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Homesteaders & Home Gardeners
Ten steps from a backyard bed to a working homestead: plan first, build soil and compost, no-dig beds, seed starting, season extension, fruit trees and propagation, chickens and small livestock.
1 Plan before you plant
Most homestead mistakes come from doing too much too fast. Justin Rhodes shares what he would tell anyone before starting, and Joel Salatin lists what he wishes he had known.
2 Test and understand your soil
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A simple soil test tells a gardener what is actually missing before money goes into amendments. University of Minnesota Extension shows how to take a sample, and Dr. Elaine Ingham explains the soil food web that feeds plants.
3 Make compost
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Compost turns kitchen and yard scraps into the biology a garden needs. Kiss the Ground shows how simple it can be, and Huw Richards demonstrates a low-effort method.
4 Build no-dig beds
No-dig beds smother weeds with cardboard and compost instead of tilling, so soil life stays intact. Charles Dowding shows the method step by step, and Richard Perkins shows the same approach at market-garden scale.
5 Start your own seeds
Starting seed at home is cheaper than buying transplants and opens up far more varieties. High Mowing Organic Seeds shows how to start seeds in trays, and Justin Rhodes explains how he would begin a garden without a big yard.
6 Extend the season
A high tunnel lets a homestead grow greens through winter and tomatoes earlier in spring, and NRCS can cost-share one. NRCS and Montana NRCS show what a tunnel does over several seasons.
7 Plant fruit trees and a food forest
Fruit trees are the longest-lived investment on a homestead. Justin Rhodes plants his trees, Stefan Sobkowiak shows a permaculture orchard laid out in two days, and Morag Gamble turns a bare backyard into a food forest.
8 Propagate your own plants
Grafting and cuttings turn one good tree into many for almost nothing. Stefan Sobkowiak demonstrates grafting apples and bud grafting, and a hardwood-cutting demonstration shows how to root dormant cuttings in winter.
9 Add chickens
Chickens turn scraps into eggs and compost and are the usual first livestock. Justin Rhodes covers getting started, and Joel Salatin shows how Polyface keeps laying hens and broilers on pasture.
10 Grow into pigs and sheep
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Once the basics work, small livestock can clear ground, build soil and fill the freezer. Justin Rhodes raises two pigs in a tiny backyard, and the Shepherdess paid link shares what she wishes she had known before starting with sheep.
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