Epic Homesteading: Your Guide to Self-Sufficiency on a Modern, High-Tech, Backyard Homestead by Kevin Espiritu

Followed by millions @epicgardening, Author Kevin Espiritu has built a modern, high-tech homestead on a modest urban lot. In Epic Homesteading, he teaches you how to do the same, wherever you live. As Kevin has proven—thanks to his enthusiasm and willingness to experiment—there’s no need to go “back to the land,” live off-grid, and leave behind modern conveniences to improve your self-sufficiency and autonomy. Anyone can do it. Follow in Kevin’s footsteps with this accessible, beginner-friendly guide to embracing today’s technology to grow and preserve food, raise mini livestock like bees and chickens, set up automated systems like irrigation and greywater recycling, and so much more. The high-tech homesteading concepts and projects introduced in Epic Homesteading show you that, wherever you are in the world—city, country, or suburbia—homesteading is for YOU! Learn how to: Read more

From the Publisher There is no once-size-fits-all garden. Consider the purpose of your garden. Are you trying to grow 100 percent of the food for your family, or are you trying to get a nice flower garden or a nice kitchen garden for your homestead? Compost is as simple as it is valuable. You’re left with compost when organic matter is decomposed by organisms and microorganisms. This same action occurs in the soil, as you incorporate organic materials and leave plant roots in place after a crop is finished. The material breakdown happens faster in a compost pile because you can create the ideal conditions for decomposition. Harvesting and conserving water resources are becoming more important as rainfall becomes more uncertain. One year you may have it, and the next you won't. I put in place a number of water-wise systems and practices at the Epic Homestead, and there's even more that can be done on homesteads large and small.