Homesteading in an apartment is something that many people are looking forward to nowadays.
The main reasons are self-reliance, a connection to nature, and of course, living healthy.
But, while it’s easier to plan, it can get extremely challenging as you advance.
And so, I thought of sharing my own experience of homesteading so that you can estimate what it takes to become successful as a homesteader.
I can help you create your own self-sufficient Ninja Homestead space within an urban sphere.
So, without any delay, let me start by talking a bit about self-sufficiency and urban homesteading.
How do you live self-sufficiently in an apartment?
You can live self-sufficiently in an apartment if you plan well.
You can start with a kitchen garden where you can grow some veggies and herbs. You can also grow them in planters indoors. And, if your neighbors are like-minded, you can use the apartment lawn to grow plants outdoors.
These are some excellent ways of ensuring self-sustenance while living in an apartment. If it’s possible to raise livestock in some areas inside the apartment, you also need to upgrade your hunting and butchering skills.
You can also think of investing in one or more farm shares for livestock.
How do you live a homestead life?
Homestead life is all about self-sufficiency and so, it involves a lot of activities.
From growing your own food to fostering a minimalist approach by reducing unnecessary expenditure, homesteading requires knowledge of multiple skills. If you’re passionate about homesteading, you can do it even within an urban setting.
Apart from growing food and raising livestock, homesteading also requires waste management plans and switching to energy efficiency through renewable energy.
Homesteaders are quite homebound because they have a lot of work the entire day as most of these tasks are time-consuming. So, you need to start with strong determination and of course, a realistic plan.
Why is homesteading a good idea?
Whether homesteading is a good idea or not depends upon how passionate you are about this lifestyle. To start this lifestyle, you need to do a lot of sacrifices but the final result will be rewarding for sure. So, if you can’t give your entire energy to the homesteading activities, it won’t be a good idea to start.
If you are living with a family, the other members need to be encouraging and helpful. If they are equally passionate to start homesteading with you, the journey will be smoother. But, you also need to invest initially for the resources, which is why you need to reconsider again and again before making the final decision.
Is it expensive to live in a homestead?
Homesteading in an apartment could be expensive depending on multiple factors and the plan you make of them.
If you make a bigger plan that involves investing a huge amount in land, resources, and infrastructure, the expenditure will increase. But, if you start small, you won’t have to spend that much initially.
My suggestion would be to start small because that’s how I started and it worked for me, I’m sure it can work for you. As the first few months will be a learning phase, a lot of resources can go to waste.
What is considered an urban homestead?
An urban homestead is definitely different from a traditional homestead but it has the same purpose of self-reliance.
This technique of a sustainable lifestyle refers to growing food, raising livestock, and practicing other homesteading skills while living in an apartment. It helps you to live being eco-conscious and natural.
Many people start with their urban homestead because they want to create a traditional homestead sometime in the future. For them, it’s extremely beneficial to learn all the homesteading skills including food preservation, plant care, animal care, and so on through urban homesteading.
But, urban homesteading has its limitations as well.
How do I start an urban homestead?
Urban homesteading or homesteading in an apartment isn’t a paradox anymore as people are finding innovative ways of doing it right.
Many homesteaders are approaching this ideal sustainable living technique with a correct plan. So, first, you need to make a plan that’s based on the premise you will be able to use for homesteading.
· How to Plan
Assessing your urban property and the available resources is essential before you plan to start. For example, if you have a terrace or a balcony, you need to evaluate which crops you would like to grow in that available space. Or, if you have a backyard, you can grow comparatively a higher amount of crops than you would on a balcony or a terrace.
· The Space and Resources
So, the lower amount of space you can accommodate for your urban homestead, the lower number of crops you can grow. If you don’t have a terrace, balcony, or backyard, you can consider the sunniest windowsill in your apartment. Once you have chosen the space, you need to consider factors such as water resources, soil quality, and sun exposure.
· Apartment Gardening Ideas
You can start with a garden, which could be a kitchen garden or a terrace garden depending on how much space you can utilize. Also, if you have a very narrow space for your urban homestead, you can give vertical gardening and companion gardening a try. But, don’t forget to check the specific growing requirements of the crops you want to cultivate in your apartment.
· Setting Goals
Next, setting goals is really important for homesteaders and so, you need to define your urban homesteading goals clearly. Two essential elements that can play vital roles in setting homesteading goals are local regulations and time commitment. If you have serious goals to achieve, you need to work really hard and invest more time in your homesteading tasks.
· Homesteading Skills
Learning how to compost and preserve food are essential skills for a homesteading lifestyle. If you can raise livestock, you need to research the options available and choose the easiest one as a beginner. Remember that homesteading isn’t a simple task and it involves a lot of determination and skill improvements, which you need to focus on.
What is a micro homestead?
A micro homestead refers to one that’s created on one to five acres of land.
So, it’s a small-scale homestead that aims at sustenance rather than making a profit.
If you create a homestead on a small land that’s below five acres, you can call it a micro homestead.
How do I start a homestead from nothing?
To start a homestead from nothing, you need to first get out of financial debt if you have any.
Then, you need to make a budget for basic investments in your land. For example, you may need to acquire land, purchase seeds, invest in livestock, build necessary infrastructure within the homestead, etc.
Next, you need to make a plan, which should be small-scale and practical. For growing crops, you need to choose only the ones you and your family eat. Otherwise, there will be a total waste of crops and you won’t be able to sustain with whatever you grow on the homestead.
Once you set the budget and make a plan, the next step is to start learning homesteading skills. You can take help from homestead videos as well as helpful homesteader neighbors.
This is how you can start your own homestead from nothing.
5 Common Problems with Homesteading?
Here are some common problems associated with homesteading.
- A Bad Plan is something that many budding homesteaders make and then suffer. So, it’s really important to make a sustainable plan and not an overwhelming one.
- Another common mistake of homesteaders is choosing the wrong crops that don’t grow in the local climate. The entire investment can be wasted if the wrong crops are chosen.
- Crop damage due to harsh weather
- Lack of rain
- Heavy storms
These are just some of the issues that homesteaders may have to face on their journey
Why do people live on a homestead?
Living on a homestead is an approach toward a healthy lifestyle.
Growing crops organically and raising livestock are not only healthier options but they also minimize the chances of harmful chemicals in raw foods, which are extremely unhealthy and unsafe. So, many people plan for making a homestead and live there to stay healthy and natural.
Homesteading gives the homesteaders freedom to live in his or her own way. For this reason, those who want to become self-sufficient also choose to live on a homestead.
In the long term, homesteading also proves to be more cost-effective than living an urban life.
What is the difference between off-grid and homesteading?
Off-grid and homesteading are self-sustainable lifestyles with a simple difference.
In homesteading, you can avail some public utilities such as municipality water, power grid, sewage, etc. But, in off-grid, people usually don’t have access to these utilities.
So, I think homesteading is easier and much safer than living an off-grid lifestyle.
What is suburban homesteading?
Suburban homesteading refers to living in a suburb and creating a homestead for self-reliance.
It’s exactly the same as traditional homesteading. Suburban homesteading is an ideal way of living a healthy and minimalist lifestyle.
It’s completely different from homesteading in an apartment.
What are the benefits of urban homesteading?
There are multiple benefits of urban homesteading, which I’m going to explain below:
Urban homesteading helps you to eat fresh and healthy food. In an urban atmosphere, it also helps you to stay connected to nature. And the best part is that it helps you to be self-reliant and independent because you can grow your own food.
Urban homesteading helps you to learn homesteading skills, which are also life skills. You need to DIY many things, which can make you more creative and innovative as a person.
And finally, it helps you to create a green community of like-minded urban homesteaders.
What is urban homestead vs rural homestead?
The difference between urban and rural homesteads is mainly the space or location for homesteading.
Urban homesteading means you start homesteading in the apartment while rural homesteading means you start homesteading outdoors in an area of land.
What is backyard homesteading?
Backyard homesteading means creating a homestead space in the house’s backyard.
If you have enough space in the backyard, you can start a micro-homestead for growing crops and raising livestock.
You can also create a homestead kitchen where you can do everything from pickling to butchering and cooking.
What is the easiest state to live off the grid in?
In the USA, the easiest and best state for living off-grid would be Alabama.
The lands are inexpensive over there and the property taxes are also quite low. Moreover, the living costs are also lower in Alabama as compared to other states.
Conclusion
Homesteading in an apartment is a brilliant idea to become self-reliant within an urban atmosphere.
But, it can be quite challenging as the first problem would be a lack of space or resources.
But, if you are really passionate and focused, you will surely be able to overcome these challenges and become successful with your very own apartment homestead.
Below is a Pinterest friendly photo…. so you can pin it to your Homestead Lifestyle Board!!
