Urban Homesteading: Victory Gardens for Growing Vegetables and Small Livestock

Urban homesteading is about creating modern victory gardens for growing vegetables, raising small farm animals and working towards a path to freedom. It's the freedom to food security and freedom from pesticides and artificial chemicals.

Growing vegetables and other food to feed oneself has been like that for thousands of years after hunters and gatherers stopped moving about and created settlements that centered around agriculture. Homesteading and farming was the norm! People grew their vegetables, raised their own chickens and livestock, had milk and made cheese and bartered with neighbours for what they didn't have and there was no mystery involved in feeding themselves.

Growing food for ourselves is so alien to most that our young kids probably recognize hamburgers and milkshakes more readily than knowing that wheat is what the buns are made from, and the beef cattle provided the meat. Not only that, many kids don't know that milk isn't pink, brown or green but it's actually white, and comes not in bottles from the factory, but from the udders of a cow.

Jamie Oliver, well-known UK Chef has just done a food series on the the plight of eating habits in America. And America is not alone. Australia, the UK, the UAE, all across the globe people feed their faces with fat-saturated rubbish, their medical bills rise, their cholesterol goes sky-high, the diabetes kicks in and their health deteriorates.

Most people who live in the suburbs with back and front yards, whether they own the property or are just renting, fail to see what potential they have in owning some land. I keep saying, and you will find it in my other pages, that you DON'T need a farm or a homestead for growing vegetables. You can turn to urban homesteading on a piece of land the size of 1/5 of an acre. See others who have done the same with their backyard gardening and learn more about mini-farms.

Urban homesteading is a concept that is now sweeping America and other countries who are growing vegetables and raising small livestock in their backyards like they used to do during the wartime where victory gardens were encouraged. Dwarf goats, such as Nigerian dwarf goats and other small animals are important to those who have urban homesteads as they don't take up a lot of space. People are even keeping bees in cities.

Victory gardens are becoming popular once more, and more and more people are looking towards self-sufficiency and food security. More people are also concerned about the monopolies of seed companies and so when planting their victory gardens do so with open-pollinated seeds rather than the hybrids and saving heirloom seeds for the next season.

I make no bones about the fact that Jules Dervaes is my hero. You will see him in the videos below. He has urban homesteading down to a fine art, living in California on a fifth of an acre and he produces 6000 pounds of food every year! He not only feeds himself, his 2 daughters and a son from this land, but he now runs a business supplying hotels and restaurants with his organically grown vegetables, eggs etc.

What are the basic food needs for a family of 5 for 1 year?

Here is a list from the USDA, circa 1930’s:

Bread, cereals, baked goods 750 lbs
Vegetables and fruits 3000 lbs
Butter, lard and other fats 250 lbs
Sugar, honey, and other sweets 250 lbs
Meat and Poultry 500 lbs
Eggs 200 dozen
Milk 1,200 quarts

How large a vegetable garden do you need to plant to feed a family of 5?

That depends on many factors, most of all your climate, soil fertility, etc. According to Carleen Madigan, author of the book “The Backyard Homestead” you can grow up to 2000 lbs of vegetables from twelve 4’ x 8’ garden beds.

From just one quarter acre you can also grow 50 lbs of wheat, 600 lbs of fruit, 75 lbs of nuts, 1,400 eggs, 280 lbs of pork, and 100 lbs of honey.

So how many vegetables do I need to plant for my family?

Spend some time watching these inspiring videos and tell us what you think through our comments page.

URBAN HOMESTEADING ON 1/5th OF AN ACRE

URBAN HOMESTEADING & LIVING MOSTLY OFF THE GRID

URBAN HOMESTEADING & KEEPING CHICKENS IN THE CITY

BEST BOOKS ON URBAN HOMESTEADING

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