Why did you start the homesteading lifestyle?

KSHobbit;
You are not the only one. I've always known that if life threw more at me than I could handle that all I had to do to conquer the world and solve every situation was get my hands in the dirt and my face in the sunshine. Even this week after having surgery I knew that I wouldn't feel better until I went outside and put both feet on the ground. The earth is my miracle cure for everything that ailes me and has never failed me yet.

I returned to homesteading when I injured my back and went from a $50,000/yr income to $10,000/income. It was a necessity to get back to cooking from scratch instead of eating out, buying larger quantities of food when they were on sale for today and the days to come. We stepped up our prepping to include solar power, oil lamps, more ammo, manual tools, etc because we got a president and congress who are bankrupting our country and it doesn't look like it will slow down. IMHO. Therefore, we chose to get ready for an economic meltdown, should it happen. Now, we enjoy the way we are living, and DH is planning on early retirement due to the simple lifestyle we are living.

Because it was the way I was raised. I reckon "homesteading" is in my blood.

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I'm running so far behind I thought I was first!

http://hickahala.blogspot.com/

I follow the lifestyle path that I do because it is of the most comfort and ease to me while offering me adequate feelings of accomplishment and presenting me more flexibility than other lifestyle paths that I have followed.

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"I didn't have time to slay the dragon. It's on my To Do list!"

I grew up in the country, and we always had gardens, chickens, our own beef and pork, etc. I was "homesteading" long before I knew there was a word for it.

I grew up in the city, but by the time I was about 3 years old, I knew this was the way I wanted to live. Never changed my mind about that.

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"I love all of this mud," said no one, ever.

I love to work, I love gardening, and mostly, I just love the independence of country living! It seems that I also love doing things the wrong way several times before finally doing it right...oh well, life is all about learning, isn't it?

If I could transplant my land into the most deserted region on earth, I would be uber happy.

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Go Big or Go Home!!
1 Tim 3:2-3 "Preach the Word. Be ready in season and out. Convince, Rebuke, Exhort with all long-suffering and teaching."

I grew up in the country. Dad actually came from a farm background, but mom was a city girl moved out to the country with dad. They both garden, and they had chickens when I was very very small (until I was 4).

12 years ago when I married dh, we wanted it all - the money, the cars, the big house, etc. When we lost our baby David 2.5 years ago, we realized our priorities were not right. We both sought to get back to our roots after about a year. We're so glad we did. Being out here this past year has been so healing. Our older boys have healed, dh has healed, I have healed.

To top things off, we did not fit in with our suburban neighbors. We hated that we had to keep our yard mowed a certain length, couldn't have even a speck of dirt on the sidewalk without permission, our boys didn't have room to play properly. The boys were sissy city pansies. Within about 6 months, they've become country boys, and the change is totally refreshing! People from our old church think that dh is nuts and dragging me along, but I really feel like I'm thriving out here.

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Amy,
Manager of Ezekiel's Garden:
4 homeschooled boys (T, L, M, J), 1 high tech redneck dh, Alpine & Grade dairy goats, a chicken menagerie, and our garden.

I grew up in a suburb just outside the city with parents who both worked full time and were always tired and grumpy. Wanted to do better for my kids -- to raise them myself, for one thing, instead of paying a daycare. Also to give them room to run around and learn about nature, food production and animal care as part of their lives instead of some city parks program. Wanted to avoid commercial consumerism. Wanted to have a means to protect ourselves against potential disaster by not being in the city and by having some land on which to raise food, away from city regulations and nasty neighbors. Also I really hate cities. Short visits, OK, but then I'd rather go home to my peaceful country(ish) haven!

We're not really rural though, just a place that sort of feels that way, outside the city limits of a small town between two big cities. Best of both worlds, I think. Sometimes I think it might be nice to move to a REAL rural area, but since neither DH nor I was raised in the country, the learning curve would be huge. Though he's a big strong fella, physically I'm not sure I'm up to the challenge. I believe in knowing one's limitations and making the most of what you can do. Better than biting off too much and failing!

Baby steps, as some have said. I am happy with the compromises we've made; we can pretty much do anything we want here on our little 1.5 acres, short of raising horses & cattle.

I spent my teen years in a small country town out in the middle of nowhere. Absolutely hated it. Couldn't wait to turn 18 and leave. My graduation day was one of the happiest days of my life.

After 22 years I have finally realized that I didn't know how good I had it. I was blinded by the "grass is greener" glasses. The big city offers lots of opportunities but it doesn't outweigh the negatives anymore. I am tired of the materialism, shallowness, dependency (no work ethic and general lack of self-sufficiency), and immorality of the city life. It just isn't me.

I have been learning how to become more self-sufficient and looking at getting a small place in a small town.

Grew up on a farm in Lickskillet, Indiana. Raised pigs, cows, chickens, rabbits, corn, beans, weeds. Upon graduation from Purdue, settled into the suburban lifestyle working for a large industrial corporation. Got transferred, and found this place--it had my name on it, so I stayed. The large industrial corporation went bankrupt. I didn't. Growing up in Lickskillet had a lot to do with it.

I grew up as a city girl. I had one uncle that had a small 8 acre farm where he raised pigs and chickens, and had a large market garden. I had another with a small Jersey dairy. I would visit them with my parents periodically. I always told the one with the 8 acres that when I grew up I was going to buy his farm. Alas, that was not to be. I lived and worked in the city for most of my life. I always *wanted* to live in the country, but DH liked the city and the schools were good in the nice surburban area where we lived. Then DH changed his job, so he was traveling a lot more and the kids grew up and so the schools were not a factor.

One of my hobbies is showing dogs. Most city areas have laws against keeping more than two or three dogs. I did exceed the legal limit but there is always a worry... So I bought this 3.5 acres with the view to having a show/boarding/grooming kennel. That is what I did very successfully for a few years. Then my health went downhill, and I couldn't keep up with the kennel as I wanted, so I kept just a few select dogs and closed. I kept thinking of my uncle and his chickens and started there. I then added a few goats, then a few hair sheep. A few ducks. A couple of turkeys. a couple of weaner pigs. A dexter heifer. A hoophouse. This year I added a "regular" garden after the pigs rooted the area up for me...

I cannot say that at any particular time a light bulb came on for me. It was just a gradual change. Once I was raising one portion of my food, it seemed only natural to try to do more. When I saw how much of my food could be raised on this small area it seemed "right" to try to maximise.

I like the idea of raising meat from birth to plate. I know how the animals have been treated and what they have been fed. I know that they have led as stress-free a life as I can give them and I feel that is the least I can do for a creature that will give it's life to sustain mine. I like that my vegetables are tasty heirloom varieties that have never had any artificial fertilizers or harsh pesticides on them. I like the pace of homesteading life. While there are some things that need to be done on a strict timetable, there are other things that are much more forgiving and so I feel that I have more control of my life than I used to.

In some ways it is a lot more work than my old life. But because I take so much pleasure in it, it doesn't seem that hard.

Mary

Five years ago, about a month after landing my first "career" job, I found myself sitting in a computer lab thinking, "is this really what Im supposed to do for the next 45 years or so, and then retire old and gray"? I didnt pursue that line of thinking very far though since landing this job repaired much of the damage to my sense of self-worth inflicted by 5 years of struggling through college.

Fast forward to about 3 1/2 years ago, wife and I bought our first house pretty close the peak of the housing bubble. I honestly had no real thoughts of homesteading at the time, but in the back of my mind I knew I would be happy someday that this house came with 3 acres of flat pasture land and that it was in a relatively open subdivision of 3-4 acre lots.

We moved in towards the end of summer and one the first things I started doing was planning where a small veggie garden could go in the spring. I grew up in an apartment in a dense suburb until middle school then my parents bought a house on a 1/6 of acre (whole family was thrilled to have that house). I did very little gardening when I was child, just a few plants here and there at relatives houses, but the memories stuck with me. I had to have a garden on my own land as soon as possible.

The next year I bought some gardening books, which had refereces to some homesteading books (John Seymour's, the Nearing's.... a bunch more) and these books completely changed my frame of reference on life. My eye's were opened to a possible path in life other than the one I had been bombarded with since birth which was: School > College > 9-5 Career > Retire $rich$ all the while earning money so you could amass a pile of crap like everybody else and trade your $$ for your food, your housing, your clothing, your entertainment, your education, your security.....everything.

With this new mindset I started looking back on various aspects of my life. College was such a struggle not because I'm a horrible or lazy or stupid person like I felt through most of it. It was a struggle because it just wasnt the right thing for me. Why was I never into fashionable clothing or the latest gadgetry in highschool or college years, the cost of those items was never worth the perceived benefit to me. Why did my chosen winter activity since middle school, snowboarding, gradually lose all its appeal to me by my first year in the working world? Because it just wasnt satisfying enough to blow all that money on.

So.....to finally answer your question.... I am starting a homesteading lifestlye because it is the first way of life that feels 100% right to me!

We decided to leave the city and pursue a more self sufficient life for many reasons: peak oil, global financial situation, real estate bubble.

I'd always loved gardening but hadn't been able to have one in about 10 years due to living in apartments, steep hilly shaded lots, etc.

Now that we're here, I would hate it if I had to go back to the city. I love the garden, the critters, the fresh eggs, the meat we've raised ourselves. I am in touch with nature again like I was when I was a kid. I was shocked to realize I'd lost touch with the seasons and the bugs whilst living on concrete. I enjoy the quiet and solitude. I'm home.

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

Always wanted to get back to Grandma and Grandpa's farm. Never quite there but always reading about it and keeping my hands dirty.

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US Army veteran, military retiree spouse, and military; civilian; British NHS; and VA doctor.

I've always lived in the country as a minor, but my homesteading spirit grew after experiencing working a job in the city for a short time frame. I love working, but I hate jobs. Homesteading gives me the control over my life and I get to spend alot of time on my hobbies everyday.

I was raised in a small town, but by no means what you'd call the country life. When we were kids, my step mom would take us to her family farm, we loved it there, would play in the barn, swim in the pond, help hay, pick all the veggies and fruit we wanted, they had animals other than dogs, cats, and hamsters. So to us this was a special place.

Then I grew up, graduated, moved on to the big city life (outskirts of Dallas), it was too much for me, the traffic, more than 2 lanes for roads, cars whizzing by, expensive housing, work, work and more work....but started a family there, was pretty much stuck there for 19 yrs. (not to say I wasn't homesick most of the time but the thought of making such a big move with kiddos was scarey).

Came home to visit with my mom & step dad in 2003, they lived out in the country, tucked down a long driveway....that was a life changing experience for me. I actually felt all the weight and stress leave my body. I remember telling my mom, this is the first time in my life that I've actually felt like this was vacation!

Went back to TX (didn't want to) told hubby I want to move back home.....so we finished remodeling the house, put it on the market following spring, moved back to PA in August '04. Bought a place outright in amish country, with the sale $ from other house.

Would go to library and read Backwoods Home and Countryside mags.....guess I never really thought about it being a lifestyle call homesteading.....BUT I KNEW IT'S WHAT I WANTED AND DREAMED FOR US. Also need to give the amish credit, watching and learning from them, being their friends and neighbors taught me some about the homesteading lifestyle.

Started out with gardening, then we got chickens and rabbits.
Have since moved into a old farm house on 20 acres, still garden (1 1/2 acres, last spring), have chickens 40+, rabbits and now goats. Next spring....hoping for cows (milk and beef).

I'm always learning, love the hard work, still read the magazines and try to add a little more in my homesteading lifestyle...wouldn't have it any other way.

Lived rural, always hated the city, raised by cityfolk parents. Love the open land and the city disgusts me, leaves me feeling disconnected. Never felt much pull for the materialist lifestyle, and in fact witnessed many examples of why it was not a good idea.

The rat race did it though. Working under to many arse hat supervisors who got their bonuses by ignoring workplace problems. Paying me poorly to cope with things easily fixed if they weren't so cheap/lazy/poorly staffed. I may never fully escape it, but if I'm going to go through that aggravation it's going to be to get something I can't do for myself.

Started with the idea of a garden, Found John Seymour's book 'The Self Sufficient Gardener' inside I found so much more than gardening, livestock, preserving food. The more I read the better it all sounds and the more I want to really try.

Plus it's amusing as can be seeing the look of surprise on the faces of my 'city folk' friends when they hear my latest homesteading goal.

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I think it hit me when I was about 10. I grew up in a very small town (about 1400) This was when kids played on the street till late at night. I could ride my bike into the country and not have to worry. Anyway a friend from school had a sleepover birthday party on here farm. We ran around with the cows had a hay ride played in the corn field. In the morning we went out and gathered eggs, I was hooked. I loved it. I always wanted to live in the country after that. After I got married we bought 1acre of land and built a house in the country. I never wanted to move there, I wanted more land, I wanted a horse. I was never happy there. It was next to my husbands brother, so when we got divorced I moved back into town. Later when I remarried we moved to a 40 acre farm. I got my horse and I loved it. I had a huge garden and learned to can and put up veggies. We were renting and the farmer that planted the fields did the first 4 rows in sweet corn. I love corn but I got real tired of shucking and cutting it off the cob. We were there about a year when my hubby came home and said we were moving to Colorado. When I asked why he said "just because". Being young and in love I went with him. I had to sell my horse. And we moved into town. I kept asking to get a place in the country but he said it was too expensive. 2 years later we got divorced. Im guessing it was not being allowed to get a horse or not living in the country.

My mom died about 2 years ago. My sister and I were there, she was in a retirement community. She had so much stuff crammed into her 200 sq. ft. appartmen. My uncle asked me if I wanted any of it. Thats when it hit me. She had all this stuff that meant so much to her, that she worked so hard to get, and no-one wanted it. I am basically the same, a packrat, cause you never know. It's just junk my kids will have to throw out when I'm gone. So I decided to get rid of all of it. Except what I need.

Also about 3 weeks after that we had a meeting at work. We were told that although our job may hurt our backs to just "suck it up". My back hurts all of the time because of an auto accident and looking in a microscope 8 hours a day for the last 17 years. We were also told that if we don't like our jobs we are more that welcome to leave. This and my mom dying made me realise that I have worked since I was 17 years old to get all this stuff that no-one will want, and that I am killing myself to make someone esle rich, and believe me this man is rich.

20 years later I still live in town but I am trying to get my debt payed down and hopefully by next year I will be living on my own 16 acre place. So far just my oldest son is going with me. I told him if he didn't have to have electricity I would be there now living in a tent. LOL There is nothing there now, so I need everything, but it will be worth it. I wish I could have more land but this will do for now. I can't imagin wanting any other way of life. I'm not married now but I do have 2 horses and I will be in the contry soon, so life will be bliss. I think this is something some people are born with. I know a lot of people that wouldn't give up there stuff or the city for anything. (crazy huh?)

I am very glad that I found this forum. I spend most of my time just reading. This is the best source of information out there. It's hard for me to read articles in magazines about self suffiiciency when on the oppisite page is a $50,000 tractor for sale.

Sorry I do tend to ramble, but you asked.

The biggest influence on me was my extended family. As a child we moved quite a bit as my dad was in the Army. When we'd come back to Indiana to visit extended family, I had a chance to ride tractors, be around pigs and sheep, and talk about hunting with my mom's side of the family. On my dad's side I spent a lot of the time on my uncle's dairy, out at my aunt's cabin, or helping my grandparents garden and pick wild edibles.

DH grew up spending time on his families homesteads in Colorado. We both ended up in the same suburb in Indiana. We met on a blind date and hit it off immediately. He met someone that didn't think it was weird he wanted to be a farmer and he was okay that as a 20 year old I'd rather garden then go out and party.

After he deployed, as a treat, every care package I sent to him would have a book on homesteading, raising livestock, or building barns/shelters/etc. We met a lot of neat people during our time in Kansas and learned a lot from them as well.

Now my grandparents moved to the same neighborhood as my parents, and keep a small box garden because they had a harder time keeping up with their old place. They are so excited for everything we plan on doing. It helps how supportive my parents, grandparents, and my father-in-law has been along the way.

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