if you were writing and "Idiots Guide" to homesteading
 

If you were writing a book about homesteading what would your first chapter include??Mistakes to avoid,things not to forget,etc...

My first chapter would be a discussion of what homesteading is (there are lots of opinions on this).

Think a long time before undertaking any major projects before spending time and money on them. You may just talk yourself out of it. If you go ahead anyway chances are it'll be something you really want to do.

START SMALL. If you've never done it before start small. It almost always takes more time, money, and effort than it first appears.

.....Alan.

Always close the gate behind you!

I agree. Also, it might be good for folks to consider what type of social network they expect if they decide to go it on their own. Are they moving away from friends and family to start a basic life in the country? And do they expect to find people of like minds where they are going without working very hard at it?

Asking readers to define their goals in homesteading might also be good early in the book.

I agree on defining Homesteading as it is something different to everyone.I guess more degrees of self reliance....

Don't tell yer in-laws where yer farm is located.....

check out the zoning restrictions of what you can, and can't do at the location you are 'homesteding.

determine if your lifestyle working full time will suit doing a lot of backbreaking homesteading lifestyle that may be further from your job than you like

don't forget to establish what some short term goals are with your homesteading? for example, if you want goats to tend to, what is your purpose to keep them.... as breeding stock, for milk, pets?

Purchase animals or domestic stock only if you have prepared a place for them with adequate predator proofing, fencing, what you'll feed them, source of hay or straw needed, etc.

Get a good gardening resource book, or talk to locals for your particular zone. It can save you a lot of frustration to grow what is best suited for your environment.

Get chickens and garden set up first. Then work with that for a year or so. DO NOT get more animals until a)you have their place 100% ready and b)you have already made time in your day for care.

Don't buy more land that you will ever be able to use. this is up to you to decide.
Don't buy less land that you will need. Again you have to decide.
Make sure that you have legal access to land before you buy it.
Make sure that the legal access is actually passable in all seasons, or can be made so easily.
Don't expect most of your neighbors to welcome you and like you. If some do, Great, You are ahead of the game.
If you can save money plan on having a decent "nest egg" before starting out.
If you don't have a "nest egg" and getting one does not seem likely, you can always go the "Pioneer" route.
That means living very cheaply, sometimes almost primitively, doing almost everything by hand and spend as little $ as possible.
You can expect the "pioneer route" to take 10 years off your life. At least it will feel like it.
Carefully decide how far from family, and cities you want to be, and stay in that distance. Too far from a city and not only are jobs hard to find, you will have to drive a long way to buy stuff the smaller towns don't have, but you really need.
Treat every chainsaw as if it were the shark from "Jaws". Learn how to use one, but never forget what one slip could do.
Much more.
Have your fences and buildings built BEFORE buying livestock. This is one that so many new homesteaders mess up. (including us).
Drop by a animal auction, just to see how the prices are going, and sure enough, some critter is being sold way too cheap. The next thing you know, you have a calf on the way home. Of course the goats don't like the calf, and butt it, so you can't put it in with the goats like you planned. No problem. It can stay in the chicken pen with the chickens until we get fence and a building up. Next morning you find 11 dead chickens that the calf stepped on.
A book that did Homesteading justice would be pretty thick. By the time would be homesteaders got through reading it they might be too old to start homesteading.

So much can't be taught by printed words alone, or spoken words either. IMHO People need some "Hands on" to really understand some things.

It would be nice if somebody openned up a place in the country where would be homesteaders could go, to sort of "try it out".
Work in the garden, cut and stack firewood, work on the road, work on building the new barn, gather egges. milk goats, slop the pigs, etc.
I hope you notice that all of this seems just a bit like work, which is what about 65% of homesteading is IMHO.
The people could also sit by the fireplace and watch the flames in the evening, or listing to the night sounds, feed a tree squirrel, breath clean air, drink good water, and see what a sky full of stars with no city lights looks like.
Kind of too bad that there isn't a place where would be homesteaders could go to try it out.

Shiloh it sounds like you might be the one to write a book.LOL It does sound like you have some stories to tell...

Have you been spying on us?????

My very first words would be:

Homesteading begins with HOME. If both husband and wife's life consists of leaving the house at 0600, dropping kids at school, working till 6pm picking kids up from after school care. Going home to change. Dashing out the door to deliver kids to sports practice, heading off to whatever group you're involved with, picking kids up from sports practice, heading home to bathe kids, prepare for next days school, put kids to bed.... Please don't think you're capable of taking adequate care of livestock in the dog end few minutes that's left!

Had our animals with caretakers who turned out to live this way. "gee, we didn't notice the goat showing any signs of illness before he died!!"

So that's my pet peeve.

Animals need observation, preferably in day light! If you can't be there to do the job right maybe homesteading isn't for you.

Pauline

chapter one; dealing with the locals and your new neighbors.

once you break your new neighbors, your life will be one long PITA.

subchapters; how to say "hello", how to comprimise, knowing the local laws, and a special when all else fails subchapter 'aim small miss small'

The first time you build something, it will take 3 times as long as it would somebody with experience.

But, there is NOTHING like being inside what you built!

As numb stated, there should definately be a chapter on getting along with neighbors. These relationships have to be WORKED AT, they don't come easy. :)

Wow, Shiloh, great advice!

:rotfl:

Pay off all your bills first.

Don't quit your job with health insurance. There is a whole lot more to making a living than putting home grown food on the table.

Maybe, but I have to wait for the Stature of limitation to run out first. LOL.

Lots of homesteading stories. I and my wife did it the "Pioneer" way. Had to cut a road just to be able to get to our place.
36 some odd years ago getting a real survey was kind out of the questin, because it would have had to start from so far away where a real survey marker was.
One of the old timers showed us a pile of rocks that he thought was a pretty good survey marker, and we had to shoot about 1/2 mile from there to get to our land. We did the best we could with a compass and 100 foot tape, and when a real survey was made we were only off by 15 feet.
Electricity was so far away that it would have cost thousands of dollars, so we had to wait until more people moved into the area and power got closer. We only got electricty (and phone) about 8 years ago.
The first house I built was not even wired for eltricity and now I am having to go back and wire it. I would have put the wiring in, if I had known I would live long enough to get power out here.LOL.
Looking back, although I learned a lot, I would advice people not to go the "pioneer" route if they can avoid it.

Oh yes.

.....Alan.

I did the Pioneer route - trust me - find another way...you will never finish things in a timely manner unless you have certain tools to work with..or equipment..etc.

I have been doing things myself since 1986. I hire some things done, but most I do myself. Had I had it to do over again - I would have saved up enough money to do 50% of the hard stuff up front before moving in.

Do not be adverse to the idea of tractor power.

Find old people in the area - ask them about your place before you buy it(what grew there in the past - if they say "rocks" then run away, far far away as likely that is all you will be able to get to grow there unless you haul in tons of topsoil, etc.).

Make friends with your neighbors - I have great neighbors and I loff them..they help me and I do things like let their kids play "fort" in my woods. In exchange I have helpful, watchful neighbors who cut my large banks by the road...

Never buy animals without fencing and shelter to put them in.

Start small and do not increase the size of the flock/herd or garden for one year.

Keep lists - lists of what you planted, animals you raised, how you raised them, how much they cost, what you recouped from veggies, chickens, pigs, etc. You will find that growing out a feeder hog may be more expensive if you have to buy all the feed or that you really did well growing out 50 broilers...but you won't remember the details (I can promise you in five years you will forget when time comes to do another "batch" of something).

Make a drawing of all utility lines on your property and that includes water lines and sewer lines. Especially if you put in several water lines around the property for the animals and garden - in 15 years one foot can make the difference between not hitting the line and a trip to the hardware store.

Don't skimp on seed, fertilizer and weed killers whether organic or not..pasture is your friend - help it grow and cut your hay bills.

Learn all you can about how to do things - hire people to show you how, then you will not have to hire them in the future.

I respect those that took the Pioneer way!!I always thought it would be cool but I know I would really miss the hot shower,toilet,Internet.I am pretty sure I could do without TV.

First Chapter, lets see... Explain that you may need to convince your wife that Homesteading will be building a house out in the hills and woods, and not in the middle of a Mega Shopping Mall as she would prefer!

First item, don't believe what you read on these boards or most anywhere. Investigate the money trail before you jump in. Many have their lifestyle now because of the money and benefits from a previous lifestyle. Those that don't are usually walking a wire and can have everything change with one little bump in the road.

Begin with a 5 year plan.
first year: look for property and read everything you can about gardening and animals, building pens and fences. Order catalogues and begin to see what things cost. Make up a "wish list" and begin aquiring things at yard sales, freecycle, etc.
2nd year: Buy property and move onto it. Live there one entire year before planting any permanet trees or building permanet structures.Build relationship with neighbors, use barter system and avoid money when dealing with neighbors. Offer helping hand with feeding livestock when neighbors are away or ill.
3rd year: After determining how the water/snow drains/acumulates. You can plan pastures, barns and garden beds. Determine where to place fruit trees acording to their needs. Fence your garden area first. Then fence areas for livestock. Start slow with inexpensive livestock. Learn how to care for these before you invest $$ in papered/pedigried stock.
4th year: review problems of 3rd year , make changes.
5th year: you should now begin to show a profit on what you are raising/growing, if that is your goal. If independance is your goal, 50% of your food should be home grown, with plans to become 90%.Evaluate your time/energy ouput and determine if you still want to do this.
After these 5 years, you can call yourself a homesteader.
Good Luck!!

This is a sometimes fun and always interesting/enlightening thread. Some can really paint a picture with words.

.

CRITTERS are WORK!

I've seen many go country and buy the cutesy piggy, and the three horses they always dreamt about, and the dogs and the chickens and they love them all.

But try to leave that homestead for a vacation, or a few days. Sometimes not even overnite. DON'T stock up on animals unless you have a back up plan with someone to help care for them if you get sick or need to leave for awhile. That homestead or small farm gets a lot smaller and more of a chore when you haven't taken a vacation away from it for 5 years or so.

GO SLOW on the critters. :)

gotta love those hills.....

Ozarkguy

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In the first chapter of “Idiot’s Guide to Homesteading” I would describe the concept of “homesteading” that I would be applying. There is wide variation in opinions as to what constitutes “homesteading” – so one must define the terms they will be using. With that in place, I would describe my homesteading experience and that of some acquaintances who are close to my ideal – the good, the bad, and the ugly – reality of “living on the land”. I would make the point that homesteading is not for idiots.

Chapter Two would be the critical chapter in my estimation – in it I would ask the reader to consider some very searching questions:

1) What, exactly, is your motivation for wanting to homestead? Identify ten or more good reasons. Also identify ten or more significant disadvantages of homesteading.

2) What will you have to give up from your present lifestyle to become a homesteader? Are you completely comfortable in doing without present “necessities”? Which are not negotiable?

3) What are essential items for you to be satisfied (flush toilet, running water, abundant electricity, nearby restaurant, short drive to mall, lots of leisure time, good income, etc).

4) Who, besides yourself, is involved? Are they in total agreement – just as enthusiastic as you are about living a simple lifestyle? If you intend to drag along an unenthusiastic mate either change plans or change mates – “cause it ain’t gonna work if one of you wants to be sophisticated or consumptive and one wants to be primitive.”

5) What real-world skills do you have, what tools and machines do you have (and know how to operate effectively)? Can you build or fix things – or learn to do so quickly (or will you have to hire everything done)?

6) Do you know anyone personally who is a homesteader? If so, it might be wise to spend some time helping them. If you don’t know a homesteader it might be possible to ask on the forum if a homesteader would allow you to visit (hopefully a few times), help as needed, and learn.

Things to Consider:

A) Carefully evaluate all homesteading advice (on line or in books or magazines). Evaluate the source.

B) Be realistic about how much land you need and how specific you must be about location.

C) Real estate prices are presently in flux – consider your moves carefully.

I guess my first chapter would ask why do you want to do this? I'll leave the following chapters to the 'how to' but first thing to figure out is do you really want to do this or are you trying to chase an unrealistic dream. Describe the benefits and the costs (dollars, sweat, natures whims) and if you think it's still for you then we talk about the how part.

This is worth looking at again. The tax man does NOT take produce, and neither does the electric company. There may be several dozen ways of dealing with the need for money, but SOME method must be worked out!