Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Building on Land
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You Already Own
You don't have to make a huge life change in order to begin a backyard farm. For most of the
people in the United States, it's possible to begin living more self-sufficiently right where you are.
Don't wait for “the perfect setup” to get started. Start growing your own food now, even if it's just
10 percent to start. Start doing for yourself. Start lessening your footprint. Start making things for
yourself instead of having “buy it from the store” as your default mind-set.
There are a lot of things you can do to begin a backyard farm right where you are. As you read
through the other chapters, look for sidebars called “On a Different Scale” with tips for scaling
things down to smaller or larger than average spaces. Of course, if you live on more land and are
just getting started, you'll want to think about ways to potentially scale things up a notch.
Many urban backyard homesteaders are finding it easy to produce enough of a particular product
to not only provide for their own families, but to have enough for market as well. Take some time
to browse your local farmers' markets and see what the going prices are for extra produce. You can
often get a booth inexpensively and sell your own fruits and vegetables to the general public to help
defray some of the costs.
Assessing Your Current Situation
Although your current situation may not seem ideal, most homes you wouldn't consider ideal can
certainly be serviceable. You just have to take stock of what you have to work with and think cre-
atively about how it can be adapted to increase your self-sufficiency. There are a lot of very creative
possibilities when you allow yourself to think outside the box.
First, assess how much space you have. Include concrete patios and porches in this assessment.
Any area that will get around six hours of sunlight or more can be adapted to a productive place.
Balconies, window sills, patios, front yards, side borders, and more can be adapted and used to
grow fruits and vegetables. Even relatively small backyards can house rabbits, chickens, or bees.
