Monday, January 14, 2019

Homesteading In the City?

I get it, not everyone is fortunate enough to live on a huge spread of countryside. Some are still toiling away in the city as they save up to break away. Never fear, it is possible to attain some level of self-sufficiency and sustainability while living in the concrete jungle. Here are a few helpful and handy tips for living a more homestead style life wherever you call home.

1. Waste Not, Want Not
That phrase has been drilled into my head by both my grandmothers and my great-grandmothers since childhood. Start teaching yourself to make things stretch. We save everything. Clothing can be recycled not only into cute quilts for the bed but also dog toys, curtains, tablecloths, or altered into something you can still wear. Our favorite quilt was pieced together by my boyfriend's grandmother years ago from old jeans. We refer to it as the "perfect" quilt because it always seems to be the perfect temperature. We also save old buttons and zippers for future projects. You are probably tired of being told that leftovers can be transformed into other meals. I will admit I don't do a lot of this. We are big on meal prepping in this house and tend to eat what we make. My neighbor, however, is a master of repurposing leftovers. We joke that she will turn anything into a soup, or a potpie. It is always delicious. Don't be afraid to experiment with your leftovers.

2. Grow Your Own
A warm sunny windowsill is all you need to grow a bountiful harvest of microgreens and fresh herbs. A small patio filled with containers can yield enough produce for a small family. Use your verticle space, hanging planters maximize your growing space. If you are particularly adventurous you can raise indoor animals that will provide your family with food, people have indoor quail, chicks and ducks. This isn't something I would do, but I know others who do. We have a variety of indoor pets, 2 dogs, some cute parakeets and conures and an angora rabbit, but I think I draw the line there. No house chickens for me.

3. Garden Allotments
When my dad was young my grandfather took a job in a city both grandparents still wanted and needed the food freedom that a garden allowed but their little yard in the city wasn't enough to sustain their large family and put away enough for the winter months. My grandparents turned to renting a plot of farmland. This is still an option today. Many cities have also become home to P-Patches or community gardens where you can have a plot to plant fruits and veggies in. Last summer when my sister and I did our East Coast tour we visited Baltimore. We were both pleasantly surprised to see so many community gardens in the city. Food freedom in areas that otherwise would be a food desert.

4. Fiber Art
Fiber rabbits are a great homesteading animal that can be apartment or city friendly. My house rabbit Jean Pierre is litter box trained and takes up very little space. His hair grows long is sought after by fiber artists. You can easily harvest fiber, spin and dye it yourself in a small space. Something I plan on experimenting with this year is soap making and using felted wool from Jean Pierre to cover the bars of soap.

The goal of homesteading should always be to be self-sufficient and self-sustaining anything that brings you closer to those goals is a good thing.