Homestead Basics: Getting Started with Backyard Farming for Beginners
OK so you know the history. You are inspired. Now what? How do you actually start homesteading?
This post covers Chapter 2 of Backyard Farming: Homesteading by Kim Pezza (Hatherleigh Press, 2015, ISBN: 978-1-57826-598-5). It is all about the basics. And some of these basics might surprise you.
What Even Is a Homestead?
A homestead is basically a small-scale farm. That is it. Nothing fancy. It can be a backyard farm in the suburbs or an urban garden on a rooftop. You do not need rolling acres of farmland to call yourself a homesteader.
Kim Pezza breaks homesteads into three types:
Small Farm: A few acres up to a few hundred acres. This is your traditional farmstead with room for crops, livestock, and buildings.
Suburban Homestead: About 5 to 10 acres. Enough space for a decent garden, maybe some chickens or goats, but still close to town.
Urban Homestead: Backyards, rooftops, community gardens. You work with whatever space you have. And honestly, people do amazing things with surprisingly little space.
You Probably Will Not Be Fully Self-Sufficient (And That Is OK)
Here is the thing. Most homesteaders are not fully self-sufficient. They still go to the grocery store. They still buy things they cannot grow or make themselves.
And that is totally fine.
The goal is not to cut yourself off from the world. The goal is to produce more of your own food, learn useful skills, and depend a little less on the system. Partial self-sufficiency is still a win.
Get Ready to Learn Some Weird Skills
Homesteading requires a skill set that no school teaches. According to Pezza, you will need to learn things like:
- Fixing fences at 1 AM because something got loose and your animals are making a break for it
- Identifying seedlings so you do not accidentally pull up your vegetables thinking they are weeds
- Basic veterinary stuff like giving animal shots and helping with births
- General problem solving because something will always go wrong at the worst possible time
This is not a hobby where you read a book and you are done. You keep learning forever.
Get Your Hands Dirty. Literally.
Pezza does not sugarcoat this part. If you are going to homestead, you need to be OK with getting dirty and dealing with things that are not glamorous.
You will stick your hands in compost full of worms. You will crush garden insects. You will give animals injections. You will help with births that are messy and stressful. You will deal with mud. So much mud.
If the thought of any of that makes you want to close this tab, homesteading might not be for you. But if you are nodding along thinking “yeah, I can handle that,” then keep reading.
Preserve Everything
Growing food is only half the battle. You also need to know how to keep it from going bad.
Pezza covers the main preservation methods:
- Canning: Sealing food in jars for long-term storage. Your grandmother probably did this.
- Freezing: The easiest method. Just bag it and freeze it.
- Drying: Removes moisture so food lasts longer. Think dried herbs, jerky, fruit leather.
- Smoking: Great for meats. Adds flavor and extends shelf life.
We will get deeper into preservation in a later post. But for now, just know it is a core homesteading skill.
Mother Nature Is the Boss
You can plan everything perfectly. You can have the best seeds, the best soil, the ideal layout. And then a hailstorm can destroy your entire crop in an hour.
Mother Nature calls the shots. Drought, flooding, frost, heat waves, pests. These things will happen. The question is not “if” but “when.” Good homesteaders plan for failure and do not put all their eggs in one basket (literally and figuratively).
Label Everything
This is one of those tips that sounds boring but will save your sanity. Label everything.
- Label your plants so you know what is growing where
- Label your freezer food with the date and contents
- Label your canning jars so you do not open mystery sauce six months later
- Label your seed envelopes so you know what you are planting next season
You think you will remember. You will not. Just label it.
Livestock Is Like Herding Cats
If you are planning to raise animals, prepare for chaos. Pezza specifically mentions that rounding up chickens is basically like herding cats. They do not cooperate. They do not follow instructions. They have their own agenda.
And chickens are supposed to be the easy ones.
Livestock requires daily commitment. Animals do not care if it is raining, if you are sick, or if it is a holiday. They need food and water every single day. Sometimes twice a day. This is non-negotiable.
Get Over the Squeamish Stuff
Animals get sick. Animals die. Predators attack your flock. Gardens get infested. These are realities of homesteading.
You cannot be squeamish about it. You need to be able to handle illness, deal with death when it happens, and keep going. It is not pleasant. But it is part of the deal.
Get Your Kids Involved
If you have kids, bring them into it. Let them pick vegetables. Let them plant seeds. Let them help with the harvest and cook with what they grew.
Kids who grow food tend to eat that food. And they learn where their meals actually come from, which is something a lot of adults do not even fully understand.
Community Gardens Are Awesome
Not everyone has a backyard. That is where community gardens come in. Shared garden spaces in neighborhoods where people come together to grow food.
They build community. They teach skills. They produce real food. And they turn empty lots into something productive. If you do not have space at home, look for a community garden near you.
Know the Rules Before You Start
Before you buy seeds or build anything, check your local regulations. Zoning laws, HOA rules, and city ordinances can all affect what you are allowed to do.
Some areas restrict livestock. Some have rules about front yard gardens. Some require permits for certain structures. Find out first so you do not get fined or have to tear something down.
Do It Because You Want To
This is the last point Pezza makes in this chapter, and I think it is the most important one.
Do not start homesteading because it is trendy. Do not do it because your neighbor did it. Do not do it because of peer pressure or social media FOMO.
Do it because YOU want to. Because it excites you. Because the idea of growing your own food and building something with your hands genuinely appeals to you.
Homesteading is hard work. If your heart is not in it, you will quit. But if you are doing it for the right reasons, the hard work becomes satisfying instead of exhausting.
Previous: The History of Homesteading in America
Next: Homesteading: A Job or Lifestyle?
This post is part of a 12-part series reviewing “Backyard Farming: Homesteading” by Kim Pezza (Hatherleigh Press, 2015, ISBN: 978-1-57826-598-5).