Homesteading on a small lot - Join and share experiences and ideas

[SelfMadeFarming]

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to start a Homesteading Thread for us who have small properties.
I currently have 5 chickens and several small gardens.
I hang my clothes out on a line. I am an avid coupon clipper and thrift store shopper.

I have about a half acre of property, but I have a major pipe line of natural gas running through my land that I can not build or plant within 20 ft of it. I also have a well and a septic system, which again can not be planted near. So it does make my half acre much smaller to work with.

We are a military family and do not have much money, anything I do helps out a lot.

Hopefully we all can share experiences, ideas and knowledge.

 

[pipemum]

I have a little over a 1/4 acre. Most of it is yard as I have a wedge-shaped lot, with a small front yard and a small house. We garden, raise chickens (layer and meat chickens), have fruit trees, and I have enough room for rabbits but not enough shade (I live in the southwest). The one thing I should be doing is using gray water on my plants, but it's tricky since my washer is smack-dab in the middle of the house and I'm not confident enough to try messing with my shower lines. I hang some clothes on the line, but consider a huge waste of time to try hanging my socks and other small bits--however, my dryer recently broke and I've been forced to hang those essential bits of clothing and yep, huge time-sucker.

On the gas easement, can you do portable structures? Like a chicken tractor for meat chickens? Or a garden bed in galvanized troughs...something that can be moved if needed?

 

[nayeli]

You can't build above ground near the pipeline? I would think if you build raised gardenbeds or you could do aquaponics?.

I am buying a house on .23 acres and am planning gardening and raising rabbits, chickens, ducks, and quail. Quail are easy little birds and you will quickly get meat and eggs. Rabbits are prolific breeders so within 3-4 months you will have rabbit meat as you can butcher at 10-12 weeks old and they take around a month from mating to kindling (birthing). You can also rebreed them before they wean. I'm also considering using ducks for eggs and meat since you can get meat from them quickly.

I think the most important thing is to maximize your space. I'm going to be doing greenroofs on my dog's houses, coops, hutches, etc. I am also looking at edible landscaping for the front yard.

 

[nayeli]

Oh I forgot worm composting or vermicomposting? I want to put the worms under the rabbit hutch to again utilize vertical space. This way I will have worms, then rabbits, then herbs/veggies all in the same sq ft stacked =)

With my coops I'm planning on having off the ground coops (hopefully moveable) then use hardware cloth around the bottom so the chickens and ducks and a small grazing area. Then again garden on top of the coop!

 

[SelfMadeFarming]

I'm at the mercy of the gas company, nothing can go within the easement.
Its a major line that runs from Texas and I'm in Pa... They must have a clear sight line with nothing in view. I actually have 2 main pipes going through... Oh well, I work around it.

I also compost and I have a meal worm farm for my hens. I come from a family of hunters, so I do not raise anything for meat, except for processing old hens. Just don't have the space for it. I'm a "half homesteader" I'm limited to what I can do.

I use to have rain barrels to catch the roof run off, but I had to do away with that because in summer they overflowed and created small sink holes near the foundation of my house, And my septic system. I Have a nice well system so I just use it instead, I consider it "free water" lol

We just got about a foot of snow today... I can't wait for spring to start plant planting my gardens!

 

[cstronks]

The backyard homestead guide book has some incredible ideas for small space homesteaders. If you can find a copy at your local bookstore or somewhere cheap online then I would suggest it. It has layouts for quarter acre lots, and you could probably use one of those to make a nice homestead without worrying about encroaching on the easement.

 

[Joshua G]

The backyard homestead guide book has some incredible ideas for small space homesteaders. If you can find a copy at your local bookstore or somewhere cheap online then I would suggest it. It has layouts for quarter acre lots, and you could probably use one of those to make a nice homestead without worrying about encroaching on the easement.

X2 I love that book. It is great.

 

[The Farm]

X2 I love that book. It is great.

X3 Great book!!!

 

[SelfMadeFarming]

I going to have to look into that book...

 

[babylove1985]

hey everyone! I just relocated to Wyoming and have almost a half acre of property but only about a quarter is usable. I am putting in a couple raised beds this year and hoping to stock my flock as well. anyone have any suggestions on how best to prioritize what to plant/raise on the limited space? the soil quality here is extremely poor so pretty much anything I plant will have to be in containers or raised beds.