A few years ago I met photographer and author Lori Eanes when she came to take pictures of my garden for a book she was doing. The book is called Backyard Roots: Lessons on Living Simply From 35 Urban Farmers, and it’s a highly visual exploration of urban farms up and down the west coast from Vancouver to San Francisco.
Thirty-five urban homesteaders are featured, and through their stories and the photos and descriptions of their set-ups the book covers the full range of urban farming activities.
The farmers in Backyard Roots pluck vegetables from their raised beds or permaculture food forests or rooftops gardens. Greens and herbs are foraged, ornamental public trees are covertly converted into fruit-bearers through guerrilla grafting, fresh exotic mushrooms are grown for farmers markets and restaurants. People share their focus on self-sustainability or work to bring together a larger community. There are kids and critters in the mix: toddlers and teenagers, chickens, goats, ducks, fish, and bees.
I’m in there too, with my kids and my Felcos and my greenhouse full of cucumbers and my advice to think like a plant. It’s a trip to see yourself in a book (I hadn’t cut my hair in eighteen months, and you can tell!), but it’s been wonderful to read through all the stories, and to show my kids pictures of other families doing the same kind of thing we’re doing.
My daughter! Whoot-whoot!
Backyard Roots gives a stong visual tour of what it is to be a west-coast urban farmer. It is a fabulous work for inspiration that really captures the diversity of weirdos like me (and maybe you?) who think that ripping up lawn to grow veggies or graze farm animals is a great idea – even in the city.
Get Your Own Copy of Backyard Roots – Free!
Skipstone Press, the publishing house of Backyard Roots, is giving away a copy of Backyard Roots to three lucky NWEdible readers.
To enter to win, leave a comment on this blog post telling me what kind of urban (or rural!) homestead activity you find most inspiring, and what activity you find most intimidating. I am, personally, very intimidated by anything having to do with animals that lactate. I’ll take poultry and bees any day, and leave the goats and mini-cows to other, braver urban farmers.
Contest will close Friday, November 29th at 8 pm PST. The three winners will be contacted by email. Open to US and Canadian residents only due to shipping. Best of luck everyone!
Image Credit: All images featured in this post are copyright Lori Eanes. Used with permission.
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The thing I find the most inspiring is the action of going against what expectations people have of what land can be used for, especially in urban or suburban environments. What I find most intimidating is the care of larger animals, but also the level of organization needed to manage everything on a homestead, like manure composting, feeding animals, seedling and planting timelines,…thanks!
I’m inspired by communities who come together and build community gardens in abandoned lots or where ever they can find a spot of soil to plant something beautiful or edible. I would be intimidated by bees. I’ve always been afraid of them. Large animals and chickens don’t bother me because I grew up helping my parents raise chickens, cows and pigs for food.
Inspiring would be chickens–I’m DYING to get a few hens in the spring. My intimidating would be beekeeping. While I’m oddly fascinated about this process, the thought of all that’s involved makes me hesitate enough not even to considering trying.
Most inspiring – definitely our small flock of chickens. We haven’t had them long but I’m amazed every time I see eggs from such little input!
Intimidating – earthworks. I dug, filled, and mounded up some Hugel beds in the garden and am now planning to swale about a half acre out front for an orchard. A project that big (for me) is intimidating as there’s a fifty percent chance ill screw it up!
Well this book is inspiring for starters. Also inspiring is the way in which our Toronto neighbours have helped us grow our vegetable landscaping business. We are fortunate to be surrounded by like-minded people who want so see more people growing their own food. My husband and I operate our company out of our own home but every square inch of our our tiny 20’x20′ yard is covered in raised beds our our single car garage is filled to the brim with a large inventory of locally made cedar raised beds. A neighbour down the lane with whom we share an alley, allows us to store bags of triple mix and vermicompost, a second neighbour along the same alley has donated their garage for our tools and supplies and a third neighbour has just announced that she will allow us to set up a good size greenhouse in her backyard in exchange for a vegetable garden. (and her neighbours on both sides are thrilled!) We simply could not operate without these wonderful neighbours who have become partners and allies in our quest to ignite urbanite’s passion for growing their own food.
Most inspiring is when we sit down to a meal that totally came from our garden! Most intimidating….weeds! hahahahaha!
I’m old now and as I think back over my life, I have thought that I wouldn’t change a thing, I have lived a full and rewarding adventure. I have done things others have only dreamed of, BUT, there is always a but. When I see the photo of your little darlin, she looks so much like one of my daughters at that age. The photos of mine are holding a basketball, or soccer ball instead of a chicken. I would change that. My grandchildren from Utah came to visit this summer. Two went out in the backyard and then came in screaming that a chicken was after them. I thought that “killer rooster” is at it again. If only my children and grandchildren had grown up with critters. I have the critters now, but the children and grandchildren don’t seem to come around anymore. I’m so glad to see the photo of the lady with the goats on a leash. It helps me with the thoughts that I was weird. I have those dog collars that she has for my goats that I take for walks along the small highway in front of my house.
Intimidating??? I’ll tell you what is intimidating. Everything I do for prepping. I have pigs, goats, chickens, rabbits, apple trees, and one dog that thinks she is boss, and I have no idea of what I am doing. If it weren’t for sites like yours and many others like yours, I would be lost. Thank you very much for sharing your insight and knowledge, and don’t you dare give up because of douche waffles.
I’m most inspired by the huge garden yields in small spaces…It gives me a reality check when I complain about my small yard which is actually pretty huge by some people’s standards…But I’m don’t think I could handle goats and their creepy eyes 😉
I am most inspired when I know that my food comes from my garden to my table in less than 30 minutes and that it was grown free of chemicals and supports my overall health in fantastic ways.
Most intimidating are the morning glory vine weeds. This is not the pretty stuff and it has permeated my gardening space going on 30 years now even though I have pulled and smothered, etc…. but I continue on !
Thank you for this opportunity. I am east of the Cascades, but I’m sure I will learn much from this, because gardeners are continual learners, aren’t we?
I am inspired by the act of gardening. As simple as gardening may seem, and in many ways it is, gardening challenges us mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. If we can meet those challenges, even imperfectly, then we can find wholeness. The most intimidating activity, to me, is caring for livestock. These are lives dependent on our ability to know and provide for their needs. The cost, on all levels, of losing vegetation is nothing compared to the cost of losing our animals.
Inspiring? Watching those all those beautiful apple green tree leaves emerge from their plump little buds in the spring. Noticing how they go through their own color and texture changes as they mature. Seeing them unfurl and open, nodding in the breeze, every where, every place. That’s heady stuff. Intimidating? Thinking how I’ll have to rake all those leaves up for the compost pile.
I’m most inspired by backyard duck and chicken keepers. The idea of going out to the coop and getting fresh eggs along with the idea of having livestock to care for is a whole other level of urban sustainability. I daydream about it and hope that some day I’ll have the time, dedication, and city ordinances to be able to do the same.
I’m most intimidated by growing a garden. You’d think that gardening is probably the definition of a starting place for urban homesteading, but for me (an utterly new gardener) taking the leap of deciding what to plant and figuring out where and how to plant it is a hugely intimidating step. I’m in the process of turning our small townhouse front yard into a raised bed vegetable garden (its the only space available). There are so many possibilities for greatness and mistakes and so much hope and joy over our first too small carrots and newly sprouting shallots. It’s a constant feeling of “here goes nothing” with fingers crossed every time we plant a seed. Exciting, but totally intimidating.
I’m inspired by the prospect of fruit trees and a full yard of garden. My folks were farmers and when I was young, they went “back to the land” for a few years in their fifties. So large animals don’t bother me. I’d love to have chickens again, except I can’t eat eggs. But chickens make great pets and compost, though I do think my compost champions are the rabbits.
I’m allergic to bees, so yeah–bees are intimidating. My last nasty sting came when I was picking green beans.
Most inspiring is providing your own organic food. Most intimidating is finding a way to make it work into our old age.
I am most inspired by chicken keeping and most intimidated by bee keeping.
I’m most inspired by easy/lazy gardening. Love apple trees… what an incredible investment. Most intimidating: keeping up with all my garden expansions!
In the morning as soon as it starts getting light, my goats begin calling to me. I LOVE that sound. Why do the ground squirrels and gophers think they should have first pick of my labor of love garden plantings. Geez!
I’m a country gardener with a full time city job. What’s inspiring to me about homesteading is how many different talents and personalities it accommodates and requires. There’s a place for all the strengths and talents people bring to it from other activities, so it attracts people from all walks of life. Detail minded people can grow 8 varieties of pepper and keep records of which one they like best for which purpose. Sturdy people can heave clay soil and manure around and less robust people can build layer leaves and plant debris in place in the garden and build soil in slower ways. Organizers can get whole neighborhoods to push for changes in local livestock ordinances. Some of us own trucks, some of us have only our wheelbarrows and buckets and bicycles. There’s a project (or 9 or 10) for every one of us.
What intimidates me? Building. I dread the prospect of replacing that shed that is collapsing in the yard. The garden “gate” is a roll of fencing that I move out of the way when I want in and put back in place when I leave. Ridiculous, right? Yup. But it’s there. If a job takes careful measuring and cutting and getting things to fit neatly, I want to run away and do something free and loose with dirt. I built two raised beds with wood sides last spring, happy to make something that didn’t require precision, something where the gaps could easily be filled up by dirt. I know I can manage a small project but I bow down and kiss the toes of anyone who has ever managed a whole chicken coop, beehive or coldframe. You’ve got the real thing!
Right now I am most inspired by gaining more knowledge about permaculture gardens and developing my own food forest along with all of the other “regular” methods of growing. Also so inspired and excited about using a new large greenhouse that we finished at the end of last summer. Can’t wait for the extension of growing season at either end in 2014. Also inspired by going through seed catalogues and starting to make orders…..the excitement of what to grow next year. Just so many things that are inspirational about gardening that it would take a lot more space to list them all…..sorry….did not limit this to one thing. What is most intimidating….trying to keep the deer from eating my garden and the racoons and hawks from getting my chickens.
Inspiring: the ability to graze. Right now we’re eating snap peas and raspberries. My daily breakfast is a fried egg (with toast, or a bit rice and beans or khichari).
Intimidating: Most of it. I have hired two wonderful people who work with local urban farming organizations to help me with my yard. Eric turned my decrepit old greenhouse into a chicken castle. Adam put in the snow peas a month or two ago, and keeps adding new wonders.
I am most inspired and intimidated by the same thing: permaculture. I can only inch toward it, love to see how others do it.
I am inspired by chickens. My family would love to get some. I am intimidated by keeping them safe! So many raccoons….
What I find the most inspiring about gardening is the smile on my families face as they bight into a fresh tomato or other vegie they just picked. What I find to be the most intimidating thing in my garden is finding space for all the wonderful things I want to plant. It’s getting really hard to find room for everything in my back yard.
We just have a small garden on the deck of our 2nd floor duplex– I’d love it if we had more. The most inspiring thing is even when I’m lazy and neglect the garden it still produces. Now that it’s fall in NJ most everything has petered out, but a couple days ago there were still some sprigs of rosemary to pluck for soup! The most intimidating thing is the idea of scaling up. I’d love to plant more, but just haven’t.
I am most inspired by bee-keeping. I am also most terrified by bee-keeping. It is a goal and a great fear of mine.
Chickens and chickens. Inspiring and intimidating in equal measure.
I am inspired by those who are more industrious than I and manage to have bountiful gardens and to make the most of their crop. I have ambitions to do more preserving but life keeps getting in the what and that is ok.
I am with you on the lactating animals. I am a lactating animal right now and I can barely manage that.
Exactly. It was while nursing my (then) young son for the 19th time in one day that I said, “Screw it. I never want to put in this much work or time for something that I didn’t give birth to.”
I’m inspired by my neighbor who grows a fresh garden in their street strip, the only part of their yard that gets sufficient sun. I love seeing people grow their own food in concert with/place of decorative plants. I am intrigued/daunted by livestock. I really want chickens and bees and maybe someday cows (seriously dream of living on a mini-farm someday), but seeing how well some of my plant experiments have gone, I’m not sure I have time right now to dedicate to animals.
I am most intimidated by sourdough bread, to be exact spelt sourdough bread. There have been some “interesting” results over the years. Working in the veg patch or knitting is a wonderful way to focus my mind and find peace.
I love chickens and miss having them. I get intimidated by the garden every year.
I live in Denver, CO and have already taken the chicken plunge and LOVE it. I love my girls and their antics and… their eggs! The next step is goats. This terrifies me but also feels necessary because my stomach literally can not stand the processed milk products found in stores!
Inspiring: kids involved and expressing their love for nature and growing their own food.
Intimidating: trying to build structures from repurposed materials.
I’m inspired by the way my husband and I have begun to create our edible garden. Together we continue to research the how and why of urban gardens and have managed to create a small garden. We’re learning through trial and error, which can be intimidating in and of itself when you don’t really know what you’re doing. We have a new found appreciation for mother earth.
I’m inspired by chickens. They take away a lot of our food garbage and give us fertilizer for our gardens and pretty little edible oval presents in the nesting box. They’re also extremely entertaining – better than tv.
I’m most intimidated by building hardscapes – the actual construction process of making raised beds and replacing structures.
I think the answer for both of these is chickens. In a sububrban setting its tough to keep up with zoning rules and regulations as well as keeping wild (and not so wild) animals from causing problems.
I am most inspired by permaculture based ideas that repair the land and soil to produce food and wilderness, even in small spaces like back yards that are often so lacking in soil and nutrients. I would love to see those miles of backyards connect into a growing wilderness of food, pollinators, and happy people!
Intimidating? Dealing with the preserving of all my garden produce. Tackling that 200 pounds of tomatoes in the freezer has me squirming with dread of the mess and the work!
Witnessing the magic of life as seedlings emerge in greenhouse flats never fails to inspire imaginings of the best garden ever, and leads to expanding rows and tucking extras into odd unplanned places. The scope of work my husband and I generate for ourselves in the garden is intimidating, and sometimes I just feel overwhelmed when I think about the task list that grows, and never seems to shrink. A motherlode crop of something causes paralysis to set in, until I get a grip, ignore the rest of the list and dive in to get it all picked, eaten and processed before it’s over the hill. How many times have I learned the lesson that pleasure is in every small step and piece of the journey, and while my garden will never be perfect, the big picture looks feels and tastes pretty darn good.
I am most inspired by using urban farming as a social justice tool – helping folks without access to healthy foods grow their own. I am most intimidated by issues of gentrification and ways that gardens can up the cute factor in a neighborhood and serve as a tipping point for neighborhood change – a process that can be both positive and negative.
I am so inspired by my bees and my chickens. They are gateways, of course… but on a half acre, that’s all I can do. I am intimidated by powertools, so I am not one of those women who can just build whatever I want. Thankfully, I married an engineer (which is why we are in the suburbs… for now. The middle of nowhere will be home in a few years, when he can retire.)
Most inspiring: the infinite forms that flowers take in color and shape.
Most intimidating: buttercup – can’t seem to get rid of it!
I don’t know if I would stretch myself to say I’m an urban farmer, but I hope one day to feel confident enough to call myself one. I love working on my edible gardening practices and have enjoyed composting, and adding fruit trees to our backyard flora. I’m thoroughly intimidated, but super thrilled about the idea of extending my edible garden out of boxes and into the front yard by ripping out the turf and just going for it. I want to have something in the front that can be beautiful all year long and find the perfect balance of perennials and pollinator encouraging brushes, with maintained pathways and good focal points. Now to just find a way to do it right without spending a fortune! Oh oh, and I so want a little goat for the backyard 🙂
We love, love, love our chickens! We live in a sand pit but after 20 years of building up our soil it is some better. I work away from home but being home with family and friends is what we love the most
I am inspired by communities who pull together to create a common garden…looking after bees intimidates me…though I would love to have my own supply of honey.
I am most inspired by small-scale permaculture, mini orchards, and season-extension in our cold climate. And always intimidated by the time and energy it takes to process all the food each year.
I’m inspired by the rooftop urban garden I work on with the people in my co-op. It amazes me how much food we get from it, and we’re still working out how to fit more up there, and we had two beehives this spring for the first time. It surprised quite how much I got involved with the hives, but I love beekeeping, it turns out! We work on the whole garden communally, which works so well for us, it makes the amount of work easier to bear. I’d be intimidated by keeping chickens, we have coyotes and bears and raccoons and all sorts, I don’t think we could keep them safe (no room on the roof !).
Im inspired by mother nature and the changes each year BUT that is also the problem of living in the far north. Everything is a challenge here…chickens wont produce when its this cold and bees die and the greenhouse crops are done by early Sept. Now its snow till at least the end of April…..
What I find most inspiring is the idea of living a life that is honest and sustainable (not dependent on the environmentally/socially destructive extractive economy). Everyday I learn a little more that will help me move my life in that direction. The most intimidating part is doing it on my own! I spent last summer on an organic vegetable farm in Northern Virginia, and now I’m planning a move to a micro-dairy outside of Denver. So far I’ve been latching onto these wonderful people who are actually doing it! Its very exciting to be supported by wise elders while I’m on this everlasting pursuit of knowledge and freedom, however it can be a little scary to think of the sacrifices that these folks have made to pursue their chosen lifestyles. How will I ever make it to where they are? There are a lot of barriers built into our culture that make it hard for a young person to find land and community support, but dammit I’m trying! Cheers to blogs like this for providing those bits of inspiration that help all of us reach our goals!
I love growing root veggies, not much to it . Things that need to be pruned or cut back confuse and intimidate me because I am worried I will do it wrong .
The most inspiring thing for me about urban farming is seeing how much food one can grow in such a small area! It amazes me! As for something that intimidates me I’m not sure I have one. Currently we live within a small rural village and are not allowed to have chickens or anything of the like so gardening in my several raised beds is pretty much the limits for me here. However, we do own 2 acres in the country that we will eventually be moving to. Once we’re all moved I desperately want to produce all the honey, fruits and vegetables we consume (year round gardening as well as preserving food) and not purchase any if those items from a store again. This large task is a bit intimidating as itwill be all new to us.
Most inspiring…my tomatoes in their 7 foot cages. Glorious summer in every bit. Most intimidating…most everything else…just starting gardening in this area. Chickens with our crazy backyard, kids and 2 large dogs is the one thing I’d like to tackle, but just cant get started. Thank you for all of your insight. It really is appreciated!!