By midwinter I find myself itching to refresh my home, dig into my garden, and generally get as much Vitamin D as the elusive sun allows. One way to offset the winter blues is to prepare your home (and self) for the spring season by tackling a few homesteading projects.
Urban homesteading is a working model for sustainable agriculture and eco-living in urban areas-perfect for city dwellers with 4×10 yards or, better yet, third floor apartments. Urban homesteading finds roots (excuse the pun) in the victory gardens of World War I and World War II and the back-to-the-land movement of the 1960’s. There’s a wealth of books on the topic, but I chose three criteria to direct my quest for self sufficiency: outdoor, indoor, and that which lies between. Three books currently on the nightstands of my Earth-minded friends guided this article:
Outside:“Grow Great Grub” by Gayla Trail
Inside: “Making It: Radical Home Ec for a Post-Consumer World” by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen
Middleground: “Urban Homesteading: Heirloom Skills for Sustainable Living” by Rachel Kaplan and K. Rudy Blume
All three books are available at the Louisville Free Public Library and your favorite local bookstore. If these titles are not readily available, they will gladly order them for you.
My intent for this self-sufficient discovery stems from homesteading practices many of us learned from our grandparents, but failed to put into use. But now, as we realize the diminishing resources and the effects of mass consumption, not to mention the pride one feels eating that first homegrown tomato, or limiting your home’s trash by composting all food scraps and yard cuttings. Basically, urban homesteading takes our less -than-ideal environments and creates excess, for less than what you spend at the market.
My close friend, Jackie Phillips, built a chicken coop in her own Germantown backyard—complete with a rooftop garden which feeds the chickens when in bloom. The total project cost under $300, leaving her with three eggs a day, not to mention superior bug control and free fertilizer.
“Originally we decided to keep chickens for the eggs,” said Phillips. Our plan was to keep them for about two years while egg production was good, and then into the stew pot. We have changed our thinking now that we have our ladies. They have become our pets as well as a constant source of entertainment. A lot of people have misconceptions about keeping chickens. People assume that they are dirty or smelly which is not the case…I spend about 15 to 20 minutes a week keeping the coop clean—less time than it takes to clean up after our two dogs.”
“Grow Great Grub” covers harvesting, drying, preserving, and storing that which you grow. Trail lists plants that grow well in depleted soil, little sunlight, or hot spots. Lists of recommended vegetable varieties and types that thrive in containers are especially helpful. Few of us have ideal garden spaces. By growing plants comfortable with less-than-perfect conditions one can capitalize on greens within their means. Trail’s suggestion for potting vegetables include Jerusalem artichokes, peppers, and brassicas (broccoli/cauliflower). Strawberries are ideal for hanging baskets or window boxes and since perennial, they provide sweet returns year after year. A great suggestion from Trail involves reclaiming an old galvanized trash can for potato planting. This space-savvy trick works best with metal cans (think Oscar the Grouch), since plastic can leach questionable chemicals into veggies.
Trash Can Spuds
Materials Needed:
- Drill and 1/2 inch bit (or large nail and hammer)
- Large garbage can (18 inch minimum)
- Bricks
- Quality potting soil
- Seed potatoes
- Make several holes in the bottom of the garbage can, at least 15 with
a few on the sides for ventilation. Stack can on top of 3-4 bricks to
facilitate drainage.
- Fill with 6 inches soil and spread seed potatoes with 5 inches
between them. Cover with 2 inches of soil, keep moist but not
soaking wet.
- When plant stems are 7 inches tall, add soil to cover the first 2/3 of
stems. Repeat process until stems reach the top of the bin.
- When the plants have finished flowering, they will turn yellow and
die-cut back on watering significantly, allow vines to dry out.
- Once vines wither, harvest by tipping over can and snatching up the
spuds.
a few on the sides for ventilation. Stack can on top of 3-4 bricks to
facilitate drainage.
between them. Cover with 2 inches of soil, keep moist but not
soaking wet.
stems. Repeat process until stems reach the top of the bin.
die-cut back on watering significantly, allow vines to dry out.
spuds.
(adapted from Grow Great Grub)
“Making It” offers the natural approach to home economics based on the amount of time projects require. Projects are classified as day-to-day (personal hygiene-, items such as, homemade toothpaste, shampoo alternatives, hair conditioning), week-to-week (making chicken/veggie stocks, homemade condiments), and season-to-season (saving seed, making mead) are included. The authors pride themselves on self-sufficient growing, brewing, baking, and chasing chickens on their one-twelth acre farm in downtown Los Angeles. They operate the popular DIY blog “Homegrown Revolution.” This book strives to restore home ec to its original, noble form, in which the household is a self-sustaining engine of production at the center of your life. The writing isn’t lofty or pompous. Every project has been tried by the authors with record keeping of successes and failures alike. I suggest this book if you are interested in an alternative way to keep yourself and your home healthy and clean.
“Urban Homesteading” is a great bedside book that reads like a collection of articles. There aren’t a lot of how-to’s broken down, but the book operates as more of a starting point, with inspirational ideas. Topics range from making a seed ball for guerilla gardening—the practice of reclaiming urban unused areas and beautifying with flowers and vegetables to bee keeping, cheese making, lacto fermented sodas, and natural homebuilding materials are also discussed. My personal favorite, deals with the creepy crawlies – creating your own vermicompost from earthworms. If you don’t have enough outdoor space for a compost bin (and you aren’t creeped out by worms), worm bins are the best solution to recycle your kitchen scraps.
Worm Bins
Materials Needed:
- 2 8×10 gallon dark plastic storage bins
- Drill with 1/4 inch bits
- Newspaper
- One pound of red worms
- Drill 20 holes in the bottom of each bin. These provide drainage and
allow the worms to cruise from bin to bin when it’s time to harvest. - Drill ventilation holes about 2 inches apart around the top side of
each bin. Also drill 30 small holes in the top of one of the lids. - Soak shredded newspaper and squeeze out excess water. Cover the
bottom 3-4 inches of the bin with fluffed, moist paper. Throw in a
handful of grit (dirt) to help the worms digest their food. - Add worms to bedding. One way to gather them is to put a large piece
of wet cardboard on your lawn at night. Red worms live in the top 3
inches of organic material and will feast on your cardboard. If you
food wastes average on-half pound per day, you will need one
pound of worms (roughly 500). - Cut a piece of cardboard to fit over the bedding and moistnen it,
cover the worms. Place the bin in a well ventilated, shady spot,
stacked on bricks to allow for drainage. Use the second lid to catch
any “worm tea” that seeps through the bottom–This is great liquid
fertilizer for your plants. Bury your food scraps in a different spot
each week. When the first bin has no recognizable food scraps left,
place new bedding material in the second bin and put it directly on
the compost surface of the first bin. In two months, most of the
worms will have traveled to the new bin, leaving vermicompost in the
original container.
(adapted from Urban Homesteading)
–Lane Hibbard
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