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Welcome to Casual Homesteader 🌱

If you've ever thought about raising chickens, growing your own food, or creating a simple backyard homestead, you're in the right place.

This blog is about learning homesteading one step at a time, even if you only have a small backyard like we do.

I’m Ashley; a mom, backyard chicken keeper, gardener, and DIY enthusiast who loves figuring things out as I go and sharing what works (and what doesn’t).

Our little homestead currently includes:

🐔 Backyard chickens
🌱 Vegetable gardening
🍋 Container fruit trees
🍳 Cooking with homegrown food
🔧 Simple DIY backyard projects

You don’t need acres of land to start homesteading. A backyard, some curiosity, and a willingness to learn goes a long way.

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Meet the Homestead

Our backyard homestead started with a simple idea:

Backyard Garden 

At first, we just wanted a couple of raised planter beds. So we got some pallet wood and weed barrier and built some. After I built those, we soon realized if we wanted a decent harvest, we were going to need a bigger garden. However, we knew that would eventually become an issue because our property is only a quarter acre, and we're multiversal with what we utilize the outside for. 

Hydroponics and Vertical Gardening

This sparked my interest in hydroponic systems and vertical gardening. We were limited on space horizontally but not vertically. It took a little while but eventually.

Raise a few chickens and grow some food.

Since then we’ve added:

• Production Red chickens for egg production and family-friendly temperament
• A backyard coop setup
• Free-range chickens in our fenced yard
• A vegetable garden
• Fruit trees including fig, Meyer lemon, orange, and a Pink Lemonade blueberry

Everything we do here is focused on practical, beginner-friendly homesteading.

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What You'll Find on Casual Homesteader

This blog focuses on real-life backyard homesteading, including:

🐔 Raising backyard chickens
🌱 Beginner gardening tips
🍋 Growing fruit trees in containers
🥘 Homestead-inspired cooking
🔧 DIY backyard projects
🌿 Simple, practical ways to become more self-sufficient

I share what works for us, what we learn along the way, and how anyone can start building a homestead lifestyle, even in a regular suburban backyard.

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The Goal

Homesteading doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

You don’t need acres of land, expensive equipment, or years of experience.

Sometimes it just starts with:

🐔 a few chickens
🌱 a garden bed
🍅 growing your first tomato
🥚 collecting your first egg

And building from there.

Welcome to Casual Homesteader.