You would be amazed at how much you can grow on 1/4 acre. I don't know how large your family is but I grew much of the veggies we ate on a much much smaller garden by planning and using every square inch. Think square foot gardening, vertical gardening etc. I had 4x8 beds that were packed full and had at least two crops per year. When the spring stuff was harvested the summer/fall stuff went in. I seeded my own transplants so they were ready and waiting. Dwarf and miniature fruit trees gave us apples and the occasional nectarine when they weren't hit by a late frost. The grapes grew along the fence which made a perfect trellis. There are books out there about edible landscaping which would give you even more planting space. We even had a dozen chickens (no roosters). I kept the neighbors happy with eggs and nobody seemed to mind the chickens. The garden was fenced and I didn't use pesticide so the chickens were allowed into the garden to help with the fall cleanup. They removed pretty much anything that hadn't been harvested, bugs etc and added fertilizer as they went. A perfect trade-off.

Wish I could have chickens, but because of the west nile virus and encephalitis, I'm not allowed to have poultry. I can have bats, though, and they're great at eating mosquitoes and bugs. I feed birds in my yard so that they'll eat bugs too. Unfortunately, I found one eating one of my butterflies!

I want to do this badly, and I've been working toward trying it, but with a very limited budget, and no one but myself to do it, it's going very slowly. I bought a book on vegetable gardening in small spaces that has square foot and vertical gardening advice, so I'm definitely going to be reading more about that. I already have several fruit trees, just babies right now. I'm working on a trellis grapevine just like you said. No fences in my yard, but I'll put up a 4x4 and wire trellis for them.

Now I'm all excited and itching to get going again! So many things have been thwarting my efforts the last couple of years, but now I think I can really make a plan and get started on it.

Thanks for your encouragement!

If you really want this lifestyle, you owe it to yourself to do it. Life's too short to have the kind of regrets that come from not trying to fulfil your dreams.

I think working on your own you will have to expect this to be a process that will take considerable time. You might consider drawing up a three-year-plan... NOT carved in stone but just as a guideline of what you can reasonably hope to achieve. Prioritize.

Just a couple ideas you may like... Raise rabbits instead of chickens. They have excellent firm white meat, high in protein and low in fat. Delicious. And their manure can safely be added directly to the garden without composting. They take up little room, they are quiet and easy to care for. Extreme heat in your area would be a consideration, but local breeders could help you deal with that.

The other idea depends on your circumstances, but if possible why not revive the old tradition of a bee to tackle large or heavy projects? Invite friends and family with the clear understanding that it is a work bee, serve them something wonderful afterwards and perhaps think up some fun prizes that you can award... Many hands make work light!

Good luck!

I'd grow rabbits for manure, but I could never eat them. I have a problem eating something I feed every day. I never could eat any of my chickens I raised before. I just sold them at auction and bought chicken at the grocery store. Guess I'll have to be a vegetarian homesteader! LOL

Actually, I don't eat that much meat, and no beef. Mostly fish, chicken, and occasionally pork. I don't have a problem with killing and eating fish I catch, though.

I know it will take awhile, so I'm going slowly, but I already have a head start by planting all the fruit trees, and I'm starting my herb garden this year also.

We plant veggies in the fall down here, so I have time to prepare for that.

You may want to check out the Square Foot Gardening forum. There's TONS of ideas on how to get the most production out of the least space.

I found a great resource for rain water harvesting. I have a small system in place now that I use on the a small flower garden, but am thinking of upgrading to something a bit more grand. If any of you guys are interested in rain water collection you should check out

www.watercache.com

Its a nice resource

On such a small lot, by far the greatest limiting factor will be the blockage of sun by buildings and trees on the abbutting lots, as well as your own.

You might want to think carefully before making much investment in money or time on ground that gets less than the golden six hours: totally unrestricted sunfall from 9 to 3, especially during the winter gardening season.

I have a whole side of my yard, and most of the back half, that get full sunlight. It's plenty enough for what I have in mind. Plus, most of my front yard is in full sunlight. I don't know how I'd utilize that for veggie gardening, but I could surely plant a couple of fruit trees there, and possibly a cottage style garden with some veggies thrown in.

It's all in the planning stages now, so we'll see. Thanks for the advice, though.

Hi
I too am working toward "urban homesteading"..it can be done :O)just take time and patience like anyother homesteading adventure.. I just wanted to pass along this website (if you haven't already found it) http://www.pathtofreedom.com
They are awesome people who have really gone above and beyond. They are such an inspiration for those of us who are living in the city...
Enjoy
Jamie

Here is a link that might be useful: path to freedom

Espalier your fruit trees along the fence and you can have tons more. Fruit trees are some of the easiest food to grow. I can't imagine not having them. I have room for a large orchard, but even when in town I had several, including two very dwarf apple trees in pots.

There is a really GREAT book to tell you how to do exactly what you need. It is "Growing Vegetables The Big Yield/Small Space Way", by Duane Newcomb. It is kind of old (copyright 1981), but the info is timeless and great! Publisher is JP Tarcher, Inc. and distributed by Houghton Mifflin CO. The ISBN is 0-87477-170-6

I am reading this a little late, but hopefully this website can be of help to anyone wanting to be an urban "homesteader". Check out pathtofreedom.com they are a family that farms in Pasadena Ca, and they make full usage of their city lot, pretty inspiring.

Oops I see, someone already posted that website!! Boy I should pay closer attention.

I guess I'm not really a full time homesteader but I've carried some of the farm family values with me (and my family) while in the military. This home/city lot we are in now will be our permanent home and I have used a bit of the space. I've canned and frozen items out of the garden. The garden seems to get bigger every year! Have a blackberry patch, dwarf fruit trees/busches. I just make the best of the space and amount of sun light. Supplement our heat with a fireplace wood insert. This year after a nasty storm, we went around town and (after asking permission of course) loaded up the truck with wood along side of the streets after people cleaned up. Didn't cost us anything and even had some really nice conversations with the locals! It's all in what you make of it.

If you like fish and are dealing with space constraints you should read up on aquaponics.

I say go for it. If you want chickens, get chickens. First someone has to turn you in, then you get a warning, then a fine. Depends on your neighbors. Plant foolproof stuff first, like figs, pomegranates, mulberries. When you have limited space, failures have a higher impact.

fruithack, it is a disease concern about a real disease that will be more likely if she kept chickens that can really kill old people (Like the kind in high concentration in Florida) so the "No cop no stop" policy is rather reckless, its not her chance of dieing that she is playing with, its someone else's.

on 1/4 acre we have a house, barn, workshop, tack room utility room, dog kennels, horse stalls, rabbits, small garden, and firewood. 4 dogs, plenty of cats, rabbits, small garden, patio, flower garden, a little grass behind the barn, and a driveway.And from Nov thru Mar/Apr (+/- a week or two), 8 horses. You can do a lot on 1/4 acre but it clutters easy.

Have fun,

Dave

this thread is 4 years old, I wonder how the original poster made out with her plans...Are you still out there Bruggirl??