It’s time to stop putting your homestead dreams on hold, and the Apartment Homesteading Project is here to help you do just that. No matter where or how you live, you can be a homesteader today by practicing any of the skills listed below.
What The Apartment Homesteading Project Is
Ever wished you could move out to the countryside and live the good life? I know I have. I’ve been dreaming of it every day for more than a decade.
Maybe you don’t have a homestead right now, and you don’t think you’ll be able to afford land any time soon. Or maybe your job keeps you in the city. Maybe you, like me, live in a condo, townhouse, and apartment and don’t even have a yard. Maybe homesteading seems like a far-off dream for a future when you have more money, time, and freedom.
But you don’t need to wait.
Homesteading is about day-to-day choices – choosing to cook from scratch, grow your own food, and learning to do for yourself rather than rely on modern conveniences. All of those things are possible even if you’re apartment homesteading
So from here on out, I’ll be making those very choices. Each week, I’ll focus on mastering one of the skills below. Some I’m already familiar with, and others are all new. And then I’ll share the tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way in a new weekly blog post and link to those posts from the relevant topics listed here. As time goes by, I hope this page will become an index of every apartment homesteading skill you or I could hope to learn.
And here’s what I’ll be learning to do:
Homestyle Cooking
Preserve fruit
- Jam
- Jelly
- Fruit butters
- Marmalade
- Lemon curd
- Syrup
- Canned fruit
- Apple sauce, cranberry sauce, and other fruit sauces
- Juice
- Cider
Preserve Vegetables
- Pickles
- Dilly beans
- Canned vegetables
- Quick pickled vegetables
- Salsa
- Salsa verde
Ferment Foods
- Sauerkraut
- Kimchi
- Lacto-fermented pickles
- Lacto-fermented dilly beans
- Water kefir
- Kombucha
- Kefir
- Yogurt
Make dairy products
- Butter
- Sour cream
- Buttermilk
- Crème fraiche
- Whipped cream
- Ice cream
Make cheese
- Mozarella
- Cream cheese
- Cottage cheese
- Ricotta
- Fromage blanc
- Brie
- Cheddar
- Gouda
- Swiss
- Parmesan
Make homemade condiments
- Apple cider vinegar
- Flavored butters
- Mayonnaise
- Aioli and other flavored mayonnaises
- Ranch dressing
- Vinaigrettes
- Ketchup
- Mustard
- Carolina BBQ sauce
Make sauces
- Spaghetti sauce
- Alfredo
- Pizza sauce
- Gravy
- Marinades
- Pesto
Make extracts
- Vanilla extract
- Orange extract
- Lemon extract
Bake breads
- White sandwich bread
- Whole wheat sandwich bread
- Baguette
- Sourdough bread
- Dinner rolls
- Cinnamon rolls
- Pizza crust
- Biscuits
- Zucchini bread
- Banana bread
- Pumpkin bread
Bake desserts
- Cake
- Pie
- Muffins
- Cookies
- Fudge
- Caramel Corn
- Fruit gummies
Prepare breakfast foods
- Pancakes
- Oatmeal
- Cream of wheat
- Crèpes
- Hashbrowns
- Diced hashbrowns
Cook grains properly
- Pasta
- Rice
- Quinoa
- Popcorn
- Stuffing
Make broth
- Chicken bone broth
- Turkey bone broth
- Beef bone broth
- Pork bone broth
- Fish broth
- Vegetable broth
Cook meat
- Steak
- Roast
- Stew
- Pork chops
- Pork tenderloin
- Bacon
- Chicken breast
- Chicken wings and thighs
- Whole chicken
- Turkey
- Meatballs
- Braised and seared meat
- Smoked meat
- Use bacon grease and lard
Prepare vegetables
- Roasted
- Caramelized
- Blanched
- Mashed
- Steamed
- Air-fried
- Breaded
- Zoodles
- Slaw
- Potato salad
- Hash browns
Prepare eggs
- Scrambled
- Fried
- Boiled
- Poached
- Omelettes
- Quiche
- Eggs Benedict
Freeze and store foods
- Herbs
- Produce
- Dairy products
- Leftovers
- Sauces
Dehydrate foods
- Jerky
- Fruit leather
- Dried fruits
- Sun-dried tomatoes
- Dried herbs
Garden in Small Spaces
Grow produce in containers and small plots
- Tomatoes
- Peppers
- Tomatillos
- Cucumbers
- Summer squash
- Winter squash
- Peas
- Green beans
- Beans for drying
- Cabbage
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Brussels sprouts
- Onions
- Garlic
- Shallots
- Leeks
- Carrots
- Parsnips
- Turnips
- Beets
- Radishes
- Potatoes
- Sweet potatoes
- Berries
- Melons
- Sprouts and lettuce yearround
Grow herbs indoors and outdoors
- Basil
- Thyme
- Rosemary
- Oregano
- Parsley
- Chives
- Green onions
- Sage
- Dill
- Cilantro/coriander
- Peppermint
- Spearmint
- Chamomile
- Fennel
- Summer savory
- Winter savory
- Tarragon
- Lemongrass
- Lemon verbena
- Lavender
- Turmeric
- Ginger
- Catnip
- Catgrass
Deal with pests organically
- Squash bugs
- Aphids
- Cabbage aphids
- Grasshoppers
- Slugs
- Earwigs
- Spiders
- Beneficial insects
Learn general gardening skills
- Join a community garden
- Plan what to grow
- How many plants to grow per person
- Buy gardening supplies
- Start seeds
- Transplant starts
- When to plant what
- Encourage root growth
- Maximize space by growing vertically
- Square foot gardening principles
- Prune
- Succession planting
- Increase the size and yield of harvests
- Fertilize organically
- Protect plants from cold-snaps and other inclement weather
- Compost indoors and outdoors
- Grow mushrooms
Bring in the harvest
- How to harvest
- Dry and store herbs
- Braid and store garlic, onions, and shallots
- Dry and store beans
- Storing fresh vegetables and fruits for winter
- Saving seeds
Old-Fashioned Skills
Care for kitchen equipment
- Season and care for cast iron
- Sharpen and care for knives
- Understand and use an Instant Pot
- Cook with a slow cooker
- Use and care for a BBQ
- Build up essential cooking supplies
Switch to safer, more natural products
- Cleaning supplies
- Laundry products
- Haircare
- Skincare
- Makeup
- Herbal remedies
- Elderberry syrup
- Aloe vera for sunburns
- Uses for turmeric
- Natural sleep solutions
- Essential oils basics
- Simplify your wardrobe
Care for livestock
- Milk a cow
- Milk a goat
- Sheer a sheep
- Trim hooves
- Ride a horse
- Care for bees
- Harvest honey
- Raise rabbits for meat or fur
Eat locally and in season
- Meal prep seasonally
- Shop at farmer’s markets
- Join a CSA
- Buy directly from a farm
- Participate in u-pick events
- Identify and forage for wild mushrooms
- Identify and forage for wild foods
Get your own meat
- Get a fishing license
- Catch a fish
- Gut a fish
- Pluck a chicken
- Butcher an animal
- Render lard
- Get a hunting license
- Take hunter’s safety
- Use a shot gun
- Use a bow and arrow
- Hunt
- Set traps
Learn outdoor skills
- Tie knots
- Chop wood
- Start a fire with flint and steel
- Make char cloth
Be financially literate
- Develop side income streams
- Build an emergency fund
- Pay off debt
- Build savings
- Save up a down payment for your homestead
- Research agricultural mortgages
- Research what you want in a piece of land
Prepare for emergencies
- Create a 72 hour kit
- Learn first aid and CPR
- Build up food storage (even in limited space)
- Store drinking water
- Create an emergency plan for your household
- Prepare for a power outage
Car and home maintenance
- Oil change
- Top off fluids
- Identify car problems
- Prepare your car for cold weather
- Build up a vehicle emergency kit
- Safely clear blocked garbage disposal
- Clean a clogged drain
- Build up a home tool kit
Do handicrafts
- Make soap
- Create candles
- Make wax melts
- Press flowers
- Dry flowers
- Make floral arrangements
- Create flower crowns
- Make wreaths
- Darn clothing
- Sew a button
- Knit
- Weave
- Crochet
- Embroider
- Make rope
- Weave baskets
- Make rope
- Tan leather
Well, if you mastered even a portion of the skills listed above, you’d certainly feel a lot more like a homesteader, wouldn’t you? I know I would!
And that’s exactly why I’m embarking on The Apartment Homesteading Project. I hope you’ll join me on this journey.
I’d also love to see your progress. If you try any of the projects I write about here, please share your experience in the post comments or tag me on Facebook (@theapartmenthomestead) or Instagram (@theapartmenthomestead_).