Urban Homesteading PDX
A collection of stories from our urban homestead in Portland Oregon.
Our Stories
Follow along as we learn and explore urban homesteading in Portland, Oregon
Can you plant directly into compost
Can you seed or transplant anything directly into a compost pile? No, you can't just place any random seed or transplant it directly into a compost pile or compost that has not been incorporated into the native soil. However, some plants will absolutely thrive if...
Chop and Drop in a Food Forest
The chop and drop technique in a food forest is a proven permaculture strategy for building a rich soil microbiome. Chop and drop is simply the concept of trimming plants and placing the cuttings on the ground to rot and compost in place. The most important element...
Ducks Eating Slug in Slow Motion Video
Ducks Eating Slugs for a Snack The rain has been incredibly persistent this year in the pacific northwest. Therefore, our duck's favorite bug to eat for a snack, the slug is prevalent in our gardens and flower beds. Our ducks eat slugs for snacks whenever they can...
5 Ways to Use Wood Chips in a Garden
Top 5 Reasons to Use Wood Chips in a Garden These are the top 5 reasons we use wood chips in a garden. There are many more wonderful ways to use a load of wood chips. While you can buy wood chips, free wood chips are available from arborists if you can find one in...
Garden Design Basics for Urban Homesteads
Garden Designs for Backyard Gardening A few garden design basics to think about for the urban homesteader to think about it is what type of garden you want. Do you want a food forest with plants intermingled and guilds of dozens of plants together? Or do you want to...
How to Raise Ducks
How to Raise Ducks The basics you need to know to raise ducklings into happy egg-laying adult ducks Life Stages of a Duck Water for Ducks Shelter for Ducks Food for Ducks Duck Basics Ducks are an excellent addition to any homestead. Raising ducklings to mature adults...
Wood Chips for Chicken Run Ground Cover
Is it a good idea or a bad idea to use wood chips for chicken run ground cover when raising backyard chickens? Overall, wood chips can be a good material to use for an outdoor chicken run, but there are some caveats. We will break down our approach to using...
How to Build an In-Ground Hugelkultur Garden Bed
How to Build an In-Ground Hugelkultur Garden Bed Building an in-ground hugelkultur garden bed is an interesting garden method for developing very productive gardens. A hugelkultur bed is simply a variety of materials including wood, leafy material, straw, animal...
Community Garden Projects
Our Community Garden Plot
Duck Ducks
We love our ducks.
Home Garden Project
Our 1/4 acre property is home to fruit trees and bushes, raised garden beds, and diverse native plants intermingled throughout.
Enjoying the Harvest
Using what we grow to feed ourselves, friends, and family.
About
Hi I am John Johnson and an avid urban gardener in the greater Portland Oregon area. We raise ducks and chickens in our urban lot. We also have planted a large food forest including apple, pear, persimmon, quince, cherry, apricot, and pawpaw trees. Our favorite understory shrubs include blueberries, raspberries, marionberries, honeyberries, and jostaberries. We grow a substantial garden with both in ground garden beds and raised garden beds. These are stories from our adventures growing food and raising animals in an urban setting and the tools that we use to make it happen. This site is supported by affiliate ad revenue.
Urban Homesteading in Practice
What elements of urban homesteading are you interested in?
- Reducing Resource Use. By using alternative energy sources such as installing solar roof panels, riding a bicycle, using public transportation, harvesting rainwater, drying clothes on a line, and reusing greywater.
- Raising Animals. A backyard poultry flock of chickens, ducks, or even other animals such as rabbits or goats. Honeybees and worms in a vermicomposter are also popular urban homesteading animals to raise.
- Edible Landscaping. Growing vegetable gardens, backyard orchard fruit trees, medicinal plants, and herbs, and converting lawns from traditional grass to food forest gardens.
- Self-Sufficient Living. Connecting with your community to trade and share resources that can be repaired, recycled, or made from scratch materials.
- Food Preservation. Managing a harvest of vegetables or fruit is just as important as growing. Canning, drying, freezing, and fermenting are the most popular methods for preserving a harvest for consumption over many months.
- Composting / Building Soil. On-site composting of plant materials and basic kitchen scrap materials. Building soil spreading compost throughout food forest or practicing chop and drop methods or spreading wood chips to feed the microbiology of the soil. Developing a rich soil ecosystem over years of intentional actions to feed the life in the soil.