Urban Homesteader

Dear friends, 

I first started thinking about the idea for Urban Homesteader after I visited the Sikora family at their Living Springs Organic Farm in Paonia, Colorado. In orderly rows trailing up a hilly lot, the family grows hundreds of varieties of vegetables (like the colorful Swiss Chard, right), fruits, herbs and flowers. Incredibly, the farm produces enough food to feed 300 people a week – on just 1/2 acre of land. The Sikoras recycle grass clippings and food scraps to make their own compost, grow everything organically without pesticides, and even recycle used cooking oil to fuel one of their diesel cars.

When I returned home, I looked at our typical suburban back yard in a new light. Why couldn’t I grow more in our gardens?, I wondered. After all, I didn’t need to feed 300 – I only needed to feed 3! Of course, before I could feed anyone I’d need a space for a garden. It wasn’t as easy as you might think, given that our back yard was a swath of patchy grass, hardy weeds and an assortment of motley bushes and shrubs — all growing in hard, dense clay soil and watered with expensive Denver city water.

For years I’d read publications like Mother Earth News and Natural Home, trying to glean ideas for incorporating more “green” aspects into our lives and making less impact on the earth. I was especially intrigued with the articles on homesteading, and wondered if it might be possible to incorporate some of the tenets of sustainable living and increased self-sufficiency in and around our home.

We bought our house in December of 2004, and we’ve been slowly making improvements as time and budget allow. Located in Centennial, Colorado, the suburban house is fairly typical of the type built in the 1970’s: a 2000 square-foot tri-level with composition siding exterior (accented with brown rock that the original homeowners probably paid extra for back in 1977), 3 bedrooms and 2 3/4 bathrooms. The roof is wood shake shingle and the original windows were the aluminum frame type that window manufacturers always use as the “Before” example when comparing R-values. In November of 2007 we replaced the all of the windows in the house. For the windows on the east- and north-facing sides of the house and for the front storm door, we used Pella ThermaStar products. On the west side of the house and for the patio door we used Quantum2 windows by Kensington with Solarban heat mirror glass. 

In October of 2008, the main sewer line from the house to the street broke. The line was the original ceramic pipe that was standard back in the 1970’s, and years of settling and tree roots deteriorated it beyond repair. The entire line had to be replaced to the tune of $7500, which diverted our major green capital improvements that year.

Still, for all its quirks and challenges this is Home. I hope our family always sees it through the eyes of gratitude and never takes the roof over our heads for granted. Mindful that there are so many who who have lost everything to hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes and other disasters, and countless others who live with so much less, we hope to do all we can to live lightly on the planet and share the abundance.

This blog chronicles the journey of one average urban family trying to create a more sustainable home and garden, without spending a lot of extra money in the process. I’ll share the ups and downs, the successes and failures, and the unvarnished truth about the choices we make. I hope you’ll also share your own stories, ideas and comments — and visit often!

All the best,

Eliza Cross