Book Review – The Urban Homestead: Your guide to self-sufficient living in the heart of the city

Ever since I happened upon the Path to Freedom website a few years ago, I’ve been very interested in urban homesteading.  I’m eager to drink in as much information as possible for use now, as a renter, and in the future, once I own my own home.  So, I was excited to read The Urban Homestead: Your guide to self-sufficient living in the heart of the city, by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen of the ‘Homegrown Evolution’ blog.

Urban homesteading is all about reducing your dependence on our consumerist, mindless-television-watching culture.  When you think about it, many of us are incredibly reliant on grocery stores, the power grid, city water and gas-powered transportation.  Our food is typically grown thousands of miles away, so we have no real connection to it.  And, what would happen if the power went out, grocery stores closed down, ‘peak oil’ actually  happened, or any other scenario that left us without all of the conveniences we’ve grown accustomed to?  We’ve lost the power that our ancestors held, which has been transferred to faceless corporations.

As an urban homesteader, you take that power into your own hands by growing your own food, saving (and sometimes producing your own) energy, water catchment systems and plain ol’ riding a bike.  You can take it further by raising chickens and other animals, foraging for edibles and even making your own alcoholic beverages.  All of these things are possible in city environments, and The Urban Homestead explains how to do it.

What I love most about this book is the authors’ refreshing attitude about the amount of work it takes to be an urban homesteader (and the occasional joking references to using these skills in the event of a zombie attack).  From the outside looking in, urban homesteading is an awful lot of hard work, but Kelly and Erik make it seem far less overwhelming with a ‘work makes work’ and ‘just do what you can’ take.  It gives you the confidence to start your own journey toward self-sufficiency, even if you start in very small ways.

The Urban Homestead isn’t meant to be a one-volume instruction manual for every single skill you need to be more self-sufficient.  Rather, it gives an excellent overview of the skills you should learn – along with many helpful tips – and lists of resources where you can find more in-depth information on each topic.  Think of it as a primer that points you in all the right directions for each skill set.  It’s an engaging read, and it will get you excited about the possibilities of living a better, more self-reliant life no matter where you live.

Link [Homegrown Evolution] + [Amazon.com]