Urban Homesteading
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Sustainable Living Blog
For those that think you need to have acres and acres of land to live off the grid, check out this family who grows everything they need to eat on just 1/5th of an acre in the suburbs.
This family lives entirely off their little piece off land, and the whole family lives on under $30,000 a year. This is a really cool video and it shows how you can really survive without the so called “modern conveniences”
Neal on Tue, 2nd Sep 2008 10:13 am
While they have goats, chickens, rabbits and such they made no mention of eating any meat. I don’t know if this was due to the focus of the story being on the gardening or a choice on the families part. Still very impressive effort. The living on $30k was a bit short sighted though considering the value of four adults working the gardens/animals full time needs to be considered at some level.
I liked his compost pile also….cement bricks with gaps for air and for the enriched soil to spill through.
homesteader on Thu, 8th Jan 2009 11:09 pm
Although we have several acres available for farming, we use maybe 1000 square feet for gardening. The rest is pasture for the milk goats, chickens, etc.
An excellent video illustrating the potential of self-reliance with minimal resources in the suburbs. Enlightening.
Mike-
Farmfresh on Fri, 6th Feb 2009 5:54 pm
Come on join us!
I have been an urban homesteader for about 25 years now. While my family still hold an outside jobs, we grow a lot of our own food. We have a garden, dwarf fruit trees, grapes, and berry bushes. We also raise chickens for eggs and meat, and have even raised our own meat rabbits. It is a very wonderful thing to put a meal on your table that came in it’s entirety from your own labor on your land.
Our homestead is located in a large city as well. Just like the video shows a homestead can be beautiful and productive as well.
I started my website to help others interested in learning how to homestead. Homesteading is much more than growing your own food – it is a mindset, a way of life. It doesn’t matter whether you live in the wild woods, on a farm, a suburban lot or in a city apartment… you too can be a homesteader!
“Stop Dreaming About the Good Life and Start Living IT!”
Mike/ on Tue, 13th Oct 2009 4:18 pm
Excellent video! I’m a little late in finding it, but this family should inspire all of us.
Mike D on Sun, 3rd Jan 2010 1:10 am
Interesting. Humbling.
Dan D on Mon, 12th Apr 2010 2:29 pm
$30,000 a year, It must be expensive to live there! I live on 20K/year and buy everything…
The fact that they can earn $30,000 from selling salads makes me drool!
M. Ellis on Mon, 19th Apr 2010 10:28 pm
I grew up in the city of St. Louis. My mother was a sharecropper’s granddaughter so she knew a thing or two about growing veggies. We also grew things in our garden in the city. We grew corn, cucumber, tomatoes, cabbage and greens. We routinely grew so many tomatoes we had to give them away to neighbors. It is most certainly possible. However, my father never left his job to do though! I’m definitely inspired!
Pat Hamilton on Mon, 10th May 2010 8:52 am
I don’t need a lot of land to survive I need it to keep the rest of the world at bay!
viggie on Tue, 22nd Jun 2010 7:22 am
Neal, they are vegetarians and have the animals for milk and eggs. Slaughter is usually not allowed in city limits and I notice many homesteaders are vegetarian or nearly so due to the cost and effort involved in raising most meat animals and distaste for slaughtering.
I just started urban homesteading and it great to see the popularity on the rise