Urban Self Sufficiency NZ

Kia ora!

I’m Sonia and I live on approx 690m2 (0.17 acres) in urban North Canterbury along with my husband and 3 kids. Plus 5 chickens, and a cat.

The dream is to live on a lifestyle block, but this isn’t in our budget, so instead we try to do as much as we can on our small section, which is a standard urban NZ size. And we just pretend it’s a lifestyle block.

The front lawn has been converted to food forest, the backyard is the mini farmyard, and we have over 40 fruit trees on our small plot.

I sew most of the family’s clothing, we try to preserve all our harvests, I grow and use a huge variety of medicinal plants, hubby hunts and fishes, we build furniture, DIY our house, and just generally try to return to old fashioned skills.

Full self-sufficiency is something we will never achieve, but the aim is as much as possible, while building community along the way.