Homesteading, slpain me this
 

I didn't want to hyjack Hermit's thread, but I did enjoy the thought provoking discussion and it brought another question to the forefront of my brain (a dangerous place at all times, but especially in front of a computer).

People say they want to homestead to get back to the "simple life". In fact, Helen and Scott Nearing promoted this "simple life" in their life and teachings. I question their sanity. Don't get me wrong. It is a good life, but whoever coined the phrase "simple life"?

Background... I come from suburbia. I worked as a manager at a global chemical/adhesives corporation. We lived in a nice house on 1/10 acre lot (which I could mow with a push mower in about 30 minutes). After a 20+ year career making lots of money and taking it easy on the weekends, my wife and I decided we needed the "simple life".

We now live on several acres (which takes 2 1/2 hours to mow on a garden tractor). We raise dairy goats, chickens, ducks, turkeys, meat rabbits, & bees. We have fruit trees and 2 LARGE gardens. We have to schedule planting, harvesting, breeding, birthing, canning, tilling, etc. etc. etc. We get up early to work in the gardens for an hour before the sun begins to scorch our skin, and the humidity & blackflies drain us of fluids.

On top of that, while my homestead provides lots of delicious healthy food, it isn't a farm. It isn't a business. It doesn't pay the tax man. I still work outside the house to cover expenses. That's the "simple life"?

I'm not planning to give up my homestead anytime soon, but I laugh whenever I read or hear the term "simpler life". I'd enjoy knowing that some of you may struggle with the same issues. Any thoughts?

The thing is, very few people nowadays stay home and "homestead" without working outside the home. Years ago most people "homesteaded" or at the very least, the women stayed home to keep things under control at the home during the day. Back then, people had a massive amount of children, like today's amish, and these kids, spread out through the years by age, provided free labor for the homestead.

Most people do not realise that wanting to lead the "simple life" homesteading equates to taking on a 2nd full-time job in addition to your real job. Many families today are very small, many have 0 kids to help out. Kids today also play sports and need shuffled around to all kinds of after school activities. In most homes, the man and woman both work full time.

The neighboring property here is a gorgeous, huge home on some acreage that was owned by a retired man who grew a huge pristine garden etc. It recently sold to a working family with several kids who immediately put in a huge garden, slapped up a 3 foot tall T-post fence for a new horse on a 1/5 acre plot of grass, etc. Within 2 months their garden was filled with 3 foot weeds, their horse "pasture" was choked with weeds and filled with manure every 4 feet, and I saw them out struggling to fix stuff, keep the place maintained, mowing in the dark after work, etc., in between working and driving their kids around after school. They are on year 2 here, their fence is falling over and they did not put in another garden this year. In fact, they dont own a brush hog so their garden is still sitting there with 3 foot high weeds from last year. I have gone over and plowed their lane for them with my Jeep when I drove by and saw them all out trying to clear it by hand with shovels. Equipment is expensive and takes cash and time to maintain.

Idealism of what a "simple" country life entails vs reality.

How many vehicles do you own? Do you take vacations? Do you have satellite or cable tv? Do you have a telephone? Cel phones? Golf club membership? Do you buy candy, cola, or snack food? Do you do a weekly grocery store trip? Do you have magazine subscriptions? Do you have your hair professionally styled? Do you go out for meals or buy takeout on a regular basis?

If so, you're not living "the simple life", you've simply changed your address and added a hobby.

That's the thing -- what some people term "the simple life" is simply LIVING somewhere more rural than suburbia. If you only change your address and hobbies, and not your LIFESTYLE, then no, you aren't living "the simple life". In all honesty, I know few people who do. You mention mowing 2+ acres of lawn. Anyone who mows that much lawn isn't living "the simple life" -- you've got an acreage in the country. Want to live "the simple life"? Get rid of the gas-powered mower and get a couple sheep to mow that grass for you.

LOL, Home Harvest, I was thinking the exact same thing yesterday!

Simple Life? There's nothing simple about this, it's hard work and oftentimes very complicated!!! I wouldn't give it up for anything though :D

Simple life? Do like the Nearing's and get interns.

It seems very simple to me; Work hard. Simple.

Simple and 'easy' are two very different concepts.

Ditto what Kirk said.

To me, the simple life means that the outcome of a situation is clear due to the process involved.

Don't plant a garden? Don't have much to eat in the winter.
Don't feed your animals right? They don't produce well for you.
Don't weed the garden? Garden probably won't do well.
Don't chop firewood? Gonna be cold this winter.

Of course, you could use money to purchase all these things... provided there IS money to purchase these things after the bills are paid.

Simple life? I think the first mistake. Too many move to the country and maintain the same life-style as when they lived in town- that's more complicated than before.

Everyone one I know who lives the simple life bought a condo.

They can come home and park in front of the tv all night. Home owners association mows their grass, weeds their flowers, maintains their home, and plows their snow.

This is true.. I guess it's all in how you interpret the word... and "simple" has so many interpretations!

LOL! When I have my bad days, I have to admit that I dream of life in the 'burbs...

This is not an easy life. But it is the life we've chosen for now.

Tracy, I have a cell phone and I have internet access. None of the other stuff on your list applies to us, but it's still a hard life. Worth it? Sure. But it's still pretty demanding.

It's simple in the sense that most of what you are eating and sustaining yourself off of comes right off of your on property and was made by your hands or your land. I agree, simple and easy are not the same thing. But the process of planting your own garden, or making cheese on your kitchen stove, is a much simpler process than that which produces the cheese or the veggies that you buy in the grocery store. Maybe the act of going to the grocery store is easier and doesn't require as much thought, but that doesn't make it a simple process, you need to think about all the things that make that grocery store possible that you don't necessarily see when you go there. Really, it's very complex and very energy intensive, and managing your crops and animals in your backyard on a homestead scale is really so much simpler.

WELL, rain on my parade of dreams!!!

Glad I stopped by this thread. I'm the idealist, hubby the practical one. We've made mistakes. Live in a middle class home in our town of 2500 on a small lot. Methinks its time to go country...we bought five acreas with a delapidated old house in a smaller town 15 minutes from here to try out the homestead idea. Got home improvement loans, but couldn't get enough to make a difference. Too much work had to be done. Dh and I don't do construction work, don't know how, no equipment, no one to teach us. Wrong move. So, I adjust. Decide to use the house for storage and put in a *small* 100x50 garden (HUGE!!) garden two years ago. MADE my young teens put up the fence, haul dirt, compost, straw bales to garden plot. They hated it. They hated me! I turned into a harsh taskmaster, and they revolted! Garden is fifteen minutes from where we live. 24 trees died, the bramble fruits died, the potatoes were ravaged by the pototoe beetle, weeds everywhere, the wind was even worse out there than in town. Wasted tons of money, my kids hate gardening and 'homesteading' and hubby wonders what was i thinking?

Now we are putting the property out there on the market at a loss.

However, I've been gardening small scale at home. Learning curve is much cheaper here! I've been ssslllllooowwwwlllly brainwashing the family into frugal living. I am now known as the water police.:viking:

Kids are growing up and moving away. Our dream house to be built someday is now much smaller. We will buy property closer to town and much less of it.

To me simplicity is an attitude about one's core values about the environment, the times we live in and for some of us, like me, its a religious thing.

I've learned a lot at a great financial expense by going too big, too fast. Glad I'm married to a practical man that loves me and my dreams enough to keep my feet planted on the ground.

Agree with both.

It is neither simple nor easy.

Sometimes I wonder if maybe the parents are servents to their children! That surely does not promote a healthy mindset.

In response to the OP, I noticed that you didn't even mention anything about science, haha! Of course, I'm not homesteading... Well, yes, but we are also raising commercial stock. It is a lot of work, but it is rewarding, and can be financially rewarding when done right as well.

I have found as I get older and with more health issues the perfect property gets smaller. Last was 1 acre and off grid, now 1/3 acre. Most people don't know how to live SIMPLE. Simple means only having what you NEED to live, not everything you WANT. I even have more than I need. But for me simple is easy but then I don't worry about tomorrow much or SHTF stuff....James

As Explorer said, the Nearings publicized what they were doing and had some free help. I never was impressed with them, as often they substituted brawn for brain, called it virtuous, and pulled a Tom Sawyer fence. Their personal values were quirky, IMO.

Kids who get a taste of homesteading or farming and what is involved get a head start in common sense and what really goes on in life. That kind of education doesn't come cheap.

The whole concept of learning where food comes from first hand, and having that skill set available is comforting. Certainly moderate exercise is good for the body and mind. If it brings bliss, great. If it doesn't, then recognize that it doesn't and try something else.

Simple refers more to the (intentional) lack of highly technological solutions. How to put this...

Understanding how to shovel manure into a pile with a manure scoop is a skill that takes a certain amount of knowledge to do efficiently and correctly. It may take a few times to get that skill right.

After you have the skill, if you don't need the exercise, and you have a bucket loader handy, you are simple if you don't use the bucket loader. :)

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FWIW, I know who John Galt is, and he is no more the answer than Nietzsche's Superman, the ubermench (a term that thrills and chills Jewish mothers).

The Nearing example works.

Start wealthy inherit a trust fund. Write books for a secondary income.

Hire the work to be done for you, and once you begin to be famous from your books bring in intern/apprentices who will work for free.

to me, "simple" means less complicated, and that means I rely on myself for as much as I can.

This means I don't worry about when the shop can get in my car, I don't worry about if the cleaning lady is going to want time off, I don't worry about making reservations at the resturant, I don't worry about making vacation plans. I don't worry about how I am going to fit in all the different events and social gathers into my schedule.

So I live a simple life, I get up early, do chores, go to work, come home, do chores . . . somewhat of a routine.

It's a lot of hard work, and there is very little time for leasure. My inlaws (Dh is only child) think we have lots of time to sit on the porch and listen to the birds sing. They actually think we look forward to visiting them so we can go see all the "interesting" things the city has to offer. They think we must be BORED because we obviously have nothing to do around our house . . .

They consider our lives "simple" because we spend most of our free time at home, they spend most of their free time running from one event or other, or dealing with service people.

The difference - if they were at home, they'd have almost nothing to do other than watch TV. They have no clue how much time it takes to live the "simple" life.

Well, by that logic, I am not simple. I am always looking for ways to streamline the chores, i.e., milking machine, tractor bucket, etc. Of course the tractor bucket is laying in the dirt to the side of the 60-year-old and I don't even know if it works. I think the milk machine is 20 years old as well. I still think it's a "simple" life, though. Perhaps my idea is skewed?

The term I would use is humble. This is a humble way of living. Every mistake you make (which there are a lot to make) it humbles you or it drives you back to the city. There is nothing simple about it. Every one I meet that learns about what I do (everything I do) is in awe over the complexity. I make a living on my farm though, I have the dairy goats, a gazillion different types of poultry, raise every type of domesticated edible livestock throughout the year, have a very large garden, slaughter unit, commercial kitchen, and deliver all my goods to my customers doors every week. Oh and I juggle all of it with two children as a single parent (though the newest bf is turning out to be quite the farm hand).

There is nothing simple about it; you must be humble (of course bragging isn't very humble like is it?) in order to not give up though.

I think a person is made better the more complex tasks they have to conquer. For me personally I'm much happier when I'm exhausted from all the work that has been done, sitting at the dinner table with my children and refusing to think about all the work that still needs to be done.

I wouldn't trade this "career" for nothing. Simple is simply not in my vocabulary.

I have a pension. Even if all of my crops fail, I will not starve.

But I am not writing books to capture the imagination of others, nor to lure them into how wonderful this life can be.

All around me I see families trying to make it work. But most of them have no pension, no trust fund, no hidden source of income. They hold multiple jobs and sell farm produce; and still money gets tight.

Is it 'simple'?

'Simple' sold books. 'Simple' fire the imagination of millions of minds. 'Simple' convinced thousands that they too could move rural and live a self-sufficient life.

Modern homesteading is simply a mixture of gardening /farming and whatever home based income means you choose to combine it with to the intensity you require to live comfortably to your own desires , schedules, etc.


If I feel like sleeping in or taking a few days off all I have to do is water the worm bins and SFG beds the night before I take off and board my dogs unless I am taking them with me or just taking a staycation at home to sleep in because I have chosen the least labor intensive agricultural aspects to mix in with my more standard society type home based ventures.

A simple life is simply living life on the terms that you wish to live by. Nothing complicated about it at all. If you can't find the means to the terms you desire you simply have to live with that which gets you by and re-evaluate your wish list to be more accesible. Keep on living , dreaming and re-evaluating as neccesary until you find what simply satisfies you . When you do, its your life as you want it ___simple :)

Judging from the responses, it is pretty certain that the folks here understand the overall concept more than the Nearings ever did. As for whether or not anyone fits in the category, perhaps that is only a minor side question. Self stereotyping seems non-productive.

Homesteading and the simple life is one of the most expensive and hardest lives there is. Thats why I got out and call it "The self reliant life " :D
Course I been living this life all my life. They use to cal us farmers but the small farm and small acreage is dead for most part.
I've noticed over the years that a lot of people do it or try it and when it don't work they look to the govt to bail them out.
There are a lot of people who think they will make enough money to retire to the simple life. Big reality check there.
The other thing people don't think about and I hate to admit. WE are a social people. have always been. ITs hard to explain but when I was a kid everybody was independent but could count on the community. And they supported the community. When the mall and cheap came in that pretty much ended it. Even old Sam Walton believed in buying local when he was a live and started his stores.. They didn't need the Fed govt.

simple life?

hmmn, not a thing simple about it on our piece of land!

Our lives were much simpler when all we had to do was think about getting up, going to work, doing our job and going home, cooking supper, doing the house & yard work and going to bed.

homesteading full-time is filled with surprises on a daily basis, lots of hard work and has a very steep learning curve if no prior experience, rarely a dull moment, but lot's of exhausted one's.

even as much as we love this lifestyle, the thought crosses our minds on the rough days to sell it all, but the rewards are many and can't think of anything I'd rather be doing.

Love that! Just got done reading Melissa Coleman's book (she's Eliot's daughter) and you have nailed the Nearings correctly.

It isn't simple, but we can make it simpler by what we choose to expend out energy on. Most people make the biggest mistake of taking on too much too quickly and then the product suffers. And then they get discouraged. Start small, get good at what you do, add as you go and tweak constantly. Manyra here is "work smarter not harder." Not so that we can goof off, but so that we can be more efficient and get more done.

I dont believe its simple but if you enjoy it it is simpler( not sure if i speeled it right). We live in town rightnow in a 3 br house with 4 kids. We have 7.3 acres with a cabin and are moving to it this month while its summer time. We are having the water tap put in this month and have no electric but do have " tools" and gagets to make things simpler. LIke a generator a few solar pannels, power tools etc. It is not simpler by any means. Our riding mower is broke so I compromised and used a weedwacker to mow close to n acre. IT took forever but I got it done. My 2 oldest boys 11,6 are big helpers. They have been helping us clean up the wooded area of our land by cleaning up fallen wood. They have lived in the country before but we have been in the city a while now. They beg us to go to the property. They like to play and let their dogs loose to run with them. They both like to garden and help plant stuff. My 11 yr old feeds all the dogs and my 6 yr old feeds the cats. We tell them if you want to be at the cabin you have to hepl with chores. They have behaved better when we go there cause they run play and get exercise. They go to bed now without the tv on. and dont fight me to go to bed. I think in some ways it is simpler but inother ways its is so much more work.

If you want easy and simple with a lot of time to golf or watch tv live in a condo within walking distance of the supermarket. If you get more satisfaction out of producing some of the things you eat, wear, or use to keep yourself warm then you won't mind so much the work involved in 'Homesteading'.

I totally agree with Tracy above.

For me simply means living less worldly. Being as self sufficient and as independent as I can. Simply is a mind set, not a list of chores. For me it also means not seeing the farm as a chore, but as a way of life, that is enjoyable and wonderful. I have to say I never tire of it.

I think what people forget to add to their simple life fantasies is money. You need money. Some people get so fixated on the romantic idea of the simple life that they buy livestock, plant massive gardens, and then commute to their 9-5 and complain how the simple life is just too hard. If those people were to find ways to make money from their homesteads, they could stay home and enjoy their simple lives.

Hunter-gathers lead the good simple life
 

Here's some food for thought - Dawn of agriculture took toll on health: http://esciencecommons.blogspot.com/...on-health.html

I think if we looked to the ways we could be hunter-gatherers in the modern world we would be healthier and happier. It makes me sad to see people so gung-ho for living off preserved food with no vitamins when they could get fresh for less.

Hanging on to our ranch since the 1800's has never been simple, but we specialize and take advantage of what other folks specialize in. The hard work & deprivation our ancestors were put to is beyond our imagining. Materialism is like water to fish - it's our unseen universe.

Loosing 20% to 60% of vitamins after 5 years in a can does not equal "No vitamins" when you home can your harvest.

This is swaying off-thread, but...
 

It is not natural to eat fresh fruits and vegetables all year round. Grains can be stored with little processing, and many homes can freeze their food as well.

Well, I disagree. I think it's not natural to eat foods out of season. We should take up these food thoughts on the Preserving the Harvest forum and let folks get back to the simple life.:bowtie:

Simple does not mean easy. It means getting your needs met in a different way. Here we have no TV and find out joy in the work we do.

The "Simple Life" is what you want it to be so pigeon holing everyone into one definition is just not very productive.

For us, we both worked high paying high stress jobs and worked 6 days a week to get to the point where we could retire early on our homestead. We have no debt, we have no bosses, and by personal choice we limit some of the modern conveniences that some seem to be so tied to (no cable, no microwave, no dishwasher, etc.). For us the simple life is getting up whenever we want and deciding then what we are doing for the day. We still travel, we like to have nights out, we have many vehicles, tractors, and other motorized convenience items because we enjoy them (sorry Tracy) and frankly, though we work hard most days, we play a lot too. If something doesn't get done today or tomorrow there is always next week or next year....who cares and that to us is our simple life.

Today we were going to spend weeding, but we ended up working on an old tractor and then the Mrs and I ended up walking into the back pasture and kissing up by the pond. Maybe we will weed tomorrow...maybe not. If ya dont like it tell our bosses...ummm thats us and we dont care (simple ne?)

Shh!

Dont tell my grandparents.