'Steading' or Farming

[moonwolf]

I find it interesting I reading many posts about how folks
plan their move to life in the countryside and main considerations
about converting to changing landscape by fencing and
major building plans more about agriculture and farming or
how to make the land pay to live there.

My vision in moving to make my stead was never with much
thought about 'making it pay' beyond some measure of
self sufficiency as much as wanted.

Sure , raising livestock or foodstuffs for some selling isn't
going against my own philosophy about modern homesteading
and have done some business in these regards from my
property, but I still keep the 'stead vision' as I see it without
making my 'stead' a farm even though it's zoned rural
agriculture. In other words I don't require myself or anyone
to actually 'Farm' just because it's the countryside.

[Shrek]

And I dislike the term homestead in favor of agricultural zone small acreage tract BISF local grower label. Regardless of what any of us choose to call it as long as your doing what you enjoy in the effort that you put out and consider the return that you receive adequate , its all good.

[Terri]

I consider it "subsistence farming" myself.

I USED to sell the berries but now I eat the berries. I don't even try to preserve any for the winter any longer. This year I am giving veggies away but I intended to only have enough to eat: Mother nature surprised me with bounty when it came to vegetables. Etc.

I am not trying to support myself like a homesteader and I am not selling anything like a farmer, but when I feel like working outside I have a lot to snack on! And then I bring something edible inside for dinner. This week we are eating green beans but I hope to have potatos soon.

[FarmboyBill]

I make reference to being a farmer, as that was what I was a LONG time ago, abeit a small one. It just seems to me a step down in size to say im a homesteader. Not a thing derogatory about being a homesteader. Kinda like a guy in Okla who grows wheat and has horses, and or cows, and refers to himself as a rancher. His thang. My thang.

[elkhound]

shangri-la homestead is my sanctuary from the world.its a blending of permaculture,gardening,a tiny bit of grain croping that is basically food plots,wildcrafting,woodcrafting,orcharding,timber production and "other" forest products,and my version of hedgerowing.


thanks to moonwolf in past years showing his shrooming the last 3 years i have been doing a bit too.both wild and cultivated.i hope to be more succesful at it as time ges on.

[JLMissouri]

I see a homesteader as someone who is growing for his own needs with little extra. They may have stuff to sell but that isn't their main purpose to growing or raising food, it is to supply themselves. A farmer is more about growing in surplus as a major portion of their income. They could be growing a few commodities, or growing everything they eat themselves but in excess like a market/truck farmer.

Not all farmers are homesteaders, I know plenty that only grow a few crops and never eat what they grow and don't even have a garden.

Land is expensive, why wouldn't you want it to pay for itself? I do a few things that are not very profitable, but if I invest my life into something I want it to be profitable in some ways and my land better pay for itself eventually. I am not rich enough to buy a chunk of land and not have it make or save some money.

[plowhand]

Well, where I live.....most everybody had a farm.....My 92 year old neighbor can remember when 2 people in the community worked a public job......just 2.............every one else farmed, logged....or worked for themselves............most of them raised feed and kept livestock...so they "farmed" besides whatever else they done to make a living........

[Ramblin Wreck]

I do generate income on my farm/homestead, almost all of it from cows (with a little from goats and hay too). However, I mainly view this place as my home, albeit one with sufficient room for privacy and the capacity to generate some (even most) of the food I need. Some years I grow a big garden, some years not at all. The great majority of my heating comes from wood that I harvest here, and gathering firewood is a task I enjoy, especially on cold, clear, windless days. Hey, you gotta' be somewhere doing something, and I like my little somewhere and there's always something to do (even if it's taking a nap in the swing on the porch).

[idigbeets]

We call it Farmsteading.

[crazyfarm]

I consider myself a farmer and all I've got are chickens. In other words, it's all in our heads!

[beegrowing]

Originally Posted by elkhound

shangri-la homestead is my sanctuary from the world.its a blending of permaculture,gardening,a tiny bit of grain croping that is basically food plots,wildcrafting,woodcrafting,orcharding,timber production and "other" forest products,and my version of hedgerowing.


thanks to moonwolf in past years showing his shrooming the last 3 years i have been doing a bit too.both wild and cultivated.i hope to be more succesful at it as time ges on.

This post reminds me of me. I call our place my oasis;its in a dry woods RR5 area where few have the open acre I had for orchard,raised beds,hens and bees. Looking in the gate a person sees flowers and green instead of the dry woods muted greens and browns(that part is another acre that rings what I've done and the buildings). My goal was basic food budgeting + a reasonable amount of self-sufficiency but I love to call our place "ye olde homestead" when I e-mail people. A lady that delivered manure once told me she supported small "farmers" like me. That didn't sound like me to Me,since I'm "really" a (mostly) retired Artist! PS-I give away surplus eggs,fruit and a few vegies,although each year I learn to process and store more and more for us.

[elkhound]

I named my homestead after a book i read while i lived in the PNW in wasington state titled...one mans steelhead shangr-la.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Skagit-Steel...item58b1d13347


i thought you might find this book interesting and the background of my homesteads name.

[big rockpile]

We only had 100 acres not really enough to Farm but we raised what we needed and run mainly Goats to sell.

Growing up we had 100 acres but rented around a thousand. Only Milked 80 Head of Cattle but we Raised Hogs and Beef Cattle. Raised all their Feed. Always considered this Farming, it was our only income.

When I got out of the Service I worked on a small 3,000 acre Ranch. They treated it as a Big Ranch but didn't have many of us working.

Now we have 3 1/2 acres, raise some Garden, Chickens and Rabbits. It with Hunting and Fishing takes care of the Groceries.

big rockpile

[sammyd]

you need to get "homesteading" out of your head.
Homesteading has always been about changing the land to make it produce a profit.
Get 160 acres and prove it and it's yours. "The old homestead", sometimes found in a forgotten corner of a larger farm or maybe only recognizable by the wreath of lilacs that used to surround a small house.
I don't equate self sufficient with homesteading. Homesteading has never been totally self sufficient. Takes money to buy those implements, in hock to the town mercantile, hoping some natural disaster doesn't take out your crop so you can pay the loan and keep your 160 acres...
Homesteading has been hijacked by folks who have some sort of romantic notions of how wonderful the old days were and how nobody needed money to survive somehow...

[Seth]

We are farmers. Production Ag is the PC term. We raise corn, wheat, and soybeans as cash crops. We raise beef for the export market and personal consumption. We sell freezer beef to pay for our personal beef. We grow most of our food and can/freeze for winter. She raises some flowers to market. Wife sells eggs from my chickens (just a few to church members) to offset feed cost. She is starting to raise ducks for meat and eggs. I run a custom hay service (mowing raking baling) and do heavy equipment work, mostly natural resource work and property improvement along with gravel road maintenance. I also do equipment repairs out of the farm shop and work a full time job. She also works full time. Seth

[DLMKA]

I don't have time for labels. Homesteading, farming, self-sufficiency; I don't care what someone wants to call me. I'll keep doing it as long as it's fun and enjoyable, when it becomes a chore day in and day out I'll do something else.

Right now I'm going on 5 years without any kind of raise or bonus at work so with 4 growing kids and the same income as half a decade ago I need to do something to make my dollars stretch further and maybe make a little spending money on the side in the process. Up until a month ago I was a gardener and a beekeeper. I still have those but I am also growing thanksgiving turkeys and Christmas hams. I'm a poultry grower and pig farmer. Come spring I'll add orchardist to my repertoire. We spend less in the grocery store and more on feed but it works out in our favor in the end.

[geo in mi]

Well, I grew up on a farm in Indiana, and I graduated from Purdue. Purdue is known for its astronauts, quarterbacks, and farmers. I'm not an astronaut, I'm not a quarterback. Hmmmm, I guess I'm a farmer.

'Course I'm a Boilermaker, too.

geo

[jwal10]

[quote=sammyd;7199838]you need to get "homesteading" out of your head.
Homesteading has always been about changing the land to make it produce a profit.


Homesteading seems to fit what we do pretty good. There were many people here who got a little hardscrabble area in the hills. A lot were 1 to 5 acres. Most everything was timberland, owned by the timber company. They set off small parcels for homesteads along the creeks. Here you can live very well off a couple acres if you have water for irrigation. Many of these parcels have very early water rights from creeks. Most never made a profit. The man logged, and the kids and wife had a cow or goat and a garden, all had chickens.
Many of these places became a community, lots divided and more houses were built and became a town. The cows were lead off to community pastures by an older boy and watched during the day. Some families (especially older couples) grew community gardens and shared, traded milk, cheese and meat for the produce.

Originally Posted by sammyd

Homesteading has been hijacked by folks who have some sort of romantic notions of how wonderful the old days were...

I am one of these. I am retired. These are my wonderful old days....James

[bigjon]

this is our family homestead,where I veggie farm(work full time job also)grow about 75% of our food.sell extra at our stand and local store.best part?i enjoy do'in it!love showing grandkids where their dinner came from,maddy thought we were going to the store for potatos.took her to the field and let her dig some for dinner!thought her momma was gonna have a stroke(she got DIRTY!and when I sell enough to break even on expences?we eat FREE!

[blessingsfarms]

I call it living our life with out clutter. So far I have not done it right somehow. We milk
goats, feed steer for freeze, have Dexter, chickens, Muscovy ducks and garden. Give
away extra. After 38 years, three children, three grandchildren, 26 years family business,
I am still not sure what to call it. We do know that our grand children are worth it and they NEED to the VALUES of true country living and these two things Joshua 24:15 and
be EXTREMLY carful what you pray for GOD mat decide you deserve IT.