Why do you homestead or want to?

Tried living in town, didn't like it.

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Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Mark Twain
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Enforced tolerance is oppression

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

thanks everyone yes it has been my dream since i was a kid as well-i have lost sight of it for a few different reasons a few different times but i ALWAYS come back to wanting to

i have a goal to get my chickens this year by early fall-probably buy them at a country fair or 2

we still have a mortgage but it is low...and i am lucky enough to only have to work PT

also our property / town is zoned for livestock ... although one pesky citizen a few years ago seriously jeopardized the zoning because she said her neighbor's livestock "smelled" and it decreased the value of her house


...well the residents here went on a rampage...i dont think she lives here anymore



- i would LOVE a cow for milk but we probably dont have the room...

sammi

For myself and family, it is a quality of family life for us.

The time we spend together doing (fill in the blank) can not be topped doing much of anything else.

I find it the most peaceful and fulfilling lifestyle, and believe me we've tried them all LOL. Can't wait to get back to it again!

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http://tinksquared.com

I believe it is the way God intended for us to live - simple, self reliant, and natural. In a world full of Jones's wannabes, it does get challenging at times, but that's part of the fun!

It was the strangest thing. After my boys were born & we had some money problems I began trying to find a way to make-my-own stuff. My first thought was sourdough bread - thinking "Well, they didn't ALWAYS have yeast in the store..." That was the beginning.

When I look back, I've always been attracted to the country. I have ALWAYS hated city, and always wanted to live in the middle-of-nowhere. I've always loved the make-your-own stuff. Guess it's in my blood or something.

I began reading Carla Emery's book, and the dream has always been there - even when my city-born, net-admin, techie husband told me it was a 'pipe dream' and unrealistic. It never really goes away. I even prayed about it, and it's just something that stays with me.

Now...news reports, food scares, Chinese Goods being tainted, health reports all point to it. It's almost like...well like it makes sense to me, like that's really how God created us to be. And now, my husband is coming around. The man who once told me organic was silly only wants organic, and last time I spoke to him about chickens, he told me 'Someday when we have our 10 acres'. (we have 1/4 acre in town right now). Whenever we go to the pick-your-own farm, go for a drive in the country, or to the state fair - the longing for it almost hurts for both of us. And we know it's one of the best things we could do for our kids, so that if/when the country goes to you-know-where, they know how to keep themselves going.

I have always said I'd be perfectly happy living in a shack way out in the boonies and I mean it. I spent a good part of my life growing up in a shack way out in the boonies. For many years we didn't have plumbing or electricity and for me those were the good years.

Unfortunately, the twist and turns in life took me away from the country. I lived in Miami for years and then Daytona Beach for several years. Years of living in the city started to get to me; the longer I was away from the country the more I wanted to live in the country again. Finally in 1995 I moved back to the country. That same year I went to the town office and asked if I could raise chickens? They pulled out the map and found that I lived in the agricultural zone. They told me I could raise chickens, horses, cows, pigs and even elephants if I wanted to. I mentioned I was concerned about my nearest neighbor complaining. They told me if he doesn't want to hear, see or smell animals then he is living in the wrong zone.

I am very lucky that I live in a town that has the different zones and the town is very proud of its role in agriculture. Agriculture is very important here and it adds so much to the area.

My neighbor has never complained about my animals and I never complain when he or his kids are mowing the lawn at midnight (Yes, they really do mow that late). Actually, my neighbors used to raise rabbits for meat. I don't think they do anymore but they really should get into farming of some sort because the family is quite big.

I live in the country and try my best to do things the way my grandparents and great-grandparents did. For the most part their homesteading skills were much better than mine.

I do what I can to raise some of my own food. The more I read about another chemical being added to food to make it safer the more upset my stomach feels. I'm not interested in filling my dinner plate with chemicals, I want food on my plate so I am working towards the day when the food I eat is made from nature, not in a lab where the people wear protective clothing to protect their skin and eyes from what they expect us to eat.

I really liked Mistletoad's answer. Would highlight it but don't know how. I think homesteading for most folks is a way of life. It's in your blood. The most precious part for me is the satisfaction of doing it yourself, the independence, and the privacy. If I was forced to live amongst a bunch of busy-bodies, I would die. Take care.

We love having space around us, growing and preserving food, raising animals, having wildlife around. It's a healthy way to live and a great way to raise kids. We've lived in many situations but absolutely loved when we had acreage to work and play on. Right now we're living in the suburbs while developing land to move to in a few years. Our adult kids are excited about living and/or weekending there with their own kids, reliving some of the best adventures of their early years.

And I'm excited about raising Oma & Papa's granddaughter in a real country family setting I want my daughter to have memories like I did when I was little and we had acreage. I don't want her to grow up in the city and be superficial.

Oh and probably the biggest one... I always wanted to. I always thought if I could've chosen my own life, I woulda chosen to be a Native American before America was colonized.

When I was a kid, I used to tell people when I grew up I wanted to be a hermit in the mountains and live off the land.

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Uncle Dutch Farms
Blogging from working city mom to homesteading housewife.
Rural Living Today
Encouragement for the Urban-to-Rural Transition
My review of the Piteba oil expeller

I believe that to. Why else would He have planted a garden. Guess Adam and Eve were the first homesteaders. Lol Oh that reminds me, Theres a few things I want to ask God when I get to heaven, one is Heaven is a city, does it have an outskirts, and them streets of gold, God are there any streets that the pavement don't go all the way to the end of the street? And God, bout them mansions, Whats the smallest you have thats made out of wood? LOL

Maybe you're not attracted to it but attracted to the fairytale version of it. It could just be that you're tired and frustrated and that happens but sometimes the reality isn't as good as people thought it would be.

It could also be that your separation from what you're wanting to do (homesteading) and what little bit you're doing are so far apart that just getting there is wearing you out because you're moving too slow. Do something drastic and just go do it, I've seen this happen over and over again in people's lives around me with tremendous results. They find out pretty quick after they've quit their jobs and moved out to the country or their 'perfect' homestead it isn't what they wanted. Not a big deal as you can always move back as long as you don't overextend yourself on a place you can't sell.

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None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Callieslamb,

My sentiments exactly: The 'Big Change' will come to Australia too, and I'm not joining a 'last minute fight' for survival, for myself and family.
P.S; 'Though I'm a mere male, I also enjoy baking, freezing and canning. (We use the term 'Preserving' for 'Canning' in Aust.)
My Dad taught me to sew on buttons and darn socks before I was 12 years old, and I learned to sew garments on a treadle sewing machine. (Those machines will be worth a lot more than they are now, when the power goes out!)

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BIDADISNDAT: Aiming to Live a Good Life of Near Self Sufficiency on a Permaculture Based Organic Home Farm

so many reasons, I don't like bills. I do my best to be self reliant. I work hard for my money, at home, I rarely leave, and I prefer to keep it myself. I often say I don't like people, but the truth is I like simple country people. City people...not so much. They seem to all be mean , arrogant, unhappy sums it up I guess.

I'm not a true homesteader, but working towards it. No morgage here, 30 acres, no heating bill, no hot water bill, low food bill.

I think its just who I am. I take a lot after my maternal grandfather. He was a poor farm boy during the depression and had a very self reliant way about him. I was practically raised by him, moreso than my own dad, and it rubbed off on me.

Hard work on my own land makes me happy. Thats the most important part right there. My wife and I enjoy our hard work together outside. Its who we are.

Because we feel more comfortable relying on ourselves as much as possible. We trust ourselves to take good care of us, more than we trust "the system" to take good care of us.

We like the space, the quiet, and being more in sync with nature.

We like the hard work and the feeling of going to bed bone tired.

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Our homestead-in-the-making: Palazzo Rospo
Eating the dream

With me it's the way I am and the way I was brought up. My parents did the self-sufficiency thing back in the seventies. My husband also thought I was mad but now with all the problems the world is facing, he has changed his opinion and we have bought a piece of land and are busy setting up. It's really nice that now it's a joint dream, not just my lunatic idea!

I WANT to for 3 major reasons:
1) I grew up that way
2) I want to provide safety, security, and healthy living for my family
3) I need space

I'm with you in all respects! My major stress relief (still being stuck in town) is baking. I love grinding my flour and making bread by hand, or baking a pie/cake/whatever. I've canned pickles and peach pickles so far this year and hoping to do some salsa, squash pickles, etc very soon.

I wish I could win the lottery so I could pay off all I owe, buy me a big chunk of land outright then stuff the rest of the cash in my mattress since all these computerized banks won't be worth squat when TSHTF.

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God bless,
Brandon

Visit my blog Watchin' the World Go By

He who cultivates his land will have plenty of food,
but from idle pursuits a man has his fill of poverty
Proverbs 28:19

Well, I don't homestead, I farm. And the area around my farm is getting pretty built up now, over the last 17 years. It was rural when we moved there 17 years ago. I call it "semi-rural" now.

My wife and I do it for many of the same reasons cited here. When we were in our 30s and early 40s, we used to lean more toward homesteading, raising two big gardens, etc. But as we have gotten older, we've gone back more toward farming, where we purchase our food rather than raise it, yet raise livestock for sale. In fact, now entering our 50s, my major focus on the place now is setting it up while I can so it will be easier to continue doing farming through my 60s. Gotta work smarter and not harder as we age.

I've always kept a city job, because that is how we pay off the place, and because of the short- and long-term benefits it offers (retirement plan, 401K, health insurance all are more important to me as the years go by). My wife quit a high-pay city job to go back to school, and currently works a low-wage job to save money for replacing her car when the time comes. It's a long "follow your bliss" story that didn't work out for her. I'm just glad we had the savings to pay for the college, rather than go into debt for it. Still, she actually has been more freed than I have to change her life, as I still have to pay the bills.

I like the farming life, and living with some space around me. The animals provide me with a calm place (most times) to detox from the city work environment. I'd like to move even farther out, and cash in on the subdivision craze here with the land we have now, but I have put so much effort into the place over 17 years, part of me just can't move yet. Eventually, the back 10 acres is due to be a subdivision, though, and I might as well develop it as the next person.

I suppose as the seasons turn, we may have a chance to inherit some money, and if we do inherit a sizeable chunk, I may be tempted to quit the city job and spend all my time on our place. Lord knows, there are weekday mornings when, on the way to my car, I wish I could stay instead of drive to work. Still, this place helps me recover from the work scene, and so there is a balance in having one foot in the rural scene and one in the city.

In my cubicle, I keep a Virtual Earth printout of the farmland via satellite pinned up, to remind me why I am really here 5 days a week. If you'd like to see what your place looks like, go to:

http://www.flashearth.com/

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Jim Steele
Sweetpea Farms
"To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing." -- Robert Gates

Within two months we will finally leave my boyfriend's mother's home - where we have been her 24/7 caregivers - and move next door to 10 acres and a mobile home. We're estatic!!!!! Yeah, it's only a mobile home but, it's ours - mortgage free; roomy enough for the two of us' in pristine condition; and will probably outlast us!!!

Our plan is to put this place up for sale and buy 10 acres in a very remote area of MIchigan's Upper Peninsula. That being said, we've had the discussion about "what if?"

As in, what if we don't sell this place? What if TSHTF before we're able to sell and move? What if the health of one or both of us worsens (he's 63 with some medical issues; I'm 54 with MS and fibromyalgia)?

The answer? We'll hunker down where we are if any of the above-mentioned scenarios occurs and consider ourselves fortunate. We've been stockpiling food, medical and personal care products. We seldom go anywhere now and will venture out even less once we move (especially with winter setting in).

We don't like crowds, traffic, or participating in the "System". We have no desire to spend time with arrogant, condescending, hypocritical, insecure people whose self worth is determined by the latest gadget, style or fad.

We live simply; tread lightly on the land; reuse, recycle, barter and repurpose everything we can.

We're not rich in terms of income or possessions but following the Jones never has bought happiness or real security IMHO.

Moving next door is one step in a long range plan, so don't be discouraged. Anybody who ever "learned" to walk took baby steps first!

-main problem is time-when i get out of work i am so beat i sometimes get lazy but i try to motivate by remembering WHY i want to homestead and / or be more selfsufficient

Any thoughts on this subject are appreciated!

Years ago when I worked outside the home I had a friend at work that would make all her meals for the next week on Saturday and freeze them, then during the week all she had to do was heat and serve.