Homesteading: The Inside Scoop

Homesteading: The Inside Scoop

Homesteading is not something that most people hear or talk about everyday, so when I speak of this, you may ask yourself…

What the heck are you talking about?!

Do not worry, we will cover everything that you need to know AND more.

We are going to go over the following important points today.

• What the word means.

• How you can use it.

• What the purpose is.

• Why it is important.

• Who can use it.

• How you can start!

We are going to backtrack a bit here, when defining homesteading, it is important to state that not only is it something that someone can do, but it is also a way of life or a lifestyle.

What is homesteading?

We can define this by saying that it is more or less being self sufficienct or making yourself self-reliant.

There are many different ways that one can live this self sufficient lifestyle.

The go to direction that people think first has to do with growing and producing your own food.

This can take the form of raising your own livestock to growing your own vegetable garden.

By no means are there any rules that you can’t do one thing without the other.

For example, many people will grow their own vegetable or herb garden in their backyard. 
Yes, this is just something that people like to do, but without realizing it, they are taking part of a homesteading lifestyle.

They are growing their own produce, hence they are self-sufficient in that manner.

What exactly makes a person a homesteader?

I am so glad you asked!

There are several characteristics of a homesteader, but we will just go over a few.

• Being conservative or frugal:

 

This means that the person knows the true value of things and gets the full worth from the item, whether it be saving money by couponing, reusing an item for another purpose, there are really too many ways to name that someone can be considered frugal

• DIY everything:

A homesteader tries to make anything they can on their own.

Some examples may be making your own soap, drying out your own herbs and spices, and it could even mean making your own clothing!

The point is that they are doing it on their own which makes them self sufficient.

•  Producing your own food:

Gardening, growing crops, raising livestock, and having a chicken coop are all examples of someone being self-reliant with their food sources.

They are able to make their own food, which also goes in line with DIY characteristics.

Going a step further, using your own food to canned goods, make jams, etc is a source of food storage which definitely makes you a homesteader.

• Resourcefulness/reusing:

In my opinion, this is the most important characteristic of a homesteader.

A piece of trash could be a homesteader’s treasure and what I mean by this is that these people can make anything out of any item.

There are no obstacles stopping them because if something isn’t working, they will use something else to make it work.

Many people will throw items away that can be used for something else and having the eye to be creative and see all of the possibilities is the key.

Why is homesteading important?

There are several reasons that this is an important lifestyle that you should consider.

• Preparedness:

  In the event that something may happen or that you fall upon difficult times, you will have the reassurance that you will be able to provide food to your family or yourself. 

  Even if you don’t have everything together in a moment of crisis, you’ll at least know that you have the skills to be self sufficient.

• Health:

  In today’s society, you hear in the news about all the different chemicals and pesticides that are being put into our food.

  Growing or raising your own food completely banishes this issue for you.
  This is the most fresh and best quality food that you could possibly consume.

• Money:
  
  Yes, it will originally cost you money to gather the essential resources you need to be self sufficient…BUT thing about the economy and the pattern it goes in
  WHAT? …You mean it is always changing? 
  
  Exactly… Fluctuating food costs will never affect you if you can just go in your own yard or greenhouse or whatever you have, and pull out the food that you have grown.

  You are free from spiking prices at a grocery store and free from being controlled for what you have to pay to purchase food.

  So I suppose, that along with money, freedom is an important factor.

Who can be a homesteader?

Well this question is easy!
EVERYONE

There is no limit to what you can and can’t do to be self-reliant.

YOU are the only one holding yourself back.

If you can think it, you can make it happen.

Do not get discouraged.

Invite someone to start with you!

How can you start your path to becoming a homesteader?

There are literally HUNDREDS…but we’ll name a few of the different ones other than the typical growing-your-own-food idea.

• Learn how to save seeds for future gardens.

• Learn how to change a tire.

• Learn how to start a fire.

• Learn how to hunt or fish.

• Learn how to sew clothing.

• Learn how to make your own soap.

• Learn what plants in your area can be used for medicinal purposes.

• Learn how to can food.

I bet some of the items on that list, you never even thought of as homesteading.
PLUS some of them are even survival skills.

SO IMPORTANT

How about we go over the basics on how you can begin your self-reliant lifestyle.

Some of the recommended ways to start are as follows:

1. Start learning how to preserve your own food.

This is important for many reasons.

When you start growing your own food, it is more than likely that your production will take off and of course you can’t eat it all at once, but you don’t want it to go bad.

You want to learn the basics of canning or dehydrating that way you can store your food to prevent any of it from going to waste.

Lastly, depending on where you are located, winter months can be rough and you may not be able to produce where you are. Having the food storage from canned goods can be a lifesaver! 

You will be able to enjoy the relaxing winter with your preserved foods.

2. Decide how self-reliant you want to be.

You may want to have a garden with some veggies and that’s it! 
That is OK

Some of you may want to do it all; raise livestock, have a garden, make your own shelter, etc etc.
Decide how far into this you want to go and formulate a game plan!

3. Learn what will grow.

There is no sense of planting a whole bunch of things at random.
Learn what will succeed in your area and the time of year to plant it. 

You do not want to waste time and money into trying to grow something that you find out later, just doesn’t do well in your climate. 

Do your research and learn what works and what does not.

4. Teach yourself to build.

If this is part of your game-plan, learn how to build. 

This could be building a trellis for your garden, a shelter for your livestock or yourself, building a canning workbench, and more.

An important part of homesteading is being self-sufficient right? 

Well, having the skills to build things will only help in this process. 
You do not want to have to buy everything you need.
Why not make it yourself?

5. Animals- Decide what is necessary.

If you’re looking into raising animals, decide what would be most important first.

Gaining eggs from chickens would mean that you need a chicken coup while raising milk cows would mean you need the proper shelter for them as well. 

Each animal is going to require something, so you want to make sure that you think of each aspect of raising the animal so that you are well prepared.

First and Foremost…. Start small!

You don’t have to go out and buy a huge piece of land just to start this lifestyle.

Starting a small herb garden in your kitchen can even be considered a start to be a homesteader.

Start with something small and grow from there.
Every step you take is a step in the right direction.

Like they say, if you build it, they will come.
In this situation, if you plant it, it will grow.

There are other people out there who can help!
Find a group on facebook and they will welcome you with open arms and help you start your journey!

Another key aspect you should keep in mind is…
…ALWAYS plan ahead.

• Plan ahead for sick animals ( meaning have a vet lined up ) 
  
• Plan ahead for diseased plants and know how to treat them.
  
• Plan ahead for even just messing up something you’re building.
  
• Plan ahead and know that not everything will succeed, but know what to do when something goes wrong and just fix it!

I know we have pumped you full of information on this topic, so we’ll leave off with one more fun fact about being self-reliant!

Money can actually be made as a homesteader!

WHAT?
Oh yes!

Some people have so much surplus of items that they make, grow, and build, that they will actually sell their excess to others and make a profit!

Think about farmer’s markets!

So not only is this good for making yourself self-sufficient, but it can actually mean earning a profit if you are successful enough!

Of course we are not experts on being self-sufficient.

The beauty of this is that you will always continue to learn and progress in this journey. It is a fulfilling hard work and you can literally see the hard work pay off.

So let’s recap on what you have learned with us today!

1. You have learned exactly what homesteading means.

2. You have learned the characteristics that make a person a homesteader.

3. You have learned why being self-reliant is so very important.

4. Let’s not forget that you’ve also learned WHO can be a homesteader (EVERYONE)

5. Lastly, you have learned how you can start your journey to be a self-sufficient member of society.

I think you are on your way to quite a self-sufficient lifestyle!
Spread the word and work hard!

Remember, it is not a job, it is a lifestyle!

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