Extreme Simplicity: Homesteading in the City

by Christopher Nyerges, Dolores Nyerges

"Upon a foundation of not being able to change the world, the Nyerges have changed themselves, along the lines, that is, of Tolstoy's observation that everybody thinks of changing the world, and nobody thinks of changing himself. They provide simple, natural, and cheap ways to live in the city, partly as survivalists, partly as environmentalists, by recounting the tale of their newly-acquired dilapidated duplex in LA. Their first step was removing the energy-wasting dishwashers, disposals, and central heating units and gradually beginning beekeeping, rainwater collecting, and organic/natural gardening." --Book News, April 2003 Here is an upbeat, unabashedly outrageous book about applying the principles of self-reliance, more often associated with rural back-to-the-landers and wilderness campers, to life in suburban Los Angeles. By telling their own homesteading story, the Nyergeses have created a blueprint that will help city-dwellers anywhere live more independently. The book is organized more like a how-to or self-help book than a personal memoir. The authors present self-sufficient and ecological approaches to commonly defined areas of a The House, The Yard, Homegrown Foods (and wild edibles), Domestic Animals, The Garden, Water, Energy, and Recycling. A concluding chapter takes on larger lifestyle questions of livelihood and healthy relationships with money and security. Here are some basic tips that are
--Save water, gasoline, and fertilizers by substituting a traditional, water-lavish grass lawn with more low-growing plants which require very little upkeep, and which are pleasant-smelling and wonderful food sources. New Zealand spinach, red clover, mint, and thyme are some examples.
--Lower your power and gas bills by using solar energy to heat water, bake bread, and generate electricity for other purposes.
--Get rid of your costly garbage disposal and recycle your own garbage. Give food scraps to your animals. And you can go as far as making a compost pit of kitchen scraps and pet manure with a joint rabbit hutch and worm-farm.
--Allow cooler air to flow through the house without having a pricey and high-powered central cooling system. Replace regular screen doors with steel security screens, so you can leave the doors open all night without worrying about a break-in. You can also paint your dark-colored roof with a white coat to keep down solar heat absorption.
--Don’t rake your yard. By keeping the area heavily mulched, you don’t have to water as often or use any hazardous chemicals. The organic matter in the mulch replenishes grass.
-- Plant shade trees. This increases the fragrance and beauty of your yard and lessens the need for mechanically cooling your house. Consider citrus trees. They are drought-tolerant and yield delicious, fresh, natural fruits.

Genres: Sustainability

224 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2003

Reviews

[Joshua]

I recently re-read this book. When I first read it many years ago, it seemed full of revolutionary ideas. But now, it no longer seems very informative. Like my criticism of Ruppenthal's "Fresh Food from Small Spaces" (the reading of which motivated me to re-read Nyerges), it is high on motivation and short on practical information.

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative book, slightly dated, but still full of pertinent information on living green, frugally, self sufficiently in the city where you don't have acreage available. Teeny bit dry, but it wasn't fiction, so I'll give it a pass. Good book.

[Fran · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting to read anecdotes. Too much woo. If you are looking for practical education, skip it.

[jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is about a lifestyle, not an experiment. People who have spent years developing the practices, habits, stockpiles, and soil to be self-sufficient share their stories and advice. There are a lot of good ideas here, and some interesting anecdotes. It's not a memoir and there's not a plot. Chapters stand alone pretty well, so if you are only interested in water conservation & collection, you can zero in on that. FWIW, I enjoyed the gardening section a great deal. There wasn't a ton of new information, but there were some clever ideas for re-using items around the house, and valuable experience from many years of the yard-garden in Los Angeles. There's some good advice for the "lazy" or "passive" gardener, interesting ideas/experiences with compost piles, and some charming stories about backyard farm animals that become part of the family. There's a considerable focus on recycling, reusing, reducing impact, and just generally DIYing low-budget. This book is definitely not the definitive tome, but it's a great jumping off point, and I enjoyed the writing styles of Christopher & Delores.

[Nadir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chis and Dolores Nyerges share a great many of their successes and their failures in trying to live well within the otherwise unsustainable suburban sprawl. As with anything so personal in nature, there are some techniques that will appeal to the reader and others that may repel them. The greater point, however, is that they took nothing for granted and questioned every manner in which they interacted with their environment, finding opportunities to reduce/reuse/recycle while also consuming less energy and producing more of their own food. The totality of what they achieved is remarkable and inspirational.

I found the book's organization effective and the writing easy to absorb.

I highly recommend this book - I guarantee you will find several projects / lifestyle changes / etc. that you can successfully incorporate into your world, making it a better place for you and those you love.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

inspiring on many levels *except* for the sections on using/reusing things like styrofoam meat trays and carpet scraps. That really stuck out to me. I'm still conventional enough (and frankly, health-minded) enough to say "ewww" to the idea of using styro meat trays for serving toast or laying out a permanent stretch of carpet in the backyard for my yoga practice. Hello, permanent mildew land. On the other hand, this book was written in the late 90s early 2000s, and quite a lot has changed since then.

[Marisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not quite a memoir, not quite a handbook, I started this but didn't bother finishing it. I was hoping for a compelling narrative, perhaps with ideas for increasing self-sufficiency, but the book doesn't really have either. I found it to be maddeningly vague all around.