Want to homestead in your backyard?

Hey Guys! If you are like me and want to homestead but own a house in a suburban area it may feel like your dreams are slowly being suffocated. I'm currently waiting for our home to be ready to move into. Even after it's done we will still be in town. I still plan on starting a small homestead - and you can too! Here are a few tips to make it happen, and some ideas to get you started.

Where do you live?

Are you in an upscale neighborhood with a HOA? Are you in the city? A typical small town? These questions are a good place to start. Look around the neighborhood and see what you can find. Do you have neighbors who keep chickens? Bees? A goat or two?

HOAs and apartments

Home owners associations are going to be very tricky to get around - so are apartments. I'm going to be honest I probably won't be able to help you much here. I've heard it can be done though.

If you want to give it a shot your best bets are :

• Practicing how to can foods, buy produce in bulk and learn how to can and make preserves.
• Soap and Candle making
• Learning how to knit, crochet, weave, and spin
• Gardening - I had a friend who lived in a lower level apartment in the town, she also then had a townhouse. She grew her produce in buckets and it worked quite well.

Animals aren't on the list as they generally require unsightly pens and coops or break lease violations. But if you desired animals and spoke with your landlord or HOA rabbits are the way to go. They are not only entirely silent, they can be raised in a garage. You can keep rabbits for fiber, pelts, and meat. You may not be able to have as many as you like, but a breeding trio could supplement your food budget nicely.

Your best bet are projects that aren't going to impact the neighbors too much however. If homesteading was my dream and I found myself in this situation I would try to find a way to move to a more homesteading friendly place.

A house in the middle of town or city, a suburban yard.

Well, in this situation you can get away with more and this is our personal situation. We have a third of an acre on a back road within a small town. Here you can garden and raise meat rabbits or even quail. But there are also some issues.

• Smell - animals smell. Their droppings and urine smell.
• Noise - some animals make much more noise than others. Roosters crow for example.
• Dangerous behavior - Bees swarm (which isn't dangerous, they tend to be calm when swarming.) some neighbors might find bees to be a concern. They can be potentially life threatening.

In a backyard without a HOA (which is the focus of most of my material here) you can have a small farm successfully. You can have a large garden, and fruit trees. Careful planning and consideration is paramount. Keeping quiet is also important, as some people enjoy the suffering of others and may file reports about your backyard paradise. Some people take issue with animals being kept for food. Gardens should have less problems, especially if kept to the backyard. Some neighbors may complain about anything "unsightly".

Over the last few years homesteading has become more widely accepted. Codes have been rewritten, check with your local ordinances about any livestock questions. Also make sure you have the correct permits when building an out building.

One important focus when you have a suburban homestead is making your production look stylish so it blends in with the normal everyday backyard. Rabbits kept in a tool shed for example or garage. Edible perennial plants being kept in a way that makes them look decorative as well. It's not easy when you have to work around other people, but implement a little at a time and soon you will have a fully functioning productive yard! Part two will go in depth about why you should homestead, if you've ever had the dream to be self sufficient don't give up on that dream. It's very important in this day and age to learn traditional skills so they aren't forgotten. Until next time!

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