Homesteading With Absolutely No Experience: A Beginner's Starting Point

You have never planted a seed in your life. That potted plant someone gave you as a gift? It died because you forgot to water it. You have never seen a chicken in person. The closest you have been to farming is buying “organic” at the grocery store.

But something about homesteading appeals to you. And you want to try.

Chapter 8 of Backyard Farming: Homesteading by Kim Pezza is written specifically for you. It is the “you literally know nothing and that is okay” chapter.

Start Slow. Seriously.

This is the number one piece of advice in the chapter, and it is the most important. Do not go buy 50 chickens and a dairy cow on day one. Start with a small garden.

That is it. A small garden. A few pots on a patio. A raised bed in the backyard. Nothing crazy.

Buy Plants, Not Seeds (At First)

Here is a tip that might save your motivation. For your very first garden, buy actual plants from a nursery instead of starting from seed.

Yes, it costs more. But your odds of success are way higher. A transplant from a nursery is already alive and growing. A seed is a gamble that requires the right soil, moisture, temperature, and timing.

When you see something you planted actually produce food, that first success builds confidence. And confidence is what keeps you going.

If You Do Want to Start From Seed

Pick easy ones. Pezza recommends these beginner-friendly seeds:

• Leaf lettuce
• Basil
• Spinach
• Italian parsley
• Sunflowers
• Collard greens

These are forgiving plants. They do not need perfect conditions to grow. Do not start with something finicky or you will get frustrated when nothing happens and decide homesteading is not for you.

When Things Fail (And They Will)

Your first tomato plant might die. Your basil might bolt. Your lettuce might get eaten by something overnight. This is normal.

Do not feel defeated. Every experienced gardener has a long history of dead plants behind them.

If something fails and you live in a mild climate, start a new planting right away. If you are in a four-season area, you might need to wait for spring. But in the meantime, try indoor containers. A windowsill herb garden is a low-stakes way to keep practicing through winter.

The point is to try again. Not to give up.

Chickens for Complete Beginners

If you want to get into livestock, chickens are the place to start. But do it right.

Start with just a few hens for eggs. You do not need a rooster. You do not need 20 birds. Three or four hens will give you plenty of eggs for a household.

Build your coop bigger than you need right now. If you start with 4 hens, build a coop that can hold 8 or 10. You will almost certainly want to add more later, and it is way easier to build big once than to expand later.

Read about chicken care before bringing them home. Not after. Before. Understand what they eat, what they need, and what can go wrong.

Spend time with breeders if possible. Visit someone who already raises chickens. Watch how they handle the birds, maintain the coop, and manage feeding. Real-world observation beats any book chapter.

And the most important rule: have housing ready before the animals arrive. Do not buy chicks and then scramble to build a coop. That is stressful for you and dangerous for them.

Bigger Livestock: Get Practice First

If you are thinking about goats, cattle, or other large animals, Pezza has some strong advice. Get hands-on practice before you bring an animal home.

Ask a local farmer if you can come work with them for a few days. Learn how to handle the animals. Learn what feeding looks like. Learn what can go wrong.

Here is the thing. An unhappy cow is very different from a grumpy dog. Large livestock can weigh hundreds or thousands of pounds. If you do not know how to handle them safely, someone is going to get hurt. Probably you.

This is not meant to scare you away from livestock. It is meant to prepare you so that when you do start, you feel confident instead of overwhelmed.

Learning Preservation Skills

If you want to learn food preservation (canning, drying, pickling), you do not have to figure it out alone.

Extension offices in most counties offer workshops on food preservation. These are often free or very affordable.

Adult education programs teach canning and other preservation methods. Great way to learn with hands-on instruction.

Books are another option. Pezza’s own “Backyard Farming” series includes books specifically about preservation that go deeper than this guide.

And do not overlook family and friends. If you have a grandmother, aunt, or neighbor who has been canning for decades, ask them for tips. The tricks they have picked up from real-life experience are often the most valuable.

Cook With What You Grow

Once you start producing food, try new recipes with it. There is something different about cooking with ingredients you grew yourself. A salad from your garden tastes better. It just does.

Look through cookbooks. Search online. Dig through your grandmother’s recipe files if you have access to them.

And here is a practical tip. Make extra and freeze the leftovers. Homemade frozen dinners are miles better than store-bought ones. You already did the hard work of growing the food. Might as well get the most out of it.

You Can Do This

That is honestly the message of this whole chapter. Even when you feel completely clueless, you can do this.

Take it slow. Start small. Accept that failure is part of the process. There are tons of resources out there. Books, classes, online communities, extension offices, experienced neighbors. People who homestead tend to love helping newcomers.

You do not need to become a full-time farmer overnight. You just need to plant one thing and see what happens.

Previous in the series: Selling Your Produce and Getting Into Agritourism

Next in the series: Final Thoughts on Backyard Farming: Homesteading

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).