When we think of Homesteading we think Rural Homesteading but we do not have to live rural to homestead. This picture above is a picture I took of a local rural homestead outside our city.
We are far removed from the old homesteading ways. I have noticed that there is a lot of interest in homesteading today but many people have ideas that homesteading will make them completely independent. Long ago homesteaders still needed dry goods and supplies and today that is the same.
Charles and I are homesteading in the city. We are doing things the old way and growing part of our food in the small space that we have.
Homesteading can be done on a farm, in a wooded area, just outside of town or in town. In a large city or in an apartment. An apartment homestead might be a balcony garden with a small composting worm bucket that helps to eat the scraps to make dirt for the balcony garden or patio garden.
One way to homestead is to learn skills that can provide us with food that is made with simple ingredients and know what is in the food we prepare.
For us to homestead we need basic tools so we can accomplish what it is we are trying to do.
We have limited space to grow our food so we try to pack in every square inch something eatable or something that will bring in the bees to pollinate our fruits and vegetables. Sometimes we have to help it along and hand pollinate as we did one year with our squash because we didn't have any bees around when our plants were blooming.
In our yard and garden we have a mix of fruits, vegetables and flowers. This makes for a lovely small homestead in the city but we just cannot grow enough food to sustain ourselves. If Charles and I were younger we could grow more than we do but we have another way of homesteading and I hope this will give you and idea for something you can do too.
There are people that are truly homesteading in the rural areas and they have to make money to support themselves and their homestead. So Charles and I help them by purchasing their product which allows us to be homesteading as well because we are eating good local grown food. Here above is Organic Milk from a local dairy, eggs, pickles, greens and fruit all grown from small organic growers in our area. They are helping us to homestead in the city as we are helping them by purchasing their goods.
If we leave out the junk food in our diet and don't pay for processed junk food we can afford to pay a little extra for good food.
It allows us a bit of the rural life by visiting their farms. I highly recommend that if you like the simple life, care about your health and long to homestead but cannot afford to move then compromise with growing part of your food and buying food from local growers.
We can still make our jams and jellies, we can still can our beans and meats and vegetables.
We can still stock our pantries and do all the things the rural homesteaders do.
We can still churn our butter and if you don't have a local dairy you can make butter from whipping cream.
We can still make our homemade soap or buy theirs to support them.
I make homemade pie crust and pies and cakes.... And so can you, we learn from practice.
Eventually you will become good at these things that were done by our generations before us.
There are many ways to grow food in our backyard.
And just outside our town there are ways of finding fresh eggs and goods so the mixture of what we grow and what they grow can help us to homestead in the city.
To me homesteading means many things. It means sewing and knitting, tatting and bobbin lace. It means crochet and embroidery.
It means taking care of vintage linens and washing laundry with my homemade laundry soap. Ironing Charles shirts with care.
For Charles it means having the tools to repair and make things for our homestead.
Food preservation is a big part of our homesteading life... These are dehydrated apples that I air sealed in jars.
We have a way to cook and bake without electricity.
This simple homestead that we have suits us fine. We are getting older and living in a small home in the city is probably the best for us since we are close to stores and hospitals. My heart and dream is living rural as I once did but we still have part of that here.
Don't give up on your dreams of homesteading just because you don't live on a farm when you can make a homestead where you are.
Homesteading rural is very hard work and one must be very dedicated to care for livestock and all the many endless chores. Many homesteaders still have to work jobs outside the homestead to support their homestead.
I just wanted to give you some insight on how we homestead in the city. We are in control of the flow whether we spend or choose to be frugal.
Fresh cut zucchini. We have three large containers that we are using to grow zucchini.
We have potatoes and peppers also growing in containers. We have onions, eggplant and tomatoes planted in the ground in the victory garden. We had peas but those have already been harvested. We have other things such as cabbage and herbs and such as that.
We feel like we are on a small homestead here in the city and I hope this inspires you in some way. Whatever it is that you want in life, take your time, learn all you can so you can accomplish what is you are wanting to do. Grandma Donna
