You’re better off producing most of the food you eat.

Simple steps to a sustainable homesteading is a compilation of my original work and achievement done inside my compound. The purpose of sharing this information is to encourage and inspire someone somewhere, especially in this trying times in the history of the world; by way of educating people on the importance of food security in a world of economic uncertainty.

Thanks to all my friends and readers; especially those that do comment on my articles. Your questions, ideas and encouragement remains my motivation.

Recently, I started receiving some messages from my readers; both from West Africa and overseas congratulating me on my original works. Some have desired that I put up some articles on how to start a home garden without spending much money. I have so much respect to their demands and therefore have decided to dedicate this article to my readers and friends.

At the end of this article, you’ll be able to get same result like what you’re seeing in the picture. This garden is just 2 weeks old and it supplies vegetables well enough to my family, my neighbors, while the excess are sold in the market.

Today, I’ll break it down for you and let you discover both the potential and how easy it is to have your own home garden as this.

Things you may need

Little space

Manure

Water

Seeds

Digging tools

With these few things, one can produce a rich vegetable garden to sustain his family and his neighbors.

Little Space

Let’s start with space for your home garden. You don’t need big investment all the times in order to achieve great results; sometimes little things may add unexpected value to our lives.

Someone may decide to discourage his or herself using space as an excuse, but I’m assuring you that you don’t need much space to make a great vegetable garden. Concerning my own garden, (the one in the picture) the space I utilized is just a little space between my fence wall and my proposed Bitcoin Cash house wall measuring 600mm” in width and 3000mm” in length.

Now that you’ve discovered that little space in your compound could do wonders, it’s now up to you to decide if you would go for ‘a dig or no dig’ method. But in this article, I’ll explain how to do ‘a dig’ method; meaning that you’ll need to till the ground to achieve a good result.

Manure

Depends on your soil type, you may need manure to support soils that are not humus enough. I don’t subscribe to chemical fertilizers; it cost so much and wouldn’t allow you to have a feel of natural process. In my case, I produce my own rich organic manure inside my compound.

This is 100 percent natural; a very rich animal manure meant for rich vegetable gardening.

Let me take little time to explain how I produce this type of organic manure. I could decide to make a compost manure instead, but I try achieving multiple results from one attempt. In one of my previous articles, I told you how I adopted some sheep that were brought to the market to be slaughtered. These friends makes sure that I do not lack manure. So their excretion has become my manure factory.

I feed those livestock with waste and damaged vegetables from my garden and farm, and in return receive rich manure from their waste matter.

So I gather crumbs and spoilt plantain, cassava, vegetables and fruits; chop them into smaller particles, and get them dried under the sun to enable them last long for the animals.

Now that you’ve known how to produce rich manure without buying from the market, why not give gardening a try if your environment permits such.

Water

Water is very essential for gardening as some varieties of vegetables plants depends solemnly on good supply of water to grow well. Not everyone will have the issue of water, and some may have this issue of adequate water supply. Well, I solved my own water problem through an underground water reservoir which receives rain water from my house roof during rainy season.

This reserved water is what supplies to my garden during drought period. In like manner, you may gather rain water during winter or rainy periods for your garden. For those that have government water supplies in their homes, this area of the article may not be for you because it’s obvious that water won’t be a problem for you. Not everyone can afford this type of irrigation system (though it’s not difficult)

Determination is the key to every possibility. I built my own irrigation system through many years of perseverance; I built it with crypto currency through writing of articles as this one that you’re reading. Some lovely souls from around the world saw my genuine optimism and hardworking, and some supported my effort through loan, and others through voting up my articles. Let me not deviate please.

Seeds

Nature is awesome, have you noticed that seeds are one of the free gifts from creation? A single vegetable plant can give you seeds that could sustain you planting for several months.

I do not buy seeds except for new varieties. I dry and preserve seeds from my gardens and farm lands. I also distributes to other family who tends garden too.

Depending of your choice of vegetables plants, you can also have different seeds for mix cropping, well preserved seeds could stay years as long as its well kept.

Now that you’ve known about the role of seeds and the importance of gathering them from your garden, we can talk about the last things which are tools.

Tools

Gardening doesn’t require much tools to accomplish. Doing digging method of gardening may require few tools life cutlass for clearing, Rake for gathering scraps, and a digger for digging and softening the soil. In some cases, you may need watering 🚿 jars when hosepipe isn’t available.

You are now ready to plant your vegetables garden 🪴

Now that everything is set for your vegetables garden. I know that you’re eager to start planting. I also understand that some people would like to see or to know more on the steps to planting their seeds.

You’re just a step further to accomplishing all that. Seeing that it may not be too healthy to accommodate the whole process into this singular article, I’ll suggest that we take little break and come back in my next article which will cover the steps and precepts of planting your vegetables.

In conclusion

If your neighbor is hungry, give him to eat. If you’re not sure of how the next meal will come, it’ll a signal telling you that it’s time to make at least a garden for food security in your home. Thanks so much for being patient with me as we discuss all these. See you in my next article coming in few days from now.