Video 8 - Mini Homesteads
MINI HOMESTEADS (This is a transcript of the video lesson #8 of the same name from the series of video lessons entitled “How To Start a Micro Business”.)
by Dr. Jerry Dean Epps, Ph. D.
Mini homesteads are not a business yet, but I hope they will be. They will be a development project in the future. They are such a good idea I want you to know about them. You may want to go ahead on your own and do one or a few. You could do it as a place for you to live or to sell to others. It would be on a 625 square meter piece of land in the country. As a reference for American readers, that is about 1/8th of an acre.
Why do I suggest that people should live on mini homesteads in the country? Very often people with little money go to large cities to try to find work in the hope of improving their lives. Many times they get to the city only to find there is no work—they become poorer than they were in the country. They join the others already living there in crowded, squalid, despairing, no sanitation slums. They were not well off in the country, but they are worse off now in the city.
If they could receive a small plot of land they could be taught to construct a mini homestead and become self-sufficient. We are talking about a plot that is 25 meters by 25 meters, being 625 square meters. They would have to pay for the plot themselves, receive it from a charity or receive if from the government. Once they had permanent use of it, they could begin in earnest to learn to be self-sufficient.
On the 625 square meter plot there is room for an earthbag house, or an earth block house, of one, two or three rooms. There will be solar panels, aquaponic unit (fish and vegetables grown in relation to each other, each benefiting the other—very prolific) compost toilet, fuel saving cook stove, well and water catchment system, food forest at one end and small livestock like rabbits and chickens.
With experience, a family could sustain itself year around on the mini homestead. Almost everything they need would be there. They would need training on use and construction of the items I mentioned above, but all are learnable skills—and they lead to self-sufficiency. By the way, for the interested reader, all the topics are taught for free and explained on the internet if one knows how to use the search engines of the internet.
Mini homesteads could end some of the urban poverty that plagues the third world. With learning to be self-sufficient comes pride in oneself and a feeling of confidence and an eagerness about life. No one really enjoys being dependent upon others. Mini homesteads in the country offer an opportunity for self-reliance and upward mobility—they offer hope.
Our motto, “You CAN start a micro business and earn money to improve your life and improve your community too.” See you for the next lesson. This is Dr. Epps, signing off.
The forms and worksheets that you need to get started in a micro business are located here.