Starting Your Small Homestead (On A Budget)

So you want to start your own small homestead, urban farm thing. You hipster, you. Why on earth would you want to do that? Is it because you want to know what you are actually putting into your body? Do want a sense of accomplishment of being able to raise and/or grow your own food? Good reasons. Good choice. When we started out, we had a 100 x 60 foot back yard. And yes, you can start a small homestead on that small of a space. You can start one with even less. Just take a look at the people who live in New York City or San Fransisco. It's called urban farming and it's awesome what these people can do with that small of a space. But, if you want to actually include larger livestock on your farm, you may want something bigger than an apartment building. So let's start with your typical subdivision home. What exactly do you need to get started?

A Plan

You want to start out with a list of goals. Ask your self some questions: "Do I want to be completely self- sustainable? Or do I just want to be able grow some food for my self and family? Do I plan on having small animals? Will I have room to expand into larger animals? What's my BUDGET?" Some other important questions that you will want to set as a top priority while planning is: "What does my local municipality allow for where I live?" You certainly don't want to get a good amount of money and time invested in something just to be ticketed and told that it all has to go. So call up your local township, city hall, municipality and see what the local ordinances are on growing your own garden, where it can be grown (only in the back yard, or can you use the front yard, too), and what kind of animals you can have on property of your size. 

Once you have these questions set out, you can start planning out what you want to grow and where you want things to be located. You will want to know what kind of fruits and vegetables grow in your climate. Yes, I can grow an orange tree here in Michigan. But I really don't want to bring it in every winter. So is that practice for me? Am I setting myself up for success? No. I'm not. So don't set yourself up to be disappointed. There are different methods of growing your plants that may be better to your small space. We have found that square foot gardening and vertical growing have given up maximum yield for our space. 

If you plan on having animals, such as chickens or rabbits, look up to see how much room they will need. (I will be posting an article on this very soon with some ultra cool info graphics, so stay tuned for that!) It is so very important for your animal's health, your health, and your homestead's success that you have enough room for these animals. Educate yourself on what role they can play on your farm. Yes, chickens lay eggs. But did you know that they are great little garbage disposals*, too? They pick out all the good stuff that wasn't picked over by you and they turn that into nitrogen rich poop. The kind of poop that turns your compost into ultra high quality growing material. And rabbits are cute, but they are weed eaters and give you manure that you can use NOW. That stuff is better than miracle growth serum.

And just because you have limited funds does NOT mean that you can't have a sustainable farm. You can learn to be resourceful. You found this little post, didn't you? See, you're being resourceful already. But more on that later.

Space

In this case, space is not the final frontier. It is the first thing you want to consider while coming up with the afore mentioned plan. Are you working with a small patio type space, a "normal" back yard area, a half acre, or more? Are you willing to plant vegetables in the front garden as well? Keep in mind how much nutritional value you are getting out of that grass. Once you've assessed how much space you have, you can start to determine what will fit into that space. Do you have enough for a couple of hens and a coop with a run? This doesn't take up much space. From here you can plan out how much space your want your garden to take up. Keep in mind that you don't have to have your back yard looking like a field in Kansas for this to be successful. Those huge corporate farms look like that because that have huge machines to work the field. Pretty sure you're not hopping on a John Deere to work in your back yard. In this case, consider a much smaller series of raised garden beds. And REALLY consider how far apart you need those vegetable to be. We plant ours much closer than what is recommended on the seed packet for a couple of reasons. 1. Square foot gardening encourages your to plant your veggies with other veggies that will help them grow. In other words, if they have a neighbor they like, they will prosper. 2. Weeds. We really don't like them. And neither do the plants. The closer your have your plants, the less weeding you will do. Look up the "Three Sisters Garden". It's an ancient Native American way of gardening that helped to slow or prevent weeds while encouraging nutrient exchange and maximum growth out of the plants.

Supplies

These are not things you need to spend a ton on. Many supplies you can get fairly inexpensive, at garage sales, or even free. Animal housing as well as planting sheds can be built from pallets found from other companies. Just make sure they are available for you to take. You can also find them on places like craig's list or other ad type websites. Don't have any idea how to build one out of pallets. We didn't either. But that's what Pinterest is for. Free plans for chicken coops, Goat shelters, and garden sheds everywhere. 

You can also build raised beds from pallets or other inexpensive material. Your first year's worth of compost may cause you to get out your wallet, but if you compost your food scraps and weeds, your dirt supply will be readily available after that.

Seeds are very inexpensive. Your local library may even have a seed library that you can source from. We also use seeds from plants that we bought at the market and store them for upcoming planting seasons.

When you have animals, one thing that you will need is an emergency kit. Animals will get hurt. Most supplies you need for your emergency kit are available at the Dollar store. Epsom Salts, gauze, antibacterial cream, tape. These are some of your main items. Other items such as Blu-Kote, trimmers and brushes can be found at your local farm and feed store for low cost as well.

Animals

Once you've got a general plan outlined, you can start doing your research and honing down on if you want animals and what kind you want. Start small. However, there's something known as "chicken math". You go to pick up 6 chicks and before you know it, you've got way more than 6 and some explaining to do to your husband. And telling him that they were trying to cross the road doesn't fly. 

Rabbits are also a good small livestock animal to start with. Again, consider housing and how fast they grow. "Rabbit math" has a different connotation here but you have more control over that. 

We have since added ducks and goats to our collective as our availability to land grew. These provided higher value eggs to what we could sell along with fresh milk for our family. 

Starting a small homestead, whether you are on a budget or not, requires getting your hands dirty, enginuity, and a lot of planning. So get to it! What are you waiting for? I can just about garauntee you'll be wondering why you didn't start this sooner. 

*There are foods that are harmful to chickens health. Please be sure to look this up before handing over anything and everything to your chickens.