November. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150596507390005.676167.756290004&type=3&l=c45764aec5
You can find instructions and a facebook page full of photos here: https://www.facebook.com/learntogrowastrawbalegarden
What a great idea! I’d love to participate if I can get my act together.
Looking forward reading this series!
Here is a small “overview” of what we do, but this post is mostly focused on our chickens: http://livelylatte.blogspot.com/2012/04/taking-part-in-hen-house-hop.html
My garden is fairly big and provides us with sooo much! I compost as much as possible and buy straw from a local farmer–something that takes getting used to when you grew up having it all at your disposal for “free” (well, for the cost of baling wire and a lot of work!).
If I were to change anything it would be how close the city is to us now. What used to be a dirt road is now a four-lane street. We still have a little wheat around us but it’s just not the same. The sound of the traffic, neighbors close enough to hear… We do very much enjoy having the conveniences of the city within a mile, tho. I kind of also wish we had maybe a goat? for milk to make soap with but my city-husband would never go for it! And, frankly, I’m not sure we need more to take care of!
I’ve increased my knowlege of “organic” ways soo much! There comes a time every year where I have to apply something major to kill the squash bugs but other than that, I don’t use any other harmful chemicals. My soil is so full of earthworms, it’s amazing! I think the biggest thing here is that there is always more to learn, always more we can do–and I take it one step at a time.
What makes me happy? EVERY SINGLE BIT of it! Here are my family’s roots. Here is where I “grow” my family in the healthiest way possible! I get to work outSIDE in fresh air! Every day I wonder why I’ve been so lucky, why God has chosen me for this amazing life, but He did and I do my best to “deserve” it; I do my best to always give back, whether it’s to the land or just by sharing with others.
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