To celebrate the review of The Backyard Homestead in the New York Times Book Review (which you can now read in it's entirety here) we are giving away a signed copy of the book! To be entered to win, simply leave a comment telling us what you're doing to be more self-sufficient in your own backyards.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Win a Signed Copy of The Backyard Homestead!
To celebrate the review of The Backyard Homestead in the New York Times Book Review (which you can now read in it's entirety here) we are giving away a signed copy of the book! To be entered to win, simply leave a comment telling us what you're doing to be more self-sufficient in your own backyards.
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8 comments:
Well, I am an urban apartment dweller with not even so much as a balcony or even much of a kitchen. Mine is more of a windowsill homestead! I have an herb garden under a grow light in my bedroom. I make my own breads, soups, granola, pasta, and ice cream. My fiance and I belong to a CSA and shop at our awesome local co-op. And we hit up the pick-your-own farms to make as many jams and sauces as our small freezer can hold! I also knit and sew, and I'm learning to spin. As soon as we have a backyard, I'm going for a garden and chickens to start things off!
I'm creating gardens on my land to raise some home grown food. I've planted a yummy range of different vegs/herbs/fruit. My neighbors (within walking distance) and I have started a community garden and we'll get a lot of produce out of that space. We own 10 acres of mostly heavily wooded land. We are getting some of our firewood for heating from our property. We have 6 chickens for eggs and entertainment. I enjoy making homemade food, canning and sometimes baking bread.
We live in the suburbs on a very small lot about 50x150 ft. Last summer we removed the last of our grass in the front yard and started adding vegetables, herbs and fruit int amongst the perennials in our terrace front yard. We had to buy a freezer to handle all the overflow of last years harvest. This year we put in blueberries and blackberries and hope to add espaliers of a heirloom apple or pear trees soon. I make my own yogurt, granola, ice cream. Next on my list is canning and cheese making.
I don't have space in my apartment for a garden but have potted herbs and cat grass for our companions as well. We purchase from local Berkshire Organics, so organic or fair trade produce is coming into our house. My most proud step is having started our own compost. It's in a container but it allows us not to waste any food scraps and rewards us with good good soil. I'm learning about the balance of "greens" and "browns" but I love seeing it mature and grow! Starting bean plants as well and buying local mean for the non-veg S.O. Doing what we can and having fun!
Having been raised by an organic farmer who kept bees, I learned early how to can and "put by". Now I live in a big city, in a poor and shabby part of town and in an apartment. So how do I fulfill that need? By volunteering for the local CSA and growing my own herbs on my window sill. Some day I'll be back on the land again and have another garden and this time... bees, geese and goats!!
Word verification? bidnesto That's what I need a nesto!
We are fortunate to have a lot of land with woods. We did a timber management to increase the survival rate of the forrest and do remove all dead trees and heat our home all winter with them.
Soon we hope to bee-keep, we have a small apple orchard and do grow a small garden. (there is a very happy chipmunk and very little lettuce left right now though!)
and the winner is.....Stephanie! Congratulations!
We always grow a vegetable garden, even theough that's been challenging this year with the weather. My husband hunts, so we get quite a bit of meat that way. We also breed rabbits and use them for show and meat.
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