Below are some tips for using your apartment as a mini homestead. They cover everything from gardening to rainwater to self-sufficiency. While we can't all live on a homestead due to other restraints, you can still have a home that is reminiscent of one. Take a look at how you can start the transformation today:

Apartment Gardening

So, I started a couple of tomato plants in containers. I was lucky enough to have a tiny balcony, so that’s where they went. Then I added a couple of different pepper plants to the mix.

Of course, inside, I was growing herbs as potted plants.

Since my balcony had a railing, I bought some window box planters and started some green onions in them, as well as some strawberries in hanging pots when the season came in.

I could have probably done a vertical wall on my balcony, but I already had quite a few plants out there.

Farmers Markets

There are farms within just a half-hour or so ride from where I live, and I love to go for rides on back roads. I managed to find several little road-side farmers markets on those rides, and where the big farmers markets in town were selling fresh eggs for five bucks a dozen, these places were selling them for a buck or so.

You-Pick Farms

I managed to find some you-pick berry farms on the outskirts of our city. These little places range anywhere from 1-5 acres, but they all grow organic strawberries and blueberries and sell them for much less than what you’ll pay at the grocery store.

What I did was I bought a cute little pantry that looks like a bookshelf with glass doors that I put underneath a little eating bar that separated my kitchen and living room.

Cooking at Home

There’s a huge health benefit to cooking at home, and cooking real FOOD instead of junk that comes from a cardboard box.

One of the best things I’ve ever done is swear off processed foods. Do I cheat? Of course I do. But for the most part, I try to avoid it and cook real foods.

Rain Water Collection

I almost forgot to mention this – I didn’t do this, but my neighbors were resilient people, too. They had some veggies on their balcony, and they also had a rainwater collection system.

As a matter of fact, they washed their clothes with it in their bathtub.

Reuse and Upcycle

But we always tried to go the fix-it route at the farm, and still do. Tractors are fixed. Broken fence boards are used to patch siding on the barn, or are turned into tomato stakes. I tried to bring that with me, and once I saw an episode of Flea Market Flip, I was hooked. Save old stuff from the dump AND have a cute, funky little (or big) piece of furniture or art? Win!

Tell People about It

If they ask, then teach them. It’s not a competition – as a nation, or even as a planet, we’ve grown far too lazy and complacent.

Very few people would even know how to start a fire, let alone catch game to cook over it if they had to. Nor would they know how to find their way out of the woods without their cell phones. That’s a real shame, and if you can do your part to educate somebody, then you’re not just helping them, you’re helping us all. And THAT is the true spirit of homesteading.

Have you been able to “live on a homestead” even though you have a place in the city?

Article Source: Survivopedia