I made my first trip to a local bookstore in our area. I actually went there to order the next book for the The Slow Readers Book Club, which will be Alice I Have Been, by Melanie Benjamin. When I walked in I quickly browsed the table upfront to see if anything caught my eye. The Urban Homestead, by Kelly Coyne & Erik Knutzen did just that!
Having recently bought our first home, I am really excited to get a big garden going. At our last place my husband was much more attentive to the garden, I'd help out when asked but I never really took ownership in it. This time around I really look forward to being involved all along the way. We have both agreed that the east side of our house will be a perfect area to create a lush garden. Its a large space, gets plenty of sun, and that leaves the backyard for entertaining and as wrestling grounds for our dogs.
My husband likes to joke about how starting a compost bin for our backyard has been a project I have put off for 3 years, but I'm going to make it a reality this year! The book is full of great ideas for composting, mulching and trying to let nature do as it was intended (no pesticides and letting the birds, bees and bugs help out).
The Urban Homestead is about becoming more self-sufficient by using the land you have (whether you rent or own, live in an apartment or even squat) to grow as much of your own food as possible while leaving a smaller impact on the environment. I want to be more connected with what we eat and I'd like to cut out large supermarket chains as best we can. Between growing our own veggies and fruit, and taking advantage of the local Farmer's Market I think we can do that quite easily.
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