Starting a Homestead

Ever wonder what the first step is to starting a homestead? 

For me, the first step is a visit to the library!  Research, people, research.

Pretty much every Friday, my lovely mother will watch Finley for a few hours so I can go to my dad's shop (he owns an auto shop) and do some paper work for him.  Well this past Friday, I dropped Finley off and took the route to the shop as I always do.  As I past my towns library I thought to myself how nice it would be to actually go to the "grown up" section that didn't involve chasing a 2 year old as she pulls all the books off the shelf and then being embarrassed while everyone is looking at me sweating profusely as I try to tame a screaming child.  Then I realized, I was toddler free!  I quickly dodged into the parking lot.

I went straight to the gardening section since I am pretty much obsessed with planning my garden right now and I found some really great books.  I was in heaven!  Child free with 15 minutes of peace to run my fingers across the books on the shelves and sit on the floor and flip through the pages, are you serious?!

This is the lot I came home with:

I have spent the day perusing each and every book, and I'm so excited.  So far my favorites of this group of books are: 
Talking Dirt by Annie Spiegelman- This book seems to be a woman to woman guide to organic gardening.
All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew-  This one is great!  It has great pictures and tons of inexpensive diy projects for raised beds... right up my alley.
Growing a Garden City by Jeremy N. Smith-  This book I could barely put down, it's about a town in Montana that the whole community pretty much participates on various farms to provide food for the needy while at the same time teaching others the importance of gardening and sustainability.
Mini Farming by Brett L. Markham-  This book is about farming on a 1/4 acre.  I don't have a quarter acre, but this book provides hope for those who wish to farm on a small amount of land.  It talks about everything from vegetables & fruit trees to raising chickens.

I truly believe that research should be the first step to starting a garden, let alone a homestead.  And these books will be a tremendous help in regards to when to plant, how to care, and even what to plant.  My goal is to have my entire front yard and back yard producing yummy organic food of some sort.  This dream won't happen this year or even the next- I have to start with baby steps.  Clearly my first baby step is 15 minutes of bliss at the library :)  This homestead is off to a good start already!