Would you do it again in a heartbeat?
 

Hi all......new here. I grew up on a small farm and now my wife and I are looking to do the same with our 4 kids. My question is this:

-Would you do it all over again and do you know anyone that got into homesteading/farming only to quit at some point down the road.

Thanks everyone!

Yes and Yes

big rockpile

Why would anyone quit? :confused:

Yes. Yes.

To avoid the quitting thing - start slowly, build slowly. Avoid having it as your only income until you know you can make it.

I grew up on a 3 acre patch carved out of a cornfield. At the time, I hated it. It was too small. Too pedestrian. Too....boring. I spent my first 18 years trying to get off the farm.

Then I spent a few years in college and doing 'my thing'. I got my degree, realized that job in the city also means you're dealing with city folks all the time and that I would almost kill for a fresh tomato. The longer I was away from the farm the more I missed it. Maybe spending a rainy afternoon in the hayloft with my Little House books and a ton of kittens wasn't THAT bad. Maybe that slower lifestyle had some charm to it. And yes, those 'small town, small minded' folks might not appreciate a hot chai latte, but they'd give you the shirt off their backs and they'd never expect you to attend yet another art exhibit.

So I spent the next 18 years trying to get back on my farm. I got back there 2 years ago and while we've had some adjustment, we all agree that we're the happiest we've ever been!

I would if my health would allow it. I was born and raised on a farm. Had my own until I was 36 and my health was gone. Got a city job for 17 years and then got back to a small place and off grid cabin. Health forced me off in March this year....James

I grew up in the city and wouldn't go back to that life for any amount of money. I love raising our own food and working in the soil.

I'd do it again

Oh I'd do it again but I'd be more careful with money. You can burn through it pretty quickly starting a homestead.

I don't know anybody who's quit, but I just don't personally know that many people living this lifestyle.

Like anything in life, homesteading has its wonderful aspects but it also has its trials and difficulties as well.

Take right now for instance. I am strapped for money thanks to our Great Recession. So naturally I have to re-gravel my 1/2 mile long driveway( now pure mud thanks to last summer's torrential downpours), put braces on two of my kids, fix my tractor and my Ranger (both must break down at the same time, right?), fix both of my chainsaws (as long as mechanical things are breaking....ugh), and fix up my roof and some plumbing. That's just the extra stuff. HMMM.....this is where the trials and difficulties come in to play. But that crud happens anywhere you are in life really. Right? They call it Murphy's Law or some such thing...

Anyway, I am happy every day, even with a muddy driveway and broken equipment. It's all in the attitude and the determination to perservere. It just may be a little more "in your face" on a homestead, that's all.

Would I do it all over again?
Yes, AND I would have started when I was younger, when my kids were younger, when I had more strength and youth, and when the children were more "teachable".
I would have had animals sooner.
I would have gotten out of debt, and stayed that way, sooner.
I would have homeschooled sooner, and moved further out in the country and with more land.
I would have networked in my community more.
I would have learned more skills......even if that meant taking a 'how to' class at Lowes on a Saturday morning.
I would have saved more money for the future.

Heck yeah, I would do it all over again.....only start a lot sooner.

I am the only one I know (IRL) that is interested in the the more self sufficient lifestyle.

I am slowly building a small homesteading farm which will be nearly self-sufficient when I get done. I started out with a small garden which has been expanded a few times, (2) 50' raised beds I made from fallen timber. A couple years ago chickens came into the picture, for eggs and fantastic fertilizer... eventually I will be breeding for some dual purpose birds and won't buy chicken again. I was given 3 rabbits which I keep around for fertilizer and I may breed them once in a while because I love the taste of rabbit meat. Next year I am raising 2 pigs for us and 1 pig for my in-laws. I just got a beautiful chicken coop for free (just move it out) which will work perfect to expand my existing coop I built last year. The ladies will have a 4'x8'x6' nesting coop tied directily into their existing 8'x8'x10' coop. The smaller will be used for nesting boxes and the larger coop for roosting, food and water. Much of what I have acquired around here has been lumber/tools/tractor/chains..... and I paid for all of it by bartering; I'll cut up your firewood supply for that snowblower over there.... Your true expenses should only be purchasing animals and feeding them. You can do A TREMENDOUS amount by bartering and finding small buildings that need to be tore down. If you start real small and stick with it you will never want it to end

I do it ALL over again BUT I would start when I was much much younger!!! Just like with homeschooling. we didn't start until the youngest was in the third grade and the youngest girl was in the 9th grade. If I had to do it all over ALL of my kids would have been homeschooled from DAY ONE and ALL OF MY KIDS would have grown up with all the animals on the farm!!!

I woulda started sooner, like skipping HS. Ive been farming homesteading since 68/69. It wasnt soon enough. It would have been except I let Divorces, and outside interests take my time and my money. Now, im old. I have all the time thats left to me, I have enough money to do all that I still can do, I just dont have all the zip I had 25yrs ago that should have got me to a turn key farm operation. Im still building cause of my outside former interests.

My advice,Go as fast as you can, Have tunnel vision only for the needs of the farm homestead, If you have time on your hands, Learn something, take classes on something benificial to the FH. Buy more animals, enlarge your garden. Get more into preserving veggies and fruits, Learn to butcher. Go on hikes that will take you to where wild foods are to be found. Spend the day as a family picking berries, fruits, ect. Idle time is the worst thing for good intentions. Idle time gives one the time/space to look around, compare, and see and measure their own lifestyle with others. Once one starts doing that, they want more time to do that. They want what they think benifits others, and what they have is no longer as important. Go to auctions, sales, even if you dont buy anything, that are farm related. At least your takeing off time to a place that is slightly farm oriented, and it will/may give you ideas about your own farm
Spend as much time together doing things around the farm as possible. That way it dosent seem like its all on your shoulders, and youll have all that family time to remember in later years.
Spend time teaching your kids, assumeing u have them. If you dont know a certain thing, make time to learn it. Good luck

I can't say i regret many things that I've done, my victories and losses have combined to make me who I am today. Take away much either way, I'd be a different person. That being said, I've enjoyed the last 15 years or so, living where I can't see another house, and growing most of my own food than I did the 15 years before that. Even with being 15 years older. As a matter of fact, every day seems a little better. I'm more active and satisfied with life at 60 than I was at 40. That's what good nutrition, fresh air, and good well water can do for you.
The first 18 years of my life(living in the country) and the last 15(living in the country again) have been much better than the middle 27 years.

I only wish I could have gotten back on a bigger chunck of land sooner. My regrets are that I spent a year and a half living in the city and a year living on someone else's land.

I read an article a few years ago, that said about half of small rural acreages in canada that were bought were sold in two years. So obviously many people quit. The romantic idea of living in the country does not always match the reality. As for I am not moving to town.

In a heartbeat! And I would go deeper into it if I could, but circumstances force me to be something of a "homesteader lite" at the moment.

My previous husband. We went into it together, and 6 years down the road, he decided he wanted to sell out and move to town. In fact, he's now living in that town quite happily with his 4th wife! And I am on my new, smaller part-time homestead ... so I guess everything worked out as well as it possibly could have. :)

I have been doing the homesteady thing for over thirty years and yes, I would do it all over again, that is for sure. Its been worth it to me. I have watched quite a few folks who tossed in the towel after just a short time.... it musta been more work and sweat and pain than they were prepared for but all of the folks that hung in there through the lean times starting out and made it passed about the 5 year mark are still around here, doing their thing.

Welcome!!

I would definitely do it again, it's the only life I really know. I have always wanted to raise my own food, provide my own heat, etc. I had a garden and rabbits as a kid and through teenage years. I was 18 when I married dh and we had a garden and a few hens the first year. We've been homesteading together ever since, 25 years next month.

I think lots of people don't make it when they take on too much at once. They start with a huge garden, a bunch of chickens, too many goats, cattle or horses. It's overwhelming and they quit. Others I've known decided that the demands of livestock and gardens are just too much physical work and takes away from their preferred lifestyle.

Welcome. Yes, I started when I was 18, put much aside when I divorced my ex. He wasen't into all the work, the Bar suited him better. I've been remaried a long time and am right back at it. It's alot of work but if it's what you Love, it's a way of life. This way I live, is just who I am.

I started in my early 20's...and raised my kids on a 450 acre farm....the best choice I've ever made for my kids and myself...if SHTF...they will know how to survive.....I hope....lol

My son worked for the pig farmer in the next valley over, baled hay, cut wood and even won State champion with his sheep. Daughter won State growning a garden in FFA....farming IMO...is the best life...my kids werent allowed to hang out inside the house unless you were sick...and NO Nintendo's were allowed.

They worked hard and played hard...and earned what they had.

3/4 of the time I'm thanking God for the wonderful life he's given us. The other 1/4 of the time, I'm frustrated.

We've waded in relatively slowly & neither of us has quit our day job. We started getting serious about "prepping" and living self-sufficiently about 3-4 years ago. We've got a pantry full of both store-bought & home-grown food now. We raised & processed 80 meat chickens & 8 turkeys for ourselves & my stepdaughter's family last year, got a decent garden going & learned to can & preserve food. We currently have 16 egg chickens & 5 guinneas, 2 pet turkeys (couldn't bring ourselves to finish them off last year), 2 dogs & 2 cats. We're expanding our egg flock & just brought home 6 more guinneas today. We've got 100 meat chickens ordered for this eyar. We're planning to at least double the amount of canning we did last year.

It really doesn't sound like much, but I'm easily frustrated. I'm so glad we didn't jump into it quicker. If we had, I'm afraid I would have thrown in the towel. I was ready to throw in the towel the year before last. It was hard, at first, to give up all the time I previously had to just lay around doing nothing. The first time we processed chickens, it was such hard work. I never wanted to do it again. It was also hard to give up spending every weekend camping. The dogs have to be out at night to drive off deer & predators, and the barking drove me nuts the first year.

Things are starting to fall into place, though, and my attitude about things has changed. The sound of the dogs barking sounds reassuring to me now, rather than annoying. I'm learning to enjoy my time in the garden, canning, etc. That's what I expect to do on my "days off" now, and it's relaxing. The farm "work" is now my entertainment & relaxation. We've also learned that it's important to schedule things in such a way that we can plan for a weekend away a few times this year.

We really love what we're doing and wouldn't trade it for anything.