How did you get started???
 

Just wondering how everyone got started in their homestead... I really want to take the next step in having a homestead just don't know how to go about it... The only thing I have so far is a garden nothing big this is only my 2nd year doing it... Just hoping you guys and girls can share some stories and tips on how you got started. Thanks.

The garden is how I started, too. :)

I started that last year, and am gardening again this year. We got some baby chicks a couple months ago, and they're about due to start laying eggs.

Next up, we'll be getting a pair of rabbits to breed for meat.

We're in the suburbs, so there's not a whole lot that we can do, but I see it as practice for when we move to a larger plot of land. :)

A few years ago I took a hard look at reality as I see it.I'm not getting any younger and I don't like the way things are going politically.My first step was a garden,the next was chickens.I can't do a lot as far as livestock goes,but I can raise a tremendous amount of food.I also have blueberries and apples planted and will add more fruit as money allows.Homesteading is a state of mind,not necessarily 40 acres and a mule.Don't let anybody tell you it can't be done.Gardening is a good first step.

By the way,I was born into the homesteading life.My grandmother lived a subsistence lifestyle,growing her food,putting it by,raising chickens,had no electricity or plumbing in the house.She'd do ironing for folks on occasion to earn money for coffee and kerosene,about all she couldn't do herself.When I got older,I decided that only poor folks lived like that and I wouldn't do it.I wasted a lot of years living for today,working dead end jobs looking for that big break to put me on easy street.Never found it.I haven't quite come full circle,but getting closer.

My parents always had gardens, and dad taught me to shoot and eat what we shot, fish and raise small farm animals - rabbits & chickens. Then we moved to Alaska, where the hunting and fishing got more serious, and the garden got bigger. My husband didn't work, but he would fish and I canned and froze a lot of wild meat, and grew what I could. When my kids and I moved out of Alaska, part of the requirement was to live somewhere that tomatoes would grow outside without a greenhouse! After years of gardens, we finally decided to buy land out of town, and naturally populated it with what we wanted to eat: pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks, turkeys, rabbits and gardens. My son is still trying to move onto the land - the market plummeted and his house lost value, so it will be another couple years - but we all want the little kids to be raised as freely as possible without moving way back into the boonies. We're on the Rolling 5 Year Plan - you know, the one where you're never finished? This year was designated as planting small fruit: blueberries, raspberries, figs, kiwi, grapes. Also maybe a veal, we'll see.
Kit

DH and I were both raised on farms. We both left the farm before we were married. I worked at an outside job until our children were born. After our kids were out of the toddler stage, we decided we wanted to raise them on a farm. What looked like enforced slave labor to us as teenagers, suddenly took on a whole new light. We have never regretted raising our kids on a farm and teaching them to work. We now have grandchildren that love the farm also. Our two-year-old granson loves to help Gramps feed the chickens and the dogs. He also likes to watch the pigs.

I got started with a garden when we were still in college. Every house we lived in - we had a garden, I planted small and tree fruits. After 25 years, we bought a house on an acre and had chickens and a much bigger garden, fruit trees, small fruits. Lastly, we bought 7 acres and added a steer, then a milk cow, then sheep, then got rid of the milk cow. Added a greenhouse........

It just kind of flows. Do one thing and get comfy with it, then add what you next interested in doing. Maybe first is the garden, then next alternative energy...or animals or where ever your interstes lead.

Truth be told, I got started way back when I was in second grade, living with my large family in a dinky Chicago apartment that was situated above a store (like all the other apartments on that block).

I received money for my first communion, and used a nickel of it to buy a package of carnation seeds. I mooched a clay pot from a neighbor, and put dirt (not soil, just cinder ashes from the parking lot in back of the apartment) into that pot.

I didn't know the first thing about gardening (neither, it would seem, did my parents), but as soon as those seeds sprouted in that pot, I was hooked.

I'd love to tell you that I found out how to make those particular seeds grow and become healthy plants, but it didn't happen. Instead, I began my lifelong journey of learning about plants and food and sustainability...

That little nickel packet of seeds was my ticket out of there. Took me a long time to finally get to my farm (all 6 little acres of it!), but here we are. :)

I was born into it and grew up being taught how to tend the garden, our stock herd and tools by my parents while at the same time my father groomed me to pursue a career in law or science.

Years later I found myself raising bait and container gardening in my apartment as I made plans to use my career to transition myself back to the more comfortable lifestyle I was born into while retaining the most productive aspects of the career my father had steered me toward during my primary income generation years.

What I have now is about a three upgrade revision of what my father indroduced me to and my educational background keeps me focused on the next upgrade revision I may want to consider to include in my lifestyle.

Born into it like others said. Grew up in a house with no AC (in Alabama) and only wood heat. Learned to cook on a wood cookstove. Wore homemade clothes (even undies) except for hand-me-downs until I got married and left home. We grew our own food...veggies and meat.

When I left home at age 17 I swore I'd never touch a hoe again...but two years later I was planting tomatoes and longing for home! I've gardened ever since...grew veggies in the flower bed of an apartment I lived in, used a kid's shovel to dig up a garden in the DC suburbs, rented a tiller to plant a garden in a Dallas/Ft. Worth suburb. Now I live on a large farm in MS and we expand our garden every year. In fact, we're having squash, potatoes, broccoli and the last stalk of asparagus for supper. We had eggs from our chickens for breakfast.

A garden is a good start. Next you need to get a few chickens. They're easy!

I grew up with a silver spoon in my mouth. I was never taught how to cook, garden, or anything like that. My husband even had to teach me how to make macaroni and cheese when we met. How hard is it to make mac and cheese?? LOL I've become fairly proficient at cooking, gardening, sewing, etc, all self taught through trial and error. My husband and I were living in a nice house in the suburbs of a decent sized city. A year ago, though, we decided that we weren't happy with our lives. We wanted something different.

He owns his own company, and we wanted to put it on our property to cut out the overhead, and we wanted to live in the country with a lot of land...land that we can use as we see fit. We were tired of people telling us what we could or could not do with our own property. We wanted to get some chickens, maybe a cow, and become more self sufficient and hopefully save money in turn. So, we put our house up for sale.

Two months ago we moved 7.5 hours away from everyone and everything we knew, to live on 5 acres in the middle of nowhere. We've had terrible weather and combined with a bunch of speed bumps we have hit in our lives since being down here, I haven't had a chance to put a garden in yet. I may have to wait until next year. I do have a small flock of 6 (I just lost one to a hawk today, which would have put it at 7) chickens, though, and I love them! We also adopted two puppies, Australian Shepherd boy/girl siblings.

I love living here. It is a complete change of lifestyle from what we were used to, but I think it has been a change for the better...no best. Even though we've only been here for 2 months, I wouldn't go back even if you paid me.

Hubby and I were born to it, lived in town for a couple years but when the babies started coming, we were young and wanted to raise the kids in the country. We didn't really think of it as homesteading, back in the late 70's early 80's it was all Mother Earth News and naked children - what can I say, we were hippies. Glad we stayed though. We were weird long before it was trendy, homeschooled back when it was practically illegal and had the first solar panel in the county.

1971 got married and purchase the property for $8,000 on a land contract.

Grew up on a small farm in Indiana, father worked for a large industrial corporation(which went bankrupt), so Mom and I did much of the farm and garden work. Gained the skills there, sort of. Graduated from Purdue(not in ag), married a city girl schoolteacher, started work for the same large industrial corporation(which went bankrupt), and built ranch house in the suburbs. Stayed there 17 years, got discontented with the surburban life, started looking for homestead style acreage in Indiana. Nothing materialized.

Got a transfer to the Kalamazoo plant of the large industrial corporation(which went bankrupt), and the dream homestead opportunity materialized--five acres on a lakefront.......with beachfront, garden space, woods with walking trails and firewood, etc, etc. Still here, retirement made it possible to do the dream without daily "going to work" worries....... but now age related body aches and pains and general slowing down is the new worry....but the grandkids love to come here and we all eat well.

Best of luck,

geo

Learned where my 'food' came from.
Started reading labels.
Got started with a small garden.
Each year, garden grew.
Read a lot of books at the library.
Found some places on the internet.
Started home schooling.
Found books on 'being keepers of the home' for girls, and 'boys to men' type books for the boy. Learned A LOT from those, and it gave me some direction.
Started looking at trash, as reusable treasures.
Started looking on CraigsList and Freecycle.org for treasures.
Read more books
Sought advice and and asked questions on a couple of very helpful forums.
Reading more books.......

And I am TOTALLY a rookie at 'homesteading' today.......

Like others, I was born into it. My folks were of the mind that no matter how much money you make, paying others to do something you're capable of is a luxury. DH was even more so. His folks didn't make much money, so they did even more for themselves than mine did.

My first year out in the world, DH and I grew a garden. Not much. Just some tomatoes and strawberries the foreman's wife gave us. I didn't can. Just used the garden as it came in. I worked on my sewing skills.

Our second year, we had a bigger garden, and a the annual 1/2 beef bonus in the freezer. Still liked to sew.

Our third year, we had another 1/2 beef, small garden and I took canning classes at the local Extension office. Moved on from sewing curtains to garments.

Year four we were on a buffalo ranch and got buffalo for the freezer. I also did a community garden with the other ranch wives and we had a couple of days where we did a group canning session too. Continued to sew.

Etc, etc, etc., continuing to learn and grow, until year 12 when we'd found a nice patch of ground, near several job opportunities for DH and bought our place.

I don't know any other life. My paternal grandparents were beef cattle ranchers, my maternal grandparents had a fruit farm. My parents have 100 acres and my dad had his business there. Mom had a big garden and an 11 acre orchard. I remember canning and drying fruit and vegetables with her since I was big enough to walk.

Married dh when I was 18 and we rented a cabin for a few months. Later that year we bought on contract a small house on an acre. We had a big garden and chickens. Dh hunted and we had venison and elk every year. We lived there 4 years, then sold it and bought our current place. We built our home, shop, barns, corrals, sheds, fences. It's taken 20 years and we're still building (as time and money are available). As a small child I knew that this is how I wanted to live.

Grandma did it, Mom did it, I do it. I was a sickly kid on the farm so I did the "light" chores. Cook, clean, feed the "small" animals, milk the goats and bring all the animals in at night. I have always had health problems and to this day I milk goats, raise a garden, rabbits, chickens and fish so that I know what I am eating. I still have the same line of Buff chickens Grandma had. There are 20 to 25 families here now with the same line. They are a heavier hen then todays Buffs. We share roosters, we all have small flocks for eggs and meat. I have 3 hens, and 4 pouletts right now. I butchered 2 groups that an old hen set. I farmed until 1992 and kept several small "farms" to play with. Although small, it is a way of life and is important for my health....James

I grew up in the city. I didn't even know cows came in something other than black and white until I was an adult. Never occurred to me.

My aunt gave me a copy of Carla Emery's book one year. Read the whole thing. Had a garden in the back yard, it failed miserably. Started again the next year. Third round, got some food! Bought some chicks, always had rabbits, but never ate them until about year 7.
It was a learn as you go.
I have garden and chickens and rabbits in the city for years before I ever got out and then it was a stepping stone process.

Spring of 1983, just after we married, bought Carla Emery's Encyclopedia of Country Living. In my opinion, it's a must have.

Started with a garden. I liked it so much I applied for a job at a local Greenhouse and got the job. Worked side by side with horticulturists and picked their brain. My garden was my mini-laboratory and I was always trying new stuff. Anyway, the vision of having a small farm started to grow in my mind and here I am.

I'd say, first step is to get the garden and chickens producing for you. Once you have a reliable stream of nutritional food for the table, other projects can be started with little distraction.

Get the fruit/nut trees and brambles (berries) started, as they will take several years to produce. If you want to use living fences (hedge rows) to partition off sections of the property, start them early also, as they will take several years to become effective.

Set the entire place up into zones (like in permaculture) so the chores you need to do daily are closest to the house, the chores done once or twice per year can be at the farthest edges. As you age, and simple chores become more tiring, you will appreciate this 'centralized' system.

I'm only 24, so just kind of starting. This is year four on the farm. I grew up in the country, but only ever had a few horses. I gardened a *little* bit with my mom. After I turned 18, and was on my own, I started really reading a lot of gardening books. Then I went off to college for a year and that got me thinking more about our food and where it comes from. I did some more reading.

Met my husband (complete city boy) and we moved 800 miles back to his deceased grandparents' farm (we are the fourth generation) that nobody had lived on for 30+ years. The first year we put a garden in. The second year we started a flock of chickens, got some goats and a cow. We've been steadily fixing things up and building fences every year (as much as we can afford), and planting fruit trees. The third year (last year) we had a baby. We raised 50+ butcher chickens, and I learned how to can. This year we sold the cow and goats and got more cold hardy milk goats and some ducks. We're in the process of getting a few pigs and sheep too. We'll be butchering 25 broilers and 25 ducks this year, as well as a pig, a lamb and a goat to last us through the year. We both also hunt deer. I will be dehydrating and smoking some food this year along with canning.

In the last year I've learned how to make soap and other natural body creations. I'm starting a small business doing this with hopes of eventually making enough money between that and other farm things to be able to stay here and not work off of the farm.

We learn how to do things better each year, and how we could have done things more efficiently. It's a learning process, but an exciting one! We will never get bored here. There is a lifetime of work to be done. I continue to read as many homesteading/gardening/animal husbandry books as I can. I am constantly thinking about where we are headed and what my plans for next year are. I also *HIGHLY* recommend Carla Emery's Encyclopedia of Country Living! That book should get you started!

My advice for newbie homesteaders as a semi-newbie homesteader would be this.......
Plant lots of fruit and nut trees, and other perennials like berries, asparagus, ect.
Fence your property with a universal fencing that will keep anything in! Like 48" "no-climb horse fence" (you never know what kind of animals you might decide you want, that way you won't have to rebuild fences plus it keeps predators out)
Make all of your animal pens adjoining so that you can run your critters from one pen to the other with ease.
Start out with ducks or chickens.

Hope that helps!

OMGosh........I was a full grown adult the first time I saw a black and white cow!! I thought all cows were brown!!!

One of these days.....I will have a black and white cow, and I will name her "Milkshake"!!!

I grew up in Queens, NY. The first place I remember living had more nature then most. We lived across the street from a cemetery and, in our very old - never redone neighborhood, there were strips of attached, 3-story buildings that circled the block and in the center all but the corner ones had teeny, tiny backyards. Not that I could get to ours, only the lower apartment had an entrance. But I could see it.

Even better, I could see the neighbors. He had a fairyland of flowers and birdbaths and roses climbing. Ours was a solid mass of weeds and junk. All I knew was that it was green. But another neighbor complained about it being a hideout for rats and the landlord put in a stairway down because my parents said they'd clean it up. And we did (and there were rats!) and in the back corner, climbing a fence from someone else's yard - was a grapevine! With little, tiny grapes on it!
I had had no idea you could grow food. And this wasn't even tended by anyone, it was wild, a miracle, a gift from God.

And my obsession began. I read, I learned, I found a HS with an agricultural program (John Bowne, in Flushing - you can buy fresh produce and eggs from them and I think they might have some adult education programs still).
I worked on other people's farms, I gave it up in disgust, I went and did it again. I raised gardens and rabbits. If I knew then what I knew now I'd have started with quail much sooner. I ate what I grew, learned more about cooking, overcame my fear of canning.

It's an ongoing process. There will always be more to learn. I finally, last year, got land of my very own. If I can do it you can do it!!

Too funny!
I have dreams of a cow of my own and I think up names by color as well. Buttercup for a yellow of course, but Bonnie for a black and white, Belle for a brown one... :D

Thank you everyone for sharing your stories and advice I really appreciate it....

I grew up on a horse ranch in S. California and we had chickens and pheasants and the occasional pig roast.

When I graduated high school and started dating in a serious way, my boyfriends always ended up being the cowboy type. Then I married a city guy who loved the country life and we lived on places that were from 5 - 40 acres in size. I always had horses.

So somehow I ended up reading an article on chickens and horses and I researched chickens, ordered 25 from Murray McMurray hatchery and then with the chicken research I ran into homesteading ideas and bacame intrigued.... Got Carla Emery's book..... I began gardening, got goats, moved to Michigan on 106 acres, got sheep, a draft horse, ducks, more goats, learned to butcher poultry, deer, and goats......it just keeps going on and on.

As for affording it, I don't know, sometimes we can't but somehow we manage to make it work. We take on any odd job that comes along most years to supplement our income and I am working towards raising or making something here that will at least pay for the hay bill. I think you just have to point your life in the direction that you want and not be scared to take the risk. I have had the lesson learned that I can't live both the suburbanite culture and the rural culture at the same time. I can't afford to. I have to live on a farm, not an estate. I can't get my hair weaved and have a car payment plus pay the hay bill and the other expenses homesteading racks up. So I have a $1200 dollar used car (runs perfectly, no dents, but isn't sleek or shiny) instead of a $30,000 car. It's all choices really. I shop at thrift stores now instead of Macy's. Culture shock? You betcha!!! At times it was HARD!! And sometimes still is. It was about a 3 year process for me to adjust and to really make up my mind that my farm and its lifestyle was more important to me.

All the best of luck to you. It's a beautiful lifestyle in many ways.

I started with a small garden and chickens and then turkeys...then goats...then bees...
I feel like I am still just getting started! LOL! I have so many plans and dreams!

As if most things in life I got started in the homesteading lifestyle because of need. Single parent of 4, 1st time home owner of an old house living on the poverty line. The root of my homesteading skills lies in me trying to keep a mortgage going without working two jobs.
I needed to put food on the table so I learned to garden in an urban environment.
I needed to be able to preserve my harvest so I learned how to can & dehydrate.
Learned how to can on a woodstove on my patio because I needed to lower my cost of canning & had a supply of free firewood.
Same can be said of my baking & scratch cooking skills, as well as sewing, installing replacement windows, keeping meat rabbits.
My family says it's because I come from a long line of farmers. I doubt that as they all couldn't wait to come off the land.
I grew up in the burbs until I was a teen.

~~ pelenaka ~~
http://thirtyfivebyninety.blogspot.c...groceries.html