Media Partners & Resource Guides

Off-grid Living & Sustainable Homesteading Resources for New Homesteaders

Off-Grid Homesteading Guide: The Self-Sufficient Backyard

A Value-Aligned Recommendation...

Dame Brown, owner of Enchanted Soul Art | Creatives’ Gallery & Shop©, is a recent homesteader in the East Mountains, building her off-grid homestead one season at a time. As she navigates sustainable living, she draws inspiration from her neighbors — many women who have lived off-grid for decades — and from Ron Melchiore’s The Self-Sufficient Backyard.

This book is a practical, step-by-step guide for anyone exploring homesteading, independent living, or creative off-grid projects. It aligns perfectly with Enchanted Soul’s commitment to community, place, and the rhythms of nature. Sharing this resource reflects our values: supporting thoughtful, grounded living while honoring the land and creativity that sustains it.

Practical Homesteading Skills Covered in This Guide

Water Collection System

Medicinal Garden
Backyard Hybrid Electricity System
24-hour BIO insect control system
Make Your Own Root Cellar
Water Sources For Your Property (as applicable)
Pressurized HOT Water Off Grid
The Handy Beehive
Year-Round Self-Sustaining Greenhouse
Year-Round Indoor Planting
The Other 6 Crops (as applicable)

Easy-on-the-Back Gardening

100+ Savings Tips
Perpetual Mini-Tower (turning food scraps into free and nutritious fertilizer)
75+ DIY Projects For a Self Sustaining Backyard
50+ Chicken Coop Secrets for a Low Effort Organic Protein Source
The “No-Work Orchard”
The Ultimate Seed Collection and Preservation Guide
Preserving Without Electricity

Why This Resource Benefits New Homesteaders?

For new homesteaders, The Self-Sufficient Backyard is a practical and inspiring companion, offering step-by-step guidance for building a sustainable, off-grid lifestyle. As a new homesteader in the East Mountains, Dame Brown draws from this resource to develop her own homestead while learning from the experiences of long-time off-grid neighbors. The book teaches essential skills — from gardening to DIY systems — while encouraging intentional, values-driven living, respect for the land, and connection to community. By sharing this resource, Enchanted Soul highlights tools that support thoughtful, grounded homesteading for beginners seeking independence, creativity, and a deeper relationship with their surroundings.

Whether you are planting your first garden, building small off-grid systems, or simply exploring intentional living, this book is a gentle, practical companion. Enchanted Soul is happy to recommend this guide and receive a small commission through your purchase The Self-Sufficient Backyard through our link, view it here. This helps support the gallery and our ongoing mission to showcase artists, makers, and sustainable practices. This recommendation comes from alignment with our values, not sales pressure. We always appreciate your support of the small business community right here at home.

The Self-Sufficient Backyard

Homesteading Guide: Connecting to Land & Self-Sufficiency

You will discover how to transform a typical money-draining house into a tiny, profitable homestead that you can rely on no matter what happens in the world around you.

Explore The Self Sufficient Backyard Guide Here

Ron and Johanna will show you how to make the self-heating year-round greenhouse, where free land can be found in America, a money-making cash crop you can grow in your basement, the mini chicken coop, the complete windowsill medicinal garden, a quick battery trick for making almost any battery last much longer, how to get an independent water source, the three-barrel rainwater catchment system, a small under-kitchen root cellar, how to grow food in shopping bags indoors, the handy backyard beehive, an ingenious stove adjustment that gives you free, hot, pressurized water at the tap, and many—and I do mean many—others!

All these DIY self-sufficiency projects come with step-by-step instructions that are easy to follow, with pictures, sketches, and tons of tips for saving time, effort and money along the way.

Cover of The Self‑Sufficient Backyard book

100+ DIY Projects For a Self-Sufficient Backyard

Supporting Community‑Driven Tools for Creative & Place‑Centered Living

Enchanted Soul works with selected guides and tools that support creative, place‑based living rooted in community and nature. This Media Partners page highlights resources we value — chosen not for promotion, but for alignment with our mission.

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