77 Urban Backyard Homestead Ideas & Skills for Beginners

Butchering your own animals is a good way to provide extra food security for your homestead.  Start small with planning to raise and butcher your own meat chickens. Then move on to bigger livestock like lamb or goats. 

Learn to Tan Hides 

Tanning hides is a fun side hobby to have on your backyard homestead. Nothing beats real tanned hides that you made yourself for home decor. Fresh hides can be bought from a local butcher. To get started you can read my guide, Hide Tanning: The Easy Way to Tan Hides at Home.

Build an Outdoor Shower with Solar Panels

Off-grid Ideas are abundant when it comes to backyard homesteading ideas.  You could design and plan an outdoor shower heated with solar power to clean up after all your hard work and backyard farming projects.

Set Up a Gravity-fed Water System

Being able to provide water to animals and the garden is important if you lose power.  Setting up a gravity fed rainwater collection system would keep the water flowing in case of a blackout. 

Set Up an Aquaponics System

Talk about a dual purpose system. Set up an aquaponics system to grow food and fish for the dinner table.

Build a Solar Water Heater

Not only could you heat an outdoor shower but you could also go off-grid and build a solar water heater to bring hot water into your home. 

Build a Wind Turbine

Feeling ambitious and want to see if you can harness the power of the wind and create some power? Research, design, and build your own wind turbine.

Create Garden Plans to Grow Your Own Food

How much space do you have for garden beds? Will it be a small container garden, a couple raised beds, or a bigger row garden for food production? Creating a plan will help keep you in track with growing your own food. 

Grow Microgreens with Limited Space

One of the best ways to grow your own food with limited space is by growing microgreens.  They can be grown indoors on a simple shelf under grow lights. They provide a quick way to grow nutrient dense food on a small scale. 

Always Have Fresh Herbs With a Container Garden

Having fresh herbs is always a great idea. Create a small space close to the kitchen so they are readily available for scratch cooking, making teas, or tinctures. 

Berry Bushes for Your Own Fruits

Growing annual vegetables is great but having perennials growing will fill the gaps between growing seasons. Plant some berry bushes so you can harvest your own fruit.

Grow Potatoes in a Bag or Barrel

Growing potatoes are a great way to grow calories and to keep your family full. They can be grown in 10 gallon grow bags, in a barrel, or in ground if you have space.  

Plant Olive Trees

Olives are a healthy fruit that help keep cholesterol levels down, are rich in antioxidants, healthy fat, and fiber. They are low maintenance perennial plant that are drought tolerant and adaptable to many climates. 

Grow Edible Landscaping

Growing edible landscaping is a great idea being close to the house for easy access. Consider growing things not only in the backyard but the front yard also. Things like strawberries, herbs, kale, blue berry shrubs, colorful chard, salad greens, and pepper plants. 

Grow Plants From Cuttings

Learning plant propagation is valuable when it comes to backyard homestead ideas. Learning to take cuttings and start new plants will grow your homestead in a very frugal way. 

Learn to Make Sweet Potato Slips for Sustainable Food Production

If you learn how to grow sweet potatoes and make your own sweet potato slips you can have free sweet potatoes forever.  They are a filling, calorie dense food that is easy to grow. 

Grow Luffas to Use For Scrubbing

Luffas are so fun to grow. Build an arch trellis and plant luffas.  You can use them for exfoliating in the shower or as kitchen scrubbers.

Grow Clumping Bamboo as a Valuable Resource

Clumping bamboo does not spread and takeover like traditional bamboo. The bamboo poles are good trellis building material, the foliage is great for mulching and composting.

The plant itself can be a great structure for free range chickens. It’s beautiful and provides good shade. 

Build a Trellis for Vertical Gardening for Good Use of Small Spaces

When it comes to food production in a small space, vertical gardening is the way to go. Set up an arch trellis for those crops that like to climb such as, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, melons, and bole beans to name a few. 

Grow Toilet Paper

This may not be a common when it comes to backyard homestead ideas but hear me out. When the SHTF you may not be able to get toilet paper. Consider growing things like Mullein and Indian Coleus. Both have leaves that are super soft and thick, making them a great toilet paper substitute. 

Plant Pollinator Flower Beds

With out our pollinator friends we would be in some real trouble.  Encourage then to spend some time on your new homestead by planting a pollinator bed full of plants native to your region along with plants that bloom at different times so the pollinators have plenty of food. 

Learn to Grow From Seed

Learning to grow food from seed is a valuable skill. It will grow you an abundance of your own food, while saving you money. The Ultimate Seed Starting Guide is a great, free resource.

Learn to Save and Swap Seeds

Once you learn how to grow from seed take it a step further and learn how to save seed.  Just be sure you are saving seeds from open-pollinated or heirloom seeds. 

Set Up a Seed Starting Area

One of the backyard homestead ideas that will keep your food production going is a building a dedicated seed starting area. Not only will it house your seedlings until they are ready to transplant but will also keep your seed starting supplies clean and organized so they last longer and are easy to find. 

Plant Fruit Trees

Fruit trees can be a long term investment but are a valuable investment to any homestead.  Over the years they can provide consistent fresh fruit. You could also consider maple trees and tap maple syrup.

Grow a Grocery Row Garden or Food Forest

Grocery row gardening is an excellent way to combine perennial plants and annual vegetables in the same space.  Think of harvest time as walking down a grocery store aisle grabbing a little of this and a little of that from your mix of plantings. 

Build a Produce Washing Station

Once your garden is in full swing you may find you have a ton of dirty produce, like potatoes or carrots, coming out of the garden. Design and build an outdoor produce washing station near your garden.

Build a Greenhouse or a Cold Frame to Extend the Growing Season

One of the best backyard homestead ideas to extend your growing season is by building a greenhouse or on a smaller scale building a simple cold frame. This enables many homesteaders to continue food production well into, if not through the winter season. 

Grow Mushrooms

Growing mushrooms is a great way to grow your own food in a small space. They can be grown indoors on a small shelf if needed.  

Compost Kitchen Scraps with a Worm Farm

Another valuable addition when it comes to backyard homestead ideas is building a worm farm. Not only does it help reduce waste through composting but also provides worm castings to use in the garden.  

Depending on the type of worm, they can also be used as high protein food source for your feathered friends. 

Build a Compost Pile

​Figuring out a composting bin or system that works for you can be a game changer. Making your own compost at home is free, easy, and will save you money. 

Grow Green Manure Crops

Green manure crops can be used as a chop and drop cover crop to add nitrogen and organic matter to your soil. Consider making a plan to plant a cover crop between gardening seasons.

Plant things like alfalfa, clover, cow peas, hairy vetch. mustards, rye grass, or sun hemp. 

Set Up a Swamp Water Barrel

A principle that came from Korean Natural Farming is the swamp water barrel made popular by David the Good.  Simply put, it’s a 55 gallon drum of water, to which you can add just about anything to that decomposes. Add things like weeds, plant cuttings, spent crops, and grass clippings.  

If you butcher your own animals, you can even catch the blood to add to your swamp water. Keep it covered and strain out small amounts to water plants with. They love it.  

Set Up Drip Irrigation

Setting up drip irrigation is one of the best backyard homestead ideas. Not only does it save you time, but also uses water more efficiently. Your garden will love the slow, consistent water it gets from drip irrigation. 

Automate Your Garden to Save Time

Take your drip irrigation a step further and use an automated timer for your watering system. Hello convenience. You can now take a weekend trip and not have to pay a farm sitter to water your garden for you. 

Learn & Design a Rotational Grazing Plan

The benefits of learning how to rotationally graze your animals on your own land is astounding.   The best way is to start small with some electric fencing to move animals around. 

Backyard Homestead Skills

While backyard homesteading ideas are useful on the homestead, knowing how to care for and keep farm animals is important to this way of life. They provide an excellent protein source and valuable manure for gardening. Even the smallest homestead with limited space can can keep small farm animals like rabbit or quail. 

• Keep a small flock of backyard chickens for fresh eggs.
• Keep ducks for eggs and meat by creating a small kiddie pool duck pond.
• Raising quail for eggs and meat if you have limited space.
• Build a moveable rabbit tractor or rabbit hutch for outdoor rabbits.
• Raise rabbits indoors if you have limited space. 1-2 rabbits can provide manure for container garden fertilizer. 
• Build a chicken tunnel for a chicken run around the garden. 
• Build a chicken tractor and raise meat chickens.
• Set up animal feed fermentation to save money.
• Raise alpacas or sheep for wool.
• Find a beekeeper and learn to keep honey bees.
• Learn to keep a dairy animal. Goats, sheep, or cows.

Necessary Kitchen Skills Can Enhance Your Backyard Homestead Ideas

All those amazing backyard homesteading projects can be made even more amazing by knowing how to utilize the fruits of your labors with these necessary homestead kitchen skills. 

• Learn to make cheese with all that dairy.
• Learn to make yogurt with your extra milk.
• And don’t forget the butter.
• Find a good bread recipe and master it. 
• Make your own sourdough starter.
• Brew your own wine.
• Brew kombucha for a fun, fizzy, probiotic drink.
• Learn to cook from scratch.
• Learn to preserve eggs.
• Dehydrate fruits and veggies for long term storage.
• Master food fermentation for food preservation.
• Learn to water bath can and pressure can for long term food storage.
• Quick pickle foods for tasty preservation.
• Learn to salt cure meat.
• Learn the different ways to make soap.
• Render lard from animals you harvest for healthy cooking oils.
• DIY skincare products.
• DIY cleaning products.
• Learn to sew.
• Make scented products with herbs.

Never Stop Learning Homesteading Skills

No matter how long you’ve been at this homesteading thing I always feel like there is room to learn and grow. Or, maybe it’s helping a fellow new homesteader grow. 

Shop at the Farmer’s Market to Support Local Farmers

While you are building your new homestead be sure to support local farms by shopping at the farmer’s market. Maybe once you’ve completed your backyard homestead ideas you’ll find yourself as a vender at the market. 

Can I Save Money Urban Homesteading?

While you may find that some of these homesteading skills save you money, you are sure to find some that don’t. Homesteading can get expensive quickly if you aren’t careful. 

How Do People Afford This Homesteading Lifestyle?

A lot of homesteaders still have to work off farm jobs in order to support the homestead.  The less debt you have the better. 

DIY Projects Keep the New Homestead Affordable

You’ll find that having an abundant homestead on a budget requires a lot of DIY projects. Learning to do things yourself instead of hiring out can save money. 

How Do You Have a Successful Homestead?

Having a successful homestead doesn’t happen over night. It will take years at a slow and steady pace to build a thriving homestead, along with some blood, sweat, and tears. You will have victories along the way that keep you going. 

Live Below Your Means

That’s right. Don’t live within your means, live below your means. 

Invest Time and Energy

​Growing a successful homestead takes a huge investment of time and energy.  It also requires being home. 

Be Focused on your Goals

Remember that list you made? Keep crossing projects off and adding projects to it. Focus on one project at a time. Then the next. 

Embrace Failure

Along with the homesteading high comes the homesteading lows.  You will fail at some things. However, did you learn something from it? Gaining experience and knowledge is never a failure in my book. 

Ownership is Optional

Many homesteaders out there do not own their property or home. Actually, there are plenty of small farmers that don’t even own the property they farm. Don’t let not being a home or land owner hold you back from all your backyard homestead ideas or learning necessary homesteading skills.

Connect With Others

Being a homesteader can get isolating real quick. Be sure to plug into your local homesteading community by visiting local markets, events, talking with neighbors, or reaching out on local homesteading social media pages. 

I hope you found some encouragement to create your self-sufficient lifestyle with these backyard homestead ideas and new skills to learn. 

Happy Homesteading & Never Stop Learning,

Jenny @ The GrahamStead

Jenny and her family have been homesteading for over 20 years. They are currently farming on their 10 acre Florida farm, that they built from the ground up, 8 years ago, growing 100% of their meat and a lot of their vegetables. From their small herd of Aberdeen Angus Cattle, Pastured Poultry, Sheep, and seasonal pigs, they are able to raise enough meat for the family while selling extra to the community. All the while, striving to butcher at home, as much as possible, and use the bits and pieces of their harvest by preserving food, making bone broth, and (Jenny’s favorite) tanning all kinds of hides!