• Categories
  • Farming Articles
    • Animals
      • goats
      • sheep
      • chickens
      • natural care
      • farm planning
      • diy projects
    • Gardening
      • soil & seeds
      • fruits
      • vegetables
      • garden design
      • natural methods
    • Health
      • nutrition
      • wellness
      • natural solutions
      • Resources
    • Food
      • lifestyle
      • recipes
      • meal plans
      • preserving
    • Life
      • farm
      • funny
      • diy home
      • homeschool
      • how to blog
  • Our Herd Website
  • Resources
  • Merchandise
  • Shop Oils
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

Weed 'em & Reap

Urban Farming. Healthy Living.

How to Create a Custom Homestead on ANY size of Land!

Published: September 9, 2013 | Last Updated: December 2, 2019 5 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links from which I will earn a commission.

custom-homestead

Remember when I forced, er I mean, “lovingly persuaded” my husband to create our very own urban farm? Even though I was sick and dealing with a lot of chronic health issues, I knew I needed a change. And that change started with our very own homestead! You can take a tour of our farm here. And yes, the mister loves each and every one of our goats.

What are your dreams for creating a custom homestead?

  • Self-sufficiency?
  • A way to be prepared in uncertain times?
  • A way to ‘get back to nature’ in your city environment?
  • A new hobby or a fresh adventure?
  • The goal of having less of an environmental impact?
  • A chance to have organic food without the grocery store prices?
  • Better quality of life for your family?
  • The opportunity to share nature and the responsibilities of farm life
    with your children?
  • Fulfillment of your own childhood dreams?

Are you stuck in a place where you wish you could homestead? What if I told you now’s the time to start homesteading?

Yes, even if you are living in a place where you don’t think homesteading’s possible, Jill Winger, author of Your Custom Homestead, says you can start homesteadin’ now!

A homesteader doesn’t mean you have to have acres and acres of land. You can be:

  • An Apartment Homesteader who cooks up a storm and fills their
    balcony with vegetables grown in pots and containers.
  • A Suburban Homesteader who turns their backyard into a
    chicken’s paradise.
  • A City Homesteader who fills their front yard with edible
    landscaping and line dries their clothes.
  • A Kinda-Sorta Country Homesteader who uses their two or three
    acres to raise dairy goats or sheep.
  • A Real-Deal Rural Homesteader who grows vegetables and eggs to
    sell at the farmer’s market each week.
  • A Hardcore Off-Grid Homesteader who chooses to live without
    refrigeration, modern appliances, and electricity.

“As we strive for contentment, we can develop new visions of our
‘dream property’ that will involve our current location instead of a
make-believe one.”  – Jill Winger, Your Custom Homestead

Get around those pesky HOA, County, or City Rules:

Jill has some great options for those of us feeling a little ‘stuck’ with our rules. Her positive attitude inspires us that really anything is possible with just a little creative thinking. From starting a community garden, to joining a CSA, bartering & trading, to some simple plan modifications, you really can make anything possible.

The goal here is to remember that no matter where you live, you can still be a homesteader! Don’t give up on your dreams!

How to Organize Your Thoughts, Dreams, and Ideas to turn them into a Unique Homestead

Countryside Farm in the morning

Instead of jumping into homesteading without thinking through the details, or worse, never working up the nerve to actually do anything, it’s time to get planning and creating! And Jill’s book, is the best way to get started!

Her book helps you organize your thoughts & dreams into a REAL working plan! Organizing is the KEY, guys! Jill’s recommendations for your homesteading binder are GENIUS!

Some of her idea for your homesteading binder are:

  • A yearly calendar
  • Emergency numbers
  • Phone numbers and contact information for local resources such as
    farmer’s markets, breeders, local farms, feed stores, farm supply
    stores, etc.
  • Your homestead’s budget or financial goals.
  • A list of what you planted in your garden each year. Keep track of
    seed names, quantity purchased, prices, and how they worked in
    your garden that year.
  • A garden map illustrating what veggies were planted where. Some
    things work best with a little rotation each year.
  • A list of last frost dates for your area, so you know when to plant.
  • Important animal paperwork: pedigrees, registrations, bills of sale,
    names/phone numbers of breeders, receipts from vet office visits.
  • Important animal dates: birth dates, dates of purchase, due dates,
    breeding dates (last heat, last breeding, last pregnancy).
  • Health records for each animal.
  • Harvest/production records.
  • Purchases and prices.
  • Freezer/pantry/feed inventories.
  • Homemade Udder Balm, Fly Spray, or De-Skunking Solution
    easily accessible in my homesteading binder.
  • Designs/ideas/drawings for future buildings, barns, pens, corrals,
    gardens, etc.

AND MORE!

The Custom Homestead

 
How to Create a Custom Homestead on ANY size of Land!

  • 5 Comments
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Pin
  • Email
  • Text

ABOUT DANELLE

DaNelle started to take an interest in a healthier lifestyle after suffering from two debilitating chronic diseases. On a mission to create a farm of her own, DaNelle forced, or rather 'lovingly persuaded' her husband to purchase a ranch home on an acre of land and transform it into their very own urban farm. DaNelle blogs at Weed 'em & Reap where she writes about the sustainable backyard farming, traditional food, & natural remedies.

Read More
Weekly Meal Plan 9/8/2013
My Organic Garden Pest Control

Comments

  1. Mark Henry says

    January 7, 2018 at 8:43 am

    Nice article.. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  2. Dori says

    April 8, 2014 at 4:59 pm

    How much land would someone need to raise two to three goats? And of course their kids for the two to three months you would have them.

    Reply
    • DaNelle Wolford says

      April 16, 2014 at 12:25 am

      For 2-3 goats, you should have at least 400 square feet, but more is always better:)

      Reply
  3. Alecia says

    September 9, 2013 at 7:45 pm

    Hi, I actually first heard about you from my sister Christina M. she is in your ward. We have a garden and chickens and are always talking about someday having a fully off the grid homestead. So Christina has told me a couple times, “we should go visit my friend DaNelle” then the last time I was talking to her you came up and she says “oh yeah she has a blog you would love.” Um my sis was so right! I was googling how to raise goats in AZ and your blog popped up. LOVE IT you talk about everything I am interested in and have the best information on goats I could find thank you!

    Reply
    • DaNelle Wolford says

      September 10, 2013 at 6:15 am

      Wow, small world! I love Christina! We definitely need to get together and talk farmin’!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

HEY THERE!

I'm DaNelle. I'm a city girl who convinced her husband to buy goats. Because, goats. Growing my own food has been an amazing experience, and this is the place I share it all with you! READ MORE…

Categories

Amazon Disclosure: Weed 'em & Reap is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Full disclosure here.


Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 · Pretty Creative On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in