by Carol Smock

Created on: July 16, 2010   Last Updated: July 17, 2010

In the 1960’s it was called the “back to the land” movement and was mostly rural. Now it is called homesteading and may be rural or urban. Basically, urban homesteading is the practice of self-sufficiency on a plot of land in the city. The owner grows vegetables and fruits, and often raises chickens and/or goats, rabbits, and other small livestock. Composting and other healthful land management practices are used. Chemicals are avoided.

Some urban homesteaders not only grow and preserve their own food, but also produce their own biofuels, use renewable energy sources such as solar, and produce their own clothes and household items.

In a 1/5 acre plot of land in Pasadena, 100 yards from an 11 lane highway, four resident adults grow 400 different varieties of vegetables and fruits, about 6,000 pounds annually. Their energy usage amounts to an enviable $12/month. They raise bees, chickens, ducks, rabbits and goats. Of course, the menagerie includes cats to keep the vermin in check. Their gardens are home to beneficial insects, bees, and a variety of birds.

The Little Homestead in the City (www.urbanhomestead.org) was founded in the mid-1980’s, when Jules Dervaes sold 10 acres of rural Florida countryside to purchase a California “fixer-upper.” The small house was in need of repair, having been occupied by renters for a long time. The lot was patchy concrete and asphalt, chalky adobe-type soil, weeds, Bermuda grass, and a few straggly landscape plants.

The transformation to urban homestead did not come easy. It takes a lot of work and a healthy investment of time. It also takes rethinking your lifestyle. According to Dervaes, urban homesteading incorporates ten elements: growing food, saving energy, transportation, animal husbandry, waste reduction, water reclamation, simple living, do-it-yourself, home economy, and being a good neighbor.

This homestead supports itself by selling honey, produce and hand-crafted items. For ten years, it has maintained a web presence and now conducts an extensive blog rich with information and advice on homesteading.

This may be thought of as an extreme example of urban homesteading. But many homesteaders incorporate some of the practices mentioned into their own style of living. Even in an apartment, urban homesteaders grow their own food on balconies, on roofs, in side yards, or at the community garden plot.

People participate in urban homesteading for a variety of reasons; to preserve and heal the environment, to be better prepared for emergencies, to experience a simpler lifestyle. Says Kelly Coyne, co-author of The Urban Homestead, published in 2008 by Process Media, “We are recollecting the almost-lost knowledge of our great-grandparents, those most essential skill sets: how to tend plants, how to tend animals, and how to tend ourselves.”

Kelly and her partner, Erik Knutzen, homestead in Los Angeles, CA and are the in-house homesteaders at realitysandwich.com.

Local classes are offered in many communities that provide instruction in homesteading skills. Some are quite extensive. In Oakland, CA, for example, you will find the Institute of Urban Homesteading (www.iuoakland.com), with classes in gardening; animal husbandry; kitchen skills; water, power and building; and health and beauty.

References and further information:

www.homegrownevolution.com

www.oldvaapples.com

www.Homestead.com

www.realitysandwich.com

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