Homestead Layout Plans on 1 Acre or Less
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You want to start homesteading but don’t have a lot of land? Lack of land is one of the biggest excuses I hear from people who’d like to become more self-sufficient but don’t get started.
I hear you because I also used to believe that homesteading required tons of land! That’s why I want to share these tiny homestead layouts with you. The homestead layout plans are 1 acre or under and help their owners achieve a considerable degree of self-sufficiency and even some income!
Read: What is homesteading?
This homestead layout plan is from Lindsey at Chickadeehomestead.com. Yes, it is only 1/3 of an acre – but that is enough for the family to raise and grow 80% of their food and most of their personal care items!
How have they done it? Focusing on food sources that don’t take up a lot of space, for example, raising chickens and rabbits instead of cattle and sheep.
Melissa at Evergrowingfarm.com has a truly impressive homestead layout – particularly because it is an urban farm.
What started as a “postage stamp of dead earth” amongst busy streets soon became an oasis. There are:
How did they do it? It was all about smart practices like crop rotation and utilizing the space smartly. You can learn more about the urban homestead here.
This ½ acre homestead layout comes from a 1950s brochure made by the California Agricultural Extension Service.
You’ll see that the home and living area haven’t been significantly reduced (you could put more garden space or chickens where those evergreens are!). Yet, there is still a lot of food to be reaped from the orchard and garden. Like with the first tiny homestead, rabbits and chickens have been chosen for their efficiency.
The owners of these websites didn’t get back to me with permission to share their images. So, you’ll have to click on the website to see the tiny homestead layouts yourself. It just shows that there are many ways to improve your self-sufficiency through homesteading, even in a small space!
Before starting my homesteading journey, I thought I’d need a lot of land to achieve any degree of self-sufficiency. Then I started researching homesteading and visiting homesteads too. I was amazed at what was being done — even on the rooftops of city homes, in apartments, and in tiny backyards.
It is easy to understand why people think you need a lot of space to be self-sufficient. Giant CAFO farms and huge mono-crops dominate our country’s food production.
We are also skewed by history. In the 1800s, the minimum homestead parcel the government gave out was 320 acres. (Source)
While it certainly helps to have a lot of land, it isn’t always necessary. Modern farming techniques have made it possible to raise much more food in less space, and good planning and homestead design can go a long way.
Here’s an example of what can be done on a small homestead:
See here for the best states for homesteading.
I’m not going to lie and say that it is easy to become self-sufficient on a tiny homestead. There is a high learning curve! But, if you stick with it, you’ll be rewarded with your own food and maybe even have a medicinal garden and homemade cleaning products.
I highly recommend reading some homesteading books to get you started on your journey. Here are some of my favorites with Amazon links:
Are you homesteading? How much land do you have?