The Self-Sufficient Backyard: Start Small, Build a Life That Feeds You 🌿🏡
You don’t need acres of land to live more sustainably. A “self-sufficient backyard” is really just a collection of small systems that work together—saving water, growing food, reducing waste, and storing what you harvest.
Here are the core building blocks (pick ONE to start this month):
1) Water management
Collect rainwater from roofs into barrels/tanks
Use drip irrigation + mulch to cut watering in half
Add a small pond or swale to slow runoff and recharge soil
2) Composting (your free fertilizer factory)
Turn kitchen scraps + yard waste into rich soil
Simple rule: 2 parts “brown” (dry leaves/cardboard) + 1 part “green” (food scraps/grass)
3) Food preservation
Can, dehydrate, ferment, or freeze to stop harvest waste
Even beginners can start with: freezing herbs or dehydrating tomatoes
4) Medicinal + pollinator garden
Grow herbs for teas/salves and to bring beneficial insects
Easy starters: mint (in a pot), calendula, lavender, thyme
5) Root cellar style storage
You don’t need a real cellar—cool dark storage works
Use crates in a garage/basement for potatoes, onions, squash (kept separate)
6) Vertical gardening
Trellises and towers = more food in less space
Great for cucumbers, beans, peas, squash, tomatoes
7) Season extending
Cold frames, mini tunnels, and row cover let you grow weeks longer
Perfect for greens: lettuce, spinach, arugula, kale
8) Off-grid power (optional)
Solar can run small tools, lights, or irrigation timers/pumps
Best advice: don’t try to do everything at once. Build one system, let it become routine, then add the next.
âś… If you could start with only ONE this week, which would it be: compost, rainwater, or season-extending?
