Tenth Acre Farm

Permaculture for the Suburbs

  • Home
  • About
  • Start Here
  • Categories
    • Edible Landscaping
    • Garden Planning
    • Growing & Using Herbs
    • Growing Vegetables
    • Perennial Crops
    • Permaculture Gardening
    • Water Management
  • Newsletter
  • Shopping Guide
  • My Book
  • Contact
You are here: Home / Blog Posts / 7 Ways to Start a Homestead (Without Being Overwhelmed)

7 Ways to Start a Homestead (Without Being Overwhelmed)

January 21, 2016 by Amy 18 Comments

7 Ways to Start a Homestead (Without Being Overwhelmed): If starting a homestead seems overwhelming, this guide will help you bust through doubt and discomfort to achieve your dreams.

If starting a homestead seems overwhelming, this guide will help you bust through doubt and discomfort to achieve your dreams.

Posts may contain affiliate links, which allow me to earn a commission at no extra cost to you. This helps keep costs down so that I can continue providing high quality content to you for free. I appreciate your purchase through the links! (full disclosure)

1: Accept Feedback

When I was getting started, I didn’t know a single person who was homesteading or working to create a productive homestead. Here’s my story of how I started homesteading.

Since those early years of my journey, the homesteading concept has become more popular. More and more resources and communities (both online and in-person) are available to support you in the process. This is so great!

One of the first things I learned as a beginning homesteader is to accept feedback. This means I had to pay attention to the different things I was trying around the homestead and evaluate how they were working. Sometimes I really wanted something to work, but the writing on the wall was that it wasn’t a good solution.

Accepting failure as a means of learning is key. And normal. You will fail, but it doesn’t mean you weren’t cut out for this kind of life.

The same thing goes for gardening. I hear people say all the time, “I don’t have a green thumb.” Gardening failure isn’t an indication of the color of your thumb. The key to becoming a ‘brown thumb’ garden expert is simply practice. Practice the craft just like you would practice playing the guitar, and learn from your mistakes.

Eventually you’ll hit the right notes and be able to play with some efficiency.

The key to getting started, then, is to just start, and to keep doing and learning.

7 Ways to Start a Homestead (Without Being Overwhelmed): If starting a homestead seems overwhelming, this guide will help you bust through doubt and discomfort to achieve your dreams.

2: Become a Perpetual Student

When I started this life, I had no idea that I would be constantly learning. I figured that I would learn how to garden and preserve food, for example, and that would be it: Bam, I’m now a veteran homesteader!

Things don’t quite work out that way. Turns out that no one grows beets in the same soil in the same place on earth with the same climate and the same sun exposure. So I have learned to be my own researcher. I read and listen to other gardeners, glean useful advice that might help me with my beet growing failure, and I try again.

Incidentally, did you know that starting a homesteading life as an adult can actually be good for the longevity of your brain? This lifestyle seriously gives your brain lots of things to mull over.

Take the winter months to read things that interest you.

No two homesteaders are exactly alike. Some can’t wait to get backyard livestock, some are excited to start a small garden, and some want to create an integrated permaculture food forest. There are still others who don’t keep a garden or animals at all, but rather focus on fiber arts, from-scratch cooking, preserving, and making their own household cleaners  and toiletry items.

Resources abound to help you on your journey no matter what homesteading topics get you excited. If you don’t know what to focus on, read a lot of different things so you can identify your passions.

Would you like to learn more about creating a vibrant homestead garden that takes only 15 minutes a day to maintain?

You’ll find loads of information just like this in my book, The Suburban Micro-Farm.

The Suburban Micro-Farm Book

7 Ways to Start a Homestead (Without Being Overwhelmed): If starting a homestead seems overwhelming, this guide will help you bust through doubt and discomfort to achieve your dreams.

The following are some resources to simply get your feet wet. There is so much information out there that it isn’t possible to list all of the great resources!

Book List for Beginners

  • All New Square Foot Gardening (gardening)
  • Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving (canning)
  • Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture (permaculture)
  • Modern Pioneering (digging up skills of the past)
  • The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals (livestock)
  • The Hands-On Home: A Seasonal Guide to Cooking, Preserving & Natural Homekeeping
  • The Suburban Micro-Farm: Modern Solutions for Busy People (gardening, homesteading, permaculture)
  • The Ultimate Dehydrator Cookbook (dehydrating)
  • The Urban Homestead (for the small-scale homestead)

Helpful Online Resources for Beginners

Homesteading:

  • 5 Easy Steps into Backyard Homesteading by Imperfectly Happy
  • 9 Tips to Start Homesteading by Flip Flop Barnyard
  • 10 Homesteading Resolutions to Make for 2016 by The Coastal Homestead
  • How to Start a Backyard Farm by One Acre Farm
  • Start Homesteading Today with These Hacks (And Little to No Money) by The Frugal Chicken
  • What to Raise on your Homestead or Backyard Farm by One Acre Farm

Gardening:

  • 11 Tips for Beginning Gardeners by The Free Range Life
  • Square Foot Gardening for Beginners by The Cape Coop
  • Vegetable Gardening Basics by Stoney Acres
  • Video! How to Garden with Kids by Little Sprouts Learning
  • Where Do I Put My Garden? by Brown Thumb Mama

Keeping Livestock:

  • Everything you Need to Know about Keeping Chickens by Idlewild Alaska
  • Goat Starter List by Better Hens and Gardens

7 Ways to Start a Homestead (Without Being Overwhelmed): If starting a homestead seems overwhelming, this guide will help you bust through doubt and discomfort to achieve your dreams.

Take classes and tours.

Read all you can, but there is no comparison between reading a book (one-way learning) versus interactive learning with real, live humans. Take classes (in person or online) and attend farm/homestead tours to catapult your knowledge and confidence.

3: Get acquainted with Your Growing Season

How a garden changes throughout the year—what can be planted or harvested—will depend on the climate and a number of other factors. In fact, even two gardens in the same zip code can experience slight differences. To plan a better garden, get in tune with your seasonal growing cycle. Here’s what I do monthly in my garden.

It’s okay if you don’t grow everything you eat. Practice eating seasonally by shopping your local farmer’s market at least once a month to learn about what’s in season in your area. Growing healthy food is what local farmers do best, and eating healthy food is what you should do best (Don’t skip the eating part!).

4: Start Small

If you want to get overwhelmed, discouraged, and burned out, try turning your entire property into a garden in your first year! Gardens look simple and quaint on paper, but maintaining them can be hard work.

My philosophy: Start with one small garden and see how it goes. Set a goal to spend at least 15 minutes each day in the garden. This way you can learn how a garden changes from day to day. The 15-minutes-a-day helps you introduce gardening into your day-to-day routine without taking away from everyday life.

Checking on the garden daily keeps you on top of garden maintenance, and allows you to harvest produce at the peak of maturity.

7 Ways to Start a Homestead (Without Being Overwhelmed): If starting a homestead seems overwhelming, this guide will help you bust through doubt and discomfort to achieve your dreams.

5. Find a Mentor or a Homestead Buddy

Homesteading and gardening will challenge you mentally and physically. A mentor can guide you through the ups and downs, successes and failures, while a buddy is essential for commiserating with when the squirrels eat all your tomatoes.

6. Make Your Kitchen a Working Kitchen

Making a house a productive homestead is a lot of work.

Growing your own food is a big job.

Making from-scratch meals and preserving the excess is a big job, too.

Start small in the garden so you have the time and space to add new food-prep skills to your repertoire.

Budgeting and meal planning go hand in hand. Here are some tips:

  • Four Get-Started Tips for the Homestead Kitchen

7. Get Out of Debt and Start Saving

Living a self-sufficient lifestyle is only possible if debts are out of the picture and a bit of money is saved for emergencies. This ensures that you don’t have to worry when the going gets tough. Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover was a huge blessing in our life. We would never have been able to save for our dream homestead if we hadn’t followed his plan to get out of debt. Be prepared: This is a long-term goal–no instant gratification here!

Eating good food is essential for health, and you’ll need good health for the physical and mental demands of starting a homestead. But good food can be expensive. My weekly meal planning system will help you afford good food without going broke.

Starting a new homestead can seem overwhelming, but it can be done, even on a busy schedule with a tight budget. Start small, enjoy the learning process, and celebrate the small successes. You’ll have a productive homestead in no time!

READ NEXT:

  • 5 Reasons to Homestead in the Suburbs
  • 5 Myths About Micro-Farming: What’s Keeping You From Your Goals?
  • How to Start a Garden on a Budget

Do you have a tip for beginning homesteaders?

7 Ways to Start a Homestead (Without Being Overwhelmed): If starting a homestead seems overwhelming, this guide will help you bust through doubt and discomfort to achieve your dreams. #homesteading

Related Posts:

  • Want to be a Micro-Farmer? 6 Tips for Success
  • How I Started Homesteading
  • 5 Myths That Keep You From Starting a Homestead Garden
  • How to Start a Garden on a Budget

Filed Under: Blog Posts Tagged With: Suburban Homesteading

« Transitioning to a No-Till Garden
How to Start a Garden on a Budget »

Comments

  1. Penny says

    January 22, 2016 at 8:00 am

    This is so exciting! I’m so happy you two found a new place and I can’t wait to see what you do with it.
    As always, I will be living vicariously through your blog posts, so keep us updated!

    Reply
    • Amy says

      January 22, 2016 at 5:59 pm

      Yay, thanks Penny! I hope all of your adventures of spreading goodwill around the world are going well 🙂

      Reply
  2. lynn maust says

    February 19, 2016 at 11:25 pm

    I am so glad a friend put me on to you and your site!

    Reply
    • Amy says

      February 22, 2016 at 4:36 pm

      I’m glad you’re glad 🙂

      Reply
  3. Lorayne says

    March 22, 2016 at 9:33 pm

    Was feeling disheartened today over my current homesteading, finding you is like a balm on sore muscles. Thank you, for the advice and for the company. I feel less alone now. Talk about making a difference!😊

    Reply
    • Amy says

      March 23, 2016 at 8:19 am

      Lorayne, that is music to my ears. I’m glad I could offer a bit of guidance and encouragement. We all need it from time to time!

      Reply
  4. Heather @ Simple Fresh Natural says

    April 15, 2016 at 8:43 pm

    I love, love, love your blog!! I also have only a tenth of an acre to work with in the suburbs and I’ve been slowly adding in veggies, herbs, and other edibles every year. Your blog is giving me so many great ideas! Thanks!
    Much love,
    Heather @ Simple Fresh Natural

    Reply
    • Amy says

      April 17, 2016 at 5:37 pm

      I love hearing that there are others who are putting their little yards to great use! Keep on doing great things 🙂

      Reply
  5. Deanna Huston Tworivers says

    July 27, 2016 at 9:50 am

    I have a 10th acre as well. So good to know others face the same challenges. Thank you bunches and bunches.

    Reply
  6. Kaitlin Alvarez says

    September 18, 2016 at 8:44 pm

    It is so great to hear of an ohio homesteader! My husband and I purchased our first home on 5+ acres and are still getting started. Some days it feels like there is never enough money to get things up and running, but your site already has given me some ideas. Thank you for being such a great resource!

    Reply
    • Amy says

      September 21, 2016 at 5:26 pm

      It can be frustrating when our brains work faster than what we can actually accomplish (whether it’s due to time or money). I’m glad you’re motivated to keep going 🙂

      Reply
  7. Rebecca Parkin says

    October 8, 2016 at 12:30 pm

    I also really recommend adding Self Sufficiency by John Seymour to your book list for those wanting to run a smallholding

    Reply
  8. Bud says

    October 14, 2016 at 9:36 pm

    My queen anne victorian sits on about .7 acres in central connecticut. The best part is a fenced in back yard 200′ by 75′. It is level, and had lain idle or underutilized for decades at a time before i purchased it in 2014. I envision it as an urban farm. It may take a while, but i’d like to grow sufficient produce to feed my small family and sell the surplus. Also would like to raise a small but meaningful amount of quail and perhaps a hive. Any thoughts on what you have seen to have been produced on a similar sized piece of land?

    Reply
    • Amy says

      October 26, 2016 at 2:05 pm

      Hi there. It sounds like you have a promising amount of land for high production. The various articles on my website can help you be a successful gardener with less work, but what you grow and how much it yields will depend on so many variables from climate, soil type, your experience level, the amount of time you can put into the project, and so much more.

      If high yield for profit is your interest, I would recommend checking out Curtis Stone, The Urban Farmer.

      Reply
  9. Ginette says

    October 19, 2016 at 6:05 pm

    Hi, just moved on a half acre land in the beautiful Quebec Laurentians. However, winters are long and summers last about 3 months. Hopefully, I will be able to grow some vegetables…
    I just bought a small greenhouse and will be experimenting starting next spring.
    One thing is for sure, I love your blog and am looking forward to read you on a daily basis! 😉

    Reply
    • Amy says

      October 27, 2016 at 10:47 am

      Congratulations on your new land! How exciting! I look forward to hearing about your experience with the greenhouse. I hope to have one someday 🙂

      Reply
  10. Robert Sayasane says

    January 25, 2017 at 12:12 pm

    Excellent post, really informative, thank you

    Reply
  11. Pamela says

    March 10, 2017 at 12:56 am

    Amy,
    I’m so happy I found you (on pinterest)! We’re already gardening in suburbia, but we are making plans now to purchase land and really delve into a homestead! Thank you for sharing your lessons and tricks with the rest of us!
    Blessings,
    Pamela

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

AmyHi, I’m Amy!

I’m the author of
The Suburban Micro-Farm:
Modern Solutions for Busy People
.

Join me as I share my permaculture gardening adventures in the suburbs.

Subscribe To My Weekly Newsletter

Get my FREE 19-page Guide to Organic Soil Amendments when you subscribe!




My Most Popular Posts

How to Construct a Swale in the Residential Landscape: A permaculture swale is a tool for capturing and storing water in a garden. Learn how to build a swale in the residential landscape.
5 Weeds You Want In Your Garden: Do you know which garden weeds are beneficial? Increase the productivity of your garden by knowing how to harness the power of these five weeds.
How to Train and Prune Black Raspberries: Black raspberries can be a delicious and productive crop for the small landscape. Learn how to train and prune black raspberries for the best harvest.
Yarrow is a flowering herb with many uses medicinally and in the permaculture garden. Here are 5 reasons why you will benefit from growing yarrow.
How to Kill Poison Ivy in 5 Steps: Here's how to get rid of poison ivy with an eco-friendly, permaculture-based, 5-step process.
Here's a Quick Way to Terrace a Hill: Are you challenged with sloping land? Here's a solution to stop erosion on a hillside and create an easily-navigable terrace garden.

Topics

  1. Edible Landscaping
  2. Garden Planning
  3. Growing and Using Herbs
  4. Growing Vegetables
  5. Homestead Kitchen
  6. Perennial Crops
  7. Permaculture Gardening
  8. Soil Fertility
  9. Suburban Homesteading
  10. Water Management

Advertise  |  Disclosure  |  Privacy

Copyright © 2018 · Tenth Acre Farm by Twisted Creek press · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress