Aspiring "in town" homesteader!

Here's my two cents on the goats... definitely get two. One will be miserable. Establish your shelter and fence and let the area grow up with brush....wild rose and blackberry are welcome in goat pastures. Goats like to browse, not graze...if you have a lawn, they might eat on it, but they run a higher risk of getting a bad worm load.

Good luck! You can do it... just be prepared to work for it.

Thanks for the update, Kate. Sorry to hear about your goats, but unfortunately you can't keep animals without suffering some losses. Just learn from the mistakes and move on. I'm glad you took the slow and steady approach as you are much more likely to be successful and stick with it. Best of luck as you grow your urban homestead!

I hate to be the one to rain on your parade but have you checked to see if livestock can legally be kept on your property? If not you may be in for a bad shock when someone complains about it after you've made the improvements and got attached to the animals.

I think you could do wonderful things on a property of that size, and your plans sound pretty good. Goats could be a bit troublesome, but chickens and rabbits ought to be doable. Most focus should probably be on the garden and orchard. If you are on the edge of town where deer are an issue, you might think about fencing? They can be hard on gardens and trees.

When I was growing up, it seemed like everyone had a big backyard garden in town and many had chickens, rabbits, grape arbors, fruit trees, etc.

I just read this from the beginning... I live in town with a small lot. We have apples,pears,pie cherries,elderberries,service berries,raspberries,rhubarb,veggies of all kinds... and lots of perennial flowers. I grow most of what we need for a year and give away tons of veggies. Using the fence around the garden gives extra usable space! We grow cucumbers on hog panels as well as the pole beans. We've had volunteer pumpkins on the outer fence too. If they start growing up, they will support themselves just fine! We compost everything! Carrots stay in the ground covered with 3 ft of leaves and are dug from under the snow all winter. We had to get the last of them out of the ground this spring before we could till and replant. I would love to have some chickens, but it's not allowed. It's so peaceful in the garden! It's a great place to pray and be thankful for all we have.

Debbie

Thanks for the update, I just love seeing that your plan progressed and you're enjoying it! So sorry about your goats, I know how easy it is to fall in love with them -
hopefully you'll soon be able to jump back into dairying.

Thanks everyone! I am very happy and will have my goats again soon! I am working on my fence as we speak! It has been so HOT here... 108+ I am glad I don't have goats right now. I will need to remember to get misters in place before next summer.

I checked the laws before I started getting livestock. I live in an unincorporated town so no town laws and county law says the only things I can't on less than an acre are horses and cow.