Homesteading preparations

[Gresford]

DW and I currently reside in a more suburban environment (we are renting an apartment). Our goal is to be living the homesteader's dream of a self sufficient lifestyle in a rural environment. Our timeline is between 1 and two years to achieve this goal.

What can we be doing now to prepare for this transition? I grew up in suburbia and though my wife grew up in a rural environment, her lifestyle was not one of self sufficiency. (She grew up on 15 acres in western Washington while I grew up in the suburbs of NJ).

Would anyone be willing to share their story of how they transitioned from city/suburb to rural?

[frazzlehead]

Learn how to can. You will want to preserve the stuff you grow! Make pickles, can fruit, make applesauce.

Get a dehydrator and play with it. I like making fruit rollups with the mushy stuff leftover from making other things!

Practice frugality and shopping less. Learn how to keep a stocked pantry. Try going to the grocery store only once a week, and not 'stopping for milk' on the way home - to get used to not having a grocery store right there all the time.

Get library books on rural things - animal husbandry, gardening, read up and see what strikes your fancy.

Homesteading isn't just for rural living!

[jassytoo]

Read everything you can get your hands on about rural living. Start hitting the garage sales, farm auctions and thrift shops etc and stock up on canning supplies ( jars, pressure canner, water bath canner ) and tools you'll need. Learn how to use them. Cook from scratch. If there is one in your town, rent a pea patch and grow your own veg. If you haven't already, I'd start looking at land now where you want to live. That way when the time comes you'll have an idea of what land costs and things to look out for when you start shopping in earnest. Subscribe to the newspaper in your chosen area if its far away from where you are now. Find out about building codes and taxes in the new place. Get debt free. Save enough money to tide you over for awhile. It takes time to get to the point of self sufficiency. Even then you'll need money for taxes, medical and some things you can't make for yourself. When you do move, don't take on too much at once. When we started we added one or two projects at a time. When we got those down pat we added more. This is a good time for you to iron out the creases in your plan. The better prepared you are the easier it will be. We started out 30 years ago with 3 little kids and a dream like yours. We had some success, some abject failures and a lot of good times and laughter. One thing you can be sure of, life will never be dull or boring. Good luck, you'll never regret it.

[Mid Tn Mama]

We began by reading everything we could during the 10 years we planned to move to the country. I kept computer files on things I learned at the predecessor to this website (countryside). I bought countryside magazine. Although some mistakes were made, our prior reading allowed us to jump right in.

I would start by learning how to grow edibles where you are. You can do a lot on a small suburban lot. You can make rain barrels and use your greywater to water plants. Grow what you can up trellises on vertical surfaces. You can raise rabbits --no one would know.

For years I kept a picture of a barn at my desk to remind me why I was taking my lunch every day and buying clothes at yardsales. It was all worth it and if you are patient, your dream can come true.

Start purchasing tools at yardsales and auctions now. Think about no till gardening if you can't afford a tiller or a tractor. The hardest thing was to learn how to fence--that couldn't be learned online beforehand.

Try to give up some of the running around to restaurants and extra activities now so you don't miss these when you have sunk your money into land and don't have time or gas money.

Learn to preserve food now. Practice by purchasing veggies at the farmer's market.

There are a lot of ways to do something. We raise our animals in the most frugal ways. You can get a lot of advice in completely the opposite direction as well. I post a lot on the tightwad tips thread at countryside families. I have learned a lot of good frugal ways about country living there.

[Mudwoman]

Start with a plan. Define what "self-sufficient" means to you. Know that some things will take time. Our fruit trees will not bear decent fruit for another year at least and they have been planted for 2 years now. The kiwi plants take 5 years to bear. Things like this have to be taken into consideration when planning. You will not be able to move to land and plant a garden that will feed you overnight, so what is the plan for food until the garden is producing enough food to feed you AND stock the pantry for a year? Stocking the pantry----will you dry or can? What is the plan for money for taxes, fuel, bulk supplies that don't make sense to grow such as wheat for flour and sugar and oil? If you plan to be off-grid, what is the plan for the money for the equipment that you will need? Will you heat with wood and if so, will your land have enough timber to provide you with enough wood? What will you cut and split the wood with? An old fashion 2 man saw or a chain saw? Have you ever cut 3 cords of wood with a 2 man saw??!!??!! A chain saw needs chains and oil and gas-----how or what will provide that? What will you till the garden with? Will you buy seed for the garden or plants? If you have animals, what will you build fences and barns with and will this take money? What is the plan for feeding the animals?

I think you get the idea. Get a notebook and some paper and some homesteading type books and you start asking yourself questions and you make a plan. You have a dream. You map out a plan to get that dream. You work the plan one day and one step at a time.

[minnikin1]

These folks are giving you great advice.

We sat down and listed all the "homesteady" things we thought we would like to try. Then started practicing. We tried to do one thing homestead related every single day. Start small.

Start homesteading tomorrow, right where you are. You don't "go" someplace to homestead. You are a homesteader, where you are is secondary.

One day plan. One day study a new skill. One day search for tools. The next day practice with them.
Try recipes that you will can. Make small batches. Knit socks or crochet a new purse rather than buying it.

Daycreek.com has some ideas, rather vague, but it will might get you going..

You'll discover you like certain skills and others don't thrill you so much, so you can abandon those. Continue doing the skills you like, and then add another and another....
Keep this up for awhile and day someone comes to visit you, (probably before you've even moved to your rural property), looks around and says, "oh, you're homesteaders?" Chances are you will never have noticed how much you've changed.
Enjoy it. It's fun..

[marvella]

plant some seeds and keep them alive long enough to harvest it and eat it.

[HilltopDaisy]

Wonderful advice!! I think I filled three notebooks with my scribbling when I was in the "planning phase". I lived in an apartment for 5 years while I payed down debts, learned new skills, read Countryside magazine and everything else I could get my hands on.

If you walked down the street past my apartment you'd have no idea what was happening just beyond eyesight. I had clothes on the line, drying in the breeze. I had a beautiful, lush garden growing many different types of vegetables, enough to can for my winter use. I worked two jobs so I could have money for a down payment on land. I went to the library weekly, and read about fruit trees, chickens, goats, and building sheds. I learned to make soap and laundry soap, how to make a delicious loaf of whole wheat bread, how to store bulk foods, how to build a cold frame, etc. I went apple picking and made sauce, picked berries and made jam, and taught myself how to can everything; soup, vegetables, tomatoe sauce; get a copy of the Ball Blue Book. Get a copy of Carla Emery's book. There is so much that you can learn before you move to your land.

I bought this place 4 years ago. I'm still excited about it. Last night I dreamed that when I went into the chicken coop there were a few dozen brand new baby chicks that had just hatched out. Nothing like a brand new chick to make you smile...........

[Mid Tn Mama]

Here is a good list of books to read:
http://www.justpeace.org/prudence.ht...ctical%20Books

I would also do a lot of planning about where you would like things laid out. Think about distance from tools to garden or distance of barn from compost pile. Think about shading the home in summer and allowing maximum free sun heat in the winter. Think about a windbreak to help keep your home warm in the winter.

Then no matter what situation you find yourself in you can work from there.

[TexasArtist]

Another one that would be good is learning as much first add and such as you can. Sprained ankles,wrist, and such are some of the more common thing when homesteading. You also have cut and punctures that are more common. Learn how to take care of those. If your going to be living far enough out you have to remember that if you can't get to the store to grb some milke it's not so bad BUT if you've gotten hurt and can't get into town to get bandages or care then you have a bigger problem.

[Gresford]

Thanks everyone! We appreciate and value your advice and experiences. Please keep them coming!

[turtlehead]

In addition to magazine subscriptions and Carla Emery's book, get a copy ofStorey's Guide to Basic Country Skills . It discusses a lot of the things you'll need to know once you're in the country but also how to prepare for your search and find the right place for you.

Great suggestions on starting now - canning, dehydrating, and soap making are all good skills for an apartment dweller to be learning.

If you're not in shape, start working on that now. Living a homesteading lifestyle can be physically demanding.

Try not to buy any more pretty sweaters and slacks and start focusing on jeans, flannel shirts, sweatshirts, boots, etc.

[triana1326]

My DH and I are in exactly the same place you are...we've made up a monthly list of things to do/learn/research for the next year and 9 months - basically until we move back to VT and onto our land....There are some days where I'm so excited and impatient for the moving day to arrive, I feel like I'm about to explode out of my skin! I keep a picture of our land-to-be on my desktop so that I have a constant reminder of why I'm working at this crappy job (the pay is great and helps us pay off our debts faster)! Good luck to you and your family. Hopefully we can continue to learn together on this site...

[Terri]

A great deal of homesteading involves handling food. I started (though it was not on purpose) by handling food, and by trying out recipies.

You will be, after all, cooking largely from scratch on a homestead. You will be thinking "I have too many eggs, what tasty thing can I fix from them for the family to eat before the eggs take over the fridge?" (deviled eggs, angel food cake, custard which is also good for using up too much milk, rice pudding, etc).

You CAN start scratch cooking right now, which will give you the skills to cope with the gluts of food that you will recieve because homesteads produce in fits and starts. For instance, zucchini cake is excellent, or you can grill it with garlic salt and pepper for a cooked vegetable, or......

To get you started: 3 cups flour, 1 cup water, heaping teaspoon salt, heaping teaspoon yeast, dash of sugar and a dollop of oil.

Knead it a lot longer than you would like to and you have bread dough for bread. If you roll it out, drizzle with butter, sprinkle heavily with sugar and cinnamon and roll it up for sweet rolls.

Use your leftovers: for some reason folks today often do not. I like to make a pizza crust and top it with leftover meat and cheese, or I make a shepherds pie by topping a dish of leftovers with biscuits and baking.

Lastly, watch the budget so that you know how much money you need to live on. Homesteading is lovely but it will not pay the tax man, or fill the tank. IF you are frugal now, you will know how much homestead you can afford and how much cash you will need.

That's how we did it!

[MorrisonCorner]

Ok.. this is a great way to get a jump start on your dream and a business as well.

Build a website. (ok children, let's not get into an arguement about this again... this is good advice)

Build a website. Buy a URL and build a website which projects exactly what your dream is. For example, if you want to have apple trees put up a page called "orchard." Then research the daylights out of apples until you know them backwards, forwards, and sideways. Put up pictures of the varieties you "have" and why you chose them. If you want "sheep" create a page about "your sheep."

This is a visual projection of where you want to be and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. Plus to do a website you have to bring yourself up to speed, do the research, figure things out on "paper" as it were. But it is more fun to build a website. Plus it gives friends and family something to hang their hat on.. they look at your website and they can "see" your dream too.

Building the site will work in much the same way as daily affirmations do. You can pretty much reprogram your brain to be enthusiastic about anything. For example I've been looking in the mirror every morning and saying out loud "it won't take that long to clean the ram pen if you do several loads a day." "it won't take that long to clean the ram pen if you do several loads a day..."

Until *poof* I found myself cleaning the ram pen... and you know what? It didn't take "that" long because I did several loads a day.

I did get blisters tho!

[Mid Tn Mama]

I wish I had taken advantage of those great neighborhood garbage nights and collected more feed containers for animals. It's nice to have more stainless steel pots and pans for putting water or feed in various places.

Start hanging your laundry out.

If your moving south, Practice getting up at dawn and doing your work early before it's blazing hot outside.

Learn as much as you can about vehicle and small engine repair.

Do as much as possible on your home for repairs.

Make quilts and rag rugs out of old clothing.

[minnikin1]

Originally Posted by MorrisonCorner

Build a website. Buy a URL and build a website which projects exactly what your dream is....
Building the site will work in much the same way as daily affirmations do.

I love this idea!

[turtlehead]

The website IS a good idea. And if you're not technically inclined, you could make a scrapbook. Anything to encourage your research and to help you solidify your dream and plans.

[fin29]

Extend your timeline to 3-6 years and set about $10,000.00 in cash on fire.

That will teach you one of the cardinal rules of homesteading: every project takes three times as long and costs three times as much as you anticipate.

[Jenco]

Originally Posted by fin29

Extend your timeline to 3-6 years and set about $10,000.00 in cash on fire.

That will teach you one of the cardinal rules of homesteading: every project takes three times as long and costs three times as much as you anticipate.

This actually made me laugh out loud... so true...