Backyard Homesteading: A Back-to-Basics Guide to Self-Sufficiency (Creative Homeowner) Learn How to Grow Fruits, Vegetables, Nuts & Berries, Raise Chickens, Goats, & Bees, and Make Beer, Wine, & Cider

Backyard Homesteading will help you turn your yard—no matter how small it may be—into a productive area that provides homegrown food, including fruits, vegetables, honey, eggs, milk, and meat! Inside Backyard Homesteading, learn all about:

GETTING STARTED

• Benefits of pure food
• Family recreation
• Local regulations for backyard homesteaders
• Potential yields and savings

RAISING VEGETABLES AND HERBS

• Garden planning/layout
• Structures/irrigation
• Vegetable profiles
• Planting techniques
• Composting/healthy soil
• Seasonal gardening

GROWING FRUITS, BERRIES, AND NUTS

• Planting fruit trees and bushes
• Fruit profiles
• Organic pest control
• Grafting and pruning
• Harvesting methods

RAISING CHICKENS

• The joy of chickens
• Collecting eggs
• Care and feeding tips
• Other small animals

RAISING GOATS

• Benefits of goat milk
• Structures/fencing
• Care and feeding tips
• Other large animals

BEEKEEPING

• Benefits of beekeeping
• Care and harvesting
• Building hives
• Collecting honey

HARVEST HOME

• Canning/drying/freezing
• Making beer, wine, cider
• Making jerky, sausage
• Making jams, jellies
• Pickling/salting/smoking
• Building root cellars

If you want to take control of the food you eat and the products you use, Backyard Homesteading will help you learn how to do it—even if you live in an urban or suburban house on a typical-size lot.

Backyard Homesteading shows homeowners how to turn a yard into a productive and wholesome "homestead" that allows you to grow your own fruits and vegetables and raise farm animals, including chickens and goats.

In addition to covering the topics of growing fruits and vegetables and raising common farm animals, this handy and informative guide covers the laws and regulations of raising livestock in populated areas, and demonstrates how to use and preserve the bounty your land produces.

Richly illustrated with more than 400 color photographs and artist's renderings, this back-to-basics guide will get you started on your path to self-sufficiency!

Dave Toht, a former contractor with decades of hands-on experience, fondly remembers his first house located in the sometimes frigid, sometimes frying Midwest. Built in 1854, it was loaded with opportunities for caulking, glazing, weatherstripping and insulating. He has written or edited more than 60 books on home repair and remodeling.