The Ultimate Guide to Sustainable Homesteading (2024)

Are you just beginning your journey towards growing your own food and sustainable living? Whether you are beginner homesteaders or well into your homesteading journey thissustainable homesteadingguide will help you along the way.

What is Sustainable Homesteading

In my opinion, sustainable living is seeking to reduce a person’s or community’s need of resources or input from outside help. In turn, it reduces their impact on the environment and resources.

Sustainable homesteading is rooted in regeneration. Do the systems you have in place continue to produce what they were designed to produce, with minimal outside help? That my friend, is sustainable homesteading.

How to Get Started With Sustainable Homesteading

Getting started with sustainable homesteading requires some planning, research, and the desire to learn new skills and also learn from your mistakes. To have a thriving sustainable homestead you must also be patient, learning one thing at a time.

This homestead lifestyle can be for anyone willing to do the right thing and hard work that it takes to have a sustainable future.

• Focus on skills that are sustainable.
• What are your long-term plans and goals? What are you passionate about?
• Determine what resources you have available to meet your goals.
• Do the research. Watch all those videos and read all those books.
• Look for workshops at local farms.
• Let failure be your teacher.
• Start small, with one new skill at a time to increase your self sufficiency.
• Create a homestead plan using your dreams and goals.
• Design your homestead plan with the idea of doing tasks with less steps.
• Design and build good infrastructure. This is so important. A good set up makes the world of difference.
• Be willing to change or alter your own needs and plans.
• Start gardening, on any scale and low budget. It doesn’t have to be a large garden to start.
• Learn to raise and keep animals for self sufficiency.
• Build good fences. A good neighbor told me once to “do it right or do it twice.”
• Be persistent and patient.
• Connect with your community to find other like minded folks.
• Last but not least, teach your children. It only takes a generation or two for skills and simple living to be forgotten.

Can We Live a Totally Self-Sufficient Lifestyle?

While living a totally self-sufficient lifestyle is possible, I truly believe there are few that could commit to doing it. As for my house hold, while we do grow a bunch of our own food and haven’t bought meat in the grocery store in 6 or 7 years but are far from being totally self-sufficient.

Even though we preserve most of our own veggies and process our own chickens and meat, for us to be totally self-sufficient there are many, many things we would still have to do.Truth be told, some of these things, like a nice long hot shower always at my disposal, I would choose not to give up. Being connected to the electrical grid on a regular basis works for us, with solar backup for emergencies.

Everyone is different though with different levels of self sufficiency in mind. I do think that within our self-sufficiency we need to be careful to not lose community.

Let’s Not Forget About Community

Lately, I’ve heard some of the popular, modern homesteaders almost refer to being self-sufficient as bad. As if it means that one is selfish. While this could be true, I do believe that you can be self-sufficient and still be involved and for community building.

Community is so important in sustainable homesteading. Skills and resources can be taught, traded, and shared among like minded community.

Essentials Needed in Sustainable Homesteading

Having a sustainable homestead is going to require some basic elements. These are the things that every beginner homesteader cannot do without.

Water Sources

Water is life giving and sustaining. What more can I say? You’ll want to consider what source your water is coming from, as water contaminated with chlorine isn’t your best best for watering a garden or to use in fermentation.

If you can, installing a free flowing artesian well is an extremely sustainable way to source your water. Rainwater collection is as well.

Learn to Grow a Garden

Growing your own food is an essential part of the sustainable homesteading movement and will make you less susceptible to issues with supply chains. Learn to start plants from cuttings or from seed for your homestead garden.

When the growing season is coming to an end, be sure to save seeds from your best plants for the next growing season. Trying to grow healthy food as organically as possible is key in sustainable homesteading and will reduce your environmental impact.

Compost Pile

Ah yes, the compost pile and yes, you need one. Learn to compost kitchen scraps and chicken manure to use as an organic soil amendment in the homestead garden and reduce waste.

Do some research on the different types of composting to find one that works for you. Composting can be done in small spaces too. Composting is a sustainable way to reduce waste and make free fertilizer.

Finding the right compost bin was a game changer for compost making on my homestead. We actually ended up using a huge, broken chest freezer. I simply build the pile on one side of the chest freezer and move the pile to the other side when its ready to be flipped.

I like having the bin because it keeps everything contained, keeps my chickens out, and has a lid I can close if it’s extra smelly compost.

A Well Stocked Kitchen

Growing and raising your own food means you’ll have a busy kitchen with all that food production. Having your kitchen stocked with necessary supplies is a must in the sustainable homestead kitchen.

• Cookware in lasting materials like stainless steel and/or cast iron.
• Knives, large cutting boards, and knife sharpeners
• Food Preservation Tools, like canning supplies, fermentation weights, salt, and jars, a dehydrator, and a vacuum sealer comes in handy as well.
• Food Processing Equipment, like blenders, mixers, and meat grinders.
• Kitchen Utensils
• Baking Supplies
• Food Storage Containers like mason jars, freezer safe containers, and reusable storage bags.
• Miscellaneous Supplies like a scale, thermometers, timers, towels, gloves , cleaning supplies, and of course, a lovely apron with big pockets.

Having these kitchen supplies on hand will help you prepare, process, and preserve the harvest from your garden or farm, making sure you have meals ready to go year round. Furthermore, investing in high-quality, durable equipment will save time and money in the long run.

Storage Space

Ample storage space is going to be a must with all those kitchen supplies and preserved meals coming out of the kitchen. Finding ways to store items, like salt, in bulk will save you in the long run. We keep bulk ingredients in 55 gallon drums that seal up tight.

Have a Budget

Homesteaders, like anyone managing a household or small farm, should have a budget and stick to it. Living a self-sufficient lifestyle often means not living within your means but often living below your means.

You may have debt that was acquired in order to buy your homestead, expenses you need to track in order to see where cuts can be made, and future goals you’d like to meet. Having and sticking to a budget will help manage the nitty gritty financial details of homesteading.

Things to Consider When Striving for a Self-sufficient Homestead

• Do we need to buy this or can we make or build it ourselves?
• Can we fix this ourselves or is it necessary to hire someone?
• What are the startup costs?
• If we borrow money for this, how long will it take to pay back?
• Is borrowing money a complete necessity or could we lease or rent instead?
• Can we get this secondhand or borrow it?

Activities That Will Lead to Sustainable Homesteading

Focusing in on homesteading skills or systems that are truly sustainable will lead you to a more self-sufficient homestead. Look for those things that naturally regenerate or things you can reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Solar Power & Solar Panels

Renewable energy sources are always a good idea if you want a sustainable homestead or are wanting to get into off-grid living. Solar energy can be used to power many systems on a homestead.

Our homestead recently saved up and splurged on a solar generator. We wanted a sustainable form of power that was strong enough to run our big chest freezer in case of a power outage. Solar energy is much more sustainable than having to rely on gas generators.

Rainwater Collection

Having a renewable water source is mighty convenient and may very well save you in a larger scale emergency. I’m always looking for ways to do my farm chores in less steps. For me, that meant adding a rainwater collection to my chicken tractor that I use for my laying hens. Our next rainwater collection will be for our front cow pasture so we can rotationally graze a little more efficiently.

Basic Sewing

Knowing how to repair things is just handy. While I don’t sew much, I do a least know my way around a sewing machine. Living a more sustainable lifestyle may mean repairing things that aren’t quite worn out yet.

Upcycle

Upcycling can be so much fun. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.” This couldn’t be more true when living a simple lifestyle.

It’s always fun to see how you can turn trash into treasure. Some of my best trellising material in the garden are actually legs from an above ground pool we had about 8 years ago. We also upcycled an old trailer into a chicken tractor.

Making Compost

Yes, you! Please make some compost. Not only does it reduce your waste but it utilizes all that organic matter by turning it into valuable, sustainable fertilizer for your homestead garden. Compost also helps build soil structure, regulates soil temperatures, maintains moisture levels, and helps reduce erosion.

DIY Homesteading Projects

As a sustainable homesteader, you’ll be doing all the DIY projects, like building a chicken coop or a compost bin. Let’s face it, buying new and/or paying someone to build something is just expensive and not sustainable.

Basic Construction Skills

This goes right along with DIY projects. If you don’t know basic construction skills or have a partner that is proficient in them, it will benefit you to learn the basics.

You’ll learn a new, sustainable skill and learn how to use all those power tools in the process. You could even run those power tools off a solar generator and build with reclaimed lumber. Now that’s sustainable.

Sustainable Homesteading in the Garden

The homestead garden is a key component to sustainable homesteading. Gardening can be simple and inexpensive. With a tarp, a shovel, some compost, some seeds, and a little bit of work, you can be well on your way to having a sustainable homestead garden.

Don’t fall into the trap that you need to spend a bunch of money on raised beds and soil trucked in by the load. While all those things are nice, they aren’t the most sustainable way to go.

Plant a Vegetable Garden

Talking to your family first and taking note of what they will actually eat from the garden is the first step. After all, if your people won’t eat what you grow that’s not very sustainable. Start with those things and maybe grow something you’d like to try and something for fun.

Choosing to grow heirlooms over hybrids is also more sustainable, as you can save seeds from open pollinated or heirloom seeds. Hybrids are a really great choice as well as they are bred to be disease resistant and high producing crops. The seeds just won’t give you the same thing if planted the next growing season.

Add a Pollinator Garden

Don’t forget the flower garden. Adding a pollinator garden is a sustainable tactic for amazing harvests. It also benefits the bees, which are a key factor in sustainability.

Propagating Plants

Propagating plants from cuttings is a great way to be able to grow more edible plants or pollinators. It does take some patience to get them started but in the long run you cant beat it. You can take cuttings off of your grown cuttings again and again. Sounds pretty sustainable, right?

Save Seeds for Sustainability

Learn to save seeds from your best open pollinated or heirloom vegetables and pollinators. Saving seeds is a sustainable way to save thousands of seeds to plant next growing season.

Learn Crop Rotation

Crop rotation is a sustainable way to control bugs in the garden, avoid disease, and benefit your garden soil. Start with your legumes in a bed, then root vegetables, then fruits, and finally your leafy vegetables. Rinse and repeat.

Utilize Companion Planting

Companion planting is a great, sustainable way to help control bugs in the garden. For instance, I always plant dill with my cucumbers as it helps keep the pickle worms at bay.

Companion planting also helps you utilize space in your homestead garden efficiently. Combining plants that utilize different layers of the soil, such as planting tomatoes that have a deep root system with basil that has a shallow root system. By doing this you can plant more in one space, as they pull nutrients from different parts of the soil.

Build Nutrient-Rich Soil with Good Structure

Building your soil structure creates a great environment for plants to grow in. Soil that has good structure is sustainable because of it’s ability to maintain moisture levels and it’s ability to increase soil fertility which helps make nutrients available to plants.

It also gives an ideal environment for root growth, provides microbial support, and reduces erosion. By adding organic matter, worm castings, and well rotted compost to your garden beds seasonally, you’ll be slowly building nutrient rich soil with amazing structure.

Create Edible Landscaping

Creating edible landscaping is a practical way to increase your sustainability. By planting edible perennials or an herb garden around your home it gives you food year after year that you never have to replant.

Learn Permaculture Principles

Permaculture or “permanent agriculture” is a system that integrates the natural world and ecosystems with humans in a sustainable and regenerative way. Permaculture seeks to harness and store renewable energy sources such as sunlight, wind, and water.

It also aims to provide multiple benefits and yields from the same elements within a system. For instance, if you were to plant comfrey, it could be used for medicinal purposes, as a nitrogen source to feed plants, or even for livestock fodder. Permaculture systems are designed to self-regulate and often utilize renewable resources.

Grow a Food Forest with Fruit Trees

Growing a food forest is a great example of using permaculture practice in increase sustainability. With different layers ranging from your tall fruit tress, bigger shrubs like blackberries, vining plants, annual crops, and ground covers all intermixed it creates a system of edible perennials and annuals that can feed you in the years to come.

The Art of Foraging Native Plants

Foraging your native plants is also a great way to increase your sustainability. I stock my pantry every year with Golden Rod, Bidens Alba, and Nettles that I forage right out of my backyard. From those I can make some powerful tinctures to treat a variety of allergies and illnesses.

Seek out a foraging book that is specific to your area and be sure that you always know exactly what you are picking, as some plants are toxic.

Organic Growing Techniques

Organic gardening is the most sustainable form of gardening with it’s absence of unsustainable chemicals. Learning to grow as organically as possible will increase your sustainable homesteading.

Sustainable Homesteading With Animal Husbandry

Keeping livestock has many sustainable benefits. From producing high quality protein with meat and eggs to a continuous supply of manure that can be composted for fertilizer. You can increase your sustainability to the max with livestock by keeping males so they continually reproduce.

• Raising Chickens for Eggs- Often a homesteaders first step. A rooster isn’t necessary for eggs, only to produce more chicks. You can have a decade of eggs without a rooster.
• Raise Meat Chickens– Cornish Cross are not sustainable. Going with a dual purpose breed like Jersey Giants, Bresse, or Kosher Kings is sustainable with a rooster in the flock.
• Raising a Dairy Cow for Fresh Milk- Next level homesteading. A sustainable source of milk with a bull and access to grain.
• Keep a Couple of Beef Cows- A sustainable source of beef with a bull and plenty of pasture grass.
• Raise Goats or Sheep for Meat and Milk- A sustainable source of meat and milk if you keep a male and have access to lots of forage and grass.
• Raising Ducks and Geese- Sustainable with a male for reproducing. However, a female only flock will still provide years of huge eggs.
• Keeping Honey Bees- Can be a sustainable source of honey but does require knowledge in beekeeping. Find a mentor.
• Care for Rabbits- Another sustainable source of meat with a male in the bunch. Rabbits also provide manure that can be added directly to the garden. No composting required.

Sustainable Homesteading in the Kitchen

Lots of sustainability can happen in the homestead kitchen. From preserving the harvest, making soap, sourdough bread and bone broth, the kitchen is where the magic happens.

Take your well stocked kitchen and learn one new skill at a time to increase your sustainable living, keeping you out of the grocery store. If you aren’t growing produce yet, check out your local farmers markets for fresh produce and local goods.

• Make Your Own Cleaning Supplies
• Learn to Make Soap
• Sourdough and Sourdough Starter
• Making Bone Broth
• Make Your Own Butter
• Homemade Cheese
• Make Your Own Pasta
• Food Preservation & Storing Food Without Electricity
• Canning Basics
• Dehydrating Techniques
• Pickling

Benefits of Sustainable Practices

Sustainable homesteading has many benefits. They range from reducing your foot print and food waste to increasing conservation, resilience, health, financial savings, a connection to nature, and community building through education, bartering, and fellowship.

Sustainable living can be accomplished on any scale. Whether you are in urban areas, rural areas, or even suburban homesteading, you can increase sustainability in your daily life and own home.

Challenges of Sustainable Practices

While sustainable homesteading has many benefits, it also has quite the challenges too. Challenges like startup costs, time and labor, the learning curve, climate challenges, pest & disease, limited resources, zoning issues, and isolation to name a few.

​Encouragement for the Sustainable Homesteading Lifestyle

​Be sure to get connected with other like minded folks in your community as you begin your journey into modern homesteading. You can also find a ton of resources online, as well as many good books. Some of my favorites are:

The Little Homesteader, which is part of Little Country Cottage Series for children by author Angela Ferraro-Fanning

The author of The Little Homesteader has another book,The Sustainable Homestead: Create a Thriving Permaculture Ecosystem with Your Garden, Animals, and Land

Polyface Microby Joel Salatin is another favorite.

The Encyclopedia of Country Livingby Carla Emery is a staple on my shelf.

Sustainable Homesteading is a Lifestyle choice

At the end of the day, sustainable homesteading is a lifestyle choice and there will never be a perfect homestead. There will always be things to learn and improve on. Overtime, you will acquire practical skills to sustainable, simple living. And don’t forget to teach your children. Good luck, friend.

Happy Sustainable Homesteading,

Jenny @ The GrahamStead Family Farm

Jenny and her family have been homesteading for over 20 years. They are currently farming on their 10 acre Florida farm, that they built from the ground up, 8 years ago, growing 100% of their meat and a lot of their vegetables. From their small herd of Aberdeen Angus Cattle, Pastured Poultry, Sheep, and seasonal pigs, they are able to raise enough meat for the family while selling extra to the community. All the while, striving to butcher at home, as much as possible, and use the bits and pieces of their harvest by preserving food, making bone broth, and (Jenny’s favorite) tanning all kinds of hides!