Imagine a life where you grow vegetables, raise chickens and can food — all while living in your suburban Kitchener-Waterloo or Guelph-Wellington area home.

A homesteading expert says it’s possible. But you have to be realistic.

“Most people are being sold a dream version of homesteading that they see online. And it’s truly just an aesthetic and it’s not a reality,” said Aly Nickling-Riddle, who has been homesteading in northern Ontario since the pandemic.

Nickling-Riddle is now touring across Ontario to teach others how to adopt homesteading as a lifestyle. Her workshop on Wednesday at Forest Heights Library in Kitchener is full and has a growing waitlist of residents who also want to learn.

“I help people to understand the sometimes brutal reality of this lifestyle before they invest their time, their money and their lives into it.”

She says interest in homesteading has grown significantly.

“There’s been a huge push for more sustainable living. Social media is largely responsible for that,” Nickling-Riddle said.

“We are stunned at the amount of interest in the workshops. I have several throughout the next two months and they are all fully registered … We’re really grateful and happy to see that people are trying to educate themselves before they make this big lifestyle shift.”

Nickling-Riddle has a self-published a guidebook called Homesteading: Is It the Lifestyle For You? that includes chapters on setting realistic goals and expectations if you want to become a homesteader.

An alternative to the food bank

Homesteading is not a new concept for Amy Ellard Gray of Guelph. She’s got a lifetime of experience growing her own food and raising chickens in her suburban backyard.

“I grew up on our homesteads. It’s just that wasn’t really a name for it back then. It was kind of a hobby farm. We grew a lot of our own food. My grandparents did it and then my parents did it. And so I’ve always kind of lived that lifestyle,” she said.

“Being connected with nature, spending time outside, raising animals, growing food, canning, all that stuff was just part of my upbringing.”

Ellard Gray went on to turn that knowledge into a business called The Hobby Homestead. She’s got thousands of Instagram followers and YouTube subscribers who watch her videos on how to grow your own luscious vegetable garden at home.

She says her passion for homesteading is rooted in her experiences with food insecurity as a university student.

“All of a sudden I was visiting the food bank. And I thought, ‘This is wild. Why can’t I just grow food here?’… And I just started growing more and more and more as a way to improve my own food security for myself and for my family. We couldn’t grow much, but it was something,” Ellard Gray said.

With time, and with a growing family, she began raising chickens and moved into a house with a bigger backyard.

“There’s apartment buildings across the street behind us. My neighbour has a pool. Like it’s very much a suburban backyard. There’s a quarter acre lot with the house and garage and driveway and all that. But we filled every bit we could with gardens to grow food.”

She says her garden is so abundant that she often has enough to share with her neighbours.

“When you bring them a carton of eggs or you bring them a bunch of fresh strawberries, even zucchini, which is something I think a lot of vegetable gardeners are trying to throw away because they’re so prolific — but people who don’t garden find it just like a precious gift to receive your excess zucchini!”

Ellard Gray wants to start a movement, encouraging fellow residents to start a Little Free Garden in their front yard like she has. It’s a designated plot of land, located close the curb, which has a variety of easy-growing vegetable plants like tomatoes, zucchini, radishes and various salad greens.

“I’m really excited about this initiative,” she said.

“[It’s] a place for people to come and harvest some food if they’re feeling like their budget is a little tight. Or they just really want some fresh produce that’s grown locally, they can pop by and grab some.”