Why Smaller is Better: Sustainable Living on 1/4 Acre + a Small House

How many acres do you need for a sustainable lifestyle? 2? 5? 20? 100? How big of a house? How many outbuildings?
Could you do it on 1/4 acre?
What if smaller can be more sustainable, productive, and rewarding?
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[@SustainablePrepping]

“Self sufficiency is a hindrance to sustainability” - yes! Community interdependence is the key! Thank you! So very glad I found your channel.

[@wendypanozzo9133]

I wish more people realized how much food they can grow on a regular lot in the city!I would love to see everybody growing something and sharing as a community.That is what we need to bring people together!

[@margaretd3710]

Exactly!!

[@lorebrown5307]

Unfortunately you have to consider the quality and cost of water for the garden in many places if you cannot collect rainwater or it doesn't rain during the gardening season.

[@mioasisfrutal2634]

Totally. I have a very small space and I grow enough for me and my family

[@HomesteadDIY]

Am I the only one that thinks it’s immensely cool you make knives? But I too have long wanted 40 acres and a mule but now as I get older I appreciate my smaller lot. I’m not nearly as productive as you are, but I continue to aspire to do more.

[@lrrerh8090]

The world needs more people like you, Angela. You always have a great, positive message for everyone.

[@formidableflora5951]

Nailed it. All the reasons I love my 1930's 1830 square foot, slightly rundown house. We own several acres, but chose to leave much of it wild--uncleared and unplanted, but definitely not unappreciated! A small house surrounded by permaculture plantings and an annual veg garden enabled us to raise 6 kids (plus an exchange student one year) on a single salary. I thought I would marry a bearded lumberjack and build a log cabin homestead in the wilderness, but this is PERFECT!

[@threegoodeyes7400]

Bearded lumberjack should definitely be on your husband’s Halloween costume list (if not already). 🤣

[@stephaniecrooks8430]

Hi Angela. I like you had all these dreams and yet have ended up on a large social housing estate in south London. Att 66 I am thankful that we are here in a house and garden I can manage. In our much smaller than yours garden we have chickens and fruit trees and bushes and a generally wildlife friendly garden. Just yesterday I shared some eggs and blueberries with someone who said ' wow, it's like a country cottage here. ' You have inspired me to plant 4 new trees this year and drag this ageing body off the sofa! Many thanks. X

[@soaringsavage]

I bet it is just beautiful. I visited London for a month a few years back and miss it 💜

[@bassoonrckr]

I really appreciate this. My partner and I just bought a house in the city I was born and raised in. Only 1/5 acre, and we kept saying that well if this life event, if covid hadn't happened maybe we'd be out in the country with more acreage. But we do like where we live, our neighborhood, and we can't make life decisions that don't reflect where we currently are in our lives, jobs etc. I'm planting trees, perennials and about to start some fall veggies here and I really want to take the community aspect you talked about to heart - I always give away seedlings to neighbors but I want to try next spring to make sure I give them away continuously instead of sporadically. That and being out in my front garden talking to my neighbors is what I can do right now to be a steward for sustainability in my community.

[@maranathayall]

I loved that: "...bloom where you are planted." Wise words. ❤

[@wildedibles819]

Well said and no one is good at everything And not every year is a chicken or tomato year Polyculture and sharing community is important for us as earthlings;) much love xoxox

[@darthfiende1]

Great food for thought. My husband and I went from a 900 square foot condo to a 3300 square foot house on half an acre a couple years ago. We're so grateful that we found such a great property within our budget, for which we were expecting much less house and land, but it is basically a full time job. My husband and I both work from home, foster kittens, and have a roommate, so we're trying to use the surplus house efficiently, but it's almost too much and has resulted in a great deal of stress for me to keep up a property this big. I don't regret it and am confident we'll grow into it, but it's a lot right now. We're hoping to trade room and board for yard and house help as we get older. I love your ideas for community infrastructure; maybe some of our space could be shared so that it's not all on us.

[@johnbaxter189]

Excellent Angie A thesis on community cooperation for community sustainability, well done

[@NHchocolatelover]

You are demonstrating contentment with what has been provided. That is a message I needed today. Thank you!

[@ParkrosePermaculture]

Thank you!

[@catherineemerson99]

Interesting food for thought. In a similar situation, with 6 of us (now that oldest is married) in a 1277 square foot house on just over 1/6th of an acre. Trying to work with what we've got but with dreams/goals of a small acreage one day (2-5 acres, not large). However, I do think it's a fun challenge to see just how much we can grow here, though we're not nearly as far along the permaculture path as your family. And if we do someday end up on that land, all the skills learned here will come in handy.

[@Heidibearca]

Love this! We have a tenth of an acre in southwestern Ontario. Each year we have increased our yields. Two years ago we grew 50 lbs of food, so last year I was aiming for 100lbs....we got just over 200lbs of food! This year I am aiming for 400 lbs and we'll see what happens. I think it is completely reasonable to imagine that we can grow over a thousand pounds here, even with most of our back garden in shade. Thank you for your work Angela...it's making a difference in my life. 😁

[@johnwalczykowski1651]

I really liked the way you formatted this video--narration, scans of the garden and printed text. Your channel is one of my favorites.

[@farmyourbackyard2023]

I am so grateful that we each still have the opportunity to choose what size house and property we want to manage. Thanks for making some great points.

[@BecomingaFarmGirl]

This is so encouraging to hear! I’m in a townhouse in the city and even with just a deck growing space and vertical towers I’ve grown so much. Amen to community based sustainability vs an indivisa mentality. As a homestead dreamer I every ally want to move in a detached home but even now I’m cognizant that the goal is to continue to have a right sized life for all the reasons you mentioned. So well said!

[@jaimikonrad545]

"a right sized life" - I love the way you phrased that. It encompasses so much.

[@davidschmidt270]

Dear Angela....boy oh boy has your video really hit home! I've been beating myself up wanting and wanting AND WANTING! to have this huge homestead ( although I think I'll always want land!) But yeah at some point I think I kinda said to myself I like the backyard the way it is! If it's all the same I think making the most of what you do have means so much! I often remind myself that God loves a small garden! Thank you🍟 🐧🌵

[@leem200]

I wanted all that but my husband did not. He was raised on a large house, farm, and huge 12-member family. We were also a military family so moved a lot. I am now in early sixties and like you I am going to make my home be a homestead. Starting today. Husband got the wood for raised beds and putting in a garden. Starting small.

[@jesskelley-madera4830]

I love this. I am a gardener but always get the “yuck” feelings from self sufficiency and couldn’t put my finger on why. This is exactly why! There are so many ways in which it would actually be wasteful for me to try to be self sufficient. Thank you!!

[@heather41205]

I loved your message about building community. This makes so much more sense to me than solo self-sufficient homesteading.

[@YT4Me57]

I live in an outer borough of New York City in a wood-frame row house (built in 1899) with a postage stamp sized backyard; I park my car on the street. When I was 40, I yearned for a husband and kids, a large home with a great big yard and a driveway/garage. I am now 66 and none of those dreams panned out. But my small home is manageable; and I have the experience of observing church friends enter their 80s, forced to sell houses they could no longer deal with. Thank you for articulating so well what my life has come to be: 'interdependent in community'. I buy organic, support local farmers and enjoy all the benefits of living in a major city with access to the waterways and forests of my home state. God is good.

[@thebitchygardener4495]

I just got into gardening this year and we have .26 acres to work with, looking at our mostly empty backyard had me feeling both overwhelmed with the amount of space and also concerned if we’d have enough space for all the things I’d love to plant in the next few years and so this video was a good reminder that it will be enough and that there’s no rush! 💙

[@kristinraabe6887]

Thanks Angela! I love your perspective! 💙🌎✌at the age of 50 I am finally building my tinyish house. We bought 20 acres six years ago with thoughts of grandeur similar to your victorian house wishes. I have revamped the house plans tremendously. Our 5 kids have grown and moved out and we downsized to an apartment near the build site last fall. I am finally able to observe our land on a daily basis and have changed accordingly in small steps, including the garden area, closer to the house and the greenhouse attached to the house. Love the Ruth Stout books btw, thanks for the suggestion. Anyway, I really admire you and your way of teaching. So considerate, respectful and practical! Love your homestead, and the new channel! Much Love and light to you and the fam!!💙🌎✌

[@bradb2321]

Totally agree, we have 18 acres with a small home in the middle of now where. We lived there full time for several years. But, now in our 50's ,we have chosen to make our home in a 1 bedroom bungalow in St Louis city. And, tonight we are having corn chowder for dinner, most of which is from my city garden. -- tina

[@Nightowl-72]

Fantastic video. Very practical and relatable. We just moved to a country town and bought an old house on 1/4 acre block. We downsized our mortgage and upgraded our lifestyle. It’s more than enough to take care of as my husband and I age. ❤

[@MegaSnail1]

E.F. Schumacher would be so impressed. Thank you for your voice of reason. Small Is Beautiful is Oxford-trained economist E. F. Schumacher's classic call for the end of excessive consumption. Schumacher inspired such movements as “Buy Locally” and “Fair Trade,” while voicing strong opposition to “casino capitalism” and wasteful corporate behemoths.

[@ironleatherwood1357]

Your home and garden and attitude is amazing! My husband and I are retiring and downsizing our six acre homestead to a quarter acre with 1000 square foot home . I'm trying to wrap my head around the space, but for the two of us it should be plenty. We will be in zone 6a I think so you have more options I think then we do. My front yard slopes so that will be challenging but I am looking forward to it. God bless

[@jdsfrisco]

Exactly! I bought a 700 square foot house on a half acre and thought I was making a big compromise on the size of the lot. A dozen years later I now understand that the front quarter acre is highly productive and the back quarter acre is largely unused. The house is modest, but a couple of back yard sheds were installed and do all the heavy lifting without having to add on to the main house. The bonus is I'm a bicycle ride from town. Perfect.

[@samanthamariah7625]

I live in Southern Oregon with an 1860 home on 1/4th of an acre. I’m just beginning plantings this season and am excited to see it all transform. I’m wanting to keep the property manageable. Thanks for your videos 😊

[@susanstutz538]

I did get all of your wishlist - the acres, 200 goats, horses, garden, kids. Now I'm so happy on a 'regular' lot yard, less than 1/4 acre, and soooo happy. I'm not exhausted trying to keep up with the amount of land, animals, etc, I'm busy and contented as I can actually finish things and just enjoy life. Wouldn't trade the years 'out', but you are so right about small and sustainable here. Thanks for your videos!

[@renamarsland9642]

I was of the same mindset when I bought my 1950s home on a 1acre plot of land. After my husband died, I moved from Vancouver Island off the west coast of Canada to the east coast of Canada with my three young children….with the hopes of finding an early 1900s farm home on 20acres! But reality allowed me to see what owning an old home and maintaining so many acres could look like…and I knew that it was more up keep than what I was prepared to handle. Finding my 1950s home on an acre lot that borders a cove, a municipal park, and an undeveloped property (that will never be developed because it’s a flood plain), is my perfect slice of heaven that I’m slowly beautifying, and growing. It’s truly a labour of love!! Small is best…for all the reasons you stated in your video! Many blessings to you, from the south shore of Nova Scotia, 🇨🇦

[@CopperheadRoadHomestead]

We are a family of 6 (soon to be 7) in a 1,280 sq. foot house. We have a big property (in Western Kentucky), but I think there is a lot of wisdom in smaller spaces. Thanks for the vid.

[@BeautifulEarthJa]

I feel called out! I'm dreaming of those 20 acres 😝🤪

[@LiliansGardens]

I enjoyed being here. I also had dreams of a space for gardening but this was not so for many years. Your place is great

[@melissadavis5954]

LOVE your points about using community. I don't often think about that because my area tends to not be super close knit even though we are rural and most people have a bit of land. I'm on 2 acres but 1/4- 1/2 acre is septic field and another 1/2 acre is a broken down barn that is dangerous to go in and would cost tens of thousands to remove. I find myself always looking at land wishing I had more even though I only have less than 1/4 acre planted. It's a good reminder to focus on filling in my 1 acre and see if I even need more(probably not). Also, I was thinking about getting a dairy cow and read that they produce 7 gallons of milk a DAY 🤣🤣 Nobody needs 49 gallons of milk a week.. I'm lucky if we go through 1 gallon. 🙈 I also have a mid sized house and I can barely keep up with the cleaning. I can't imagine having a bigger house. It would be exhausting and overwhelming.

[@chandrikatilwalli4741]

“ Bloom where you are planted” what great advice and video!

[@mrskmonster]

Thank you for this video. My fiance and I are buying a house on a quarter acre lot and I am so excited to design it. Seeing the density of your garden is really inspiring.

[@briantruth1463]

It looks like a botanical garden run by pros. It’s amazing! Basement with a grow light sounds cool. Have all your stuff on a head start before it hits your dirt.

[@fabricdragon]

speaking frankly for most of us it is a matter of time until we have physical limits. i lived in a row home (attached home) that had a big basement, and two main floors... and it was fine, until our knees went out. we just moved to a single floor home, and... i miss the space but my knees are way happier.

[@kellymcmahon706]

honestly, your set up sounds ideal and it's something i hope to find in the next few years

[@greenhousefun3235]

Yass. I love my little house and "big' garden. I can eat and manage my space. I like your lean to shed. I need a space for my tools since I built a big greenhouse on the property. Great job. I eat great.

[@jacquivowles7578]

We bought 3/4 of an acre when our eldest was 3. We wanted to have a good sized family with lots of room for them to play. As the years went by we planted fruit trees to ensure we had something fruiting every month of the year and increased our garden size. When we no longer needed lots of play room we used the less fertile land to add small houses relocated from other sites with the idea that this would be a way to provide for our old age. We now have six dwellings, lots of fruit trees, the garden, 5 children, 14 Grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren - so there are lots of ways to be resilient. I really enjoyed your sensible take on resilience

[@AM-tc9ct]

Wonderful video. Thanks for calling out tool libraries, we love NEPTL and us them all the time! Great message that less really can be more, especially as new construction gets larger, and yards become non-existent. We're on a "standard" R5 property (~5k sq ft), and yes, while I too have/had dreams of acreage, realistically this is a completely sufficient size lot for our needs in terms of maintenance and garden productivity. Aside from a half dozen or so potted perennial herbs that are just amazing to have handy, our two 4x8 garden beds produce a solid amounts of veggies in the spring and summer (haven't yet dove into fall and winter veg gardening). And I completely agree about the square footage of a house. I do not want to have to clean, heat, cool, repair anything larger than what we have. I'm pretty happy with our 1930s petite home. Works for us, and may not work for others life circumstances, but I appreciate your encouragement and rationale.

[@JavadLuckey]

This is great! Timely for me. My family and I recently bought a 1200 sq ft home in Eugene that's on just a bit less than 1/4 acre. It'll probably still be 2 years before we actually move there, but once we do we really want to get that backyard permacultured up.

[@CarissaWyles]

I always get excited when I see you upload a new video 😁 so much insight and value here, it makes me think of how I can best utilize the small space I have to garden. Its just a corner of a yard (I don't own), but this was a beautiful reminder that its OK to start small 💖

[@tjcmay6363]

As I listen to your story about wanting the bigger house, land, and so on i feel like I'm listening to myself. My house is 1265 square feet, there is 5 of us, but i live on one acre of land. It is so refreshing to NOT see the huge house, barns, greenhouse, and acres of land. Not everybody has to have that to produce food for their family. I enjoy your videos since i too live in Oregon i can relate to what your growing.

[@oliverg6864]

I'm watching this video in January, and it's nice to see some green, growing things! I agree with what you said, I love having a small house, it's so much less maintenance! People keep telling us it's just a "starter home" but we don't need anything bigger :)

[@rudekperezacupuncturist]

Thanks for sharing your private life, sometimes we see KZbinrs as celebrities and although we can aspire to be like them we feel "disconnected", by sharing your true life we can relate and that makes what you are sharing in your other videos an attainable reality. Community is relating!

[@organicgardenmamavictoriab2768]

I needed to hear this today. I'm obsessed with organic gardening. I four girls and I live in Queens nyc.i have a small garden but it's not my land thank God my landlord let's me use it

[@KSea7]

Love that line "Blooming where your planted". Great video.

[@duckyluver12]

I have a 300sf yard that's fully shaded by my house for all but 1-2 hours of the day...I definitely dream of the day that I'll have 1/4 acre, but it's not stopping me from trying to grow things in my tiny yard right now. I also grow a ton in containers by my front door on the south side of the house and my tiny south-facing deck. There are only 2 of us plus a huge dog right now in our 1200sf townhouse but we plan to eventually be 4 in this space (unless we find that perfect 1/4 acre).

[@user-dq2ym1nn9k]

This is one of the best videos I've ever seen and yes you are SPOT ON! I'm here because I'm 5 years in to living on 4 acres and I've just had a lightbulb moment go off that maybe I'm pushing sh*t uphill. It's alot of work for two people...and we have a small house! We're looking to move now, if possible, and I'm really excited on setting up a new food growing landscape on around a 1/4 acre or even less. As long as it has enough footprint for a large rainwater tank i'll be a very happy gal. thanks for this info it's helped me alot and your garden is hugely inspirational. I also want to add that a large reason for me wanting to move is I've really struggled to make social connections here as the town is small (4000ppl) and mostly retiree's and isolated farmers it's a real challenge to make friends.

[@Bittagrit]

If a family lives where there are major life threatening storms such as hurricanes, some prepping makes sense. Here in FL we have 2 growing seasons. What grows up north planted in spring, is our fall gardens. Spring gardens are the plant species that don’t mind the heat. Right now eggplants, peppers and tomatoes are going strong.

[@jobaker7855]

Exactly the video I needed to watch today X Thank you!

[@flowerpixel]

I've looked for permaculture channels on KZbin in the past but you just randomly popped up in my feed today, subscribed. I grew up in Atlanta and love the city/culture. Large gardens/farms overwhelm me bc I have health issues. Im inspired 💚💚 Also I COMPLETELY agree your definition of sustainability, well said 👏

[@ParkrosePermaculture]

Thank you!!

[@willm5814]

Wow! Beautiful! Large homes are sooo wasteful (I used to own one) - one of the keys to reducing our footprint is reducing our home’s footprint! Your garden is particularly impressive!!!

[@matthewmaclellan_]

This was *so* helpful for where I'm at right now. Now I'm inspired to research what kind of yields one can expect growing on a 1/4 acre :)

[@garyfowler5585]

Excellent, as always. Thanks! You've offered a refreshing perspective on the smaller situation many of us are working with, and you again highlighted the importance of community. And then there's the aging thing you mentioned... I'm 70, in only the second year of my 3000 sq ft permaculture project, in a city about 3 hours north of you; like you, I know I'll have to slow down, but not yet!

[@rachelwebber3605]

Having just returned home to the Willamette Valley from Nova Scotia... I'm so glad to be back home! The land there is so degraded, but for me the biggest issue is just that I wasn't raised there and so was deeply spoiled by being able to grow food all year long in the Willamette Valley. That and all the trees and rock features there were tiny in comparison to our mountains and giant trees! That being said, I grew up on a 1.75 acre property in a once-rural area that has since gotten built up. We have a small orchard and garden area, but kept most of the land for pasture for our horses and chickens, and the single story house is around 1300 sqft. We used to be surrounded by woodlots, streams, vernal pools, and small meadows, but those have all turned into giant houses looming in postage stamp yards. And those developments repeatedly changed our microclimate by changing how water flowed and was stored, different wind disruption patterns, and increased heat and aridity via decreased tree transpiration. It's reduced the productivity of some of our orchard trees and killed several of our shade and wind barrier trees, plus increased predation predator from our local coyotes and hawks on our chickens. The chickens are now in a fully enclosed run, and our pasture and our neighbor's lot have become important food sources for our local coyotes, hawks, deer, and rabbits. I, personally, would prefer a small house on 20+ acres because I'd like to have hoofstock plus a food forest and a food meadow, and I already know that I don't function well in cities, but I do want to find a way to increase community resilience. Like you, I'm not interested in complete self-reliance, and am interested in figuring out how to form sustainable commons for multiple uses, but in a more rural/small community setting.

[@hootowlhomeschool1847]

Thank you SO MUCH for your encouragement, Angela! I’m a fellow mom of 4 kids (ages 8, 6, 3 & 1) struggling with occasional remorse for choosing to live in an urban setting after I was raised on an acre in the country. We live on 1/8th of an acre in central Illinois in what was once my grandfather’s house (but is now ours!), and I’m definitely getting creative with how to grow vegetables for our family on what feels like so little land. I, too, dreamed of acreage in a huge romantic Victorian mansion - haha! But I’m learning to be content with our space as I’m learning just how much I can grow just in the backyard. Thanks again for your excellent message with how less can be more! And WOW- 40 fruit trees!!! That is seriously amazing!! 👏👏👏

[@jameskniskern2261]

We built a small, straw-bale infill house. 990 square feet inside. 2400 under roof. (Large porch). We do have 8 acres, and are slowly transforming the land from plain old hay pasture to food forest and woods ecosystem. We love it. But... we also chose to make that move. We trained up on 1/3 acre in big city Maryland. And we do have much more options here in Kentucky.

[@TheWanderingHeather]

This is such an amazing video with great ideas about appreciating the small house and property as part of personal sustainability goals. I have 1/3 acre, house footprint is about 800 sq ft. I live in a small city. I'm in zone 5a.

[@jasmynesartstudio]

I think it depends on who you are. If you truly desire to have that big farm, I believe you should aim for it. You can settle into a smaller place, and that is a great place to start. It really does push you to become a better farmer in the long run, but don't settle. Be grateful but keep working towards the goal.

[@colbywilliams7595]

If you are living according to the permaculture ethics and principles, technically you can practice permaculture with no land at all. The late Toby Hemenway wrote about this really eloquently in his book The Permaculture City. I highly recommend it for city-dwelling permaculture folks like me who can get discouraged with our tiny little plots.

[@chrisbaker91]

Crazy from a view here in the UK that a 1/4 acre in the city is the affordable option. To find 1/4 of an acre which is not an eye-watering price need to be pretty rural here. But glad you decided on it as means I have someone to watch who doesn't have the extremely large plots which I just cannot compare to in the UK so gives me ideas of what is achievable

[@theadventuresofzoomandbettie]

I wanted at least 5 acres, and had been hunting very thoroughly in our state for the past few years, but we found our forever home and purchased it a month ago - and it's just 1 acre - but we have many plans to put it to good use.

[@jamesparks6137]

I started turning my suburban home into a food forest/homestead over a decade ago. The problem that made me move was a hot real estate market. Property taxes and insurance were going up by 25 to 50% every year for several years in a row. It was going to drain me if I had stayed. The only thing I really miss is all the useful city waste that I used for building, compost, mulch etc.

[@terrylyle8302]

Thank you for this video. I have been struggling with these same thoughts. I want to be sustainable, but without moving. We downsized from a 3700sf home, to a 1700sf, 1-story home, in 2019. My vision is to have a producing yard such as yours.

[@williamsherry5009]

Im 47 still working on that life you described at the beginning 😂

[@vidajordan9803]

Good people like you can save this once great city.

[@troisangroi115]

This helps me a lot. So now I'll be happy with 1/4 arce nearly my uncle's land. I'm going to buy it next year. Real estate in Vietnam is too expensive now. I have a saving for a long time before I get enough to get my lot. It's worth $35.000 for just 1/4 arce here while our salary is low 😅

[@willowgrove631]

Thank you for this Angela - you have given me much food for thought, as my husband & I are in our mid-fifties and thinking about 'next steps' now that our children have left the nest! We have to be realistic about those dreams of more land - I very much like the philosophy of "bloom where you are planted" 😊🌻

[@urbanrat84]

I had dreams that didn’t happen as well. What I’ve done is rent a family sized home in the city with a good size yard. I have chickens, quail and food crops. It is A LOT more labour, consistency, expense & skill required than I imagined! I have so much to learn and explore - acreage would have been too much for me

[@deirdredear]

Well said !!! Thank you . BRAVO

[@two_hands7455]

Smaller acreage also means that you can focus your attention that much more into your acreage, stuff, and systems, and can have less money into fencing. If ambitious, folks can try hedge laying and/or hedgerows, weave and prune a living tree fence. Can pollard trees for sticks, firewood etc., but above deer browsing reach. There is art made by stacking firewood intentionally. Smaller acreage may also be easier to keep an eye on, for security or to enjoy nature. It's hard to observe a little barn swallow a mile away. If you want to, you can convert some areas (perhaps the least accessible areas) areas into wildlife habitat. I am learning from videos with Douglas W. Tallamy about promoting keystone trees and shrubs(although we must be careful of poisonous plants to livestock, like sheep and cattle), native flowers for specialist pollinators, encouraging moth species, as their caterpillars are an essential food source for many species of baby birds, and how important it is to remove invasive species or to try to keep them in check. One may also do a native flower meadow patch. Other ideas are "no mow lawns", "food-forests", and "edible landscaping" in books and online.

[@two_hands7455]

Also smaller acreage may be managed with hand tools such as a style and hand rake, or smaller mechanical tools like a push mower.

[@paulbuckeljr8870]

Good video! I'm on an acre and a quarter and I've been wishing for more. After watching your video,I realized that I have plenty of space. Thanks for sharing. Subscribed!

[@nima16042]

You are so insightful!! And inspiring and informative. Listening to you describe your dream was beautiful, I wish that for all of us 😌

[@MichelleJM]

Thank u! I just stumbled across your video and I really enjoyed your point of view on this subject. I am living in a mobile home park and have limited space to grow. I have established some garden beds and now am working on building up the soil quality. Your video was refreshing!

[@Heidibearca]

I also love that I see you wearing the same clothes. I watch some Homestead KZbinrs who seem to have a new outfit on for every single video, and then I wonder how they manage that. Where do they keep all their clothes? How do they keep up with that much laundry? I love that sweater that was your mother's. It's funky!

[@mioasisfrutal2634]

I have less than 1500 square feet and it is enough for me. Community is extremely important

[@AmeliaRate]

I have about 2000 sq feet for my garden and haven't gotten close to maximizing my space for food production, I'm so curious how much we can actually get out of it! Thank you for the video and encouragement.

[@uppanadam74]

It is great too dream big!! I do it too!! I dream of acreage!! But physically I don't think I can do it!! I have an 800 square metre urban homestead...and I'm struggling!! You have to be able to have a property that you can manage not only financially...but physically as well!! Good words of advice!! Cheers!!

[@ediblelandscaping1504]

Great thoughts and video, Angela. We have a similar place and haven’t hit the overproduction issue yet but it certainly is an important thing to deal with in the future. Changes every year keep it fresh and interesting.

[@PegsGarden]

Hi Angela, I think you did your dream on a smaller scale, that I think is amazing 💕

[@whydidyouresign]

Angela, I really enjoy your channel and love your message. Thank you so much for sharing your lifestyle! It's good to see you on screen at last. You come across very well. I am a recent subscriber. Thanks again for the content. Best with everything!

[@sowingback]

Great information and I totally agree, we were created to be in communities with other people.

[@ebytwinbabel]

I'm totally into what you're saying here. Sacramento is a lot like Portland and we've got a similar situation as you. Working on making our 6100sqft lot efficient and productive. Glad to find your channel.

[@ParkrosePermaculture]

thank you!

[@AlyssaAllDayVlogs]

Thank you so much for this! I have similar views as you but realized maybe staying in town is a good idea for me and my family. We have just under a 1/4 acre which is quite large for in the city. I love our small mortgage and I swore I would never be house poor.

[@MyHumbleNest]

Such a great message today, I support your philosophies! Thanks for sharing your journey.

[@kerrimatterson9156]

Hi Angela, I am a new subscriber. I love your videos. My Dad and I live on a quarter acre block in the suburbs, and I have a neighbour who is a tree lopper - so I have easy access to woodchips. And the local Cafe gives away their coffee grounds to gardeners. And I live only 5 minutes from the beach, so I can collect seaweed. The soil is very sandy here, but after watching your channel and other gardening channels lately, I am becoming interested in the permaculture principles and as I have more time on my hands as I am required to be at home a lot more as Dad is getting older. I am interested in starting a garden. Thanks for your knowledge and ideas. Kerri from Australia 🇦🇺

[@da1stamericus]

Great video Angela. We also live in a smaller home. it's an apartment and we use the balconies as well as possible to grow as much as food as possible. I also have an allotment of 1000sq feet, and it sometimes feels like a lot. We are always looking for a way to be efficient with all the spaces. I loved this video. And great name. It's my youngest daughters name too. :) And she too like I and dad will be tall as you are. Greetings from the Netherlands.

[@jetteravndal3930]

I am in my 60, living in Norway. Have a garden and a normal haus. The children has movd out. I love my garden , sins I wanted a bit more to garden on, an alopment was the anser. So now can I grow more.

[@drpk6514]

Air layer propagate your trees and sell them online on places like the Marketplace.

[@ParkrosePermaculture]

I had nursery sales twice a year before the pandemic . Propagating plants small-scale is a nice little hobby income :)

[@lovenotes5299]

More acreage is a lotta work, and the taxes get crazy when it's time to retire. A lot of familys have had to sell because of a death/disability , because they can't do it alone or pay the bills.I opted to move on a little more than a acre land, with my mother who has her own house- paid off mortages and sheds used for storage. We each have 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. Still renovating mine, getting the landscaping worked out. Bee's, worm farm (fertilizer) composting for soil ,chickens to come, fruit trees and food being grown, i'm loving in in a small rural town with low taxes.I' get tired of all this grass- still working on eliminating it, hahaha

[@chiomascharm4596]

I really love this video! I just bought my first house and it is definitely not acreage lol but I know that I can make it work here! Thanks for sharing 💜

[@belele-la3389]

I completely agree about the prepper/homestead mentality. I went down a rabbit hole a while ago of watching prepper pantry tours and I kept thinking ‘for what reason?! Why do they have so much? Why are they canning bread?!’ It was always like they wanted to get away and hide. Just felt very paranoid and frankly right-wing and I exited that pretty quickly. I would like a garden one day, but living in London I can’t even wrap my head around some of the acres that some of those them have. It feels like they’re building their own separate nation (which again makes me uneasy). Not to get too into it, but I do think it’s interesting when a lot of them seem to be very religious and talk about the bounty of the land, and it never seems to interest them to help their neighbour. Or maybe it’s out of sight, out of mind, lol.

[@Lochness19]

You will definitely want some sort of community relations I agree. I'm not sold on the end of civilization being imminent, but even if shit hits the fan, you're not going to be the only person with a gun. Don't count on one person, or even one family with a gun being able to win against an armed gang or militia. Like legit if I had a homestead and a gang/militia came knocking, it would probably be smarter to just try and convince them to help protect you from other gangs in exchange for feeding them and showing them how to help maintain my permaculture homestead, that way they wouldn't have to risk their lives robbing people for every meal. Ultimately the most valuable thing in that scenario is your skillset and knowledge, and community, because if law and order breaks down, that's something that cannot be taken from you the way your land, possessions and supplies, can.

[@olenagirich1884]

Yeah, like NIMBY but for Homesteader. Obviously, land is limited.

[@homesteaderfiftywmartha603]

Okay- you guys- you can all the fruit and veg to share with those in need😊 and we can, dehydrate, preserve a lot of food about every 2 years!

[@homesteaderfiftywmartha603]

Right wing? You mean , prosperous, sharing and caring!!!!!🎉

[@MariaSantos-bg7fo]

You say they are paranoid. And over thinking. But then say they are stingy because they don't want to share ? There is a children's book about chicken who bakes bread maybe you should read

[@heather5254]

I needed to hear all of this. Thank you.

[@aNaturalist]

It still takes a middle class or upper mid to buy a small house or large lot in Portland or Austin (where urban hippies like to be). I'm going to risk it and buy in a rural small town over an hour away, where I don't share their world views. Wish me luck! AR least I should be able to live on less than a middle class income. I agree on small.....

[@catherine8332]

Would be neat to see a video on how you make knives. Thanks!