Apartment Homesteading: 10 Easy Ideas for Beginners
Updated: Sep 22
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The homestead life, complete with a self-reliant "do-it-yourself" attitude, is gaining popularity and for great reason. Feeling empowered in our own lives is important to both our mental and physical wellbeing. So why wait to feel better when you can start right now? You don't need a lot of acreage, a backyard, or even a balcony to start the homesteading lifestyle. Here are ten ways you can realistically practice a homesteading life right now from your apartment and still see real results.
Hydroponic Growing Systems
Whether you want to experiment with making one yourself or buy one that is a sure thing, hydroponic growing systems allow you to grow herbs, greens, and sometimes even flowers, veggies or fruits in a very small space. Even if your apartment is sun starved, the built in grow lights can get you a yield good enough to cook with or make a modest batch of tea. I personally love using mine to grow herbs for cooking and cut-and-come-again style leafy greens.
Seed Sprouting
Possibly the highest nutrition to cost ratio I can think of, seed sprouting is super easy to do in your apartment. If you want to invest in a fancy sprouting system , you certainly can, but if your goal is to be frugal, just getting a mason jar or two and a sprouting lid will do the trick. Sprouted seeds are super rich in whatever the larger plant would have packed nutritionally, just in a small vessel, giving you great vitamin and even protein content. To prevent waste, I usually sprout just one jar's worth a week and love adding them to my salads.
Mushrooms
This might sound strange to grow mushrooms in your apartment, but it is far easier than you'd think. They make easy use grow kits to grow a couple harvests worth of your favorite mushroom per kit, or you can research a more complex log or bin setup if you are feeling extra adventurous. But the bottom line is you can get your own mushroom harvest and enjoy the benefits of plant based vitamin D and so much more. Oyster mushrooms are super easy to try your hand, and you don't need high sunlight to make mushrooms grow.
Window Sill Garden
If you are more blessed with a south or semi south facing window, you can try a window sill pot garden. I personally have southeast facing windows and have been able to get a dwarf tomato plant harvest from the sill along with some lower light loving herbs (I'm sprouting some parsley right now!). Watering and checking in on their progress is a great way to bring nature indoors and give you the joy of a harvest from inside your apartment.
Canning
You can buy farmers market veggies or fruit in whatever quantity you can manage to process and have canned and preserved garden goodness throughout the year. The investment would include canning jars and lids and possibly a canning kit depending on the method you want to use. But you can also keep it simple and make quick pickles on the stovetop, put them in an unsealed jar, and have a batch for a couple weeks at a time too. You can even dip your toe in fermenting. No garden, no problem! And developing these skills now will only serve you better if/when you get your own outdoor garden harvest in the future.
Dehydrating
There are decent, small batch, dehydrators available for a reasonable price that you can invest in to make your own dried snacks or dried herbs for tea. Mine is easy to use and store on my kitchen counter top (and I don't have a lot of kitchen space). Dehydrating requires minimal oversight and therefore can be a relaxing way to spend your time while you make nutritious food options for yourself, your friends, or your family. I'm personally a fan of kale chips and using some of the herbs I've grown to make tea...like nettle tea (my name sake).
Tincture Making
Tinctures are a simple way to make herbal medicine to store in your apartment for whenever or however you have need of them. If you aren't able to produce the herbs in enough bulk yourself, you can buy bulk organic herbs and then make them in a vodka or glycerin style tincture (or glycerite). Not only is it a fun process to make them, but you have confidence in knowing exactly how they were made and what went into them, which is a huge boost to self-reliance. I personally have a full cabinet shelf of tinctures that I make in small batches. They last quite a while and are great to have within arms reach.
Sewing
Whether it's mending by hand or getting a small beginner sewing machine, knowing how to mend or even make your own clothes is an exciting venture. It's also exciting when you have an idea of something you want but the pricetags you see on the market are too high, so you tell yourself "I can make that" and then you do! Whether it's a tank top, wrap skirt, or cushion cover, sewing can be an enjoyable hobby and definitely a useful skill that requires minimal space with a simple setup.
Crochet/Knitting
Yarn hobbies are always a great outlet to be creative or practical-whichever way the wind takes you. Crafting could become a profitable endeavor if you like making things to order for others. Or you can make your own home asthetic come to life with just the right throw blanket. Once again this is a great skill and also a relaxing way to spend your free time. I personally just learned to crochet rounded projects and made little placemats for my water decanter that made me quite happy with minimal time committment. More projects are sure to come. The yarn and hooks/needles are the main financial investment to consider, but very manageable.
DIY Self Care
Last but not least, DIY self care products are a great way to get a homestead feel while in your apartment. You can make simple body butters by combining a couple types of oils, bees wax and essential oils. Or you can make your own dry shampoo, clay face masks, or honey hair treatment. The sky is really the limit. Homesteading is about doing things for yourself. Yes, that means making and growing things to be self reliant, but it also means participating in the self care that goes along with it. You are a crucial part of the harmony of your homestead, so never forget to treat yourself.
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