Homesteading Handbook: A Complete Homesteading Guide to Self Sufficiency and Sustainable Living: Homesteading for Beginners, Homesteading Guide, How to Homestead, Homesteading Skills

82 Pages·2015·1.31 MB·English

by  Richard, Foreman

Homesteading Handbook : A
Complete Homesteading Guide to
Self Sufficiency and Sustainable
Living (Homesteading for Beginners,
Homesteading Guide, How to
Homestead, Homesteading Skills)

Richard Foreman

PUBLISHED BY:
Richard Foreman
Copyright © 2015

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Table of Contents
Introduction
Understanding Homesteading
Why Homesteading is a good decision
Urban Homesteading Vs. Rural Homesteading
Homesteading and Permaculture
Homesteading - A social, economic and lifestyle
choice
Starting your Own Garden
Gardening for Self Sufficiency
Selecting the location
Optimum Amount of Sunlight
Collecting rainwater for Watering plants
Making your own Backyard Compost
Mulching in your Garden
Soil Types, Testing and Preparation
Types of Homestead Gardening
Rooftop Gardening
Backyard Gardening
Square Foot Gardening
Container Gardening
Vertical Gardening
Raised-bed Gardening
Trellis Gardening
Choosing Plants for Homesteading
Deciding What to Plant
Planning when to plant
Arranging Crops
Dealing with weeds and pests
Livestock: Homesteading Lifestyle
Making your Own Food
Make Your Own Cheese
Homemade Bread
Organic Eggs
Homemade Yogurt
Preserving Food
Canning
Freezing
Dehydrating and Drying
Salt Preservation
Conclusion
Introduction
Understanding Homesteading
In this fast-paced technology driven world, the idea of living life at a slow and
relaxing pace has started to gain popularity and acceptance. Rising inflation,
overdependence on technology, shortage of resources, pesticides ridden fruits
and vegetables, and not-a-moment-to-catch-my-breath lifestyle have pushed a
number of people into looking at homesteading as a viable lifestyle. Although
homesteading is certainly not a new concept, the ideas and concepts of urban
homesteading has started to gain traction with both the young and the urban
population.
In the past, homesteaders spent years undertaking backbreaking tasks of
plowing, tilling and harvesting farms carved out of complete wilderness. They
stayed away from modern day amenities and tools. Although, present day
homesteaders too undertake physically exhaustive tasks, they are, nevertheless,
not as grueling as the olden-day tasks. But, let this not fool you as homesteading
— present or past — is taxing if you do not have the right aptitude to live your
life without a number of so-called ‘basic’ amenities that we take for granted.
A large number of people are attracted towards homesteading because it helps
keep unhealthy and harmful chemicals out of the food chain. Turning to
gardening is the only way to ensure that each and every one of us has access to
wholesome and less-contaminated food. Moreover, people have gone further and
have ensured that chemicals do not find their way into their personal lives as
well. With every action they take, homesteaders make sure that they do not harm
themselves, their co-beings, the Earth and the future generations. Call it what
you may — green movement, eco conscious or going green — the basic idea
that defines homesteading is self-sufficiency and environmental responsibility.
Homesteading, as difficult and backbreaking it might seem initially, is the first
step towards a happier, healthier and satisfying lifestyle.
Urban homesteading is not a new concept or an idea; in fact, homesteading is as
old as the mountains. Before people started buying bread and eggs from stores,
everyone raised poultry in their backyards and baked bread at their homes.
Homesteading is an ancient concept; however, urban homesteading has revived
the old techniques of self-sufficiency and adapted them to suit the urban
dwellers’ needs. Urban homesteading is not a single concept; it is a collection of
various techniques and practices. It includes growing vegetables and fruits,
raising animals, preserving food, making bread, cheese and yogurt at home,
spinning and knitting, making cleaning products, using solar and wind energy,
conserving water and making fertilizers and compost. The one concept that holds
urban and rural homesteading is the idea of providing for self, resisting the
temptation to binge consumption, consuming products made at home, creating
products rather than purchasing mass-produced products from stores.
If you want to live a self-sufficient life, homesteading is a must for you.
Homesteading is branded by subsistence farming, home conservation of
foodstuffs and it may in certain instances involve a minor production of clothing,
fabrics and craftwork for home use or sale.
Homesteading generally makes a distinction from rural commune livelihood by
isolation, socially or physically of the farm. The usage of this term, in the United
States of America, dates way back to the Homestead Act of 1862 and probably
th
even before the 19 century.
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Self-sufficiency movements in the 20 century began to use the concept to city
and suburban locations known as urban homesteading. It incorporates small
sustainable farming and homemaking. In homesteading, government and social
support coordination are frequently given a wide berth to favor self-reliance and
kith and kin deprivation, so as to maximize self-reliance and self-determination.
The degree of autonomy happens along a spectrum, with a lot of homesteaders
producing foodstuffs or trades to fascinate high-end niche consumers in order to
cover financial requirements. Some homesteaders turn in to this lifestyle
following fruitful careers which make available the funding for electricity,
generators, land, farm equipment, housing, solar panels and taxes.
Contemporary government rules in the form of structure codes, food welfare
programs, zoning guidelines, minimum salary and social security for seasonal
labor force. And town committee limits on landscaping and animal custody has
improved the marginal expense of home production of sustenance.
Combined with the late rewards of forming a viable farming site, this increases
the hardship of establishing an independent homestead from the ground,
particularly for those of meager income. Actual monetary savings from
implementing a homesteading existence appear most strongly related to inferior
material subsistence standards and upkeep of purchased means such as foodstuff,
electricity, water and fertilizer rather than decrease costs of existence.
Economies of measure in modern farming and opportunity cost of physical labor
inhibit home-raised food items from being a cost-effective choice. Many
homesteaders however, show deep approval with their standard of existence and
feel that their way of living is healthier and better rewarding than other
conventional forms of living.
Below is a partial listing of homesteading abilities that hopefully may inspire
new homesteaders to study. This is highly recommended for young people
who want to dare finding a new approach to life. Each skill that you acquire
will be a step nearer to a life of better self-reliance and autonomy.
Fundamental homesteading skills consist of learning how to:
Bake bread;
Butcher small livestock such as chicken and rabbits;
Caponize a chicken;
Choose a location for a vegetable garden or orchard;
Cook 10 basic meals from scratch on a cook stove;
Crochet;
Cut and glaze glass;
Determine an animal’s age by its teeth;
Dig and properly use a shallow well;
Do basic sewing; and home canning and food preservation;
Dub a chicken;
Dye cloth or yarn from plants;
Entertain yourself and live without electronic media;
Fillet and clean a fish;
Graft baby animals onto a foster-mother;
Grind wheat into flour;
Grow a vegetable plant and everyday kitchen herbs;
Haggle like a horse trader;
Hand thresh and winnow oats, wheat and other small grains;
Hang clothes on a clothesline;
Hatch out chicken, duck or other poultry eggs;
Knit;
Know the differences between trees and the unique properties of various
types of wood; how and when to use hybrid seeds; how and when to prune
grapes and fruit trees; when winter is over; and healthy plants and animals
from those which are not healthy;
Lay basic brick or build a stone wall;
Learn when it is more economical to buy something ready-made or when to
make it yourself along with basic plumbing and how to sweat copper pipes
and joints;
Light a fire both indoors and outdoors;
Live within your financial means;
Make hard or soft cheese; butter; sausage; paper and ink; candles; soap
from wood ashes and animal fat; fire starters from pinecones or corn cobs;
make and use a hot bed or cold frame; and long-term plans for the future
such as plan for an orchard or a livestock breeding program;
Create your own wine;
Manage human urine and feces without plumbing;
Pasteurize milk;
Plant a tree;
Properly use a handsaw, measuring tape; hammer & nails, wire cutters and
screw driver;
Read the weather, an almanac, the moon and the stars;
Recognize your own mental and physical skill limits;
Refinish furniture;
Reload ammunition;
Safely use a chainsaw;
Save open pollinated seeds;
Put bait traps for unwanted vermin and predators;
Sew your own underwear;
Sharpen any edge tool such as a chisel, knife, hoe or axe;
Spin wool, flax or cotton into yarn or thread with a drop spindle or on a
spinning wheel;
Swap, network and barter with like-minded people;
Tell the time of day by the sun;
Thaw out frozen pipes without busting them;
Use a hoe, garden shovel or spade without hurting your back, a wash tub,
washboard and hand wringer; a non-electric lighting; a treadle sewing
machine; a scythe; a pressure cooker; a wood stove and how to bank a fire;
electric netting or fencing; and a pressure tank garden sprayer, an awl and
do basic leather repair;
Weave cloth and a basket; and,
Witch for water with a bend metal hanger or forked branch.

These skills are but a few of the original homesteading skills that a person
should possess. The focus herein is on urban homesteading which refers to a
household that produces for consumption a significant portion of their food in