Homesteading? What is it Really?

Oh boy, I am slow with jokes as anyone who knows me will tell ya but I get it....LOLOLOL Ya gotta know me I guess....

I am as much a homesteader as anyone here or in the past. Many of them had to pay a homestead fee. My Grandmother family did in the Oklahoma rush. I bought bare land, built what I have, myself, with money and materials I obtained, all cash. I built land and buildings as I went. Do I think I am a homesteader, not really. I feel I live more of a pioneering lifestyle. I do it my way because it makes me feel good. Close to the land. I do not judge others in what they do or call their lifestyle. The only people I don't feel are homesteaders are people who borrow lots of money, move out to the country with everything they had in town, built by someone else. Taking and using more than their share. Hoarders, survivalists and doomsdayers among others....James

When my region was being settled, homesteaders HAD to be self-sufficient because there were really no other options.

Today, I have Amazon and UPS!



I can't call myself a homesteader for the simple fact that, for me, it belittles what real homesteaders actually went through.

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~*~Erin~*~
SAHM, ranch wife, sub and quilt shop proprietress
the Back Gate Country Quilt Shop

Hey I just like this forum!
I am not deceiving myself, I am not a Homesteader-- we will continue to buy meat at the store (havent made the transition to be able to butcher our animals yet) but haved moved to get goats for weed eating and milk production and raise our chickens for natural bug control (tick count is waay down) and eggs and just cause-- we like them....Just put in our Fall garden and will be eating more of our veggies, and the berries are still producing well...
Would like to put Solar in at some point but dont have the capital for that expenditure currently....

I'm just a person that wants to be more self-sufficient. Grow my own vegetables, maybe have a few chickens for eggs. An alternate power source would be great, but I'm not in a position right now for that to happen. I still work 40 hours at a regular job, so I can pay for my mortgage and my light bill. I know I can survive without electricity, but it's nice having it.

While a true homesteader was made in a different time when there was land available. What do you call someone approaching homesteading today?

A baker is not made in an hour, the bread doesn't even have time to rise.
A soapmaker is not made in a day, it takes more time to gel.
A canner is not made in just a week, it takes more time to gather the equipment needed and learn the rules.
A builder is not made by a book over months, it is made with experience.
A trapper is not made in a season, it takes more knowledge than a season to learn the art.
A tractor fixer or auto mechanic learns one machine at a time.

A homesteader is made during a lifetime, adding more skills every year. So a homesteader now is someone or a group of people trying to become more self sufficient.

It's like trying to define a mother's duties or a father's duties, you learn each day and you try to master it.

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Over 50 yrs. trapping, if I can help answer any question, just email. Served Wisc. as Pres., V.P. and on the Trapper Ed. Committee. On the National level as a Director. Director of the year in 1992.

I think to qualify you have to bake fresh bread every other day, grow flax and spin it into thread to weave into fabric to make your own boxer drawers, and shoot and eat squirel at least once a week. Oh, and run your own still. If you don't do all of that then you're just a wanna be. Owning mules is optional, but you get extry points if you have them.

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~Only the rocks live forever~

I so agree with the "still" part.

A Stead means a place for acertain purpose, like a bedstead, a word outdated now. Homestead, a place that is your home, where you live and, insinuated, live off as much as possible.

Do I call myself a homesteader? Yup, it's in my blood.
http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=ch...eplace+was+new

BTW, how is Eustace Conway doing now? Did they close his place down?

I just can't do the squirrel. I tried.