Renting a home or apartment can really put a stunt on our desires of homesteading. With the market the way it is currently, it is so difficult to buy a home. This, along with many other reasons, can make renting the only option for many. Luckily I am four years into my renting journey and I homestead and garden three acres of land. This means I have lots of amazing tips for you from my experience if this is the situation you are in as well. I am here to share five of those with you today. This is my best renter friendly homesteading tips so you can begin your journey to self sufficiency without having to start with your own home or land.
Renter Friendly Homesteading Tips to Jumpstart Your Homestead Journey
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As I stated before you do not have to wait until you have your own place to be able to start homesteading. After realizing this we have begun living self sufficient in so many more ways than we could have dreamed of before. You do not have to wait to go on this journey. Without further ado, let me share with you how I did it, so you can too!
5 Renter Friendly Homesteading Tips
1.) Container Gardening
Renter friendly homesteading tip number one: container gardening! (Click the picture above for an Amazon link to that item). This works for town houses, places with acreage, apartments, and a multitude of other homes. This is because you can container garden at so many sizes and levels.
This works well if you have a yard that you cannot mess with as well! This is because many containers (like the one above) can be moves around a yard to prevent grass from dying. They can be kept on a patio as well, a porch or deck!
Now, some apartments don’t have a deck so the previous points don’t accommodate to this particular home. But container gardening can be made to work in smaller places as well. The best and most effective ways to garden in this type of space is to grow a kitchen garden. The plants that do best inside are primarily herbs. They do not take up a lot of space at all, and aren’t too picky as long as they get some sun and water. They also last forever. It is a fun way to literally take a food source right from garden to plate.
Here is a list of links that will show you more items and ideas for container gardening at all sizes:
- Container Gardening Search on Amazon
- Herb Garden & Grow Light Set
- Stackable Five Tier Gardening Planter
- Indoor or Patio Greenhouse
- Herb Garden Indoor Set
2.) Growing Your Kitchen Skills
One way that you can majorly up your homesteading game is by acquiring the knowledge of making things in your own home. This can be a sourdough starter on your counter top, growing kombucha in your cabinet, or making your own vanilla with alcohol.
A skill I learned a lot on this last year, and dipped my toes in was canning and preservation. Already this year (and it’s May) I have preserved a field of dandelions for tea!
You Can Read about That Here: The Best Way to Preserve Dandelions (from Flower to Root)
3.) Do Research and Gain Homesteading Knowledge
Something we can always do no matter our circumstances is gain knowledge about the things we love, and the lifestyles we are longing to live. This is the hardest thing for me to do, but it is one of the best things we can do. We so often just desire to get our hands in the dirt (metaphorically and literally here) but it is always good to learn before we do anything. Especially if we are unable to physically take part in our dream hobbies, we should be learning about them.
Another level to number three of our renter friendly homesteading tips would be gaining insight on the city and county you live. Learning about the rules and regulations of your community might teach you more about what you can and can’t do. Chatting with a landlord or looking through your contract again can clarify what you can do with the place you are renting.
There is so many levels to this idea of learning and growing your knowledge on homesteading. Having the time now to learn about something you want to do in the future, may be hard since it’s not something you are obtaining in the present. But you will thank yourself for all that you learn on the subject, you will thank yourself now and you will thank yourself in the future. Be in the know, it is your greatest weapon considering what you may have or lack in the now. Again, I even recommend this if you have the resources to begin now.
4.) Buy Local
The best thing you can do for you and your family when you can’t have your own homestead is to buy from other homesteads. Homesteads, gardeners and local farms are the second best option for buying food. You know where they have grown, you know better what is used on the items, and you are supporting local movements to provide for each other as a community. This is how Jesus made us to live. We are called to eat His creation, provided by our closest communities.
Though I am thankful for the stores, I think it’s time we say they served a purpose- and now instead begin to provide for each other in the community we live in. A healthier, happier, now aligned lifestyle. The best for someone looking to homestead, head in that direction, or someone just looking to live more traditionally or locally.
5.) Begin Living Sustainably
My last of five renter friendly homesteading tips is to learn to live sustainably. A big part of homesteading, especially in modern day is to be able to pull back from the industrial supply and dependence. This largely has to do with how much we consume, how many one use items we go through. We buy paper towels just to throw them away for example. We buy dryer sheets that are harming our clothes just to throw away after one use. A lot of our items are plastic, toxic, low quality and not long lasting.
