SIZE DOESN’T MATTER

Whether you have large property, ¼ acre, small back patio, or a sunny window to work with, you can grow something to provide for you and your family.

For example, you can use a sunny window to grow potted veggies and herbs for your favorite meals.

A small back patio would allow you to fill pots and planter boxes galore with veggies, herbs, and even berry bushes or small fruit trees.

And with a ¼ acre we can really get started. Grow almost anything you want just in a consolidated space, including an array of vegetables, herbs, berry bushes, and dwarf fruit trees.

Charlie's 2 Cents - start with a perimeter of dwarf fruit trees. Then inside the perimeter, add large strips down the side which can be anything from tomatoes to corn, as long as you have enough sunlight. Remember, it doesn’t have to be huge. Find what you want to eat/grow and plan your size accordingly, from 1 plant to a whole orchard, grow for you.

YOU CAN DO IT ON ANY BUDGET

It turns out that it doesn’t need to cost you an arm and a leg to start your dream garden or farm. You can start your dream on almost any budget.

Fun fact, you don’t have to go out and buy a new tractor or invest in fancy new tools or machinery to become a successful farmer/homesteader. Buy used or refurbished items. This will allow you to drop the cost. Check secondary markets and sites such as Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp, Craigslist, sometimes you can even find things for free (we saved a fortune by finding things on Facebook Marketplace).

Use what you have (recycle, reuse, repurpose). Look around your home and yard for usable items. For example, you could stake your tomatoes with branches from your trees, build small fences with branches, or use old furniture as a chicken coop or laying/nesting boxes. We even recycled the small trees we had to cut down, to clear our yard, as fence posts for our goat enclosure and property fence. Pallets are your best friend, they offer an incredible amount of wood for little to no cost. They can allow you to build almost anything, with a little elbow grease (I built my planter boxes, gates for my fences, firewood stand/shelter, brooders, nesting boxes, goat barn, and animal enclosures, all with pallets). Utilizing pallets and repurposing items puts less waste into the trash, so it’s definitely a win win.

Identify what you are looking to accomplish, and plan on how you can use the things around you to achieve your goal. It may surprise you how much you could actually use. (For example, in this image the goat hay feeder is an old wire hamper frame and the barn for the goats is something I built with pallets and scrap wood we found. As you can see, I let NOTHING go to waste!)