Aspiring "in town" homesteader!

Kate - I have been homesteading on 3/4 acre in a little unincorporated community for almost 40 years! This area was one big farm in the old days and then divided up and sold. We bought our property and put a mobile home on it in 1973. We DO have metered water from a community well but I have learned how to be careful with my water. I have a flock of chickens and 4 goats on 1/2 of the property. My raised garden areas are on the other half with the house. You can easily do it with 3/4 acre. I grow enough to can each year and give away to friends and relatives. It just takes planning and the will to WANT to do it!!!

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Eternal Optimist

Guess ill have to bring this up everytime onna somebody with small acreage brings a post as you have,

My dad had 120 acres. When I was home, we had a dairy. We milked around a doz cows till 60. We had the biggest milk check on the route and the second biggest egg check. At 1960 the milk company said it wouldnt take any more hand milked milk. Dad tried to find some bucket milkers, but couldnt, and sold them and after a few years he got into beef cows. He did keep around 3 milk cows all the time I was home. When me and my brother left home, he sold off all but 2 milk cows. Then, when he got to be 80, he cut down to 1 milk cow. He kept it in the lot. The lot was around 50ftsq. Not a blade of grass grew there. He fed it all that it ate. He kept water constantly there for her. He had got to where he didnt want to go get her, cut her out of the rest of the beef cows. He kept her till round the age of 80 when he quit milking altogether.

My point is, that you can successfully keep a cow on a min 50sqft area, provided she has shade, water, and her feed. In keeping a cow, and if you get one, get a Jersey. You will have to provide all her hay. You will need to have a barn built to store that hay in. You will need to have a way to get that hay to that barn/ Being as you live in a town. You may find there r regs to hinder building a regular say, barn, Some lumber carrying places have large already built hip roof barns,that are DARN expensive. But there nice. You could keep maybe 200 bales in it. Itall take around 1/3 to 1/2 a bale a day, and that needs to be alfalfa. itall provide more nuitrants than alot of other grasses. Youo will need to dedicate an area to milk her in. Also, you could build a leanto on one side of the barn to milk her in. You will need an area around 15ft sq. You will also need an an area for a pen, for a calf, although, if you keep her penned as ive said, the calf should be alright with her mom in the pen. You could build another lean to on the other side for garden equipment, a tool room, ect. Or for a chicken house. If you have a hay loft, you can buy bale elevators that are made of tubeing and are light, with a central spiked chain to elevate hay up into a loft from the ground. Its run from a motor. Building another building for a tool shed, tractor shed, grainery, gas storage area might make sense so as to keep anything that burns gas away from the main barn. CONSIDER looking at a G Allis Chalmers, with its attachments for your garden. Its also fun to take it to antique tractor shows. If you think its too big. Consider a walking garden tractors like the David Bradley with its impliments. Also a mid sized tiller. To big, it will be a henderance in running through rows. To small, like the one I have, will be too small to keep up on a garden your size. Definatly consider a Mantis tiller, or a good one of its type. If you can raise a hog, You could keep it in the same pen with the cow. Actually, if you fenced it good enough, and were able to do it, You could run your chickens with the cows lot also. They would get out any grain that escaped the cow. You will need a grainery, as you will have to supply the cow, AND hog if u get one to butcher, To keep the grain in. If you get interested in building one, I can tell you how I built the barn with a grainery with 2 areas for 2 kinds of grain, I built for my daughter. For the tractor, you will need a plow, disc, harrow, cultivator. You may feel the need for either a sickle mower, or a rotary mower. Possibly a cart to haul heavy things with the tractor. You might also want a small greenhouse. By keeping the cow penned, You have a ready, concentrated area to get manure from. Dad never fooled with it, But, you could build a shed to keep it in when not needed. It needs to be kept dry until used. And not watered down and leached away by rains. U need to build the barn at the far end of the property and keep your gardens in between the house and barn. That way, your always haveing to look at the gardens on either side of the driveway from house to barn. you could garden one side and let the other grow into hay grazer. The cow could help keep it down to around tween 1 and 2 feet. Mowing it in the fall before frost and plowing it under provides great green manure for the spring garden. Letting one 1/2 the garden rest year is a good thing. I notice you havent mentioned rabbits. Make the cagers and buy yourself a 12/ doz does, and a couple bucks. Good luck

Hi Kate! My hubby and I recently moved to an old house in a small town on a 1/4 acre lot, and it's surprising what you can fit in. This year we only had 12 square feet of garden, and lots of veggies in big pots. There was no garden space in our back yard so we have been adding in raised beds. We are going to have 30 square feet by next year, and plan for 40-50, more if we find we are still wanting more. Those who posted for you to check out the Square Foot Gardening book are right, it's a great resource. Husband is considering raising rabbits for meat next spring. (Chickens are not an option, which is a bummer. But we are in Amish country so we get our eggs for quite cheap.) I am going to start a small worm farm this winter so we can keep composting our vegetable scraps. The house came with concord grapes growing on a grape arbor so we do have some fruit growing on our property. I think you're wise to put your fruit trees in right off the bat. Have you considered grapes for wine or jam/jelly? Good luck with your new adventure!

blynn When you need advice about worms, Come into Singletree and talk to Shrek the moderator. He raises BUNCHES herds of them. He got me started.

I know I'm new here, but really have to speak out about this -- 50 sqft is less than 7X8' area -- smaller than a barn stall. I think it would be really cruel to keep any animal, but especially a cow, in an area so small. She wouldn't even be able to walk around. I'm glad your father got rid of the dairy cows if he was treating them so cruelly.

If I were going to keep a milk animal on 3/4 acre, I'd go with a couple of nubian goats. Or forgo the milk animial completely and raise meat animals like rabbits, poultry, and find someone with a milk animal to trade with.

Hi Kate

You can do this. I have all the things you have mentioned, on 1/3 of an acre. Careful planning is the key. I do buy hay for the goats to supplement the garden waste and trimmings they get fed, and grain for the chickens, ducks and goats.

I also have three dogs, and they all get along well. Again, planning is key!

Thanks FarmBoyBill, will do.

Most everyone here is kind and love to help out us newbies. There are many great blogs out there on urban homesteading so yes you can do it and you would be amazed what you can do with a few decent lots.

Michael

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http://kan-green.blogspot.com/

Thank you everyone! I am even more excited now!

I am having a hard time finding dwarf fruit trees in California, I have found a few great resourses but non of them ship to California. Anyone know where I can get dwarf fruit trees?

Kate,
Check with Jung Seeds and Plants for dwarf fruit trees. I just looked through their catalog and found no restrictions for California. They have an incredible selection, too. Website is www.jungseed.com and phone is 1800-247-5864. Also, I would recommend you consider "lasagna" gardening for your raised beds. You can get them ready to plant quickly and absolutely free. We have been using this for years and are amazed at the results. My husband wrote a detailed article on it for our website, under "gardening". May you be blessed in your new ventures!

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http://homesteadingstewards.com

I wish I had 3/4 of an acre....I could do so much MORE!

My husband and I live on a 1/10th acre lot inside an incorporated town that prohibits hooved livestock inside town limits. I have a veggie garden and an herb garden, chickens, rabbits, and ducks. My parents have some property about 5 miles away and I keep my goats there, and board my horses at a different location. I like to call what we have an "unconventional farm."

My advice is to start small. Don't try to get into everything all at once or you will become so overwhelmed so fast that you may end up hating yourself and wondering what in the heck you were thinking when you decided to try this homesteading thing.

Also, think outside the box. A front yard doesn't have to be a "yard." Plant herbs and vegetables instead of flowers, or do a mixture of both. Sunflowers are lovely to look at and can be used to feed rabbits and chickens. For that matter, almost all garden scraps are useful for feeding to something or other.

If you are concerned about garden space, explore some alternative gardening methods, such as square foot gardening, or vertical gardening. For instance, my garden is super small but I was able to grow cantaloupes and sugar baby watermelons by training the vines to climb a trellis (goat panel). I cut wide pieces of cloth to make sort of a hammock that, when tied to the trellis, supported the weight of the melons rather than allowing the melons to pull on the vines. My garden is maybe 10' wide at its widest point, and maybe 30' - 40' long. Sounds really small, but with careful and creative planning, I was able to grow cabbage, green peppers, several varieties of tomatoes, broccoli, 2 different types of beans, romaine lettuce, mustard greens, kale, spinach, yellow squash, zuccini, cantaloupe, watermelon, acorn squash, onions, and sweet potatoes. The potatoes aren't quite ready to be harvested so I can't tell you how successful they were, but everything else produced loads of food for us.

I SEE WHERE I NEED TO MAKE A REDACTION IN WHAT I SAID ABOUT DAD HAVEING HIS MILK COW JERSEY IN FIFTY SQUARE FT. BY THAT, I M E N T, THAT THE PEN WAS 50 FT ALONG ALL 4 CORNERS.

When we milked we would keep all the cows in it during the night so as to have them ready to milk in the morning.

Yours is about the same size as my little garden, 18 X 30. Itall grow alot when I get the rain. I have hog panels all around it, as I turn 3 pigs into it either at the end of the season, or a month before I will start in spring, They bring up any roots, rock, eat any old folage, plants, veggies that spoiled, went bad, slugs, ect. I plant my cucumber vins on 2 sides of the fence and let them climb.

U might try to find Dick Ramonds BIG book on gardening, specifically wide row gardening. I do it with my peas, beans, beets, carrots. U know the 5 tine weeders that come behind the old high wheeled push plows? Well, they also made them on the end of handles. I got one that has all but the 2 outer shovles taken off. I got one with the outer and center schovel taken off. In this way, I can get in those wide rows, and, although Dick just scatters his seed, I plant it in rows around 4 to 6in apart. When they first sprout, I use the wider one to work the ground yet stay away from the plants. As they get bigger and stronger, I use the narrower one for closer cultivation,

That makes a HUGE difference. 50 square feet would be more like 7 feet along each side.

We have raised just about every animal and grown almost every fruit and vegetable on our place during the past thirty years or so. I have one negative from our experience I'd like to pass on--bees. We kept bees, got rid of them, then started keeping them again, only to get rid of them again. From our experience they are expensive and time-consuming, just not worth keeping. I've found it to be much less expensive to purchase honey. There are a few people who do well with bees and most of the rest of us who don't.

Bees are great for pollination, though. So instead of honeybees we purchased some Osmia (orchard) bees, and they have established numerous little colonies around the place and pollinate our orchard very well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchard_mason_bee

Sounds like you are off to a great start...good luck! I know that you can do a lot with 3/4 acre because so many people here have done so and continue to do so. We have raised sheep, pigs, chickens, rabbits, and geese on 1 acre along with a vegetable garden and a small orchard. It is all in the planning (which I learned over time!)
Welcome...you are in a great place to learn and meet great people!

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Chick with a gun.

Just wanted to update, its been a while since I posted. It took a LOT longer to get into the house than originaly expected, but these things happen. We didn't not get a veggie garden in this year, or even the raised beds all built. We have done some interior repairs to the house, and got in some grapes, fruit trees, and berry bushes. I just got a FREE chicken coop on craigs list that needs some repairs but it is an amazing find for the price! We already have an enclosed run we also found for free! My grandma became very sick and I have been caring for her 14+ hours a day, for months now, and hubby is having a hard time finding decent work so time and funds are low but we are still here and plugging plugging plugging away! I hope to have chicks by my birthday on the 31st! Happy birthday to me!!!

Kate29~ Welcome back! It takes a while to get things done. I want to say it's very nice that you take care of your grandmother. Speaking as an old sick man with little family, I know she really appreciates it. I am here with my best friend and thought for a while that I'd have to give up gardening when the Bermuda grass took over the garden plot. She doesn't garden except for some petunias and I decided to try containers. I have them clustered by the back door and spend only a few minutes a day on gardening, yet we have quite a bit to eat fresh and freeze. 4 kinds of peppers(in 5-gal buckets) and 4 varieties of tomatoes (in 18-gal totes) plus we had bush cukes til the tomatoes shaded them out. I had onion sets that I pulled a few at a time for scallions, they're done now. What I'm getting at is you can grow a lot of garden in a small space if you want to. Good luck with your new place, keep us posted.

Bill,why would they want all that equipment for 3 city lots of land . 3/4 acre with the house and maybe garage on it take up room. In town usually the front yard is lawn.

I know on mine I end up with 50 ft deep and 100 feet lomgoom to pan or use. Rest is lawn house and cement parking pad and space for a garage. I have less use of yard then they have as I do not own the place. I have no say. She did okay two small flower beds in each corner of front yard. She has cement rim/curb around them. So no landscaping. One tree on the place.

50 ft by 100, I can put up my small greenhouse and have at least 20 4' by 8' small hen and pen house and a shed for storage. I plan on like only 3 hens. Town seems to allow that. Just me. I want two pet rabbits. If I can. But I can not build the shed and hen house to son moves his tin shed out. I can not get moved in tll have a shed put stuff. I am in a mess.

Kate 29 you are doing better than I hav. I been here 6 months. I am still waiting for the cross fence to go in. That is the next place they will run cement. THey been running cemnety next f door. Plugged in to me for electric to run the mixers. I couls not plant this spring. I have 4 bed frames and $25 worth plants plus seed. Nothing will grow in them. County agent tested too much nitrogen and lime. We did not put in any lime. Horse fert yes but not that much. Fill dirt? We used added dirt. Some plants act like weed killer on them.