Modern Homestead: Grow, Raise, Create [Paperback]

Renee Wilkinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 10, 2011

Everything you ever wanted to know about homesteading, all with a cool, modern style. From windowsills to backyards, cities hold more potential for growth than just urban sprawl. We can grow vegetables, raise small livestock, and fill our cupboards with canned decadence. Regardless of space or green thumb know-how, Renee Wilkinson offers something for everyone.

Musing about what it takes to raise clucking chickens? Wilkinson walks you through every step. Wondering what will grow best on your balcony or fire escape? She gives you garden designs and choices. What to make with your bounty of herbs and veggies? A rustic yet elegant goat cheese and zucchini panini might just do it.

While Wilkinson may use her grandmother's old canning tricks or her aunt's favorite recipes, this young, thoughtful gardener still manages to make her spread her own, and delivers the best information on growing, raising, harvesting, and making from your own plot.

Renee Wilkinson is the creator of HipChickDigs.com, a popular website dedicated to urban homesteading, edible landscape design, and sustainable living. Garden spade in hand, Wilkinson is completing a graduate degree in landscape architecture and continues to inspire urbanites everywhere to get their hands dirty in their own city homesteads. She lives on a tenth of an acre city lot in Portland, OR, with her husband and three chickens.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Filled with beautiful photos and illustrations, Wilkinson tells pretty much everything anyone needs to know to get started in sustainable living, especially in urban and suburban areas. It’s a compact resource that should be kept handy, with a valuable index for looking things up.” —Jim Ewing, Clarionledger.com

“This is a comprehensive starter-kit for creating a homesteading lifestyle in a simple and inspiring way… From growing your own food in the smallest urban space, to a larger urban backyard plan, Modern Homestead will give you the information, instruction, and inspiration you need to get going- or to expand. Enjoy!” —Spirituality and Health.com

About the Author

Renee Wilkinson: Renee Wilkinson is the creator of HipChickDigs.com, a popular website dedicated to urban homesteading, edible landscape design, and sustainable living. With a degree in journalism from the University of Oregon and garden spade in hand, she has been inspiring urbanites everywhere to get their hands dirty in their own city homesteads. Currently Renee is completing a graduate degree in landscape architecture to further revolutionize urban green spaces. She lives blissfully on a tenth of an acre city lot in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and three urban chickens Pearl, Maude, and Florence.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Fulcrum Publishing (May 10, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555917488
• ISBN-13: 978-1555917487
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 0.8 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #232,857 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #61 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Gardening & Landscape Design > By Technique > Urban

More About the Author

As a sixth generation Oregon homesteader, I have a fascination with watching things grow and getting my hands dirty. My homestead is a tenth of an acre plot in Portland, Oregon, where I blissfully live with my husband, daughter Juniper, three chickens and four ducks.

The goal of my writing is to share stories about the life of a modern homesteader, in all its triumphs and failures. We can celebrate together the first seedlings and collecting that first egg from our backyard flocks. I rely on the advice of my homesteading grandparents and friends to get me through the head scratching moments, which I will be sure to pass along.

Let's learn from my mistakes together and share knowledge to make our homesteading lives richer. Now go get those hands dirty!

-Renee

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great information and easy to read May 25, 2011

By Shala Kerrigan TOP 50 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

There are a lot of books out there about getting started in homesteading in urban environments now, and the truth is, I don't think you can have too many because a lot of them offer different approaches and information.
This book is great for beginners. It's easy to get overwhelmed when you're first getting interested in trying to grow more produce for your dinner table or when you're considering taking the next step in homesteading.Renee writes in an easy and clear way. It's so easy to read that I spent a day in the sun with a choice between this book and a trashy novel I was reading and wound up happily reading this.

Grow:
It's in bits and bites, and she recommends that you start with what you think you can realistically handle, then lays out methods to handle it. Where to go to get information, how to set up a garden club to exchange ideas and seeds, and how to start planning and planting. She offers practical suggestions for planting in very limited spaces and how to find the best areas for sunny plants in those spaces.

Raise:
Then she gets into livestock. Are you able to have chickens? She gives plans for a minicoop that will fit on some balconies. It's sized for bantam sized chickens and includes a worm bin for compost. She gives lots of practical advice about how to raise chickens and care for them. Then gets into other things like ducks, goats and beekeeping,what kind of space, time and supplies you'll need to raise those.

Create:
The final section of the book is recipes, for cooking seasonally out of your garden or farmer's markets, jams and other food preservation methods, non-toxic cleaning supplies and beauty items.

One of the things I love about this book is how down to earth it is. It's fun to read, with great photos and lots and lots of information. She gives ideas for having a party with friends to make jams or bath salts. I really recommend this one, and it's one that I'm going to have my husband read as well.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars All around gardening for the urban farm April 24, 2011

By Theresa H. Wright

Format:Paperback

This book has it all....from raising chickens to vegetables to canning in an easy to follow book. It's the modern city lot farming book that covers a lot of territory in a fun read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome and fun read! June 12, 2011

By love2quilt2000

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book has been earning its keep on my bookshelf! I have been wanting to start a "real" garden for several years now, but it's hard to know where to begin when you weren't raised on a farm. This book caught my eye in the gardening section because it's really pretty, it covers a ton of info and I liked the writing style. It's very easy to understand and enjoyable to read.

We have a postage stamp yard and the book has lots of ideas for small spaces. The "grow" chapter has some helpful garden plans. It's nice just to have someone tell me what to plant where and how much can fit into a raised bed. The "create" chapter has lots of easy recipes which have been fun to make and it's been good practice for me to get used to cooking fresh. I'm looking forward to drying and canning later this summer. I love that it includes the "raise" chapter on keeping chickens and goats, but we're not quite there yet. I'm glad I don't have to buy another book in a year or two though when we're ready to think more seriously about chickens. Really happy the book got me started and I think I'll use it a lot over the years as the garden plans grow!