Confessions of a wannabe suburban homesteader

I am not a legitimate suburban homesteader.  Legitimate suburban homesteaders would taunt me over the fence line with shouts of "your mother smelled of elderberries!"  I have a good reason for not being a better homesteader, namely that I have a family and a day job.  There are other reasons as well.  For instance, our entire menagerie consists of one lazy, loud cat that refuses to step outdoors.  My husband will not stand for chickens and we live on a small lot, precluding most other animals.  So I buy eggs from the happy chickens owned by a colleague at work and get our milk from Spokane Family Farm. 

Despite my failings, I do have some pretty specific goals for 2011 for our tiny pseudo-suburban homestead.  These goals are:

1.  To improve my compost bin.  I have way too many kitchen scraps in the mix and not enough "browns" (leaves and grass clippings).  I need to crank up the heat in that sucker and crank out the dirt.

2.  To have early season greens--spinach or lettuce.  To achieve this goal, I need to plant early--in February--if there are some snow free days.  As a bonus, I'd like to be able to put in a second, summer crop, when the greens are done.

3.  I want my one bed to go entirely to strawberries but give two of my rhubarb plants to a good home to create additional space for veggies.

4.  I want to replace the front perennial bed with a native plants to create a low-maintenance, xeriscape garden.  (My husband is a BIG proponent of this goal).

5.  My friend in New York State created a root cellar in her basement and I have root cellar-envy.  I need some way to store carrots and potatoes long term, but unlike my friend, I don't have a full, below-ground basement.  I saw this product advertised at Gardener's Supply Company,  and while it appears to be no longer available, I am sure I could make something similar.  Because my garage doesn't typically freeze, I should be able to store veggies for a least a couple months post harvest. 

6. As with last year, I really want to increase the proportion of locally produced food.  I did pretty well on dairy last year, this year I will try for grains.

Fortunately or unfortunately, it is still the dead of winter and so I can't get started on these goals (except maybe the last one) right away.  So I will just enjoy another aspect of suburban homesteading--a nice wood stove fire courtesy of my husband.  He buys permits from the U.S. Forest Service to collect dead or fallen trees from Federal land.  It keeps us nice and toasty in the winter, and I am always thankful that I don't have to be the one splitting wood on a cold winter's day!

The unsplit wood in our woodshed; my husband's (important) contribution to urban homesteading!