Is Urban Farming For you?
One Acre Urban Farming
Getting Started Toward Sustainable Independence With Urban Farming
From community gardens, and suburban chicken coops, to backyard beekeeping and roof-top vegetable gardening, today, we're all striving to take control of our food supply and grow wherever we are!
If your goal is to move toward sustainable independence, and you want to take more control over the food you put into your body, urban farming might be for you! Small acreage farming can be a viable way to gain independence over your food supply. In this post, we're going to look at some innovative ways to maximize yield on a small homestead, including the benefits of one-acre urban farming, planning your farm, and choosing crops.
Step 1: Define Your Urban Farming Goals
Creating a plan for your farm will help you determine what elements you need room for on your land, for example, do you want to raise livestock like goats for milk or chickens for eggs? If you're unsure, start by creating a list with categories, like must-haves, uncertain, and maybes. From there, you can begin to do your research and determine the viability of your choices.
Think about structures, types of animals, gardens, etc. Do you need a greenhouse to start your plantings early? Think about and visualize your farm. What do you want, versus what do you need? This picture is the foundation and will help you determine how many acres you need, or how you will delineate space.
Educate yourself. A great way to learn about your options is to visit other small urban homestead farms, and volunteer to help with livestock or construction projects. Ask plenty of questions and see how other people have put together their farms.
Once you've created a plan, you can begin to determine how you'll use the land you have, or if you're in the process of looking, how much land you'll need. For example, if raising livestock, or having a flock of free-range chickens, you'll need more land. However, sustainability is possible on as little as an acre if you carefully plan your homestead. You just have to understand that there will be some limitations on a smaller property.
Creating A Mini Sustainable Homestead: 1 to 2 Acres
Even with some limitations, for example, not being able to keep some larger livestock humanely, smaller properties can still provide sustainable independence. "Permaculture" is a technique that encourages "stacking functions" to help save space.
Stacking functions is having some element perform multiple tasks on the farm. For example, if you raise chickens, your greenhouse can function as a winter run for your flock if the weather is too cold.
When it comes to building, planting, and creating on your land, most of us look forwards, backward, left and right, but we often skip looking up and down! Permaculture teaches us that we can think vertically to save space.
For example, we can take a cue from Native American lore with the well-known Three Sisters Guild in the garden.
The guild consists of three plants: corn, peas, and squash. The corn grows tall and acts as a trellis, supporting the peas as they grow. The peas fix nitrogen into the soil, which feeds the corn. The squash is a low growing vine that covers the ground, protects the soil, and reduces evaporative water loss. This is also known as companion planting and allows you to grow a tremendous amount of food in just one small garden bed.
The Pros and Cons of One-Acre Urban Farming
While it's possible to achieve sustainable independence on as little as one acre of land, there are some pros and cons to consider.
The Pros:
Smaller lots under 5 acres are very easy to manage with proper planning.
Small lots can be closer to towns or cities, making it easier to maintain your property while working.
Smaller lots outside of cities are potentially cheaper to purchase, have lower land taxes, and, overall, cost less to maintain.
Even one acre is plenty of space to provide most of your food needs.
The Cons:
One acre is not sufficient for keeping any livestock larger than chickens.
Smaller lots are typically light on natural resources like trees for firewood or space for water harvesting.
Smaller garden space requires more planning, and careful planting, and offers less opportunity and space for subsistence crops like wheat.
Smaller properties are often closer to neighbors, which can create obstacles to raising livestock like chickens.
You may, in fact, have additional county or municipal limitations for how you can use the land.
Sustainable farming and providing a year-round food supply is achievable on as little as a single acre of land! If you're considering buying a plot of land, make sure you do your due diligence. In some cases, there are legal reasons why an area or portion of a parcel may be unusable; this is especially true closer to cities.
Another critical aspect to consider is the health of the area. Healthier land will have a higher carrying capacity. With techniques like permaculture, vertical farming, and companion planting, you can improve yields and maximize land use to better support your needs.
Urban farming can not only offer sustainability, but it can also help your community by reducing carbon emissions and preserving open space. Even one acre can provide you, your family, and your friends with an extremely healthy food source and offer greater food security in these uncertain times.
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With In Green Living, Joni Keefe shares nature-based design choices for buildings, urban greenspaces, and Interior Design. Her interests follow Real Estate & housing sustainable agriculture, eco-friendly building products, and the latest trends in green design. She is a published writer with horticultural design work featured in national publications, this is her newsletter.