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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I love having chickens, it’s messy but fun, what I can’t seem to conquer is growing things from seed, my little plantlings always die form one malady or another 🙁
blyger
I am really inspired by the idea of raising chickens. My husband and I are planning to do it in the spring, but there seems to be so much that goes along with it- or at least with starting up. We have neighbors who keep chickens and I probably idealize the whole process a bit. I’m also really impressed by people who butcher their own chickens. We will have to do it, but I’m not sure how it’ll go. We’ll see, I guess! As far as what I am intimidated by, I would say beekeeping. I would love to do it, and maybe in a few years we will, but it seems like such an investment of time, not to mention the risk of getting stung every day, losing a hive to disease or swarming, or so many other risks I probably don’t know about!
Most inspiring: We started the fruit & veg garden a year or two before this, but a year or so ago, we ripped out the 8-10ft arbor vitae. Partly to let more sun into the yard and partly because while the arbor vitae provided some serious privacy, we’d been robbed twice behind that awesome privacy screen. Instead, we now have a 3ft tall hog panel fence (like really heavy gauge, really open wire mesh) across the front yard. Folks who walk by (we’re very near both a MAX station and a popular bus route) make lots of comments on the yard. My favorites are “wow, we really love what you’re doing. I wish I could have a garden like that!” and “This place looks so much nicer than when those other people lived here!” (I just don’t tell them we *are* those other people…) We’ve even planted grapevines along it. There are a couple of little old ladies who walk by almost every day. They’ve decided it’s their job to weave the grapevines into the fence so they won’t hit passersby in the face. Even the occasional biker guy (we have an outlaw biker gang clubhouse down the street) has commented on how nice the place looks. I’ve had a couple people wander half-way up the driveway because they were entranced with the dozen or more bees in the artichoke flowers.
Most intimidating: the reality of chickens. I love the idea of having chickens in the yard. But the reality of the getting up to let them out and feed them, having to be home to put them to ‘bed’, dealing with the chicken poo, and having to deal eventually with sick and dead chickens pretty much puts me off my feed. It’s hard enough with the indoor cats who mostly take care of themselves. Maybe I can convince the next-door neighbors to share chickens with us. I don’t mind doing some of the work, I’d just maybe rather share it.
Sounds like a neat book! Thanks for the opportunity to win a copy. Lately I’m most inspired by my beekeeping. It’s a new activity for me this year. Watching the bees is endlessly entertaining and of course the honey is the sweetest part. The bees are also linked to my biggest challenge – pests. I lost two of three hives to poor management of varroa mites. Pests of all kinds – nematodes, leaf rolling caterpillars, tent caterpillars, etc, etc, etc, are the biggest urban homesteading problem here in Florida.
The activity I find most inspiring is growing food. I don’t know if that’s sort of generic but it’s still like magic to me to plant a seed and get lettuce or a bunch of tomatoes.
What I find most intimidating is everything! I finally have a yard to work with and I’m overwhelmed by how much there is to learn. Did I put the garden to bed correctly for the winter? Have I adequately protected the plants that need it now that the snow has hit? Was I supposed to plant the garlic in the fall and can I still plant some in the spring if I didn’t? What are all these plants the previous home owner left behind because she left me a wonderful garden and I’m pretty sure I am ruining it! There is so much to learn but so far I’m loving it!
Walking through my garden (snacking away at any available munchie)and marving at our progress I think is the most inspiring. My garden fills me with an incredible amount t of joy. We have had chickens for the last 4 years and just got rabbits. I feel most daunted about seeing through the reason we got them. They are quite young so we have loads of time to spend with them before they are ready to breed. We will see which path is taken then and take another if its not right for us. Hoping to add this book to my inspiration library. Thank you for your time.
I am feeling really inspired by the idea of beekeeping lately!!
Growing in in Queens, in NYC five generations sowed seeds together, that were saved from even more generations back, in out little plot. The love of soil under my barefeet, and under my nails was passed down, and then to my daughters. Time passed, the family house long gone, and my daughters grew up with mostly our “pot prison” for a veggie garden, in the cement surrounded home. It was then when I became most inspired by plants. You see I always loved them, but seeing them still trying to produce their seeds ( tomatoes, figs, peppers etc) having to put up with such nonsense as bagged soil barely amended with compost, and still strive to grow and reproduce themselves. Sometimes, in too tiny pots, I would end up with a bonsai of a plant, yet it produced. It didn’t quit, it struggled with too little soil, too little water, too little sun peeking tween houses set way too close, and poof the pot bound fig grew. It sat in our dining room, all pruned back so it could fit, and stayed alive til spring rains coaxed it to grow a bit, all in rubbermaid bin. Great Grandpa Vito would shake his head at this prison, but I smile, and I learned about making the best of what you have. You see…the plants themselves inspired me with their determination to grow, for me to be just as determined to try and grow them, despite lack of space, or sun, or funds. Three years ago, I was blessed to move to the country, the mountains upstate NY are now my home. Thinking I would finally have a real garden, and yet life ended up putting in a few obstacles. Lack of work, and funds limited my choices, ended up in rocky woods, renting where soil was nil, and most likely contaminated. Took me a while, but I finally built a unusual raised bed of a garden. Costing nearly zero dollars. Chicken wire, circled to be like a swimming pool wall, with landscape fabric on the inside like a pools lining. Filled it with free composted horse manure, soil that came out of a creek that rose past it walls and someone didn’t want, and my three years of composting. So some of the plants that traveled from Queens to the mountains, still in pot prisons now have a roots that are free, to “swim” in my garden. The walls have alpine strawberries popping through the chicken wire holes, and the flowers nod a thank you to me. So yes, it was the plants that inspired me. What am I intimidated by? Hmmmm curing meats. Would so love to make the dried sausages great grandpa made. I can remember his pocket knife coming out of his pocket to ” check” one hanging in the basement, and him looking down at my smile, knowing I would be allowed a taste before he brought one up to the table. I would love to be able to make them, just have not had the courage to try yet.
Inspiring: Love our meats goats, chickens and canning. Looking forward to raising beef someday.
Intimidating: Would love to try dairy, but that is just toooo much work and equipment!
Combining maybe fish farming and gardening. I’ve seen plans for it, and am inspired to think this May be good because they don’t crow, they don’t get out of the fence, and they are tasty and give back to the earth to grow beautiful and tasty flowers theat the birds and honeybees and butterflies also like
🙂
Just starting to get more and more into gardening in our small yard. At first I was nervous I would screw things up…then I decided just to have fun. My greenhouse has been inspiring this past year…it rocked veggies and herbs this past summer. Tomatoes still intimidate me…but I will keep trying to grow them bigger and better next summer.
I’m totally intimidated by bees and inspired by fellow gardeners that grow huge amounts of food on tiny city lots!
Right now I am loving soil building and we are doing a lot of it having just bought a house on a quarter acre in Renton. I think the thing that gets most intimidating to me is pest control. I want to be able to do something, but so often I end up just ripping out the &*#%$ plant!
I am inspired by my 4 awesome chickens. Every time I see them, I get inspired for my gardening and ALMOST EVERYTHING!
What I find most inspiring: Watching my garden grow! Learning what works by trial and error.
What I find most intimidating: Trying not to do too much (due to the eyesore factor) being surrounded on all sides by non-gardening (grass lawn loving) neighbors. Boo. I have wanted to add chickens but am worried about butting heads with those around me who are not in the same “homesteading mind frame”. In addition, the awkward conversations I have to deal with when I see multiple neighbors spraying herbicides/pesticides all over their yards (and onto mine through the chain link fence). “No, no… that’s my herb garden your spraying on”. *sigh* In the process of saving up for our dream parcel of land!
I am inspired by sharing what I grow with people. Watching the faces of friends and family light up when I share cherry tomatoes bursting with flavor or even donating fresh produce to a local food bank give me enough invigoration to keep going. I don’t grow nearly as much as some of the folks around here, but every little seed planted makes a difference in the community.
I am very intimidated by failure which results in monetary waste. It’s very pervasive in my homesteading habits which sometimes makes it difficult to try new techniques.
anything grown or made in your yard is inspiring.
simple gardening is intimidating. neglecting your plants for a couple of weeks and failure.
I find the pictures and stories of those who have fearlessly transformed yard space into gardens, chicken space and other types of food production to be inspiring. Terribly irresistible actually. I cannot wait to have a place of my own to realize my own dreams of an incredible edible yard.
Most inspiring -that’s a tie between picking first fruits and preserving.
Most indimidating- beekeeping and large animals
Most inspiring: Cracking those eggs in my pan with the gorgeous orange yolks.
Most intimidating: My husband and I just bought a 10 acre piece of property that we need to completely rehab. It was a foreclosure, and had been left untended for years. The end goal is to have a fully functioning farm on it someday.
We just moved into our first house and I would love to turn it into as much as an urban homestead as I can. We put in one small bed of garden so far and most inspiring are the gardens that produce so much bounty that you must preserve some! (we got a few measly tomatoes and zucchini this summer). Most intimidating, beekeeping. It sounds so neat, but I’d be terrified of getting stung!
I’m inspired by potential & a vision. I’m overwhelmed by the potential we have on our family property–we’ve had it for exactly 99 years. We live in a very rural area and I am the only family-member who loves this country life and doesn’t want to depend on the college-town high-end grocery store which *are* sometimes all-about-marketing for my sustenance, so I live here with my husband and our animals a fair drive from everyone else. I have so many ideas I tend to go into analysis paralysis and take on too much at once. I love information. Since I am an artist and very creative, I have so much in my head as far as ideas visually, I find it hard to start out slow one project at a time, especially since we are fairly isolated and don’t live in a very progressive community. I am realizing this is how it has to be–things take time. Change takes time, especially permanent changes in thinking/action. I know from other studies once you shift your way of thinking & grow you don’t go back. It’s like a staircase. We have failed many times because we took on too much at once. The time, trial & error, practice is what helps one learn. Like any “craft”.
Once in a while I hear that a lot of people here are inspired by *my* viewpoint (I hear this after-the-fact), but it is hard to get it out there in a way that people don’t find threatening & I do get discouraged a LOT–one has to find a language others can understand. That is when the seeds of change are planted. And they grow from there.
Most intimidating for me is battling with the gmo/pesticide/fungicide issues surrounding us, people poaching (rampant here), people with no respect for their animals other than to kill when they are old enough (I do believe in raising your own animals for meat, but there is a certain level of respect that is missing sometimes), and local dairies dumping illegally into our water system..which runs directly into our pond. The authorities sometimes overlook it, because it’s a small town “good old boys” area. I work for a bee company and watch the pesticides coating everything, the bees packing in the pollen, the young brood dying due to “insect growth regulators” meant for pests on the almond trees…we have our own hives and see this first hand. Yet it doesn’t stop easily due to money. Almonds make big $$–more than bees. I see it then 5 years later a scientist has done a study and finally the chemical is banned, but lo-and-behold 3 new chemicals which are even worse have been approved. I battle constantly with my father on which flora/fauna are beneficial and which are detrimental in our pond. Bullfrogs are not native yet he wants to get rid of otters because they “eat the frogs”, he says. And he wants to get rid of the beavers (which, admittedly are very overpopulated, but guess what, dad? otters eat beaver pups). Spray the clover he says, because it takes “too much water”, but if you spray the clover the bermuda grass takes over, and you’ll never be free of it…so the spraying continues incessantly. I find it very hard to let go of the anger that these people don’t understand/think in a different way, and educate in a way they can understand and move forward. We must have dialogue and forgiveness.
I also am intimidated by the factory farms surrounding us who are motivated purely by money and see everything in terms of a commodity, and also the lack of women farmers in our area. We have many old timers and their descendants who think those of us who want sustainability, healthy & clean food are “crazy environmentalists”. It is a very old fashioned community and sometimes they look at me like I am speaking Chinese and dismiss what I am saying. Sometimes they simply get angry. Sometimes they just can’t wrap their brain around new perspectives. Sometimes it is just that I am female (true story! I’m not a feminist, but after living here a while it has sunk in). Like I said they have to see you as a normal person, not a crazy person, and you have to find a way to communicate in a way they hear.
I have heard several experts say that in the next 20 years farming is going to be one of the up & coming professions. Because many young people born on farms are moving away and forgetting. But now many people are awakening to the gmo issue and the horrifying factory farm issue, etc. Many of you are doing the urban farming thing, which is awesome. I want to not forget my roots and what my dad taught me, but I want to move forward in a new, non-traditional way (at least for this area), which is beneficial to people & to the land & to me and my family. I don’t know where to start, but I think I just have to keep pushing forward little by little and trust things will change. Money is always an issue–the land must pay for itself. I am greatful for the urban farm movements, because these seem to be largely very forward-thinking, intelligent people who are looking at it differently (ya’ll are still learning too! 😉 ). The enthusiasm I have seem emerging even just in the beehive world is very inspiring and wonderful, and it’s the small individual hobbyist, whether a beekeeper, or an urban farmer with chickens, or planting your front yard in a garden instead of a lawn….that is where change will happen and spread.
Like I said, the potential here is enormous. Keep pushing forward, everyone, and trust that each little step gets the greater whole a bit ahead.
I find chickens and bees the most inspiring. I think the thrill of knowing you can do it, but so few dare to try. Most intimidating is gardening – so much to learn! So much to know! So many ways to mess it all up. =)
I am most inspired by people who manage to have a beautifully designed and maintained garden like something out of a magazine. Ours always decends into a jungle of things that we really should have gotten to last week by the middle of the growing season.
I am most intimidated by soil chemistry and ideal soil mixes. Even though there is a wealth of good information out there it makes me want to run away and hide.
The feeling I experience when I arise in the morning after canning gives me an adrenaline rush. There are 8 pints of apple sauce on the counter. Bright pink. All just glowing in the morning light. Sounds weird, but just a very satisfying feeling that encourages me to do it again.
Not sure if intimidating is the right adjective for the feeling I get after finishing the dispatching of my 4 roosters for the day. It truly is a powerful emotion that grips you when you see the life leave a chicken you have fed, watered, fretted over and cared for three times a day for 60 days in a row. But it is intimidating to see those four dead chickens and realizing only I can finish the process. And it seems such an overwhelming task because there are no do overs. If you make a wrong cut. Nick the gall bladder. Rip the crop. Or hurry and tear the skin. It is done. No going back.
I’ve always felt there would be no fat people if they had to kill their own food and feel the tie to the work of their own hands providing their diet.
A deep respect for food is developed from growing and processing the food you eat.
I am inspired to read all these comments from people just like me who are trying to garden and live simply. Their struggles and satisfactions are just like mine! In particular, for me, I got inspired when the seeds of a red pepper I bought at the store not only sprouted but produced lots of nice peppers this summer (in the PNW no less). That hooked me! (Especially when my farm friend told me they would never grow.) I am intimidated by how much can go wrong with planting things (soil, bugs, weather…) Still, if I take it step by step and learn little by little, I guess I’ll do ok too.
What I find most inspiring about the homesteading movement is people who are able to use limited resources to their utmost potential. People who can take a small urban lot and turn it into a sustainable farm, people who see thrift store utensils and equipment as future projects full of potential, and people who keep trying despite discouraging failures.
What I find most intimidating about this endeavor my family and I are undertaking is establishing a healthy productive garden. I can take care of any animal God ever created but gardens, gardening rotations, companion planting, etc., is truly intimidating. I desperately seek visual illustrative guide books and local mentors.
I’m an urban farmer and what inspires me most is when people walk into my backyard and say ‘oh my goodness!’ at the panacea of food that I am raising. It validates that I really am doing it – raising chickens and ducks and produce in a rental house in a densely populated neighborhood in Seattle. I am most intimidated by the thought of moving everything when I find my own land to purchase and start a non-urban farm.
Inspiring and enjoyable would be making sausage and salami.
I find cheese making to be intimidating. We’ve tried before and not been as successful as we would like. Hard to try again knowing it might be disappointing again.
Thanks!
Most rewarding would be giving 90% homemade canned good for gifts after a long year of canning. This year I have canned goods tucked away in every corner of the house because we keep running out of room for them. Most intimidating is making the leap to any sort of live stock. I live in a township that doesn’t allow chickens, goats, or anything else besides rabbits, so thats tough to work with too.
I’d love to win this book. Most fun: chickens! Most intimidating? Dealing with any kind of worms/caterpillars!
I am inspired by my tomato patch and the beauty in planting at least 20 varieties. I look at all of my photos of my tomato harvests the following winter, and the previous August seems surreal and imaginary…. All that color and abundance! I am intimidated by cabbage horn worms…. They eat everything around here! Thanks for the giveaway opportunity.
I am inspired by the satisfaction I feel to grow my own herbs/ vegetables and it keeps me planting.
Most intimidating is getting what I want from container gardening when my heart wants a bigger space.
I find permaculture most inspiring – I’d love to plant in a way that doesn’t need to be redone each year.
I find community gardens most intimidating, as I’m not the best at social interactions.
I was REAAAALLLLYYY proud of myself this year for planting my first garden. A beautiful 8′ by 30′ plot that when I started in May (I had just gotten off a boat doing field work for a month) already had weeds close to 3 feet tall. It kicked my ass and I had an awful cold the day after I started digging up the roots on top of my body being the most sore it’s beens since my first attempt at rock climbing. But I persevered.
It then spiraled into me canning for the first time as well. Then I made an herb planter box from two pallets that I took a sledgehammer to after a very stressful and annoying interaction with co-workers/interns. But I’m sold, if I have land, or a place to grow something outside, I will be doing it. I even have to avocado seeds growing and it’s snowing outside at the moment.
I still am intimidated by canning. It’s always a stressful time once I’ve pulled my jars from the canner. I breathe a heavy sigh every time a lid concaves and I hear a little “pop”.
I am most intimidated by disease- especially in animals as my sister has had several issues with both chickens and rabbits. I understand this is normal, but since I haven’t ventured there yet it seems daunting. I LOVE being able to grow food in my very urban rental. We took over the backyard mix of weed/gravel/wood chips and built raised beds. We also use restaurant food buckets (free from my SO’s workplace) to extend our growing space into odd areas and the back deck.
I am most inspired about taking back control of my food and showing my children where food comes from. I am also inspired by going out in my back yard or garden to get food instead of the grocery store. And…..thinking of different ways to use all that I’ve grown. From canning to fermenting. It’s been so fun! I am intimidated by animals. All kinds. I really want to raise chickens but i’m scared to death of them!
I feel exactly the same way you do. Chickens, bees, canning – no prob. I wish I could get goats and have goat milk but lactation and birthing — not yet! Maybe some day… I am inspired by people who press cider and make mead/wine/beer. I haven’t done that yet but plan to.
Thanks!
I’m inspired and awed by simply seeing seedlings come up. What a little miracle each one is!
I am intimidated by planning the dance of the garden through the year in my tiny yard. I know I can do more, but figuring out how to do that better leaves me at a loss sometimes. I feel like I’m orchestrating my own small slice of utopia in partnership with Mother Nature and I’m no match for her grandeur and skill. Thank goodness for the pull of seeing seedlings to keep me coming back and trying anyways!
I am inspired by people who have to fight by-laws to do certain activities, especially those who win! I am intimidated by animal raising!
Inspired by the on-line community that gives me ideas and makes me feel I am not alone and crazy in my desire to grow vast amounts of food in my backyard.
Intimidated by the sheer abundance of the harvest.
I am inspired by all the amazing folks growing their own and the great ideas that I get from their examples. Most intimidating is that I have so much to learn!
Most inspiring is digging up potatoes. It’s almost like digging for buried treasure.
Most intimidating is keeping any type of livestock in town. I’ve wanted to get chickens, but it’s not something people do and I don’t want to be the first.
I live in the Canadian Rockies in a very small town. I am just starting gardening in the back yard but my challenge? Bears! You can imangine how much they love compost and a nice yummy bed of … Anything! I hope to have a few chickens and bees but there are bylaws against both as they are bear attractants. Electric fence perhaps? I don’t want a bear to be shot because it became habituated to easy food sources (mmm chicken)into yard. I would love to read this book , I love how popular urban farming and self sufficiency is when ever I visit the Pacific NW. Thanks for the chance.
Most inspiring for me would be growing our own foods. Starting with a patch of earth and a handful of seeds and watching that progress from garden to table is magical. The most intimidating thing to me would be bees. I love the idea but I’m terrified of them. I’ll likely just stick to bartering eggs for honey locally. Thank you for a wonderful blog and opportunity to participate in this giveaway.
Inspiring? Watching my kids wander through the snap peas and pick and eat until they are sick. Good sick. Watching them bend over a strawberry plant heavy with red and pick until their hands are the same color.
Intimidating? Lactating animals would be a good one, but I think more in general, it’s cows. I love the doggone beasts but in my yard, with my family, with my lack of hay or straw or ability to make myself do something after I’ve cleaned the dishes and put two snarky little girls to bed? A large animal would become fodder for the weather in my hands…. but maybe not?
I really admire folks that can manage to keep animals alive and healthy in urban farm areas. I love the whole chickens and bees thing, but goats and pigs and cattle (and the prospect of slaughter) freak me out.
Well, I was trying to pinpoint just what inspires me (most everything does) and then I saw the picture of goats on a leash. So, I’m going with goats on a leash for what inspires and intimidates me!
I’m inspired by the variety of biodiversity in our crazy garden, and by how often I get to look down at my plate and see how much we continue to produce. Amazing!!
At the moment, I’m intimidated by cover cropping/green manures. I just can’t seem to figure out what to plant, for which criteria, at what time, in my circumstances. They are supposed to be a miracle, but my germination has been pathetic, and I can’t keep chickens away from the sprouts. Sigh. Maybe one day?
I’m inspired when I see my kids foraging in our garden. I’m most intimidated by bees. It sounds so fascinating I just don’t know if I can do it.