Why do you homestead or want to?

I grew up in the country, mostly. We had several dairy farms and the occassional hobby farm. I really enjoyed it.
Lived in the city as a young adult and didn't care for it at all.
After the current wife and I had the kid I realized that he needed a farm. He looks like I did as a kid and is interested in animals and machinery. So part of the homesteading/farming thing is for him.
Another part is because I love animals and the smell of freshly turned over dirt, new mown hay, and hay in the mow.
And we like raising our own food. Partly because we then know what exactly we're eating and partly for cost savings.

The shtf fan scenarios don't have much to do with it for me. I was raised this way. Married my dh when I was 18 and we rented a house in a small town. I knew right away that was not going to work. Six months later we bought our first home (small house on 1/3 acre in a real small town) and I had a garden and chickens. 4 years later (in '91) we sold that house and bought the 65 acres where we live now. Built our home, barns, shop, corrals, etc. Started right away with my first milk cow. We have always worked hard, and don't buy much beyond basics. I am not yet 40 and we are debt-free, our bills are very low, we produce all of our meat, eggs, dairy, and most vegetables (Unforturnaly, at 8000 feet, we can't grow much fruit and don't grow grains). Just purchased another 30 acres, very remote with limited access (4 wheel only in summer, snowmobile only in winter. It's only 20 miles from our home and takes an hour and half to get there!). It will be our off-grid hideaway. At 11,000 feet, it will be a homesteading experiment to be sure.

For us it's the only way to live!

I was raised on a self sufficient farm and never did learn to like store bought foods. Raising my own meat, veggies, & fruit saves a ton of money. I like being in the country. It just feels right.

__________________
.
.

I love this lifesyle and the freedom associated with it. We have lived this way for over 10 years now, and 8 on our own homestead, and I never looked back. Our privacy is worth all the work. I remember living with neighbors, now my neighbors are the wild kind.

I think everything points to the facts that this is the way we were meant to live. It is more healthy and mentally satisfying. I just wish I could have raised my child this way, but I didn't discover it till he was grown up. The members here, who are raising their children in this lifestyle are very lucky and I applaud their efforts. Their children will probably be an asset to our world.

I can't tell you how many times a visitor will say to us, "It's like you're always on vacation." ????????? Vacation? We work constantly, but they don't see it when they are here.

We started it with little steps. Then one day we realized, we were really doing it and living this way (I remember the first thing I did was to bake bread and my father taught me to make grape jelly).


katlupe

__________________
Homesteading On The Internet
Solar Baby
Reflections of katlupe

I hear the same thing a lot, mostly from people who are here on vacation. I do have to admit that I love what I do so much that it really is like vacation to me when I get home from work and on the weekends. It is very hard work at times but it is the most satisfying work I have ever done.

We hate the city and all the goes with it, and we love the country and all that goes with it.

We want to be financially independent (debt-free), so we can retire early and still enjoy some leisure time before we're too old to do anything with it.

We want healthy food, healthy air, exercise as a side-effect of doing things we enjoy and not from going to a gym.

We think it is absolutely the best way to raise children...I could elaborate on this one all day...

We do not find satisfaction in monetary/material pursuits, rather from knowing we accomplish things on a daily basis which are good in and of themselves...growing our own food, building the home we live in (and knowing it's built well), teaching our children values you don't find anywhere else any more...

We can do whatever we want here...like taking years to build our house and living in it while we do...raising animals to eat...playing bluegrass music at cookouts without worrying about anyone complaining...

We have peace here.

We believe in giving more than we take, and want our children to learn the same.

And last but not least...I am a hermit by nature and I love could never be surrounded by enough land...

ROFL! Love it!

Amen!

Freedom....from pollution, noise, controlling neighbors, etc.

Best way to raise kids in my opinion.

If there is a SHTF scenario, our lifestyle won't change much.

During the hurricanes of 2004 we were much better prepared than our city friends. For us it was just another adventure.

With the gas crisis, we enjoy staying home more because our homestead is like a state park (woods, ponds, critters).

After what happened here last night... about 11:30 all the sudden a bunch of men shouting outside, fighting, someone repeating "I'm gonna F**ing kill you!", etc... this went on for like 20 minutes until the police arrived... then the fire truck arrived... and then the AMBULANCE, I went to bed after that but just kept praying for God to take me out of the city...

__________________
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

Sammi 9,
Look at the wonderful conversation you started!
On a practical side, I work in the city more than 100 miles round trip. I get up at 5:00 am and don't get home until 7:00 at the earliest. If I have any errands to run, it can easily be 8 or 8:30 before I get home. I frequently am too tired to prepare a meal at that time, so I also cook extra on the weekends. I don't have freezer space, so I just cook extra for the main meal on Sat and the main meal on Sun. Leftovers go into the fridge for lunches and quick dinners. I am certainly not above just having a salad or sandwich for dinner, but it is more frequently leftovers. I love leftovers!

On the philosophical side - I feel God beside me when I walk in the woods.

I've found that most people who can handle both a job and truely homesteading are in their 20s, 30s and early 40s. I don't know how old you are, but I have found that the older I get, the more energy my job takes from me each day, which is why we made the on-farm shifts I wrote about earlier.

Likewise, most of the folks I have talked with who are doing true homesteading seem to be primarily in their 20s and 30s, when energy is more abundant in the body, and pain is less.

One thing I can say about having a job and working a farm is that it is important to say no to some things. I have found that limiting the scope of what I do and focusing on a select group of goals has helped a lot. With the benefit of outside income, I also try to do what benefits me most financially and pay others to do jobs that don't benefit me most financially. Were I truely homesteading, that may not be an option.

For example, I had someone paint the trim on my house, rather than doing it myself. He brought in a crew of 3 guys, it was done in 2 days, and I got to do other things. It would have taken me and DW maybe a month of weekends. This way, it was done while I worked, and those weekends went to other activities more profitable to the farm. I also avoided potentially falling off the ladder and putting myself out of commission for a few weeks. By selectively paying someone to do some things while working on other things myself, there is a multiplier effect on total work done.

Also, I can't overemphasize facilities, especially with livestock. Sometimes, the addition of a gate or two, or adding a door in the barn, can make a world of difference in time spent. It's the same in the garden. Where I live, I can grow several crops of bush beans a year. So rather than bend down to harvest rows of the same plants over and over, and get beans in the later harvests that have rust spots, I would wait til the plants produced heavily, then pull them up, pull beans off them while standing, and toss the plants over the fence to the goats. Then replant in the same row. A lot faster and easier. The point is, look for ways to do things easier, and for little projects you can do on a weekend day in a couple hours that will then make your chores after work a lot easier.

I'd say of the homesteading/country life people I have personally known, 2 out of 3 families wind up moving to town eventually. Most folks I have known who failed at country life were idealists and missed two essential qualities: the ability to prioritize, and the ability to focus. Minus those, every day becomes a real slog as one tries to accomplish everything at once, and that's not the lifestyle I choose. Because the fact is, the farm is bigger than me, and trying to dominate and control everything on it is impossible. Better for me to choose my battles and work with nature. Because the work will never really end. I like hard work, but I rank my workload and don't try to do it all at once.

Hope my rambling helps you in some small way.

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

Jim;
You are an inspiration. I am taking in every word. I'm new to the homesteading life - not even a year yet. Your comments on priorities and pacing oneself are right on it. I've been struggling with putting things "right" since I moved into my place. Just little things, like a 'coon proof feed room, a hayloft for my hay, a wood shed, painting the garage, windows in the garage, fencing, etc. You name it, I've tackled it. I'm tired.
I think year #2 will mean taking the time to better plan out what I can accomplish, and still have some personal time to enjoy what I have before me. My little farm is a slice of Heaven and its a gift. I have so much I want to accomplish - right up there with being self sufficient!
As for long term - I go by the year now. I might someday meet someone who doesn't want to live out here, but I hope not. I've found that I've changed.
The "city" girl isn't city any more. She's gone country.

beth I lived in a VERY similar neighborhood for way too long !

you WILL get out and i so totally can relate!

sammi

Yeah I know... 2010 and counting... lol

__________________
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

...seems to be better than prison life, or so I'm told.

__________________
A good dog may be hard to find, ...but a hard dog usually means it's been dead for a while

There are a lot of reasons why I'd like to live and work on a small homestead. But the reasons that are really driving my reading and practicing are pretty simple and general:

- I grew up in the suburbs and went to school from kindergarten through PhD in cities of various sizes. I'm not interested in living in such density and surroundings any longer than I have to.
- I'd rather raise my children closer to, not farther from, the land. Growing up I spent summer vacations in farm country upstate New York, and I have better memories of that - and I think it was more formative of my character - than any of my time in cities.
- I've lived in big cities and small cities. I've read stories about people getting shot dead a block away from my apartment, I've survived 9/11, and I've been threatened on my own street. I don't feel safe living in the city.
- I'm a teacher. It's easier, and I have more fun, teaching students who are engaged and who care about what they're learning. Generally in my classes, students from cities are less interested, less optimistic, and less committed than students from the suburbs or the country.

There are a lot of other reasons. They probably change, some of them, by the hour. But it really comes down to my goals and dreams for myself and my family.

I can't say why I want to. I just do! I love the country and as a very small child was always drawn to the shows that centered around country life which I guess, planted a proverbial seed in my head.

I love and live country, I have a small family farm,, i was raised on the other side of the mtn that I live on now. If it were just up to me I wouldnt hae electricity, everything would be as if it were 100 yrs ago,, every one says constantly i was born in wrong century. I would how ever miss this web site, i have made many friend on here. I can live with out tv, Like music though, but if as 100 yrs ago people would get together and play and sing at church socials and picnics. I want my own horse and buggy, we already have a wagon for hay rides which can be pulled with a tractor or horses, we try very hard to grow what we need, of course there are something we just cant. Ther are thing we would rather go with out than buy, we heat with just wood, we try very hard to cook with just wood, we do have a gas stove in kitchen for exteremly hot days, but we spend less than 50.00 a yr on propane. It is our blood, soul , every fiber to just live a country life, enjoy and be nice to the land we have, so it is nice back and supplies us with what we need to keep going

me either

We call it urbansteading, my wife and I both grew up in rural Vermont and our professional lives have forced us to live in the city. We don't have any government conspiracy or survival complexes driving us to be semi-self sufficiant. Our motivator is green living and low environmental impact......if we lived in the country we would have a larger dependancy on oil because of our commute, so we live in town and drive a hybrid. I raise bees in my back yard and other peoples yards around town, we have laying ducks and landscape with herbs and veggis. when we bought our home I put in a masonry chimney built out of recycled brick and new tile flue liner. We have a wood stove and now only use the gas for hot water and cooking. If kentucky ever gets an energy buy back law we will put panels on the house and take it off grid.