What better way to celebrate the new look and feel of NW Edible than with a chance to win the best new urban homesteading book on the market?
When Annette Cottrell, co-author with Joshua McNichols of The Urban Farm Handbook and author of the site Sustainable Eats, asked me if I’d like to host a giveaway of her book, I was in the middle of reading it and I jumped at the chance.
But in truth, I have mixed feelings about The Urban Farm Handbook.
It’s not that there’s anything wrong with the book. On the contrary, it’s wonderful. Annette and Joshua managed to cram planning guides, seasonal recipes, inspirational photos, beginner-to-advanced tips and techniques for all things urban homesteading into an easy-to-read sub-400 page book filled with honest and compelling prose. All this and nothing ever feels rushed or truncated. It’s quite the accomplishment.
No, my reservation about The Urban Farm Handbook is entirely and exclusively personal: this is the book I would have written, and it’s better than I could have written it. It is everything a primer on urban food self-sufficiency should be, written by two authors who know their stuff and have complementary gardening and literary styles. So it’s a little bittersweet for me, knowing I’m going to have to go back to the drawing board for ideas if I want to write my own book one day. And it’s also a little intimidating, because Annette and Joshua have set the bar pretty damn high with this work.
So you want The Urban Farm Handbook? Here’s your chance to get it for free, and signed by Annette to boot! Leave a comment below telling me what your big Urban Homesteading goal is for 2012. Entries will be accepted until Monday, January 16th at 8:oo pm Pacific Standard Time. Winner will be selected by random number drawing and announced on Tuesday, January 17th. Contest only open to residents of the U.S. – sorry international friends!
Good luck!
Wow, this is an awesome giveaway! Count me in! Goals for 2012? Man, let my try and narrow this down… I want to go vertical. I have many more vegetables I want to grow, and UP is the only way I will get this accomplished. Beans are something (just one thing on my UP list) that have been on my to-do list for sometime, and this is the year! I recently got a pressure canner, so My next goal will be to “put up” as much food as I can possibly stand that isn’t all pickles. Oh, did I mention that I need to keep my chickens OUT of the garden? Last year, they decimated my peppers and tomatoes. However, even with my chicken problems, and my a-hole groundhog, I was still able to get over 100 pound of produce. This year, I would like to double that. I will have to employ some animal control, namely by way of fencing… Perhaps I should make a new list for next year?
Thanks again for this awesome giveaway!
My big urban farm goals (there are two) is to build a living fence for tomatoes and squash and to plant my first ever grain crop. I seem to be the fearless leader of urban farming around here so I get to try everything first :)
Love the new look! And what a great book to give away!!!
Big goal – start raising chickens for eggs. Intimidated by it and husband is VERY reluctant, so the goal includes educating myself and him about how and what fun it would be!
Second goal – get tomatoes right! Grow more, preserve more, glean more.
Third goal – blog about it (already started, but I wouldn’t say it’s a sure thing yet). Not that I’m looking for brownie points here (but I’ll take them if you insist!) but your blog inspired me ALOT to get my experiences out there to share.
Thanks for giveaway and great blogging!!
My big goal for 2012 is to actually START our garden. My husband and I, married for a year and 3 months, just bought our first home 2 months ago. We made sure to get a home with a yard not only large enough for our 3 dogs, but so we could start our love of all things fresh and colorful: gardening! We’re using this winter as a chance to read up on techniques and figure out exactly how we want to plan everything, build the beds, etc, but this book sounds like a perfect guide to what we’re trying to do! I sure hope we find some success in our first garden and are able to look at this as a learning experience (so, not to get disheartened when things don’t work out right the first time! haha because I know they sure won’t, especially moving to a new state where the climate is different from what I’m used to.) Wish us luck!
This is a pretty awesome giveaway Erica! I have this book on my wish list. My biggest 2012 homesteading goal is to plan my dream homestead out from chickens to fruit trees. I’ve got one year before our dream property is ours to get it all planned out so we can literally grab the keys and get to work. I’m pretty excited.
That looks like a great book, with loads of good info. I’d love to have it. My biggest goal for 2012 is to start keeping chickens.
My big goal is to move back to land. We had to sell our farm a few years back and are finally almost in the position to get another piece of land. I can’t wait!!
The other goals include doing more companion planting, increase what I can, dry and smoke, make beer and start making cheese again.
What a great giveaway! My lofty homestead goal is to successfully maintain the tiny 2′x8′ garden plot our landscape-negligent landlord has allowed us, our first attempt beyond a couple potted tomatoes and herbs, and hopefully helping my mother in law with her first chicken harvest.
My goal this year is to try to produce a little bit of grain to feed my chickens and lower the cost of eggs. The new look is nice, thanks Erica
Our goal is to increase vegetable production and to decide on our next livestock adventure: goats or sheep!
Install the water/sprinkler system early enough in the year to not lose growing time. And get ripe watermelons (in Boise).
This year I want to double the size of my garden – right now I have 112 sq.ft. in raised beds. I plan to rearrange them and double the space as part of my 5 yr., get rid of the lawn plan. I hope to get a blackberry trellis going too!
my gardening goal this year is to find a way to keep the goats and chickens and peacocks out of my garden… okay, i’m not an URBAN farmer.. lol.. but i still have my issues… lol
We are going to try to plant our garden more intensively this year, and build a chicken coop!
I would love a copy. My original goal was to get bees but now I’m thinking that I need to spend this year learning about them and get the bees next year. So, my current goal is figure out what to plant in my new greenhouse and do it. I’m also adding three new beds – two for tomatoes, peppers and heat loving veggies and one in the shade to try and grow lettuce and other greens in the summer.
Our 1st flock of hens are 4 months old now and we just got our 1st egg 2 days ago! This year we’re adding a vegetable garden. Will be my very first time ever trying to grow vegetables. Wish me luck! We’re also looking into some way to harvest rainwater.
My biggest goal this year is to be a better gardener. Well, to be more attentive. I know what to do, I just have to do it.
My goal is moving to the country this summer when my dh finishes his master’s degree. We want at least a 1/2 acre where we can have a huge garden and a few chickens. We’ve lived in a tiny duplex with no yard (but I have 2 plots at a community garden) for two years, so we are ready to gain some space. Another goal is to start composting, which I just did this weekend, building my own bin out of a 20 gal storage bin from Target. Yay!
I really want to read this book! My urban homestead goal for 2012 is to work with what I have got, share resources and growing space with my neighbor, and share gardening with children.
The biggest goal for 2012 will be to help my parents start a rural homestead when they retire later this year, but for my immediate goals I want to build a window farm project in my home to see how well I can grow indoors without adding additional light.
What a great giveaway! my goals for this year include doubling the number of raised beds and adding fruit to the garden. I’d also like to try my hand at preserving more from my garden and try to cut back on on the processed foods my family is eating.
Since we already grow most of our own veggies, our big goal this year is to plant a ‘mini-orchard’. Some trees will go in half-barrels, some in the ground, but the goal is to be completely self-sufficient when it comes to fruit and berries.
Since getting chickens probably isn’t going to happen this year, our big goal is to build a greenhouse, attached to the foundation of our house, using almost all rescued and recycled materials.
My goals are to maximize the garden. Keep ontop of putting in a new crop once one has been harvested. Do enough canning and freezing so we can avoid the grocery store as much as possible. Work on my bread making skills.
Last year was my first attempt at anything-self-sufficiency, a tomato garden. I am so in love with the idea of homesteading, especially having chickens to eat those nasty hornworms and not have to go to the store when I need eggs!
My goal is going to be composting.
my goal is to get our aquaponics unit up and running. we already have 3 chickens and are doing some outdoor gardening, but by using aquaponics, it would allow us to grow year-round in the sun-room… and PERHAPS one day, tilapia. it is a big goal, but we already have the equipment for it and just need to put it into action. (wish us luck)
I have two goals:
1)utilize my hoophouse more than I have before. There are several heat loving crops I haven’t tried yet and will this year.
2)help my Mom start a veggie garden at her house, which has ample space and fantastic exposure.
Love the new look for your blog!
I would love to get this book! My main goal is to get my yard productive this year. We moved a year ago (yay!) and last year just sort of felt things out, saw what grew (grass, quinoa) what didn’t grow (pretty much anything useful) so now I have a real plan of action. I am very excited.
oh, I have this book on hold at my library, but I’m 4th in line for it!! would love to have it for keeps :) Our goal for this year is to supply 100% of our fresh produce needs over the summer (if we do, it will cut our food bill by 70%!) AND have enough to put some up. This will be the first year for me to do any canning, so I’m a bit nervous, but excited! We’ve worked hard all winter hauling truckloads and truckloads of horse manure and already-composted wood chips to add to our humongous compost pile so that we’ll have enough soil for the 8 raised beds we are planning, as well as filling up the greenhouse which we finished building just a two months ago. Our biggest challenge has been keeping deer, raccoons, and our own happy chickens OUT of the garden so we’re going to add some fencing and perhaps an electric fence. Our seeds are ordered, we have four new fruit trees arriving this week, now all we need is some SUN!
Oh, how I would love this! We will be moving into our new-to-us house this month and the back yard (about 1/8th of an acre) is a blank canvas! It’s difficult to focus on finishing the house when I have so much planning to do in the yard!
This is a lovely giveaway. In 2012 I want to 1) try gardening in gutters and 2) plant more vegetables in hanging baskets. An experiment with pickling cucumbers was a huge success last year and I want to try other vines.
More greens and fewer chickens (underestimated the space they needed!). Strawberries and a few more blueberry bushes.
This is a great giveaway. We live in a rental which restricts us from really taking our garden where I want to but this year I’d like to spend more time improving the soil so I have less crops fail.
We moved into a new house in late summer so my original goal was to get some raised beds up and get in a small garden. Then came the deer! There is hardly any fence around our yard so my main goal for 2012 is going to be fencing and deer proofing. I think I’ll still try to get some stuff in containers on our deck and barricade them.
I am really working on season extenders. We are also expanding our flock of chickens.
Seems like I have lived all over the US: Seattle, Orcas Island, Eugene, Dutch Harbor, Maui, San Diego, Santa Cruz, SW Colorado, Berkshires, Miami – and now Kirksville, Missouri. Why? UNDESIRABLE is affordable. In July 2011 I bought my first home. I immediately planted a privacy screen because you can take an ecological designer out of the country but you can’t get the country out of me and I feel boxed in. Next, I had a truck load of wood chips dumped and began working them into windrows and using them as compost. I planted 30+ dwarf fruit and nut trees the week it began snowing.
Though the weather is extreme here – freezing winter, sweltering summer – and the soil is heavy clay, in 2012 I intend to practice preserving foods. I started 2 calendars, one labeled PLAN and the other ACTUAL. Integrating shiitake logs and some other odd mushrooms into the landscape is part of the plan. Culturing cheese and yoghurt, raising chickens as layers and broilers as well as rabbits for fur and meat while making the most of their droppings, taping the 20′ well and exploring cost/techniques for deepening it. This 50′ x 100′ lot has a 2/1 house where the dog, fish and I live.
Then there’s JWPowell Studio. Mr Weemer’s wood shop in the 1930′s/40′s, a duplex until 1970, then apartment until 1981. The studio was falling down. I rebuilt the south wall and replaced sheathing and roofing. At the top of the To Do List is install rain gutters & barrels. After reading J Salatin’s, “You Can Farm” converting the building into a commercial kitchen (with root cellar in the partial basement) may be wise. Basil and melons were prolific in the first raised bed. I planted berry canes and asparagus in a second raised bed. 2012 will see the development of more beds: rhubarb and perennial herbs, plus veggie beds (greens, roots, fruits and shoots).
Please send me the book ;)
I am determined this year to fully use the land that I have- a farm with loads of property and a house with a large backyard. Different veggies and fruits are going to be grown on the two and the leftovers will be bartered for those that I don’t grow. A friend and I have created our own support network for our sustainable goals for the year- our significant others aren’t so into the idea…I also am going to be selling the excess eggs that my layers have been so generously providing- I should have done the math (30 chickens = 30+ eggs/day)!
This year is spent converting all of the over-landscaped yard from the previous owner into productive growing space, including some woodpiles for mushroom cultivation in the shady areas. The city won’t let me keep chickens, yet (I’m bringing this to the city council), but I’ll get the hutch going for the Angora bunnies. I’d love to get a sod roof going over my asphalt shingles as well, but this is also something that needs to be cleared with the city. My hops and raspberries are going strong into this year as well!
My girlfriend and I have a home in coastal Humboldt County, CA. It’s a 1/4 acre property right across the street from a large elementary school. Every action we take here on our house, yard, and garden is witnessed by hundreds of children, in real time. Even our next door neighbors homeschool their kids.
We are concerned here about our food sovereignty here and are doing what we can to build really excellent soil, harvest rain water, and grow as much food as we can, as well as produce herbal medicines to sell. Some of our projects are to build a top-bar beehive that will go on the roof, renovate the carport into a workshop that we will remodel the house from, finish a 3 bayed combination doghouse/composter/soil bin, design and implement a small food forest in the backyard incorporating espaliered fruit trees on our south facing fence, expand the laundry room into a sunroom/greenhouse, and many other things. So far projects we’ve completed are building/tiling a beautiful hearth and installing a wood stove in our living room, extending both ends of the house roofing to create storage for firewood/tools, etc, dugout a small bucket based root cellar, made our own bio-char, and made coldframes, combination composter/wormbin/planter/birdbath units that utilize the heat of the sun to reach thermophylic composting temps in a small space even in winter. And getting started on our raised vegetable beds.
We have years of work left to do here and its all in plain view of the local youth so we are taking it seriously. We would love to have more ideas and expertise to make this happen and from what I’ve read about your book its exactly what we could use.
Ooo. I want a copy! I’m still pretty new at this edible garden stuff. My goals for the year are: 1) Always have something edible available in the garden, even if it’s just herbs. 2) Grow seedlings successfully — so far, the only thing I can make work is starts from the nursery. 3) Espalier my new apple trees against my fence. 4) Can vegetables from my garden (or from the farmer’s market) for the first time.
My goal this year is to get some edible natives in my landscape/garden. I looking at a few Evergreen Huckleberries and some Thimbleberries right now. I remember eating the soft, red Thimbleberries as a kid walking through the woods at my Grandpa’s house.
What a great giveaway! Our garden goals for 2012 include finishing the new garden beds (the old beds finally rotted away), add more edibles to the landscape of our city plot, add a hoop house, and actively help others to garden more.
I’d love the book. My goals are to launch the new school garden. We put in 12 beds at the end of November and i want to get the trellising and arbors in and have all the beds producing fun interesting things. Personally I want to establish some designated walk ways through my in-ground beds and get my soil up to snuff. More compost! Also, want to start planning the garden with eating in mind and produce enough to supplement a couple meals a week, year round. :-) I’m going to start tucking edibles into the front yard to take advantage of my sunniest spots.
My goal is for good tomatoes this year, which means starting them in the garage NOW. Ack.
I’m already a fairly accomplished urban farmer. My goal this year is to lobby our local City Council and have them amend their atavistic Municipal Code that currently prohibits the keeping of urban chickens. I’ve also “adopted” two neighbors who are widows and now that I am fully retired, have promised to help them start and to maintain their own edible landscapes.
Wow hoo, I love giveaways, specially when it comes to urban garden!
This year I actually decided to make resolutions and to write them down just so I can stick to them.
1) Blog about urban gardening/cooking and my experiences.
2) Add more raised to go from amateur garden to big time gardener…I guess I got very inspired by people just like you and if you can do it, I can too! right?
3) Add more fruit trees, I am planning on making a Belgian Fence with 9 fruit trees, it is going to be a fun project (I hope) over the next few years.
4) Get more chicken, I started raising chicken last year (4 for now) and enjoy it very much. I want to add to the flock in order to get even more eggs and spread the love to my friends and neighbors.
5) Learn about beekeeping, I have a great interest in adding bees to my garden within the next couple of years but want to educate myself first in order to be well prepared.
6) Enhance my skills at cheese and yogurt making.
7) Record my experience better and plan on crop rotation for the next year.
8) Teach my daughter (who’s 4) about gardening…I built a special raised bed just for her where she can plant whatever she wants.
I am looking forward to a fun 2012!
I have two goals for this year:
1. Increase the calcium in the soil (by adding crushed egg-shells) so that I can get the zuchini to fruit.
and
2. Increase our holdings. Our next door neighbour has offered me their back yard which they never use and I’m trying to decide what to do with it. I’m not going to add raised beds there this year (although I have them in mine) but I am planning on planting it, tending it and growing more.
I would love a copy of this book. My goals for this 2012 are to get my strawberry patch filled in, to finally smother all of the grass on the lawn, to get my espalier in order, and do something about the bloody squirrels who are decimating my bulbs!
2012 shall see an increase in gardening and the addition of CHICKENS! Woo-hoo!
Being a college student in a dormitory, it’s hard to work on anything homesteady.
The best I can manage is to put in a salad greens garden in my south dancing window.
Not really Urban homesteading but I hope to get a vermicomposting program running for students to do their own composting.
Also as soon as I get home to my little chunk of soil in Winnipeg I’ll be growing all the leafy greens I can fit and giving my compost pile some serious lovin after a year away from it. :P
I am hoping to move to a new home where I will have room for a vegetable garden
of my own!
My ‘big’ goal is to keep the chickens happy and healthy as we go into our 1st year anniversary.
Well, next weekend I will be following my husband to a new city, leaving behind the homestead we’ve been putting together here in Portland over the past three years. So my goal for 2012 is to get settled in the new place, figure out some general climate/growing differences and get some staples in the ground ASAP! I also strive to 1. learn from my husband’s native american family and 2. be an example in a town where KFC, BK and Wal*Mart are the main food sources.
My husband and I hope to get laying chickens and maybe pigs this year!
Also joining our first CSA. Looking forward to trying new foods.
Awesome give-a-way, thank you.
My goals are to grow enough food for my family and have some surplus for friends who don’t grow, grow and preserve some common medicinals, and learn to can. Thanks for this opportunity!
Ooooooh yes, I want in on this! My biggest goal is to expand the garden. I’m in a rental, so that means I can’t add permanent things – chickens, greenhouses, larger gardens, but I hope to utilize the space I have and grow far more leafy vegatables and herbs. And tomatoes. Oh – did I mention zuchini and eggplants? So much to grow…..
My big plan is to learn how to maximize my 10×6 garden plot to help boost my harvest and to find some shade friendly crops to put in a new bed on the side of my house. Finding a source for more local flour and eggs is also top on the to do list because I’m certainly not going to be growing grains or keeping chickens any time soon. One thing at a time! I may have to go check out the Urban Farm Handbook at the library.
I’d love to add this title to my library.
I have to keep fighting with City Hall to allow Chickens. My biggest goal in 2012 is constructing row covers to extend our growing season in both directions.
Cheers,
Cate
I have the hugely lofty goal of starting a container herb garden and getting some tomotoes going in 2012. I tried several things last year only to have everything die in our really heavy terrible clay soil (Yes, even well amended….. even the hosta’s died a slow and painful death). I’ve got some upcycled containers and wood to help convert our beautifully sunny and animal free back yard into a producing “garden”.
My big plan for this year is to keep pressure on our City Council to make chickens legal this year! We have had one public meeting about it (mostly favorable) but we still have a lot of work to get it through. Closer to home, I just had soil testing done for my raised beds, and now I am dreaming of spring with my stacks of seed catalogs.
Heck to the yes I want this book.
My goals for the year are: to save up a year’s supply of food; to learn more of the native plants, both medicinally and as food; to keep the *&$% scrub jays off my hazelnuts (feathers are in fashion, you little winged rats!); and to have something edible growing in my garden for an entire year, starting in spring. Learning how to make soap would be a good thing, too.
We are planning to buy a few acres this spring. I want to start some chickens before the end of the year.
My goal is to build a bigger coop for more chickens. I want to get better with my bees and controlling the varroa mites using natural treatments. I want to use every single piece of fruit that comes off our trees and not waste as much fruit. I also want to increase my composting.
This year, I will plant pasture grass in the back-most third of my 50 x 120 foot lot, creating true forage for my 30 hens. I shall! I shall! In addition, I hope to see my first sizeae berry crop, and bring three more vegetable beds into production.
Looks like a great book! Thanks for giving us the opportunity to win a copy.
2012 will begin the third year on our small (7 acre) homestead. Our goals include expanding our raised bed gardens and growing more root vegetables, finishing the fence to hold goats, and increasing our chicken flock to 20 or so. Most of all, our goal is to ENJOY the life that so many only dream to have!
We have lots of goals this year on our homestead and are satisfied with how we met last years goals. I guess the biggest goal for me would be beginning canning this year. Last year I froze alot of the garden produce and this year I want to can it too. My first time commenting/visiting. Thanks so much for this wonderful opportunity. :o)
First, new blog is looking great! Second, you are going to write a book (I’m waiting for you to punch out something to speak to the Gen X’er on down crowd of young women/mother’s finding themselves embracing the idea of Radical Homemaking and needing the practical advice to do it). We love the idea but have no skills. I’m thinking a month by month guide of interior/cooking/preserving/gardening projects/to do’s. Well, I’d read it at least :)
Homesteading goal? Setting up a new homestead in the burbs of PDX. Moving sucks. Cheers, Jenni
Wow, what a great give away!
My goal this year is to take better advantage of the limited garden space we have here. I need to move plants to keep the tomatoes from overrunning the peppers, I need to move the onions so the cucumbers don’t bury them, I need to pull the summer plants quicker to get fall plants in, even though that’s so hard to do when they are still producing!
I would like to get all my plants in the ground for my organic garden this year, along w starting my own seeds – didn’t happen last year because of miscarr. :( Feeling better now. Also, I bought an amazing French Copper Jam Pan, I’d like to fire it up w some awesome strawberry jam.
I would LOVE this book. Nichole
My goal is to plant more onions, plant my tomatoes early enough to have them ripen (ie earlier than late July *cough*lastyearlaziness*cough*, and maybe try something new I haven’t grown before.
I’ve been drooling over this book! Saw an article in the Seattle Times about tomatoes that mentioned this book, and I looked it up and started dreaming!
My goals might vary this year – but I’d like to 1) learn to can/preserve 2) grow more than 10 tomatoes in PNW Maritime – ha! anything more than that will be gravy :)
This year, I am new to a colder, wetter climate in the Northwest and I’m trying to see what will survive in pots on the shady balcony of my apartment. Not much so far, except my lavender and my mature jalapeno plant seem to still be alive and well. However, I just reserved a plot at the local community garden and hope to get things going there real soon! Planning on starting broccoli, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts indoors this February for “spring” planting in a raised bed. If I can get the materials, I would like to experiment with row covers while they’re young transplants. As the season progresses, I will be planting more veggies such as onions, carrots, lettuces, tomatoes, and herbs. If my jalapeno plant produces as abundantly as it did last year, we will be pickling those again! They turned out so good! In the future, I hope to have a large yard for gardening again, but my dream is to own acreage with hoop-houses, a greenhouse, an aquaponics system, backyard chickens, with my own shop for crafting soap and candles, etc., and maybe even keep bees.
Thanks! Love your blog!
I love your blog ANd now I have a new one to investigate. We rent and have a small yard, so there is a limit to what I can do. the main goal is to teach my son the joys of gardening, that while it can be hard work & disappointing, it is well worth it. My work goal is to get my gardens to grow more efficiently, to plant more medicinal herbs, culinary herbs, edible flowers & veggies utilizing the existing garden beds, flower beds, space under & around trees and where ever I can fit them around other things, up fences etc!
I’d like to double the size of my garden.
My big goal is to tear out the stupid (non-edible) bushes at our rental and plant blueberries! The bushes are 41+ years old and those suckers won’t come willingly. It’s bushes vs. sawzall, and I’m determined to be the winner!
Man I want to read this book! I have been hearing so many good things about it.
My goal for 2012 is to learn to make some basics from scratch – I am woefully inept when it comes to the kitchen – lets change that!
My goal for 2012 is to keep my chickens happy and healthy and productive…and show the naysayers how awesome city chickens are!!
My goal is to start growing food, we just relocated and I am excited to start growing our own food and “putting up” food. I would also like some chickens!
Oh how fun!
My Urban Homesteading goal is this:
utilize the 2 4x 8 foot garden beds that I started last year and the chickens proceeded to consume the contents of….
before doing that – build a chicken escape proof coop for my very determined escapies….
can tomatoes and peppers from the garden – enough to last the winter…..
those are the short term goals…there are many more long term ones.
Thanks!
My big long-term goal is to operate a modern B&B complete with garden, bees and chickens; until then we rent as we save money for the deposit. That said, my big goals for 2012 are to be the most practical in what I grow and to use the little space I have as effectively as possible. Likely this means new strategies for abundant tomatoes, lots more peppers, doubling up my herbs and figuring out what I can grow in my mostly-shaded-front-yard-beds that looks pretty enough that the landlady doesn’t mind.
It goes without saying the book would be very helpful!
Thanks for the give-away!
What an awesome give-away! My urban homesteading goal for 2012 is to finally get my hive built and get my bees. To go along with that, I’m also ripping a few rose bushes out of the front yard, and planting more bee-friendly plants (lavender, oregano, thyme, Mexican sage, etc). This fall, when I make jam from the fruits of our trees, I’ll use our own honey to sweeten it, rather than store-bought!
This is the year I get serious with my gardening. My goal is 90% of our vegetables and 25% of our fruit (my fruit trees aren’t bearing yet). Looking around at what is happening on this planet, between extreme weather, social unrest, and population explosion, I believe that food shortages are inevitable. I want to do my part to free up the food available for those who are unable to grow their own. This book would be great to have to help me (and others) with my goal.
My Urban Homesteading Goal for 2012 is to START!!! I have a great piece of land with sprinklers already in place. My challenge has been HOW TO BEGIN? My desire is to grow my own herbs (i.e., rosemary, basil, oregano and maybe mint). In addition, I’d like to grow vegetables conducive to this wonderful California sunshine. A Really Good Mentor…Book…would be such a Tremendous Blessing. Thanks. M
Wow what an awesome giveaway!! I’m so excited. My goal this year is to get started. Yep I’ve been dreaming the dream this past year and reading everything I can to get prepared and know what I am doing. This book would be a dream come true for a beginner like me.
My homesteading goal for 2012 is not to get stung and/or if I do to handle it with calm and grace :) We are getting BEES!
I would LOVE to win this book! Baby chicks are ordered and arriving mid-February. Chicken coop plans purchased and building will begin in the next month or so. We’ve also covered our next raised bed expansion area with newspaper and tarps to remove the grass (plus one old tree stump that is in our path), so we can break ground and build up 3 more 4X10 beds (currently 13 beds in production). Planning to grow year round this year too! So excited!
I have a few goals:
1. To maximize/utilize my space more…last year was my first year for gardening and I didn’t plant as well as I could have for items I would actually utilize in the kitchen.
2. To eat more from local farmers markets Spring through Fall..especially meat
3. To learn how to dehydrate my foods.
As each of my household & body care products run out I’m switching over to homemade. Also My goal is to put up as much local and wildcrafted food as possible over the summer.
I have to do little goals, otherwise I get too overwhelmed and stress out! So, my #1 goal for this year is to put in blueberry bushes. We have been slowly converting more and more of our urban yard from lawn to food, and the blueberries are the next addition to the backyard orchard. :)
My goal for the year is to add veggie beds to the front yard.
My goals are so small compared to many others. My biggest goal is to grow something successfully! I don’t really have a garden, but I have a yard. I hope to turn at least a little bit of it into productive space.
My goals for 2012 are to significantly expand our little garden, get the kids involved, and tackle some winter gardening. I’d also like to try some food preserving.
I want to venture into doing my own beans; growing, cooking, etc rather then using the canned ones.
My goal is to finally grow a balanced garden in my shady yard. I’ve had varied amounts of success in the past two years since moving into my house and this year I really want to have a plan, follow through, and eat from my garden all year. Your blog helps so much with this!
Woohoo! Looks like the book I’ve been looking for! My big goal this year is to have a 3 season garden, to use my raised beds more efficiently, and to get my new flock of chickens to get along! (seriously… my one, one year old chicken from my original flock (the rest of whom were killed by a fox) is not taking to her new, teenage coopmates). Oh, and I’d really like to start canning this year. :)
My goal would be to start raising Chickens. Unfortunately my city is currently looking at changing our laws about farm animals being allowed in the city, so that is going to have to wait, at least for a while. In the mean time I am hoping to grow and preserve as much food as I can. I am going to try my hand at succession planting to try to maximize my garden space and growing season.
I have heard many good things about this book! I would like to win it please. :-)
My biggest goal is to can more crops in order to buy less during the winter. Last year tomatoes were the main canning ingredient but I am hoping to get a big enough harvest of beans to make a sizable chunk. Also am planning to put more fruit into the backyard beyond just berries (plums and pears, perhaps).
2012 Urban Farming goals? Oh, so many, but I will just throw out the big one: obtain permission from the landlord to do a little edible landscaping (beyond the tomatoes and herbs I planted in the flower bed last year)! The book looks great and if I don’t win, I plan to order it anyway! :)
PS Love your blog
Our goal is to grow more vertical and grow some atop our shed to increase our yield by about 1/2. More food grown by us would be great. Also increase our chickens.
My big goal for 2012 is just re-establishing the set up we had last year in line of vegetable production. We just moved this week and are expecting our first baby in March, so I think gardening is probably going to be a big enough project for me.
A few of my bigger goals this year are chickens, fruit trees, and making wine/beer/mead.
Our goal is to expand our plots and get potatoes to grow well- both russett and sweet taters. Finish our solar dehydrator and build a solar oven. Would also like to get sone kind of functioning irrigation system going, update our rainwater collection system and finally plant the medicinal herb plot :)
Since I’m getting married this year, my goal is to make sure my fiance’s and my future home is a place where we can grow some of our own food.
My big plan for 2012 is to rip out our front lawn, and in place of the grass, find a way to include edibles in the new landscape. We have a homeowners association, so this is going to be challenging! Wish me luck! :-)
My word for this year is “ACTION”. Last year was our first in this house. This year is the year of chickens, raised beds and pressure canning! Oh, and the rest of the ornamental plants are leaving, anything not useful is out. The neighbours appeared not to notice the 1/2 vegetable front yard to this year it’s 100% and we’ll see what happens :-).
My UH goals for this year are:
1. Install that vertical pallet veggie garden somewhere against my apartment building.
2. Forage rose hips in late summer for rose hip jam! Same for Oregon Grape
3. Make lip balm and other body stuff from beeswax from my husbands beehives.
4. Ask my neighbor if he’s cool sharing a potato tower on his parking strip.
I’ve had a summer garden for many years, but this year I want to keep my garden going for as much of the year as possible and grow lots more stuff! This book (along with your awesome site) would be the perfect primer for doing that.
While I have planted a garden the last 2 years, this year I WILL maintain it. Eating more local is my New Year’s resolution – to me there is no better way than to grow it myself.
Three goals for this year:
Better egg production (adding light to the coop for shorter days?)
Actually plan out the garden this spring. Last year we just threw everything into the ground with no sort of plan.
Continue gardening as much as possible through the fall/winter months.
My blog partner and I spent a month (September) last year exploring Urban Homesteading. I loved it, and found some of it exhausting. My goals this year are to do some canning again with local harvests of wild berries and the like. To replant my veggie plot in the parking strip in front of my apartment building. And to continue to strive for less waste and more whole foods in my kitchen.
Thanks! and Cheers!
Our urban farming goals for year 2 at our new home:
1. Protect the apples and pears! Last year (our first year at the house) we got a huge plum harvest (250 pounds) but did not know to put nylons on our apples and pears. The result: one delicious apple and 40 maggot-filled apples. We’ll be investing in L’eggs!
2. Make more of our tomatoes. last year, we overlook the canning potential of our tomatoes. We ate tons off the plants, but froze few and canned none. This year, we vow to buy not one single jar of canned tomatoes because we’ve used all of ours.
3. Even better staggering. We had beans, carrots, onions and greens from early Spring until Fall (Winter for the carrots) but could have done more to promote a year-round harvest in the temperate NW. This year, we’ll stay on top of the staggering of crops so that we are less dependent on our farm box come Fall and Winter.
Also, we are doubling our berry crops this year, and starting all our own starts instead of depending on the Tilth sale.
Yay!
We have transitioned to a “single-income” stream and are expanding our urban homestead to include chickens, ducks and wool rabbits. The orchard will be two years old and our nursery will include resale. We’ve also expanded our community workshops!
One of my goals is to increase my garden size this year and start all my veggies from seed in my greenhouse. I’m also planning to make my own laundry detergent. As I’m currently reading ‘The Non-Toxic Avenger’, I’m ridding my household of poisons and contaminants and getting as green as possible!
Oh my, giveaways do reel them in. How am I supposed to win that fine book with all these damn commenters clogging the way?
My homesteading goal for 2012 isn’t very urban, and certainly isn’t covered in the book. Can I apply anyway? I am hoping to buy a skiff when we get back to Alaska and come deer season invite my strangely good Internet friend Erica, who once mentioned the desire, to go hunting with me. You haven’t eaten until you’ve eaten well aged black-tail backstrap my dear.
That sounds awesome!
My big Urban Homesteading goal for 2012 is to learn about it and start! I am in the middle of moving to a house with a yard, so I’m pretty excited about it! Would love to have a copy of this wonderful book and put it to good use!!!
Thank you for the opportunity!
To dig up more of our yard!! And with a Rototiller, not by hand this time!!
I would also like to grow more things that we will actually eat –
And, plant an extra row of things for the food bank!
Lots of green love to ya!!
My goal for my condo farm this year is to grow a containerized elderberry bush, find a way to compost that is compact and out of sight, and harvest my herbs throughout the season and not just at the end. I now have many more ideas for how to use them from skincare to medicinals to vinegars and teas. Also I learned to can this holiday so want to explore that through the seasons.
One of my goals for this year is to get a crop of plums from my plum tree. I’ve had the goal for the past two years, but so far I’ve only got ONE mature plum from that tree. I’ve pruned harder, watered and fertilized more, spent a lot of money and effort on organic aphid control, bought a bird net… but this year I’ve got a new tactic to try: mason bees! My current theory is the blooms haven’t been getting fertilized because the last two springs were so cold and wet, but mason bees come out a few weeks earlier than honey bees, and fruit trees are their favorite blossom to visit. I won’t get any honey, but if I can get some plums it’ll be worth it!
I have a lot of goals for 2012, so in an attempt to increase my chances of winning the book, I will list them by categories:
1. Chickens -
- Increase our flock from the current 6 to at least an even dozen (add some more productive egg layers and not just aim for a colorful flock)
- Build a poultry house (this crosses into other goals, but I would like to build a poultry house to have a safe, secure and larger home for the chickens, add some turkeys and a safe zone for the guinea hens)
- Increase my guinea hens from the current 1 (7 died this past year) to at least a dozen.
2. Build a Wood Shed –
- We installed a wood burning stove insert in our basement fireplace last year, and thanks to hurricane Irene this past year, we have a lot of nice hardwood that finally got split. Now it just needs to sit and season for next year. I would like a place to allow it to ventilate and stay dry until I need it.
I would love to own this book. Our Homesteading goal for 2012 is to better our plan our garden so we can harvest cold weather veggies in the early winter; apply some of Eliot Coleman’s ideas. It just seems so overwhelming. *sighs* Baby steps.
3. Build a detached garage –
- We moved from a 3.5 car garage house in Phoenix to a 2 car garage in VA. It is colder here and the Good Wife wants her car IN the garage, not outside of it. That means I need another spot to be able to work on projects and such, and to store seasonal items when not in use.
How exciting! My homesteading/urban gardening goals for this year are 1) create a living indoor gardens for my apartment using burlap bags, clay pots, compost and creativity 2) join in on the honey bee CSA in my city 3) do more canning and fermenting!
My big goal for 2012 is to scale it back and start over! I had several new beds put in last year in a very limited space and I was so over excited that I tried way to much! As a result I didn’t get much of anything. This year I’m going to focus on a) amending my soil (i didn’t quite get the mix I thought I was last year, so it needs quite a bit of compost!) and b) planting two or three of my daughters favorite crops such as sugar snaps and green beans and maybe cherry tomatoes.
My big goal is to grow enough to have more dried, frozen, and canned options throughout the winter. This past year we started having chickens and composting and have been gardening for years but its an ongoing process. I also would like more fruits growing. Hopefully berries and fruit trees will begin producing this year.
4. Expand the bee hives
- I currently have 3 hives and am finishing up my first year. I would not only like to get some honey this year from my hives as this is the main reason for raising the bees, but also expand to about 6 or so hives.
- Add a hive at the house now that I know how docile they are and they won’t bother the Good Wife or the Youngest Son with the allergies. They will also help our garden and fruit trees.
We just bought land last Spring and spend the Summer/Fall fixing up the house, which I documented about on our blog. Now I need to work on the land. We also will still have our house in the city for quite awhile, so I’ll be gardening, hopefully, in two places this year.
Keep up the good work, love your blog!
5. Homegrown meat
- I want a cow but the Good Wife says not now! So meat chickens it is. I want to raise at least one group of meat chickens in the spring and one in the fall. My BIL wants to join in and another friend, so we may try 50. This will require me to learn how to process them myself so it stays economical. Tune in.
Oooh! I have been wanting this book so bad! Goals for this year? Duck enclosure and get ducklings. Plant more fruit trees. Plant a bigger garden with enough produce to feed our family and 3 other couples. Preserve!
6. Become a better hunter
- Tried deer hunting this year and didn’t even see one in my scope. The true free-range meat with no hormones or antibiotics.
7. Pigs –
I would like to try and raise 1-2 pigs for more hormone free, antibiotic free meat. And pigs just fascinate me. This one has to get past the Good Wife too. Hmmm. I think I need to get her more on board at this point.
8. Increase our garden
- Try hanging tomatoes so the chickens don’t eat them
- Increase our strawberry patch
- Grow more foods our family likes to eat
- Utilize growing for all seasons
9. More proactive composting
- We have a small composter that we didn’t really take care of, and it got too dry, then too wet, then… We need to watch it and work with it.
- Build a larger composting pile for all the extra stuff around the house and property to get a good natural pile going.
My big goal for 2012 is Fruit. More specifically fruit trees which mean I must hurry up in the next few months and map out my master garden dream plan so I will know where to plant them.
My goal this year is to try my hand at sewing again. I tried last year and found that I did not have a knack for it, at all! I spent the year researching it more and looking for new ways to inspire me to try again and hopefully this year I will get it right!
My goal is to share all this fun with my 1 year old daughter. And eat a single peach off the peach tree. Just one would be a huge success.
My goal for 2012 is to finally get the upperhand on the weeds at my community garden plot! And to grow popcorn that pops well, I grew plenty of it the last 2 years but it simply does not pop up so well.
10 – Assist the Good Wife in doing canning
- This goes with #8, where we have to grown more if we are going to can some. Although we can also buy from local producers during the season when it is cheaper than during the off season in the grocery stores.
Have fresh, homegrown tomatoes from the 4th of July through Christmas (ripening inside on the kitchen counter from Halloween to Christmas, natch).
I’d love to plant a garden large enough that I’ll be able to can for winter!
I’d like to grow SOMETHING, even if it’s just one tomato plant. Have to start somewhere.
oh that book looks awesome!
My 2012 Urban Homesteading goal is to expand my little garden so I can continue to eat what I grow, but also have enough to possibly preserve in some form or fashion!
I am planning to “re-border” the flower beds in the front of our rental house. It is my sneaky way of creating raised beds in the front yard without our landlord having kittens. Also I am working out a way to utilize the vast concrete patio that is 2/3 of out backyard. Containers galore, seems to be the go-to suggestion. Yay book!
year round harvest that incorporates andean crops and compost crops a la grow bio-intensive.
Goals:
1) adding raised beds
2) learn how to, and slaughter our older chickens
3) skirt 3 more large trees for more sun and longer garden hours!
Count me in, too. Been reading you for a few days now, found you through Crunchy Chicken!
My goals for 2012 are many. We are moving to a new town, so new house, new planting beds to be made (I do lasagna gardening). If we are able, chickens (will depend on zoning), fruit trees in pots (we will be renting), a deep freeze, and more canning supplies.
Thanks for all you do!
Bina
I’m a new reader too. I’ve spent all the free minutes I could find the past two days reading every post you’ve written! ; ) This year I will continue my efforts in self-sufficiency. Last year I made some great progress (raised chickens for the first time, grew the biggest garden I’ve had in years, canned and preserved everything I could get my hands on, re-learned to sew…though still a work in progress, started making herbal remedies and beauty products, etc.) and am excited to dive in deeper this year. Thank you for sharing your experiences!
It is really fun to see the range of experiences present in these comments.
My roommate is getting set up to introduce bees this year. And we are talking about chickens.
My personal goals are:
Weed and re-mulch all garden paths.
More summer squash and lemon cucumbers.
Provide better climbing opportunities for our peas and beans.
Put in a persimmon tree.
Dry all laundry on the line for the months it doesn’t rain here in the Pacific NW.
Shop from the pantry first in meal planning.
It is super inspiring for me to see all that you do. I’m at home with a 10 month old (and taking 5 credits) and still feel like I’m fighting an uphill battle to get anything at all on the todo list done.
I, too found you through Crunchy Chicken. We lived in the city until about 6 months ago when we moved to our own little Appalachian Utopia! We are so excited to get the homestead going. My first blog ever was about our goals and resolutions for 2012 and can be found here http://www.farmarchy.com/2012/01/were-shooting-for-moon-in-2012.html
So our number one goal is to restore a 100 year old farmhouse that is on the property. We currently rent a house a few miles away. Being able to live on our 5.5 acres will allow us to intensively farm the property and make our way towards being more sustainable. So hopefully by the end of the year the family and the chickens will be moved on to the farm where we belong!
Homestead Goals for this year (I couldn’t do just one so you get a top 3):
#1 Learn from last year’s mistakes in order to this year have most beds reasonably productive of things we actually eat and foods to preserve
#2 Prepare for the future with long-term plantings such as fruit trees, berry bushes, asparagus bed, grapes
#3 Add a new farmhand to the family and further train the toddler in actually helping instead of “helping”
My goal for 2012 is to actually grow a garden. I’m finally in a house with a yard and this book would definitely help teach me what to do with it.
My big 2012 goal is to:
Plant two gardens: a smaller one close to the house, and a much larger one out in the open.
Preserve as much produce as I can from my gardens.
Get two more hens
Have the meat rabbit operation in full swing
I feel like such a beginner lol!
So many goals for 2012. I think the one I’m most looking forward to try out is making salt. But the most daunting one is actually planning this year’s garden. No more willy nilly hoohah. Here’s hoping.
My top two goals are:
1. Build a better chicken coop
2. A front yard garden
I have about a hundred others, but that should do for now…
Oh it’s so great to see this book on a giveaway! All I’ve heard about it sounds great.
My goals this year are to get bees and figure out how to live peacefully with the gophers and still get food from our garden for us!
this book looks wonderful- i run several community gardens. our big goals for this year are to plant a community pumpkin patch, trellis the raspberry patch, and conquer the meadow voles. they are cute, but man do they destroy the brassicas.
The 2012 goal is to increase yields utilizing vermiculture, horizontal/vertical planting, chickens, rabbits and bees to share with family, friends, and those in need. In other words , I’m planning a very green buffet.
My 2012 goal is two-fold – to build a few raised beds rather than growing only in pots, and to train my young dog that digging in pots (or in the raised beds) is a HUGE NO-NO.
My goal is to spread my enthusiasm for my urban garden to my neighbors and friends, and to gain additional knowledge and ideas to help me in that effort.
Goals for 2012? Grow more veggies in my suburb yard, talk hubs into some chickens (this will be the tough one!) and get more canning done in the summer months. And plant more native plants in my Monarch butterfly garden.
My main goal is to fence off the garden part of my yard to keep the dogs out. Then I want to add some blueberry or raspberry bushes. Would love to add a grapevine, but I need to work on a good sturdy arbor, maybe next year.
My goal is to get an herb roof on the chicken coop and teach our son (3) the value of growing and raising your own.
I want to start a Indigenous Food Sovereignty co-op in Vancouver. Using a from seed to feed modality for Urban American Indians to have cultural ties to urban spaces! Making our ancestors proud and self sustaining our future!
My goal is to espalier some fruit trees along the side of the house and grow some hops for brewing.
My main goal here on the homestead for 2012 is to grow enough herb plants to sell at the local farm market along with a brand new chicken coop,and enough fresh vegetables to provide a years worth on food on the farm.
This book looks awesome!!
My goal for this year is to grow some berry bushes (at least blueberry) and fruit trees (potted) and grow several different types of tomatoes, beans, squash, peas, potatoes, herbs, and whatever else I can fit in to a container and find sun space to put it.
I have a loooong list of projects this year, but the two biggest would probably be:
1. Building a new chicken coop/covered run.
2. Moving our garden. We had a HUGE backyard tree that had to come down this last fall, which completely changed the sun/shade factor in the backyard. We now have a very large area that will be optimal for a garden, so we’ll no longer have to fight with the old semi-shaded garden site.
I have a lot of goals for 2012. I’m hoping to move to a more rural home on an acre, plant lots of fruit seeds and put in a small aquaponics system.
My goal list seems to be growing exponentially – Firstly, I am going to make an attempt at prioritizing & focusing:-) This year, I will be tearing out/transplanting bushes and flower bulbs that are taking up prime vegetable garden space – planning and planting the family favorites… enough to enable us to freeze/can for the winter months. I am also going to have the kids build a potato condo, attempt to grow garlic and onions… I could go on… and on… ;-)
This time last year I had no garden. Now I have 4 beds. Hoping for a few more in 2012. I have picked this book up several times at sky nursery but haven’t purchased it yet because my start up costs have been so great. Would love a copy.
To actually find the property I’ve been longing for so that I can actually finish some projects I’ve already started and begin the one’s that I’ve been dreaming of.
My goal is to be more productive in the space I have and to get real about what I need to grow. Instead of using space for 6 slicing tomato plants…grow one or two and give more space to plum tomatoes for sauce. I would also love some chickens but not sure how my husband and dog would do with them! I want to ferment more things too. Once you start fermenting it gets addictive and there is so much to try!
What we are planning to do this year is to start herbs plants and sell them. Last year we had only 2 tomato plants and a few herbs. This year we will be growing organic green beans, squash, tomatoes, bell peppers, thyme, sage, lavender, and whatever else we can squeeze into our planting space … we also want to start an organic strawberry patch.
Get the grape arbors pruned and repaired. Finish the walking area under the grapes, plant another 30 native fruiting plants, move some running bamboo to create a fence on the north property line, raise ducks from our own eggs, get the greenhouse finished so we can enjoy year round greens production.
My goal is to grow my own herbs. I have attempted several years with no real luck. This year I will research and ask which ones do best in my area. Growing my own will help me save money and enjoy herbs fresh. I now live in townhouse with no grass- so I’ll have to do it container method. I’m excited to get started.
As a very soon to be homeowner, my 2012 goals are to convert what I have learned small scale gardening on my apartment balcony to a sustainable, organic mini farm on my property. I am so excited to figure out the ins and outs of eventually feeding my family completely from our yard!
My goal is not to “do” but to “teach.” I’m trying to get a niche beat on Yahoo! Gardening about urban homesteading, and if I don’t get that, I’ll do it on my blog. I don’t know if I’ll be able to do any urban homesteading myself, but I can sure teach people what I know about it.
Just bought 6+ acres in NW Washington, so my goals this year are to have it all (or at least the beginnings of it all….) — chickens, vegetable garden, hoophouse, perennial garden, compost system, rain collection system, and anything else I can manage to get accomplished!
My goal for 2012 is to start my backyard garden… get a couple of raised beds put together and off I go! This book sounds like it could really point me in the right direction!
The goals for 2012 include 20 additional varieties of vegetables to the current cast of 30, debuting 7 new raised beds, and relying solely on our own composting bins and pen for organic planting matter. 2011 was our first foray into winter gardening. While it has worked perfectly, it consists of mostly greens. I’m looking forward to adding the brassicas and root crops to next year’s over-wintering beds this year.
My goal is to have a better backyard garden than I did last year… we started from scratch and I need to plan better… we also want to plant some apple trees :)
our goal for this year is to get the garden to yield something! This will be our third year and we have not gotten too many good results for hard work in the last two years. I am beginning to think there is something wrong with our dirt!
My goal is to build a fence around our garden area down in the woods, also to take out two tree’s that are shading this area. We had a very good garden there last year but the deer and a lack of sun light ruined half of the garden. The soil in this area is really good in this location, we are also going to make the area for the garden twice what it was last year. We have another garden spot with raised beds in a red clay rock area that does really good because of the raised beds and the compost. My donkey Buford has made many deposits to the big compost piles that we have in the raised bed area. This will be our second year here and will be the best year for our new and improved garden area. Ellen from Georgia
My goal is to bring hens and rabbits into the mix, to take it to the next level in terms of being more self-sufficient with how I get protein. I have lots of other hopes too, like actually producing a good loaf of artisanal sourdough and getting my dogs all set with homemade flea repellant.
I don’t have huge goals for this year, but I’ll be increasing from one beehive to two, increasing planting of the veggies I use and love the most (tomatoes, kale, basil, etc), and trying to finally have a successful potato crop. Hoping third time is a charm on potatoes. My main homesteading goal for ’12, though, is to start saving every penny so that I can buy a place with more space and then be a non-urban homesteader! :)
My goal is to keep homesteading in all the ways I do, teach homesteading skills to more people, keep distributing our book Urban Homesteading: Heirloom Skills for Sustainable Living, and start the next one Tiny Town Farm: Towards an Ecology of Belonging. Oh yeah, and figure out a way to really earn a living doing the things I love.
I’d love to see this book because I’m like you – maybe it’s like what I write, or like what I should have written in our urban homesteading book.
My goal this year is to find the investors I need to purchase my urban farm! Thanks for the chance to win this wonderful sounding book!
My Urban Homesteading goal is to take Earthbag building classes at Cal Earth in Hesperia, find a beautiful piece of land in Joshua Tree with water rights, and build myself a spectacular complex of dome homes and a great garden and begin teaching classes in earth architecture.
My goal is to grow 90% of my veggies, and this year, to extend to year round gardening. I have just built a 24 ft long and 3 ft deep cold frame out of timbers and sliding glass doors, some bungie cords, home fabricated ironwork for swivels, including board slats every 4 ft to lean on while gardening in there. It’s decomposting now, and the 55 gal. barrel is steeping the manure tea for it. In addition – the 100 x 150 ft garden plot, some with perennials and berry bushes, will be going again. And as soon as the patio windbreaks are done, I will be doing patio containers ala greenhouse, along with hanging containers.
I retired. And I need to eat. So this is for REAL now!!! Such are my goals for this year.
We just bought a little cottage with a septic drain-field in the front, south facing yard on Whidbey Island. It’s a button of a house on a button of a lot which only means to get to be *really* creative! It comes with a couple apple trees (pretty sure those are stock in PNW) and fortunately a large, slightly elevated easement from the street… SO raised, box garden beds galore! Fence climbers from pots, window boxes chocked full of herbs, rain water catchment, grey water from the laundry, and our only pets are to be chickens. Almost everything inside reused or repurposed, organic textiles and non-voc paints. It is small, smart and beaming with life :)
Oh my goodness. This year we have put an offer on a house on 1/4 acre in town. We will be starting from scratch. I desperately need this book!!!
I am a newbie, just ordered chicks to arrive in a few weeks. My main goal is to care for them well, after that I want to try and grow a good portion of my family’s food. We’ve recently taken out a portion of our lawn in the front and created an edible landscape that we are very excited about, I hope to do more of the same around the rest of our yard in years to come.
Hi, I would love a copy of this book! My goals this year are numerous. My husband and father in law built me raised gardening beds at christmas and I plan to garden. I would love to work towards being more sustainable, including composting, gardening, etc. Part of this desire is to eat more organically because I have an autoimmune disorder and also to role model for my young children. I would also like to can foods. So much to learn. I’m sure this book can be a big help to a psychologist turned home maker/keeper. Thanks for all the great info you continue to provide! Love it!
Definitely raised garden beds and rain water barrel. Also going to look into local ordinances for raising chickens.
My big homesteading goal for 2012 is to buy a home to stead! My partner and I have been renting a little house with a big(ish) garden and flock of chickens for the past 7 years, but now we’re finally able to make the leap to home ownership. We’re in the preliminary stages, but we’ve been looking at homes on 1/4 to 1/2 acre-lots in the city. I’m planning so many projects for my future urban farm! I can’t wait!
More raised garden beds and container gardening. Making broth, learning how to slaughter a chicken and pig, making my own cheese and lip balm. It shall be done!
My 2012 goal is to “return” to urban farming. About six years ago my husband and I had a home on nearly two acres on Vashon, that supported a nice veggie garden (just for us, I didn’t sell), separate herb garden, rabbits, chickens, ducks, and sheep. Since then, we’ve experienced a couple moves, a couple losses, and now don’t have so much space…that’s OK because I aim to return to that way of life and use this small amount for the most gain. Apparently several years ago, the people at this house had a good garden plot, so plan to reinstitute that and intend to finally build the chicken tractor I’ve been wanting for several years.
I was going to write a long, involved post about what I have and how this book would help me but I think simple honesty is the best. In truth, this book would be a wonderful home library addition to my little urban/small town farm help. I want to add Quail and rabbits to my little farm and locate my potted fruit orchard in the best possible way as well as assist me in “best plantings” for my 2 6×6 raised beds. As well, it would help me to savor and save my wonderful produce.
Thank you for your time, I enjoy your blog immensely. Jennifer
Here are some photos of my small space in July of 2011: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2192448486948.2129953.1119211423&type=3&l=88138a1810
My goal for 2012 is to make out backyard useable. The previous owner created raised beds using treated wood, and it is my hope to get rid of it this year so that we can start planting our vegetable garden and some berries!
Entries for this contest are now closed. Winner will be announced tomorrow, Tuesday Jan 17th. Thank you and good luck.