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So, you want to live a more self-sustaining life but don't have any land? Guess what? YOU STILL CAN!
We have been living a self-sustaining life for a while now and one the most common things I hear from others when they learn that we aren't totally reliant on a grocery store is "I want to homestead one day too! But I just don't have the land to do it."
It's amazing how many people state that they want to do this. When it comes to thinking about homesteading or living off the land, our minds automatically think this is impossible if you are living in town or in an apartment even! For some reason, it is a challenge to think outside of the box or even think that we may have options that can at least lesson our reliance on a grocery store for our food. I know this because this was my thinking too. Once we started homesteading, my eyes were opened at how many things I could have been doing when we didn't have land and didn't even realize it.
So here are a few ideas to live self-sustainable, whether you live in a home in city limits or if you live in an apartment.
WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW, EVEN IF YOU DONT HAVE ANY LAND!
Make your own bread- with SOURDOUGH!
Sourdough starter is a wild occurring yeast. It is a natural leavening agent (what makes bread rise). You do not need to use yeast packets from store to make your own bread. Plus, Sourdough bread is actually better for your gut anyway compared with conventional yeast bread. So, get yourself a starter and learn the art of Sourdough baking and making. Once you find your favorite recipes to make, you will never buy your bread again! A little tip, sourdough is more intimidating than it sounds. I actually find it much easier to make than "normal breads".
GROW YOUR FOOD!
If you have a yard, it doesn't matter what size it is (really!) You can grow your own food right in yard. It doesn't take much to put fresh veggies on your table for your family every night. I recently received this amazing mini greenhouse from SunnyDaze Decor. I love it because it is the perfect size to put right over the top of a raised bed or directly on the ground over literally whatever is your planting, to give it a boost. You can add a couple steaks on it to help keep it down if you're like me and live in a very windy area and it isn't permanent so you can move out all around your growing your space for wherever you need it.
I did a little experiment actually to see what a difference using this mini greenhouse would make. I have 2 raised beds and both of them I planted the same varieties of radish inside them. One of my beds I placed this mini greenhouse over the top of it while the other greenhouse, I did not. The bed that got the mini greenhouse actually sprouted about 1 week faster and grew bigger than the bed without!
This greenhouse is so simple to set up and super affordable! My 3-year helped me, and he loved it! Its lightweight and truly makes a difference. You can even use it over flowers too! Thats actually what I have it over right now since my radish are done growing and harvested already.
Grow your own veggies, even in an Apartment!
If you live in a home with a yard, don't think you should only plant grass. Grass is nice to look at, but it actually uses more water to maintain a grass yard than growing vegetables!! So, ditch the grass and create garden beds or raised beds. Grow along your fence, grow in large pots, you can get creative here and have fun with it. Make it something you love so that you will want to go and tend to it!
If you don't have a yard to plant or maybe you rent and they won't allow you, get an indoor hydroponic garden! I actually just purchased this hydroponic garden in the photo above from Click & Grow Garden! I have been using it for almost 2 months now and I have enough Lettuce on shelf to feed our family 6! (We actually have 7 but our 8-month-old doesn't eat too much solid foods yet). I was amazed at how much it actually produced.
And to maintain this set up is seriously ZERO effort! They have over 75 varieties of fruits, veggies, herbs and edible flower seed pods to choose from as well as empty seed pods that you can plant your own things too. You LITERALLY fill the tank underneath the pods with water, drop your seed pods in the cups and plug in. It has a built-in timer and a floater that tells you your water level. It is so efficient with water usage; you only need to fill it on average 1-2x PER MONTH. The light turns on automatically in the morning and shuts off automatically at night, assuring it gets the 16 hours of "sunlight" it needs to thrive. It grows so fast and even comes with a downloadable app to help you keep track of the growing time and gives you tips on harvesting to get the most food out of your set up that you can! If the shelf set up seems too large (or not large enough!) for you, they have a variety of garden sizes.
If you're wondering why I bought one of these gardens when we farm our 5-acre homestead, we live in Colorado. We do not have a heated greenhouse so outside of growing season (even extended season with our greenhouse) we do not have the means to grow our veggies anymore come winter. I purchased this hydroponic garden to feed us through the winter when we can't grow anymore along with using it to start our spring seedlings that will be transplanted outside when its warm again.
GET YOU SOME CHICKENS!
Check your local laws and our subdivision rules because most will allow you to have your own flock of chickens! Where we live, you can have up to 6 chickens in city limits, but no roosters are allowed.
You may be able to have your own flock to give you your own farm fresh eggs. They are surprisingly easy to maintain, and the best part is you will have LESS waist! You can feed your chickens all of your scraps- even the spicy stuff and meat Chickens are actually omnivores, they enjoy both plants and meats. You can find pre-built coops from places such as BigR for small flocks up to medium sized flocks. If you're feeling extra creative, you can even search around for repurposed materials and create a unique, fun little coop your chickens. Your imagination can really have fun and run wild here if you're up for it!
RAISING MEAT
For this, not everyone has the space or materials to raise meat- at least not the commonly consumed meat such as pork, lamb, goat and beef. If for whatever reason you cannot raise that type of meat, you can always go to your local county fairs and ask a 4H kid about the buy-program that happens after their livestock auction sale. This a great place to be able to get delicious local raised and processed meats that are also affordable!
A couple of animals you can raise at home that do not require much land/space is rabbit and quail!
Rabbits are known for multiplying quickly. The time it takes from birth to processing is just a couple of months! Very quick turn around here for delicious, fresh meat. And if you haven't tried rabbit before YES it does take like chicken. I cook it just like I would any chicken recipe.
For Quail, they are small birds. They are proficient egg layers. Quails are actually a dual-purpose breed, meaning you can use them for both eggs and meat. Their maturity rate of egg laying is around 4 weeks!! That is 1/3 the time it takes a chicken to begin to lay. Their incubation time is less than chickens also and the time it takes to raise one out for meat is around 4-6 weeks! You can easily and quickly raise an endless supply of quail and eggs. Feed them scraps too just like chickens to help cut down on feed costs and waist!
Those are just a few ideas to get you started. When you begin to incorporate these practices of growing and raising your own food to become more self-sufficient and less reliant on grocery stores, you will begin to spark your creativity and find more ways that fit your lifestyle or space to do so! Are there are any practices you're doing now? If not, which ones from this list most appeals to you? I'd love to hear your comments on this!
Don't forget to subscribe to my blog for more homestead and lifestyle topics like this. I grew up in the city never having grown anything in my life to now growing a garden and raising our own pork, goat, rabbit, chicken and duck! Soon to be quail
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