Self Sufficiency in Small Spaces | Homestead VLOG

I debated posting this. What's the harm in believing a comforting lie? But you need to know the truth. And then plan accordingly. This is "a rant-y chat"... with coffee.

Thanks for hanging out with me on our 5 acre homestead in Kentucky, USA zone 6b. Enjoy your coffee and thanks for dropping by!

[ahtemmathehun]

Preach it sister! We're in an apartment and I garden but I am fully aware that there no way we can be self sufficient here. Most of my plants this year have had the purpose of being seed savers. For a little perspective, a four foot row of young lettuce greens makes one salad for my family of 5 and takes over a week to grow back so I can do it again. 3 bush bean plants made enough food for my kids to have a few dozen fresh beans to snack on, there was no way I had enough to even can a single pint jar of them, and my one potted tomato plant has produced enough tomatoes for one snack and one salad all summer. Yes, I have about 3 months of stored food in my home but it takes up part of my living and dining room. We aren't self sufficient by any stretch of the imagination, but I have created a buffer against hard times, which is the best I can do. Being self sufficient is a full time job and requires a ton of space.

[ramblinrosecottage]

I think more people than you realize know this fact. They just want to "live in the lie" like you said. I've been a gardener for more than 35 years, but until 2014, it was only ornamental flowers. I lived in a townhouse (condo) with a postage stamp front yard (no seriously it was) and a 25' x 20' stone patio in the back. And an HOA. I grew in containers on my patio. At first it was just a couple of pots of peppers and some green beans. Then it was some more pots, and then more pots. I filled that patio up to the max with containers. I still couldn't grow enough to even make it worth trying to learn how to can. I now live in a house in town with 1/3 acre of land. That might not sound like much, but compared to my townhouse it's huge. I have 8 raised beds and planning more. I still grow only enough for fresh eating of most things. I freeze some green beans and some peppers, but not nearly enough for a whole year. I get it....and I'm not a homesteader.

[twosistas]

Thank you for the truth! I live in in central Arkansas and can't grow in my yard. So I rent a plot(like an allotment) for about $50 bucks a year. That's how I grow some of my food. You're the best.

[saraalexander]

"I feel really ranty." That struck me as so funny from you!! LOL! " Why not let people live in a comfortable lie?" BECAUSE that lie will be VERY uncomfortable when they go hungry, previously thinking they can be self-sufficient. Almost all of us are interdependent. We NEED farmers, even if we are homesteaders. Even if you can grow lots, most people can't grow everything.

[TerryeToombs]

People need to hear the cold, hard facts. I have a friend that has two, five acre homesteads that she grows food on. She sells most of it at the Farmer's Market that is held twice a week. It's a full time job for her and she has tractors to help. We have five acres that is just pasture. Thankfully, we finally got a tractor a couple of months ago and we're working on fencing it all in (to keep the rancher's glutenous cows out - I'm still sore over them eating my whole garden two years ago). I know we can't grow all of our own food, but I'd sure like to put a dent in our grocery bill. Thank you for keeping it real and speaking the truth.

[KerriEverlasting]

Its actually a really good point. Better to hurt a little from the truth than starve to death from a lie. It's easy to grow a bit of food... ridiculously hard to harvest at the exact right time, then process and preserve or even harvest before the pests get to it. Impossible (nearly) to survive from the garden.
Do you want half chewed slug and caterpillar leftovers or toxic pesticides for dinner? Because there is no in between here.

[shalmaratrethewey]

This is so important for people to know. Even back in the day rural people still bought staples and supplemented their diet.

[handshearts-seedsfeedamu]

I 💘 YOU... You are so right on... I didn't get enough FOOD to have ANY to save... I have done the math, it takes a lot of FOOD for 1 person in 1year.

[aries]

Well, you’re spot on, so rant away. You’re so adorable though. Even while ranting! I loved it. 😊

[TShirtAndReeboks]

Yes! I have some raised beds, some containers and a small area of in-ground gardening and I know my family of 5 could not live on it. But it sure does help save money when it provides some sides for dinner or helps me stretch what I already have. Plus we can grow year round, though Jan/Feb is very light growing. This spring my sweet neighbor was wanting to join gardening forces and she wanted me to grow some things and she would grow others and we would split what we grew. Great idea, from a great lady, but I had to tell her that I never know what is going to grow well in a year and so I grow a variety. And for me to can up anything, I need to have all that I am growing. I can't feel responsible for 2 families.

[anitahamlin]

There is a big learning curve, so I have called it practice. I will be doing far more in the future, and I have learned a great deal from the practicing years I have done. There is so much work involved in the whole gardening and canning life. My Grandparents really did it well! They learned as children because they had to. I am so grateful for the exposure they gave me as a child. My grandfather made it look easy. He let me sling the honey, slop the hogs, and feed the chickens. Harvests included the whole family helping with processing it for future use. My parents had a garden and I have had pots in a parking lot for years because that is all I could do. I really tried hard this last year to do more and still it was dismal compared to what I eat overall. You go girl! Tell it like it is.

[lorineidtinytoadplot]

My mom canned a pile of food we had shelves 10' high we had to climb on to get the canned food at the top, Jam, peaches, apple sauce, peas, pickles, beets. Our garden was 1/2 an acre. My Aunt and unkle had an orchard, we had a full freezer with pork and moose and we still bought at the store. We bought milk, eggs, cheese, flour and cereal of course lol

[LittleIowa]

This is why it's important to be a prepper and try your best to have canned goods and dry goods in your house because you cannot survive off of a back porch garden.

[mothrahdizaztronaut]

Lol, me and my exactly two raised beds did feel called out, but I've never been trying to be fully self-sufficient. Even the 25lb bags of grains in the garage are, like, a year at best. But I'm in California anyway, so will definitely be dealing with water problems before I even have time to think about food.

But I was in an apartment with a Greenstalk that I actually hid behind the carpark because I didn't even have a balcony, and a worm bin, and while I wasn't surviving off of it, it was enormously satisfying. Especially while stuck at home, indoors, in the heat and (at one point) fires/smoke.

[amandabadger]

I had the fortune of being able to have a nice little garden in my building's back yard this year. I live in a 3 flat apartment in Chicago and my neighbors also shared the garden. Woo boy, I learned very quickly just exactly how much more land we would need to really grow enough food to be truly self sufficient, especially with potatoes and and beans. Plus if you add in the cost of soil and gardening equipment back in March for the garden, I'm pretty sure I spent more on the garden than I would have just buying the same food from the store.

[dianebeckner]

In all honesty people are lying to themselves. It makes it easier to ignore what could come in the future. It was a rare occurrence for our ancestors to be self sufficient as well, and they had LAND! Again back to the Little House books. While Ma and Pa grew a lot, had a cow, chickens, etc, they still had to make trips into town for things like sugar, coffee, etc. What fresh produce wasn't grown in their area was crazy expensive and only for the very wealthy, an orange, for example. I think the closest they ever came was when they lived in the Big woods and Pa could hunt, and there was family near by to share and help. All that being said, every little bit helps. What we do grow and can is one less thing I have to buy, but we do pretty good on our .78 acres. Lately we get the " you guys are so lucky to have chickens for eggs". Yes we are, but we still have to buy feed for said chickens, and that is going up! .Still I'm grateful for what we have. Because we aren't and never will be totally self sufficient; we stock up on things when they're on sale. That anyone can do, regardless of living quarters, if determined enough. That is what everyone should do, and not keep putting it off for "some day when we have a farm". Also, our ancestors grew more food than they could eat in a year. They did this because they knew there would be years where there was too much rain, a drought, an early freeze, etc. They had to have reserves!

[prahootace]

First year Gardner here. I got a reality check from my poor little harvest this year. But it was a good learning experience.

[Fritz]

Woman I freaking love you no on sense up front flat out truth! Thank you!

[TheNellyShopovaShow]

Finally a normal homesteader with a little bit more common sense that is telling the truth and not painting a pretty picture of perfect life and self sufficiency!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[jenniferschmitt]

Amen speak the truth! If you're living in an apartment you might be able to grow enough basil that you don't have to buy that again :-) I live in a regular house with a regular yard and I've got 10 raised beds and a bunch of container gardening that I'm doing. I would love to grow all my own food. But with what I grow if I tried to live off of that I would starve in a week. This year I was so frustrated with gardening I almost decided to give it up and plant grass. But I'm not going to! But this year I got hit with the aphids, tomato horned worms, squash bugs and some nasty flies that were eating the green off all my leaves. Everything was getting eaten!! It is frustrating as all get out and sometimes it's wonderful. But you're right you are not going to grow enough food to live off of 100% unless you've got a massive amount of land. You can definitely supplement your grocery store shopping but we need to stay real