Urban Homesteaders

[kocho]

I'm jealous huggstaff13!! It will be months before we have fresh tomatoes. We wont be able to plant our garden for a few more weeks. Hopefully it's done freezing here, but we like to play it safe.

 

[RustedOak]

I'm in Central Texas. We have very mild winters and rarely see snow. When we do, it never sticks. Slushy ice is what we normally see. This year's winter was practically nonexistent. It's already in the 70s here and been up in lower 80s a time or two. Downside is, we see triple digits more often than not most of the summer

 

[ZetaPet]

We are trying to be, I have two raised garden Beds, 18 Chickens, Two Blace Runner Ducks, and plum trees. I cant seem to grow anything though, I am very new to planting and being a chicken mama. I want to compost and do rain barrels and the whole nine yards. Its so crazy all the little things you can do and what a big impact it can have. if anyone has any tips let me know!!

 

[estamets]

We live in Anaheim, smack in the middle of Southern California. We've got about 50' x 60' in the backyard, and a front "lawn" that I keep trying to convince my husband to let me turn into a veggie garden. Our chickens coming next week are our next step towards homesteading. We compost with worms, and grow peppers, chard, zucchini and herbs this season. I can't seem to keep tomatoes alive past flowering... Next steps: adding at least 2 more raised beds for more veggies, buying or building a more traditional composter for stuff the worms won't eat (chicken droppings!), and getting our feathered ladies settled in.

 

[UrbanFarmOC]

My bf and I live in an urban area of Southern California, just 5 minutes north if downtown Fullerton. Luckily we have a large backyard; however the dirt is rock hard clay and we have a bit of a hill. We (mostly he) built 6 raised veggie beds. To fill the beds and keep costs down, we went to a tree recycling place and bought several truckloads of soil. Each truckload was 1/2 cubic yard. Some of those kinds of soil (even though they labeled potting soil) can suck a bit, depending where you go, so I still amend them with my own compost, vermicompost and amendments from the garden center.

We grow lots of stuff, most of which are heirloom organic varieties, and got huge yields of kale, spinach, shingiku (Asian chrysanthemum green also called tong-oh), parsnips, carrots, lettuces, peas, fava beans, potatoes chard and beets from seeds we sowed back in November. However, since we got the chickens, they've been decimating my spring/summer plantings. After we finish the coop, we're going to figure out how to block of access to the beds. Right now, I'm also planting sweet potatoes and potatoes in a trench where the hill meets the retaining wall. We also have a landscaped bade along the fence which we've turned into an area where we've planted blackberries, raspberries and melons/ squashes.The property already had jujube and persimmon trees which both bear fruits prolifically. We picked at least 900 persimmons this past Fall!

I also planted several fruit trees on the hill and bf is building stairs out of pallets so it's easier and safer to access. My 2 large vermicomposting bins are also made of free pallets, as are coop/run in progress. I have a soilsaver composter for everything else.

The 6 beds taken from our hill sometime in November or December.

My 2 pallet worm bins:

The carrot/ beets/ parsnips bed taken earlier this spring:

 

[nayeli]

My bf and I live in an urban area of Southern California, just 5 minutes north if downtown Fullerton. Luckily we have a large backyard; however the dirt is rock hard clay and we have a bit of a hill. We (mostly he) built 6 raised veggie beds. To fill the beds and keep costs down, we went to a tree recycling place and bought several truckloads of soil. Each truckload was 1/2 cubic yard. Some of those kinds of soil (even though they labeled potting soil) can suck a bit, depending where you go, so I still amend them with my own compost, vermicompost and amendments from the garden center.

We grow lots of stuff, most of which are heirloom organic varieties, and got huge yields of kale, spinach, shingiku (Asian chrysanthemum green also called tong-oh), parsnips, carrots, lettuces, peas, fava beans, potatoes chard and beets from seeds we sowed back in November. However, since we got the chickens, they've been decimating my spring/summer plantings. After we finish the coop, we're going to figure out how to block of access to the beds. Right now, I'm also planting sweet potatoes and potatoes in a trench where the hill meets the retaining wall. We also have a landscaped bade along the fence which we've turned into an area where we've planted blackberries, raspberries and melons/ squashes.The property already had jujube and persimmon trees which both bear fruits prolifically. We picked at least 900 persimmons this past Fall!

I also planted several fruit trees on the hill and bf is building stairs out of pallets so it's easier and safer to access. My 2 large vermicomposting bins are also made of free pallets, as are coop/run in progress. I have a soilsaver composter for everything else.

The 6 beds taken from our hill sometime in November or December.


My 2 pallet worm bins:


The carrot/ beets/ parsnips bed taken earlier this spring:

I love your pallet bins! I wanna do something like that!

 

[UrbanFarmOC]

My bf and I live in an urban area of Southern California, just 5 minutes north if downtown Fullerton. Luckily we have a large backyard; however the dirt is rock hard clay and we have a bit of a hill. We (mostly he) built 6 raised veggie beds. To fill the beds and keep costs down, we went to a tree recycling place and bought several truckloads of soil. Each truckload was 1/2 cubic yard. Some of those kinds of soil (even though they labeled potting soil) can suck a bit, depending where you go, so I still amend them with my own compost, vermicompost and amendments from the garden center. We grow lots of stuff, most of which are heirloom organic varieties, and got huge yields of kale, spinach, shingiku (Asian chrysanthemum green also called tong-oh), parsnips, carrots, lettuces, peas, fava beans, potatoes chard and beets from seeds we sowed back in November. However, since we got the chickens, they've been decimating my spring/summer plantings. After we finish the coop, we're going to figure out how to block of access to the beds. Right now, I'm also planting sweet potatoes and potatoes in a trench where the hill meets the retaining wall. We also have a landscaped bade along the fence which we've turned into an area where we've planted blackberries, raspberries and melons/ squashes.The property already had jujube and persimmon trees which both bear fruits prolifically. We picked at least 900 persimmons this past Fall! I also planted several fruit trees on the hill and bf is building stairs out of pallets so it's easier and safer to access. My 2 large vermicomposting bins are also made of free pallets, as are coop/run in progress. I have a soilsaver composter for everything else. The 6 beds taken from our hill sometime in November or December. My 2 pallet worm bins: The carrot/ beets/ parsnips bed taken earlier this spring:

I love your pallet bins! I wanna do something like that!

Thanks! My bf built them for me for Xmas. each box is about 5' W x 2' D x 2.5' H and they are on these stands so that I don't have to bend to tend to the bins. It also helps keep ants away since I just put DE around the legs of the stand. (We have a horrible infestation of Argentine ants here in SoCal.) I can also catch the leachate under the bins.

 

[gretabee]

My husband and I bought a house last summer and have slowly started to create some self-sufficiency. We don't have a lot of yard space, but we're trying to take advantage of what we have. Our first baby chickens will be arriving next week! I'm so excited! We are building the coop from as many recycled/re purposed materials as we can find. My husband built a cold frame box, as well as a few raised beds (with plans to make more). Once we get settled with the chickens, we'll start composting. My husband took a class on beekeeping and we plan to start a few hives next spring. I feel like we still have a lot to learn, but we are making progress.

nayel, those pallet bins are great!

 

[Teery]

I used to be rural. Then at least county. The city built up around us, and now we were annexed into city.

But I have tons of fruit trees and 5 hens/1 rooster. I do garden when the gophers let me. I collect rainwater for the trees and garden.

It's the only way I can afford to be here now. I remember growing up, our water bill was OUTRAGEOUS if it was $5. That was only 20 years ago. Now we can't get it for less than $20 a month.

So anything I can do to be self sufficient, I do.

I moved into my house (1 acre horse property) almost two years now. I had a a few gophers but not anymore. After studying university papers on pocket gophers they suggested two methods to get rid of them. Traps and exhaust. My trap of choice is black hole traps. Clean and effective..

For exhaust, I had a old pressure washer that didn't work but the engine did. I took the muffler off it and put in a 1/2 mpt to 1/2 mht (a natural gas kit hook up for gas appliances that you can buy at home depot) Screw the pipe thread to hose fitting into the muffler port, attach the hose and stick the other end down the gopher hole...fire up the engine, cover the hole, run a tank of gas and gopher be gone....The university paper states that exhaust is 95% effective...You do miss on occasion but generally a great method.

The plastic on the hose does burn off and you do get some stink while it is burning off. The hose is also thin wall so I have had to replace it once..I still get a occasional gopher from my neighbors yard but they don't live in my yard to long..

 

[RustedOak]

Been almost a year since anyone posted here... Any urban homesteaders still out there?