Homemaking Hobbies: Practical suburban homesteading for busy people

Hi, we're Johan and Sarah, welcome! If you're here because you want a more self-sufficient home but live in a regular neighbourhood, this about us page is for you. Homemaking Hobbies is built for people who want to homestead in real life — in suburbia, in a small space, and while still working a job.

We know that feeling of wanting to grow more, make more from scratch, and live a little closer to the rhythms of home — while also knowing that acreage, animals, and endless free time may not be part of the picture right now. That’s exactly why this site exists.

For people who want to start now, not someday

Homemaking Hobbies is for busy households who want to learn practical homesteading skills without waiting for ideal conditions. You do not need a farmhouse, a barn, or a large piece of land to begin. You can start where you are.

Our focus is simple: making a suburban home more productive, more capable, and more rooted in everyday skills. That might mean learning to bake with sourdough, growing food in a small yard, or making more household staples from scratch. It’s not about building a picture-perfect homestead. It’s about doing what’s possible with the space and time you actually have.

What you’ll find here

At Homemaking Hobbies, we share practical ways to bring homesteading into ordinary suburban life. 

We aim to keep things realistic and useful. If something takes too much space, too much time, or doesn’t fit a working household, we’re interested in finding a version that does.

We are not writing from theory. We’re writing from practice.

In our own suburban space, we’ve grown bananas, peaches, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, blueberries, and cucumber, and these are just a few of the things we’ve grown! We regularly make cheese and soap at home, keep a sourdough starter going, bake bread, and make cleaning products from scratch.

That experience matters because it comes with the limits many of you face too: limited space, limited time, and the reality of fitting homemaking around work. We’re not showing you a version of homesteading built on ideal conditions. We’re sharing what it looks like when you do this in ordinary life.

Why we started this site

We started Homemaking Hobbies because we genuinely enjoy this way of living. We love making, growing, and learning at home. Like many people, we would love a bit more land — but that is not possible for us right now.

Instead of waiting for the “right” property or the “right” season of life, we chose to begin with what we have.

That decision shaped this site. We want to encourage others who feel drawn to homesteading but assume they have to wait. You don’t. You can start in a normal neighbourhood. You can start in a small yard. You can start while balancing work and everyday responsibilities.

Our faith is part of this as well. We believe God has blessed our home and the knowledge we’ve gained along the way, and we want to share that with our community.

If this sounds like the kind of approach you’ve been looking for, please browse our site and find the homemaking hobbies that interest you.  We’re here to help you start small, learn practical skills, and build a more self-sufficient home, one step at a time.