Little House in the Suburbs: Backyard farming and home skills for self-sufficient living

428 Pages·2012·7.95 MB·English

LITTLE HOUSE IN THE SUBURBS
BACKYARD FARMING AND HOME SKILLS FOR
SELF-SUFFICIENT LIVING
DEANNA CASWELL AND DAISY SISKIN
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
1 Why Simple Living in the Suburbs?
This little chapter is about the why and why not of simple living.
There’s a whole host of reasons to give it a shot. Simple living is good
for your family’s health, for the body, the soul, and the planet. The
best news is it’s low commitment (unlike that gym membership or
your cell phone plan).
2 I Grew It Myself! Or, But You Don’t Understand, I Kill Everything
Learn how to make a simple raised bed in an afternoon and get years
of great produce with very little effort. Find foolproof plants and help
them thrive with fertilizing ingredients you can find around the house.
Plus learn the basics of composting and pest control and overcome the
special concerns suburban gardeners face.
3 Did Your Backyard Just Bawk?
Chickens are easy to care for and terribly useful. They eat all your
scraps, bugs, and weeds and turn them into eggs! This quick chick
primer shows you how to get them, how to keep them, and how to
feed them. Plus learn how to research community code concerning
backyard birds.
4 Mini-Goats: Interesting, Um, … Dog You Got There
Mini-goats are awesome pets. No claws, no top teeth, and they mow
for you! This chapter covers how to select, care for, and feed a good
goat. Plus house them and make goat’s-milk products.
5 Secret Beekeepers
We’ll show you a super low maintenance way to keep bees without
alarming the neighbors or endangering your children. Learn how to
safely harvest honey, without upsetting or inconveniencing your bees,
and find great ideas for using all that glorious beeswax you’ll collect!
6 My Pantry Was Never So Yummy
After we’ve all shaken our heads at the mountains of fake food in our
lives, we’ll give you about twenty-five recipes we’ve used for
homemade spices and flavoring, and then take you through some
basic freezing, canning, and drying techniques.
7 I Never Smelled So Good
Forget the facial scrubs, moisturizers, and hair treatments. This
chapter covers the items you use every day—shower gel, shampoo,
deodorant, toothpaste, mouthwash, and lotion. You’ll also learn how
to fearlessly face soapmaking. Lye isn’t that big a deal.
8 My House Was Never So Clean
There is no need for special factory-baked cleaners unless you’re
afraid of elbow grease. Basic home cleaning formulas cost pennies to
make. You’ll also find some ways to simplify your housework (like
caring less…HA! Just kidding.)
9 I Made It Myself!: Gorgeous Gifts Aplenty
A well-done handmade gift is giving your thought, time, and effort to
make something really special that no one else would make. This
chapter gives ten different gift-basket ideas with the accompanying
projects to get you going.
10 Small Town in the City
This chapter is about rebuilding that interdependence through swaps
and co-ops. We’ll tell you how to build them, maintain them, and keep
them running smoothly. Get the help you need without feeling like
you’re imposing on anyone. And build relationships that will last
forever.
11 It’s Hard to Complain With a Mouthful of Cookies
Not everyone goes for our lifestyle. This chapter will help you make
choices that don’t disturb the family way of life. Also in this chapter,
we’ll help you deal with those not-so-friendly neighbors.
APPENDIX
Spring Planting Chart
Fall Planting Chart
Companion Planting
Companion Planting Chart
Fall Garden Plan for Raised Beds
Root Vegetable Garden Plan for Raised Bed
Resources for Goat Owners
Good Neighbors Handout for Suburban Goat Owners
Resources for Backyard Chicken Owners
Good Neighbors Handout For Backyard Chicken Owners
Soapmaking and Skincare Resources
Resources for Beekeepers
Good Neighbors Handout For Backyard Beekeepers
Purpose and Administration Duties for Baby-sitting Co-Ops
Baby-sitting Co-Ops Bylaws Agreement
Gardening Log
INDEX
INTRODUCTION
SELF-SUFFICIENCY SUBURBAN STYLE
Most people think that to live a simple life, you have to quit your job,
sell your house, and move to the boonies.
That’s a bunch of hooey.
When you reminisce about the “simpler” times, before the industrial
revolution heralded in the age of convenience and consumerism,
remember that not everyone lived on a farm. Consider the village
blacksmith, the schoolteacher, and the general-store owner. Maybe some
had a garden or some had chickens, but they lived in town and had jobs.
The town cobbler wasn’t saying, “Boy, I need to get back to basics and
quit making shoes. I need to move to the country and start farming so I
can sustain myself.” These people lived simple, self-reliant lives within
city limits.
And so can you.
Plenty of books out there will tell you how to thrive in the boonies:
building cabins, digging wells, slaughtering your own meat, and growing
grain. This book is not one of those. This book is about those simple-
living behaviors that fit easily into a typical suburban neighborhood.
Humans are makers. We always have been. We look at our
environment and build, mix, or cobble what we need. But presently we
don’t need to make much, and when we do make something, it’s as a
hobby not a necessity. We’ve lost touch with that take-care-of-yourself-
ness that people had before discount megamarts.
Make one batch of lotion or soap and see how good you feel. It’s like
having superpowers. That sense of confidence and accomplishment is
what years of comfort have taken away from us.
Again, there are plenty of books out there about remaking your
universe from little more than tree sap, birch bark, and a can-do
attitude. That lifestyle will certainly give you back your sense of self-
reliance, and make no mistake, we think those books are cool, but this
just isn’t one of them.
Remember the village schoolteacher we talked about? There’s plenty
of empowerment to be had within the town limits. We’re not advocating
going whole hog, but we are advocating filling that little need we all
have to stay in touch with our resourceful side. It’s about finding what
we’ve lost, having fun, and stopping when you’ve had enough.
Page through this book and learn how things are made. Then try your
hand at a few. Don’t worry about screwing it up. We sure have. And
none of this stuff is carved in stone. Sure, we tested and re-tested the
recipes for you, but we don’t know everything, yet. So, jump in! If
something doesn’t work out, blame us and try something else.
You don’t have to go as far as we have, raising plants and egg-laying
hens, but try making a fruit roll-up or some mayo. You’ll never get over
the sense of accomplishment you get when you make something with
your own two hands out of stuff around the house. Did you know that
you can make a Pop-Tart? Deanna found a recipe online just the other
day. Amazing!
There’s a good, wholesome sense of empowerment and grown-up-ness
that comes with being able to create from scratch something you
previously thought was hatched in a store.
We sincerely hope that this book does several things for you:
• First, that you, like us, have that wonderful, “you-can-really-make-
that-stuff?” experience. There’s a childlike joy in finding out that
things aren’t born in boxes.
• Second, that you find at least three things in here that can become
part of your life and give you the satisfaction of having made
something yourself.
• And finally, most of all, we hope this book gives you a greater sense
of power and control over your world.
There’s something comforting in knowing that we’ve equipped
ourselves to look at our environment and, out of it, make something we
want or need. That training reassures us that if we were in a crisis or
dropped on a desert island—or that zombie apocalypse Deanna’s
husband keeps practicing for on the Xbox ever happens—we’d be better
prepared to function.
So why go self-sufficient suburban style?
Superpowers.
Fine. Family health and superpowers.
1
WHY SIMPLE LIVING IN THE SUBURBS?
Getting back to basics is just plain good for you! In this chapter, we’ll
outline some of the million reasons why you should try it, and we’ll
address some of the most common objections. We’ll tell you why it’s
great for your body, your soul, and your planet, and why it’s all possible
right in the middle of the burbs.