Table Of ContentTable of Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Introduction
CHAPTER ONE: - GROWING YOUR OWN
The Right Site
High-Yield Crops
Succession Planting
Vertical Growing
Edible Landscaping
Self-Savers
Just Herbs
Containers
Small-Space Fruit
Going into Overtime
Going Indoors
Organic Answers
Saving Seeds
CHAPTER TWO: - GOING WILD FOR FOOD
Vegetables
Wild Fruit
Nuts
Fun with Fungi
CHAPTER THREE: - SAVE IT FOR LATER
Dehydrating
Freezing
Canning
Pickling
Cellaring
CHAPTER FOUR: - WORKING WITH ANIMALS
Bees
Chickens
Mixed Poultry
Rabbits
Goats
CHAPTER FIVE: - CARING FOR THE HOME
Waste Management
Water
Housekeeping
Pest Control
Home Remedies
APPENDIX: - A TO Z GROWING GUIDE
RESOURCES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
Copyright Page
To my grandparents,
MARCEL & HANNAH MEYER,
for showing me that food, fun, and family love
can be found in cherry trees.
INTRODUCTION
THOSE EARLY HOMESTEADERS must have been the bravest people.
Imagine the confidence it took to walk away from civilization and move to the
wilderness, where they had to provide everything for themselves. Not even a
butcher or baker or candlestick maker to rely on: just the whole family pitching
in to reap, make, or use what they needed from the land. Those folks were both
determined and resourceful.
Nowadays, our food is produced and processed, packaged and shipped, and
often even cooked for us. We live in climate-controlled rooms and are
surrounded by stores offering us everything we need, and too much we don’t.
We spend our days—and more and more of our spare time—connecting to other
people and gathering information remotely, even while we live closer to each
other than ever before.
And yet the urge for self-sufficiency is a powerful force in the human DNA.
Across the country, in city neighborhoods, suburban developments, and small
towns, people are once again catching the homesteading spirit. They’re not
pulling out of civilization and moving back to the land, but they are producing
their own food, storing it for the off-season, rediscovering the old ways of
keeping house, and raising animals for a purpose, with little or even no land of
their own.
Homesteading today is a step out of the virtual world we live in most of the
time and into an authentic experience. It’s a way to connect with the seasons, the
weather, and the natural world outside our windows while getting your hands
dirty and producing something real and essential. Grow even a little of your own
food and you begin to appreciate the hard work and knowledge of people who do
it for a living, and you can’t help feeling reverence for the bounty around you.
Deal with your own kitchen and yard waste and you take more control of your
own little corner of the world. Be more aware of how you use your resources and
you see how small steps you take on your own can add up to a meaningful
difference for the whole planet.
City homesteading is not about living without indoor plumbing and modern
appliances, but it is about knowing you could if you had to—at least for a while.
The world around us can seem so out of control and while we can’t change that,
taking care of your own basic needs can give you a strong sense of competence
that’s not easy to come by these days.
The pioneers took along with them a few supplies and all the know-how that
had been passed down to them from the generations that came before them. For
today’s homesteaders, it’s knowledge and experience that are in short supply.
With this book, you have the knowledge of countless modern homesteaders and
many of our predecessors right in your hands. From my own experience and
from that of many other experts, I’ve gathered practical ideas you can use right
away for living more resourcefully wherever you make your home. I’ve made
sure you have the specifics you need to get started doing it along with hints on
ways to get better if you already are.
Within the limited space of one book, though, I can’t give you everything now
known about gardening, foraging, preserving food, raising animals and caring
for your home more self-sufficiently. Whole books have been written on each of
those topics. Instead, I’ve focused in this book on strategies for doing each of
those things while living in a city or suburb—not where you have acres of land
to work. I realize that you might not be able or ready to fully commit to every
aspect of the homesteading lifestyle, but I am sure that even if you try only one
skill, you’ll feel the great satisfaction that comes with gaining competency. I
predict that soon you will want to try and know more.
One of the greatest rewards of trying to live more resourcefully is that the
learning never ends, no matter how much you know, you continue to find more
and better ways to be self-sufficient. That’s been one of the great rewards for me
of working on this book. I have been an organic gardener for more than twenty
years, but I picked up some new ideas as I researched this book. And while I had
a lot of familiarity with the topics in this book, the experts I spoke to and the
references I consulted taught me over and over how much I still have to learn.
This kind of know-how is no longer systematically passed along from one
generation to the next. We are all indebted to those people who have kept it
alive, and in particular to the new pioneers who are homesteading in cities,
suburbs, and small towns and sharing their discoveries with a virtual community
through blogs and forums. Personally, I am thankful for the countless
homesteaders and gardeners who have taken the time through the years to share
their knowledge and experience with me.
While we’re on the subject of thanks here, I also must express gratitude to a
few people who helped with this book. Running Press publisher Christopher
Navratil tops the list for his encouragement and guidance in developing the
book’s idea. All that a writer can ask for in an editor is a thoughtful reader with
enthusiasm for the topic, smart ideas, and dedication to quality. I so much
appreciate that Kristen Green Wiewora has been all that and more. I can never
thank Buz and Janet Teacher enough for their friendship and support. Finally,
and yet always first and foremost, I must thank my dear wife Dawn, whose love
and understanding are the most precious resources I know.
Description:The City Homesteader is the handbook for the world of self-sufficient living. It's about living tangibly in a virtual world. It's about being resourceful, saving money, reducing consumption, and increasing self-reliance. Join the many who are raising backyard chickens in the city and tilling their s
