Who are the homesteaders?

[Halfway]

I love this forum for so many reasons. One is the diversity between homesteader and those "preparing" to be homesteaders.

Out of curiosity, who here has the homestead and who is working on it?

We have been and are between properties as we accomplish a couple of side goals and then it is "back to the farm".

And you?

[Ravenlost]

I don't really consider myself a homesteader. We have 96 acres, horses, goats, chickens, dogs, cats and a rabbit. The chickens give us eggs, but everything else are just pets...well, the chickens are useful pets.

I can and freeze some stuff, but due to health issues we didn't put in a big garden this year, although I do have tomatoes, peppers, green beans, sweet potatoes, carrots, eggplant and herbs. We also have apple trees that are loaded and planted pear, fig, and peach trees this Spring.

In the winter we turn the propane central heating to 65 or lower and supplement with the wood burning fireplace. I keep a fire burning all winter pretty much. We cut our own wood from fallen trees in our small patch of woods.

Our water comes from our well and we grow our own hay for the horses and goats.

We eat venison instead of beef, but don't hunt. My BIL always gets us a deer or two. I'm shopping at the Farmer's Market and get fresh milk, cheese and cream so I can make my own butter. I'm also able to get the fruits and veggies we don't have growing on our place.

I make my own bread (in a bread machine) and the other morning I realized that we have finally reached the point where our entire breakfast was made of things that didn't come from the grocery store...homemade butter and jam, toast from homemade bread, eggs from the chickens scrambled with asparagus from my asparagus bed and venison sausage.

Does that make us homesteaders? I really don't think so, but we are getting a little closer to being more self sufficient.

I guess I grew up on a homestead, but we just called it "living in the country". We grew pretty much all our own food...veggies, fruit and meat (including hunting). Daddy even plowed with a mule for several years.

Mama made all our clothes, we went barefoot in the summer and got a new pair of shoes for school in the Fall. The house was heated with wood and Mama cooked on a wood cook stove (still does). We didn't have air conditioning. We had a well for water, but we did have electricity and indoor plumbing! So maybe we weren't homesteaders after all!

[Ostie82]

I'm not a homesteader. Recently moved from 3 acres into a larger town due to a promotion. We are planning and trying to get our finances in order for us to be able to get back out in the country; hopefully on a larger tract this time. We really want to simplify our lives and get to a more self-sustained existence.

[highlands]

First, before I say anything, remember that people's definition of homesteading varies considerably...

We homestead. We've been homesteading for 25 years or so here and did elsewhere. We grow anywhere from some to almost all of our food, produce all of our own heat (wood) from our land and our job is right here on our homestead. We built our own home (http://SugarMtnFarm.com/cottage) with our own ten hands and have been living in that for the past seven years - much better than the drafty old farmhouse we lived in further down the mountain before that.

We are successful enough at homesteading that what we do might be counted more towards farmsteading or farming. Working the land is what we do. In addition to what we produce for our own needs we produce an excess which we sell that pays the taxes, the mortgage and allows us some luxuries. We sustainably log our forests and raise pastured pigs delivering weekly to area stores, restaurants and individuals.

Our big project right now is we're building our own on-farm USDA/State inspected butcher shop so we'll be able to do the meat processing (slaughter, cutting, sausage, smoke, etc) right here on the farm.

Homesteading, farmsteading, farming, what ever you want to call it, it keeps us busy and off the streets.

Cheers,

-Walter
in Vermont

[Yvonne's hubby]

Originally Posted by Halfway

I love this forum for so many reasons. One is the diversity between homesteader and those "preparing" to be homesteaders.

Out of curiosity, who here has the homestead and who is working on it?

We have been and are between properties as we accomplish a couple of side goals and then it is "back to the farm".

And you?

I bought my first goats and headed to my first homestead in the spring of 77, have suffered several setbacks through the years, have had to give up three homesteads and two wives, and the goats. I do miss my goats! This place is paid for, have some pretty good old cows wandering around in the pasture and a mighty fine wife, several cats and a good dog. I tend a fair garden, do quite a bit of canning/freezing, living the good life so to speak. I spose I qualify as a homesteader.

[thequeensblessing]

We have our homestead. We have about 30 acres where we raise hair sheep and honey bees for our commercial ventures and we have a 27 tree heirloom apple orchard that is about 4 years old. We're actually picking our first apples this year. We'd like to open it up to "pick your own" eventually. We raise most of our food, from fruits, herbs, and veggies, to meats, eggs and milk products. We can, freeze, dehydrate and do our own slaughtering and butchering. We make soap, bread, and our own cheeses, as well as making wine (We're Mormon so we don't drink alcohol at all, but we do have a farm business selling honey and specialty jams and jellies, amongst which is our line of wine jellies. Our friends are always willing to oblige us when we ask them to sample our latest batch of mead or wine.) We raise a couple of jerseys, about 50 head of katahdin and dorper hair sheep, chickens, turkeys, rabbits, 32 hives of honey bees, and a couple of hogs each year. We also have 3 LGDs, 2 barn cats, 1 house cat, and my crazy Afghan hound. We call our place The Queen's Blessing Farm, in honor of our honey bees and all they do for us on the farm. (Pollination, honey, wax, pollen, propolis, etc.)

[farmerDale]

Like Walter had said, people have differing thoughts on the meaning. I make my living from the land in entirety, raise most of our food, can, freeze, juice, smoke. But I think calling myself a homesteader is an insult to the true homesteaders: They who came mostly from Europe, with maybe 10 or 50 dollars, a dream, and rose above, making a new life for themselves.

Todays "homesteading" is child's play vs. what the REAL homesteaders did.

If they went to town to pick something up, it was a two day, gruelling affair, and they went once every few months.

I know what current "homesteading" is about, for I joined this site, and enjoy it immensely. But for whatever reason, in my mind, homesteading is a thing of the past. Not many today can even come close to comparing to the original, actual homesteaders.

[KeepingItAtHome]

We are working on it. We should close on 26acres before the end of the month. Our end goal is to grow our own food and barter for what we don't grow.

[wy_white_wolf]

I'm not a homesteader yet. Like WIHH & CF, we have a place we are setting up for retirement and striving to make it as self substanable as possible.

WWW

[jwal10]

We are not homesteaders, We just live simply, off the land. We grow a garden, tend a greenhouse, chickens, rabbits, goats and pigeons. Have a few fruit trees and have a farm pond for fish. The other half is gleaned from the forests that surround us....James

[7thswan]

I'm a homesteader, my Hubby is not, so we have a blended world.Hubby is a heavy mechanic with a number of Patents ( worked in R&D for GM and Eaton corp.)-so he is a pretty handy Guy in the" making things work" department. We have 40 acres,most of it goes to his beef cows(pasture and hay production). Sinse I stay home and work here, I tend everything, he does what he can when he is home. I have gardens that produce most of the food we need. Most of what I grow is selfsutaining -30+ different fruit trees, 4 different grapes-3 different rasberrys, blackberrys,strawberrys,blueberrys,j.artichokes,ma ny Herbs ect ect. Then I have a large garden which I cann all of our food from,meaning I do not buy any produce from others to put up.I have Angora rabbits (and Red New Zeelands for meat) for spinning their fleece, used to have sheep and angora goats-but I now,I can actualy get fleece from alpacas and sheep for just the cost of shearing.I weave and knit/sew for extra $. We heat and cook with wood(we do not buy wood),but do use propane gas for cooking in the summer.If something needs built-I do it, roofing,Arbors,salvage greenhouse(I've built four different ones in different places),chicken coups(yes we have a mess of chickens and sell eggs) ect, right now-redoing a 1968 Avion trailer for company.I have redone and flipped 3 houses. We do have many things around here that would in many peoples minds, say we are not homesteaders, but I know I can live without many "newer comforts" because I have done it, totally off grid before(back then we called it "living off the land").

[dndweeks]

I'm a homesteader in the making. Living in a small town with too many ordinances so we can't have the animals I would like to have. We do have a nice sized garden that's allowing me to get plenty of experience until the day we have a home in the country with some land. That's when I'll add the chickens, goats, maybe a pig or two and our daughter is very much hoping she'll get a couple horses (she taking riding lessons now).

[HOTW]

We closed on our 20 acres on May, we are selling out here in the US and my Mum is presently living on the farmhouse. We are doing some removal of trees that danger the house and trying to figure out what is th elargest priority once we move in.

[cjean]

We moved to our 7 acres in the heart of timberland, in a mountain valley, in 1994. It was undeveloped land, and we bought it from the original homesteaders' family. Power was 2 miles away, and winters of 6+ feet of snow are common.

We buried a water line from the creek, built a shack to which we attached a travel trailer, and set up solar panels. Now, we have all of the modern conveniences, (thanks to rich neighbors who brought in electricity!), lots of outbuildings and a 3 bedroom house, and a well for water.

We raise a few hair sheep, milk goats, and rabbits, and run a sawmill/lumber business here, which is our way of life. Homeschooled our kids, raise our own vegetables, cut our own wood, buy logs for our business locally, help the neighbors as much as possible....

Some days I feel like a "homesteader"...some days I feel like a wimp.

[Halfway]

So many great replies and stories of how you made your home a homestead.

Also great to see so many pushing forward day-to-day in order to realize their dreams.

Awesome!!!

[Terri]

Homesteading is my hobby, not my livelihood. I can only spare an average of about half an hour a day for it. And, I am only working about an acre of land.

Then again, last night I tried out a new recipe for the wheat that I grew in my back yard, the chickens are laying well again, and last nights cucumber strips were from my garden.

I raise no meat and I rarely have enough to preserve, but, in my half hour a day I do the same activities as the full-time homesteaders. I have decided not to worry about what a homesteader is or is not: it is simple a name!

[Big Dave]

3.94 acres of rocky ridge. Bulldozers, back hoes, frontend loaders and back breaking sweat are going into this land to get it to grow food. Varmits form the area think I am growing them a smorgus board of treats. Reading lots of book and magazine articles about lots of skills that I need to make my place a HOME. I consider myself a modern homesteader. I use power from the grid. I have back up when we do not get power from the grid. I am looking to use WOOFER's in the future. As tough as this place is I am staying for the next few years I know of. I guess that is defines ae steading/ So this is my HOMESTEAD TODAY

[2happymamas]

We only have 1.5 acres in the city and do what we can.

-We have a decent sized garden and can for the winter. We have a root cellar to store our food. I barter for what we don't grow here...traded a bunch of eggs for peaches this week and canned them for the winter. Someone else has offered to give us a large amount of pears and we will be canning them as well.
-We keep 15 layers and raise about 100 meat birds per year.
-2 bee hives
-3 dairy goats and am getting ready to buy the fourth within the next week'ish. We make our own cheese and dairy products.
-We tapped our maple trees this year and made syrup.

While we don't have room to keep it here, we bought a steer two weeks ago and it is being raised on a friend's farm a few miles from here. We are also getting a couple pigs in the next few months that will also stay at friend's place.

We do what we can to be as self-sufficient as possible, within the constraints of what we currently have land-wise. I think we do many of the same things that larger scale homesteaders do, just on a smaller scale.

[arnie]

I suppose im a sutstanace farmer or homesteder for short. produceing all of my meat and most of the garden veggies + some fruit trees; canning and freezing ,cooking at home and bakeing . beef and milk cow chickens and rabbits a hog acualy more than I need cause I give a lot of it away .though this is how my grand parents lived on this farm they used horse power and never drove a car or tractor .I bought another hundred acres and like my truck and love the tractor but still have a work horse cause it seems like I should just in case and he enjoys his retirement. but to reach this point of self seffechintcy I started building my cabinand root cellar. buying my roto tiller and tools building barns and chicken house all while working in the city so when I got the offer for early retirement I was ready

[CountryWannabe]

I am a hobby homesteader. We lived on 3.5 acres for many years. There I raised hair sheep, chickens, goats and pigs. I had a decent sized garden that fed us most of the year.

We have just moved to a 10 acre place. We got rid of the pigs because I didn't think they would work here. I have severely culled down my sheep flock and will likely reduce them either later this year or early next. I still have the dairy goats but I will be reducing them later this year. I use the milk for drinking, yoghurt, ice cream and soap. I have a couple of Dexter cattle - they are very easy going and pleasant-natured, and being smaller they are a bit easier for older folks to deal with than full size cattle.

I don't have a garden here yet, will be starting it this fall, we have started our orchard with semi-dwarf trees (we are not getting any younger and I don't want to be climbing full size trees), I generally do quite a bit of canning, freezing and drying of garden produce and herbs and should get back to that next year.

I cook just about everything from scratch, do some knitting and crochet, try to be as frugal as I can. I produce what I can of what we use. I think that "homesteading" is as much a philosophy as a way of life.

Mary