Are you considering starting a garden but feel limited by space? This article is perfect for you! It introduces the concept of micro-homesteading, a way to grow your own food in a small space, even an apartment balcony. In this article, you’ll learn the benefits of micro-homesteading, how to get started, and tips for taking care of your plants.
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In this post
What is a Micro Homestead?
The idea of a homestead usually consists of using your existing home and property to provide additional food for your household. It can imply long rows of plants, a grove of trees, and lots of domesticated animals. Think “Little House on the Prairie” carried forward into modern times. It’s definitely a rural concept, and thus may be seen as beyond the ability of most families. In some circles, this way of life can be called “Mini Farming.”
Defining a Micro Homestead
The definition is not a black or white one; but what sets a micro homestead apart from a simple home garden with a tomato plant or two is a conscious goal of self-sufficient production of food, from vegetable, tree and/or livestock sources in a limited space.
If you’re hesitant with even these small steps, you can start by growing food indoors with simple indoor sprouting.
Key Characteristics
It requires a bit of planning, keeping a calendar to track planting and harvesting dates, and some attention paid to infrastructure like drip irrigation, grow lighting and watering timers. Here’s my very simple list of my own projected harvesting dates.
Scalability and Customization
Your micro-farm can be established in as small a space as an apartment balcony if you have good sun exposure or can be scaled up to a larger site with irrigation equipment, a chicken coop, and goats and cows. It’s you, the homesteader, who defines how extensively your space will be used, and how to optimize that space. This book specifically addresses each stage of creating your own micro-homestead, from the planning stage through challenges and troubleshooting.
Getting Started
The Importance of Planning
General Dwight D. Eisenhower was famous for his insights into precision planning; he counseled that a plan that came out of a military planning process was not the most valuable outcome. The most valuable outcome was the planning process itself:
- Establishing goals and objectives
- Researching aspects of the problem and desired solutions
- Using the best ideas of experts in the field
- Having conversations with others involved
- Assembling information into an organized plan
In the context of planning your micro homestead, gather as much information as you can before starting because once you start putting things in place, such as irrigation, raised beds, a chicken coop, and so on, you can lose access to accurate measurements and other important abilities.
Site Assessment
One useful tool is Google Maps to get a birds-eye view of your property. The image will show you pockets of planting spaces, locations of trees and buildings that will provide wanted (or unwanted) shade, and help you create your overall plan to include any hardscapes and water sources.
Whether your space is tiny or really large, a diagram or photos are essential to start your planning process. Measurements, recorded on the diagram or photos, help you determine your irrigation needs and how many containers will fit in a certain area.
Sun Exposure and Shade
Before putting anything permanent in place, observe how the sun moves in your area. This will determine where to place your planting areas and even which plants you can grow successfully. Beyond the old, ”The sun rises in the east, and sets in the west,” you should note how high the sun is in the sky in the season you are planning. Generally, the sun is lower in the sky during the winter, and higher in the sky in the summer.
Take into account potential shade from buildings and trees, and locations where reflected sunlight can overload plants. In some cases, consider using shade cloth to moderate areas of intense sunlight depending upon what you’re growing.
Irrigation Considerations
I can tell you from experience from my homestead that irrigation is both a headache and a Godsend. Basically, irrigation is how you get adequate water to your plants to keep them healthy. At first, I tried to do it all by hand, and that worked until I needed to travel out of town for a week. I improvised a way to water while I was gone, but due to an unexpected heat wave I returned home to mayhem. I can’t overemphasize the need to water plants appropriately and consistently, especially in severe climates. A good reference book if you live in a hot, dry area like I do is Extreme Gardening.
A form of irrigation helpful to the micro-homesteader is drip irrigation. It’s easy to install and use, especially when you use timers. Drip is efficient and puts the water exactly where it needs to go. Starter kits, available from several manufacturers, contain a timer that connects to a garden hose faucet, a distribution hose that goes next to all of the plants, and individual sprayers or drippers for each plant. You have full control over how often the watering occurs, and how many minutes the water flows. The timers are battery powered, so no messy power cords.
Growing Strategies
Micro-Homestead growing can be different from a typical farm, in that your desire may be a steady, sustained harvest to provide continual access to fresh produce year-round. On a farm, there is usually a mass planting of seeds and a corresponding mass harvest several months later.
You can certainly take that approach on your micro-homestead or plan your plantings and harvesting so they occur year-round to support your need for fresh produce throughout the year. For instance, if you’re a baker, you can grow wheat year-round, alternating Red Hard Wheat with Winter Wheat and starting several plots a month apart to spread out small harvests. Or, you can plant one variety in bulk, storing the harvest and using what you need when you need it.
Feeding and Care of Your Plants
Soil Quality and Improvement
The most difficult thing I experienced setting up my micro-homestead in the desert was the poor quality of the native soil. I found a soil test kit at my local garden center and had a sample tested to get a sense of soil pH and chemical breakdown. My biggest soil issue was a low amount of organic matter, which I initially addressed by adding manure and growing “green manure” crops, not intended for harvest, but to till back into the soil to add organic matter.
That worked for some plants like wheat, but for most others I had to resort to two kinds of raised beds: metal beds purchased as kits and food-grade 5-gallon buckets. The raised beds are efficient ways to grow things like potatoes, but have the drawback of being difficult to protect from committed critters. I have had to resort to putting traps inside the fencing around the raised beds to protect them.
Container Selection
The 5-gallon buckets are much more critter-protective, but are more difficult to irrigate. If you plan ahead, the irrigation issue can be addressed with various drip devices. The best vendor I have found for these buckets is Home Depot, and they have one more advantage. For smaller plants, you can get covers for the bucket you can put on at night to prevent critter access.
My Best Tip for Getting Started
There’s no wrong way!
There’s no template to follow as you build out your micro homestead, I suggest that while you can plan your entire setup ahead of time, do things incrementally rather than over a weekend. You will learn so many more things as you deliberately set up one area at a time, and making big changes are so much easier.
Motivations for Micro-Homesteading
If part of your motivation is to have your own, independent food source in case of shortages, rising prices, and/or supply chain problems, then a micro-farm is for you. If you’ve planned ahead and have freeze-dried or shelf-stable foods like Meals Ready-to-Eat (MRE’s), having eaten a lot of these types of foods I can tell you how much better your meal can be with a bit of fresh vegetables or even herbs from your micro homestead. What a morale booster in hard times!
Neighbor Considerations
How will your new micro-homestead affect your neighbors? A few potential problems that I’ve either run into myself or have heard from others are:
- Runoff from your apartment balcony affecting your neighbors below
- Climbing vines getting intertwined in perimeter fences
- Smells from soil amendments like manure
- Flowering plants attracting bees
- Consider Homeowners Association restrictions
Frequently Asked Questions
A micro-homestead focuses on more sustainable, self-sufficient food production, often including a variety of crops and possibly livestock, whereas a regular home garden is usually smaller in scope, growing a few plants for personal use without the same self-sufficiency goal.
You can start with as little as an apartment balcony, but a larger yard will allow you to expand with raised beds, irrigation systems, and even small livestock. The key is optimizing whatever space you have.
Focus on container gardening with food-grade buckets or recycled containers, and start small. You can also build your own compost system and use free resources like rainwater collection for irrigation.
Yes, depending on local regulations. Chickens are a popular choice for small urban homesteads. Goats may require more space and permits, so check with local authorities. You might also consider small-scale beekeeping with two or three hives to help ensure pollination as well as a supply of honey, if you wish.
Related Homesteading Content
- One Woman’s Story of Creating (& Loving) A Suburban Homesteading Lifestyle
- Budget-Friendly Backyard Farming: Tips & Tricks
- Beekeeping For Beginners
- How To Plan An Edible Landscape To Grow Even More Food
Final Thoughts
The journey of creating a micro-homestead is as rewarding as it is challenging. Remember that it’s a process of learning, experimentation, and continuous improvement. Don’t get discouraged by setbacks – view them as opportunities to learn and adapt. Celebrate your successes, savor the fruits of your labor, and enjoy the satisfaction of providing for yourself and your family while connecting with nature. Happy homesteading!