urban homesteading

Homesteading is a way of life that refers to people who are “getting back to the land” and choosing to live a more sustainable, self-sufficient lifestyle.  For most people homesteading means buying a big piece of land out in the country to grow their own food and farm but there is a new movement that makes homesteading possible even for us city folk.

Urban Homesteading follows the same homesteading principles minus the big piece of land in the country.  City dwellers are ripping up their entire small urban yards to plant food in every nook and cranney and even dabbling in animal husbandry keeping a few chickens for eggs and goats for milk. 

I learned about Urban Homesteading when I stumbled on what quickly became one of my favorite blogs Path To Freedom.  The Dervaes’ are a family of 4 who live in a California bungalow which they’ve turned to their own Urban Homestead.  They grow nearly all their own food and they even have goats for milk which they frequently take for walks.  The Dervaes family is committed to sustainability, running their vehicle on bio fuels, cooking many meals in their solar oven and even powering their blender using bicycle power.  Imagine getting on your bike for a ride when you make your morning fruit  ssmoothie? They are also committed to educating people like me (and you) about how to live a sustainable life and host many local events where they connect with their community. 

Urban Homesteading will likely continue to increase in popularity as the green movement surges on.  After following a few Urban Homesteading blogs for a while I’ve even decided to remove a big hunk of my backyard to replace it with a much larger garden space than I currently have. 

I can’t wait for the day where the vast lawns have been replaced with prolific organic gardens!