Everything you ever wanted to know about homesteading, all with a cool, modern style. From windowsills to backyards, cities hold more potential for growth than just urban sprawl. We can grow vegetables, raise small livestock, and fill our cupboards with canned decadence. Regardless of space or green thumb know-how, Renee Wilkinson offers something for everyone.

Musing about what it takes to raise clucking chickens? Wilkinson walks you through every step. Wondering what will grow best on your balcony or fire escape? She gives you garden designs and choices. What to make with your bounty of herbs and veggies? A rustic yet elegant goat cheese and zucchini panini might just do it.

While Wilkinson may use her grandmother's old canning tricks or her aunt's favorite recipes, this young, thoughtful gardener still manages to make her spread her own, and delivers the best information on growing, raising, harvesting, and making from your own plot.

Renee Wilkinson is the creator of HipChickDigs.com, a popular website dedicated to urban homesteading, edible landscape design, and sustainable living. Garden spade in hand, Wilkinson is completing a graduate degree in landscape architecture and continues to inspire urbanites everywhere to get their hands dirty in their own city homesteads. She lives on a tenth of an acre city lot in Portland, OR, with her husband and three chickens.