Homesteading discussion

Take a moment to say hello and introduce yourself! Are you a farmer, wanna-be farmer, or just happy growing a few veggies on your condo's veranda?

I live in the suburbs of Jacksonville, Florida with my husband, cat, dog and a few hens. We have a good garden, but also enjoy using edible landscaping (ie: nasturiums and strawberry borders, etc). While we often dream of a small farm, we find there's a lot of self-sufficiency to be gained even in the 'burbs.

Hi I live in the City of Chicago, but dream of living where my neighbors are not sitting on top of me. I have just begun to learn about homesteading and being more self-sufficient. I just wanted to thank you for setting this up so that I can find more books on the topic.

Hi, all! I'm Jessie from NJ. I'm not currently a farmer/homesteader, but my goal is to start growing more of my own food and to possibly raise some animals (chickens!). I just want to live a simpler, more full life, and be self-sufficient.

I have a brown thumb. I can kill any indoor plant, given enough time. Even cactus. Friends who give me indoor plants really annoy me when they whine and cry over the little things 'cause they had to know I'd kill it when they gave it to me! As far as gardening .... Well, I'm almost as bad. Love growing roses! (Not that I do that well, either.) Have tried to grow tomatoes and peppers, but can't seem to make them thrive. I try. Really.

My place in life is to support local farmers. I ooh and ahhh over cucumbers, tomatoes, fruits of all kinds. I happily take their bounty home with me to turn them into delicious, delightfully tasty dishes.

And I like to read about the success of others - like Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miricle. Can't think of anything I enjoy more than spending an afternoon curled up with a good book!

So, there you have it. I couldn't be a farmer to save my life, but totally enjoy reading about others who can and do. And I sure love all those beautiful fruits and veggies at the farmers' markets!

I live on an acreage in Ontario, but my family and I will be buying a "real" farm this spring in Nova Scotia. We are moving there to live near family, become a part of a small town and rural community. After 21 years in the Military, we need to put down some roots and farm some land. I have always owned horses, and I have always had a strong inclination to make homemade items. My husband and I will be learning to live a sustainable, frugal, happy life.

Hi! I'm living off grid in Colorado's San Luis Valley, and doing the best I can to be self-sufficient. Part of that self-sufficiency is trying to make a living by writing and editing. I've got three books published on the Kindle platform right now. Two of them are all about how I found my little piece of heaven, and how I started the building process. I'm glad to find this group!

I live in SE idaho. I am currently unemployed due to a business closure and learning what I truly want out of life. I hope to one day have a homestead full of livestock, a great garden and be self sufficient.

Urban homesteading just outside Milwaukee, WI here. :)

Nice to meet you, Brandi and Lynn - so glad you joined us!
You might also enjoy "meeting" many other homesteaders on Facebook at Cold Antler Farm.

Chantelle in Alabama....suburb of Birmingham, but we have our house on the market as we want to move further out. Have 3 sons who need room to run and we want a mini-farm! Chickens, a pig, maybe a cow for beef and a BIG garden.

Hi,

We live in AR. We garden and will be getting chickens this year. We have spent the past 4 yrs working towards a more sustainable lifestyle and have accomplished a lot so far and will be doing much more.

I second Tracy's Cold Antler Farm recommendation. Read Jenna's book, "Made from Scratch" :)

We are currently urban homesteading in the suburbs of south Florida with vegetables and chickens, but our goal is to have a sustainable small market farm on some acreage.

I recognize some of the other new folks from facebook actually. We were discussing books in the homesteading group yesterday and I suggested goodreads for us to see what everyones reading :)

Tracy wrote: "Take a moment to say hello and introduce yourself! Are you a farmer, wanna-be farmer, or just happy growing a few veggies on your condo's veranda?"
Hello All!
I'm a wanna-be farmer currently living in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Hubby and I are working working towards getting some land of our own in the, hopefully, near future. I am wanting to get some chickens, sheep, goats and a couple of pigs.
Thanks, in advance for all the book recommendations!

Blessings,
Becky

Hi! Just a hobby farmer interested in self sustainability and environmentally friendly practices. Excited to hear about all the books you all are/have read! Amber

Hello. I currently live in NJ and have always been interested in self sufficient living. I have a small backyard garden and do fiber arts. Hubby and I are currently making plans to build in NY state. This is a 10 year plan where we will slowly be building and moving up there. I am currently in the process of designing the garden which is going to go in before the house. Eventually the plan is to keep honey bees and possibly cashmere goats. Because we have time to do this (and can only build as we save the money) I really want to do this right. I'm really glad this group was started because I'm interested to see what other people are reading so that I can get some resources and ideas. Since I'm currently planning the garden I am reading gardening books right now. I'm currently working on All New Square Foot Gardening.

Stitchywoman, I just finished All New Square Foot Gardening and am trying to put it into practice now. Great book!
All: If you'd like, we've also started a reading club - we're reading Michael Pollan's book Second Nature, which is about gardening. We're taking our time; we plan to discuss it on/about 3/31. Join us if you'd like!

Tracy wrote: "Stitchywoman, I just finished All New Square Foot Gardening and am trying to put it into practice now. Great book!

I really enjoy the SFG method and have actually been doing it since 1985. Now that I'm planning my new garden I thought I'd read the new edition and I glad I am. Mel has made things even easier and I'm really enjoying the book.

hmmm i need to read square foot gardening, i wanna maximize my tiny little backyard :)

Hi all! For now I'm a homestead dreamer, reading everything I can get my hands on to tide me over until we stop moving quite so much. Can't wait for some great recommendations.

Hi! I've dreamed of a self-sufficient homestead since I was in my 20s. I'm 54 now, and have been building the dream since I married 7 years ago. Challenging at this age, and both of us have health issues. But we also have five acres, veggies, chickens, and fresh eggs now. Getting honey bees this week, and within the year we'll have cows, pigs, and goats (if the finances hold). We will soon be "off the grid" and self-sufficient. We have a plan to be a working Hobby Farm, producing a variety of products that will allow the farm to pay for itself. Still a lot to learn, but we're committed and making it happen ~ on a small, fixed income. Call me a late bloomer, but better late than never!

Wow Michelle it sounds like you guys are doing awesome :) Wonderful setup

Lynn wrote: "Wow Michelle it sounds like you guys are doing awesome :) Wonderful setup"
Thank you Lynn. Sometimes it feels awesome, and sometimes it feels awful! LoL! But it is always wonderful!

Hi Carla. Welcome to the group. I'm like you, in the planning stages. Welcome Michelle. Wow. Sounds like you're living the dream (with all it's ups and downs). I really admire you for it. Was it scary to make the jump into homesteading? Would love to hear about the process. How did you go about it?

Stitchywoman wrote: "Hi Carla. Welcome to the group. I'm like you, in the planning stages. Welcome Michelle. Wow. Sounds like you're living the dream (with all it's ups and downs). I really admire you for it. Wa..."

Hi Stitchy. It's never been scary, just hard at times. At our age, the challenges to our health are the biggest hurdle. My dad was a farm boy, and when he retired from the military he went back to his roots on a smaller scale. I was still young, so I got to grow up in it, sort of (I didn't pay a lot of attention back then). I spent most of my adult life reading everything I could about gardening, living off the grid, and homesteading. Wherever I lived, if I had a few feet of ground I would grow veggies, even in pots if I didn't have ground. I married late in life. In fact, I was already retired when I married. My husband brought a few acres into our marriage. I brought the motivation to do something with it. It's a little frustrating at times. I'm retired, but there is no leisure time. It's work from sunup to sundown! It's been 7 years, and a slow start. It takes money, and we're working on a limited income. So in this economy, we've decided to take out a low interest loan to leap forward (and stop crawling). No mortgage, so with the loan we'll have a bit of room to get the rest of the way off the grid and make the farm self-supporting. There's some risk, but it's worth it now. I'll know we're doing well when we can hire some help! My only advice... This isn't a lifestyle for the timid!

Hello all! I'm still pretty new to Goodreads, but had to join this group when I saw it. My husband and I are currently posted overseas (in Jordan) at the U.S. embassy here, but dream of one day getting out of government service and buying a chunk of land. Right now we grow what we can in our (fairly large) container garden, mostly tomatoes, herbs, dwarf eggplants, and other desert-tolerant plants. I haven't added our homesteading books to my bookshelf on this site yet, but we have a shelf or two dedicated to self-sufficiency, cheese-making, and raising goats/chickens/sheep.

Heidi wrote: "Hello all! I'm still pretty new to Goodreads, but had to join this group when I saw it. My husband and I are currently posted overseas (in Jordan) at the U.S. embassy here, but dream of one day g..."
Hi Heidi. Welcome! Can't wait to see what you're reading.

Hello, all! I'm sitting here writing from the gorgeous state of Maine. My husband and I are beginning homesteaders (or as novice as you can consider yourself in four years time) in Central Maine. Trained as a high school English teacher and unable to find a job, I'm now a graduate student and stay-at-home mum to our first son who was born in November. I like to claim that we practice "modern homesteading." Modern Homesteading is a term that I use to roughly describe how we’re trying to build our lifestyle. While trying to use the land and become as self-sufficient as possible, there are certain things that we (or more so Tasha) just can’t do with out. Examples include: indoor plumbing, the internet, lights. I guess the big one is indoor plumbing. There are also a few things we just can’t do, no matter what life comes down to, such as slaughtering animals on our own. This is why we call it “modern homesteading;” we’re taking a way of life and tweaking it a bit to fit our personal preferences. It’s kind of New Media like, in a way.

Tasha wrote: "Hello, all! I'm sitting here writing from the gorgeous state of Maine. My husband and I are beginning homesteaders (or as novice as you can consider yourself in four years time) in Central Maine. T..."
I've never been to Maine but I hear it is absolutely beautiful. How do you handle the short growing season? Do you do any hot house type gardening?

I don't do any hot-house or greenhouse growing. Some folks do, though. For the most part a lot of Mainers start everything indoors in their kitchens and living rooms, over load the garden with plants to maximum capacity, and then just hope to the high heavens for a good harvest. There's also LOTS of canning and freezing involved. :-) I guess I never really think about how we "handle a short growing season" as it's hard t recognize it as such when it's the only length of growing you've ever know. ^_^

You're right, it is really a matter of what you know. It is amazing how we can adapt to our environment. I live in a zone 6 so I have a good 5 months, give or take, to do my garden although I do start tomatoes, peppers, etc indoors. We have had such a ridiculously hot spring that we really got off to a strong start. I did a lot of splitting and transplanting of rhubarb and raspberries so they are off to a slow start. I'm glad it's going to be a long season so they will have time to establish themselves before the winter frost. We are actually getting spring-like weather now so I hope the tomatoes will survive it and not split with all the extra rain.

Hi! I'm a suburban homesteader in North Carolina. Were now growing about 15% of our own food (veggies, the HOA won't let us have animals). So until we get the pennies saved up for our 5 acres in rural NC, this will have to do. I'm devouring any and all country skills books/podcasts etc.

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author: Cuban Sun

I'm new to the group but not new to homesteading. My name is Angela and I live on 1/4 acre in Oklahoma but my in-laws have 80 acres. I wrote the book Backyard Farming on an Acre (More or Less) (http://backyardfarmingguide.com) and write about intentional and self-sufficient living at Untrained Housewife http://untrainedhousewife.com. It's so great to meet you all!