Homesteading builds connections in Nashville
The lifestyle is growing communities from all walks of life right here in Nashville.
Alisha Brown's little slice of heaven outside her home in East Nashville has farm fresh eggs in the backyard with peppers and greens steps from the kitchen and honey right from the source.
'We get the best of both worlds. We get the tourist town, the good eats, the entertainment, the shopping, all the things,' said Brown. 'But then I get to come home and, you know, and it doesn't seem like Broadway is right there, but it is.'
Her love of gardening started with another love — her husband — and a little friendly competition.
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'He grew the pepper, and I grew the tomato. At the time we were in Clarksville, went and got broken pallets for free from Rural King,' she recalled. 'Bought two $5 bags of dirt and seeds on food stamps.'
Their small, simple start has grown to incorporate aeroponics, which is a method of growing plants without soil.
'As a real estate agent a lot of my clients want to purchase lots of land and I'm like no you can actually do a homestead in your backyard and this is a testament to what people can do,' said Donna Shepherd, a Realtor with Epique Realty.
Shepherd and Brown say the lifestyle is building bonds between people from all walks of life and backgrounds. They gathered for a Nashville Black Women Homesteading meet-up last year spearheaded by LaShae Baugh.
'As African Americans, Black women, a lot of times, I think gardening and things in the dirt were associated with slavery, and it's been a stigma in our community, like, 'I'm not putting my hands in the dirt, because, you know, great, great, great grandmama was in that cotton field'. But they also used it to sustain their lives. They were their stories behind them, being in the ground, their stories are behind them, looking at herbs,' said Shepherd.
Homesteading involves learning to do things on your own but it also creates connections and community.
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'The meetup was in Nashville,' Shepherd recalled. 'We had desserts, snacks, but most importantly, everyone brought in seeds or seedlings, and we all got together to tell our story. And then we all supported each other.'
And this feeling is spreading.
'I've been doing this for a little while now, and I've definitely it has gone from a joke. 'Why are you doing that?' To 'tell me a little bit more',' said Brown. This is East Nashville. We're in a group chat, and somebody was saying, I think I saw your chicken. I'm like, No, it's not my chicken. I counted all mine.'
More people are catching the homesteading bug in recent years.
'We're just like, one or two disasters away from not having those resources,' said Shepherd. 'So having knowing how to grow, knowing the land, I think, is very important.'
In addition to the survival aspect there are benefits galore for your own family and community. Brown has a farmstand outside her home where she leaves items from her homestead and people share monetary donations to support her foster care journey.
'By its natural course, gardening is just something that is just so stress relieving. And so being in that space, and then it be doing it with someone, you know, it's just, there's nothing like it,' she said.
She advises everyone do research before starting this lifestyle and then starting small with maybe some tomatoes. Check with the local ordinances in your area to see if you are eligible to host backyard chickens at your house.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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