The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-sufficient Living in the Heart of the City (Process Self-reliance Series)

This is my new favorite urban self-sufficiency book. It's practical, honest, hands-on, and very very funny. My husband got to it before I did, and here's what he had to say: “This is a goddamned good book. It's got a lot of knowledge, a lot of overviews, but it still has a lot of how-to. They keep a sense of humor. They know what they're talking about because they've done it. For anybody anywhere, country or city (unless maybe you're in a basement apartment with no windows), it's recommended.”

Without preaching or dumbing-down, the authors tell you, in a straightforward manner, how to garden, forage, raise livestock, preserve food, fiddle with your utilities, and be your own transportation, no matter how teensy your living show more quarters.

Their sense of humor is evident throughout the book, shown in their slightly irreverent voice, and in the subheading titles, such as: The Chicken is the New Pug, Dehydration: Why Save it for Hangovers?, Arranging a Twosome or Threesome – Using Diverters, The Composting Toilet: How to Poop in a Bucket, and Inspecting their Asses. (That last one was the title of a paragraph about using the fluffiness of a chicken's butt as a barometer for her overall health.) To keep the mood light they refuse to refer to “the inevitable economic collapse” or “peak oil” or any of the other socio/political/ecological disasters that some other self-sufficiency writers use as their boogeymen, but rather speak of Armageddon in terms of zombies. show less

I have to say that I was initially very skeptical of this book; as I perused the table of contents I was nearly convinced that this was just another book for yuppies with yards (YWYs). As I live in a tiny 200 sq. ft. (at best) studio apartment with no land space, no balcony, and only north facing windows, I was certain this book wouldn't have anything useful for me in it.

However, it does have some really great projects and ideas, from growing food to composting, that can be accomplished even by those of us who are almost entirely bereft of space. Although I skipped over the portions of the book not pertinent to me (keeping chickens, I'm a vegan; installing solar power, I'm a renter) there was still a lot of ground to cover in this book, show more and I'm eager to start composting. When I move to a new place I will look for south facing windows and (maybe) a balcony so that I can start growing some indoor vegetables. I also enjoyed the section on how to can, and how to make your own starter for sourdough bread.

In all, this book seems to have something for everyone. Time and space deprived renters such as myself who want to minimize our daily impact (and costs) as well as YWYs who feel like making a difference. show less

This brilliant book covers most of the topics that beginning homesteaders (essentially those who want to try and live a self-sufficient and sustainable lifestyle, or at least something like it) will be interested in, and puts it all in the context of an urban setting. Which is great, because so much writing about this topic assumes you can, and want to, move to somewhere 'remote' or at the very least want a big block of land. As the realisation spreads that many people who live in urban areas not only because they have to but because they want to, and even believe this is ultimately the more environmentally sustainable way of doing things (okay I step off my soap-box now ...) books like this are sure to become more common. Though I show more wonder if they will all have the wry humour, realistic attitude and spirituality/superiority free-writing style of this groovy little guide.
Whether you want to know how to grow your own food and how to preserve it, or how to set up a grey-water system, or what you should think about when looking for a rental that will help you in your quest for a sustainable lifestyle, this book has something for you. Pick it up, read it, get inspired, and make it happen! show less

A lovely book. There's nothing much new for the die-hard old hippie, but it's ALL in here. This is a book a person would like to have on her shelf come the revolution. Or the end of the world as we know it.

Organized in an easy to use fashion, written in a breezy but serious style and full of very high-quality information. Lots of additional suggested reading, lots of small but useful tips.

This one's on my wish list for the permanent collection. I'll shelve it right next to my [b:Mother Earth News Almanac|166214|Mother Earth News Almanac|Mother Earth News|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg|160500].

The Urban Homestead is a fun read on the whys and how-tos of urban homesteading. Kelly and Erik aren't providing a philosophical stroll through some idealized maybe-world. They're living this stuff and it shows. This manual on living the good life is funny and practical. A must read for anyone interested in self-sufficiency and the good life.

I live in a rented town house with a strata-managed garden, so I skipped big chunks this book. But there were many projects that interested me, especially the sections on cooking, preserving and household cleaning. Alas, I am not confident in any of these areas, and I require more hand holding than can fit in this book - making sourdough bread for me would require several books, video tutorials, and maybe a visit from a baking friend. So for me this was not an instruction book, but a collection of ideas and inspirations. Braver souls may be able to plunge right in. This book has a huge range of activities from raising chickens to building your own solar panels. This isn't the new revised edition reviewed on Boing Boing.

This book was awesome and inspiring in so many ways, and it's very instructional about things that I really needed instruction on. Now I really want chickens...

They are a bit more invested in the whole concept than I am, but it's not written in a way that requires you to commit whole-hog to their system; you can take what you want or need and leave the rest as filler. It was all really interesting, and fun to read.