Do you have what it takes to be a homesteader, Probably not

You....James

Then there are those of us that want to raise a big family, pull a six figure income from a white collar job, complete a PhD, AND develop our own self sufficient homestead. If that's not hard work I don't know what is.



Struggling to survive does not make you a better homesteader, so I don't know why anyone uses it as a metric.

We have lots of folks like that around here. They make six figures at work and have a nice farm. But they are considered hobby farmers. Not homesteaders. Generally if they dont have it they buy it. And they buy the best. An average homesteaders either has to make it or take what he has and make do. I look at a homesteader as someone who makes the homestead work for them. Most original homesteaders lived off the land by farming,raising animals to sell, eggs etc... If you lost a crop you had little to fall back on. I was fortunate to have great grandparents who lived well into their 90s who were original homesteaders. They lived soley of the land. Grandpa was a woodworker making furniture from timber he processed and grandma sewed quilts and made repairs for folks. They lived a very hard life at times. Everything you ate came off the farm. Almost nobody lives that way anymore. I'm trying very hard. I to am a woodworker. We raise and grow 90% of our food but still buy flour spices and snacks. But most of our main dishes we raised or hunted. My wife and I both work from the farm. She is a crafter, soap maker, lotion maker, candle maker etc.. We sell our good at the local farmers market. Some weeks is good others not so good. So we live never knowing our budget. Which is sometimes scary but mostly rewarding. So I say do what you can with what you got and make it work for you.

Exactly.

You hit the nail on the head.

A lot of people on here roughing it with internet.

My grandpa retired a machinist on 70 acres in the Ozarks on the black river(my brothers and I still have the place). They only left the place once every two weeks to go to the store. 3 acre garden and chickens and a few cattle. He would run lines at night and wake me up at 3am to check them. The original house didn't have electric or running water until they built the new one in 1986(still have the outhouse and original 100yrold house). He had new tractors, new barn, well kept equipment. He built the house himself. Could machine and weld new parts for his farm equipment and made his own bed and kitchen cabinets. Ran the dogs at night for coons. Trapped beaver in the bottoms.

He had a good chunk of change in his banking account though. And I guess they never struggled. But I doubt many on here had the experiences he had(Killing for the US in the Pacific during WWII, union wars etc.). And I doubt many could do what he could on a daily basis. But they weren't struggling by any means. He did get bit by a copperhead when walking through the river bottoms to go fishing. Grandma insisted on taking him to the hospital. He insisted on going fishing.

So as previously stated. Struggling doesn't make you a homesteader anymore than playing the lottery makes me a millionaire.

Agreed

George, We must be blood brothers. I too hate goats. And I have shot many cats. I hate feral cats about right up there with goats. But at least the goats dont kill so many quail and nesting songbirds.

Gene

Just for the PETA types, when I put smilies on a post, it usually means that I'm making a joke. I've never used a cat for a boat anchor, and I've never shot a feral cat. The resident coyote usually gets 'em first....

I used to raise quail in Indiana, but they don't seem to live here in Michigan.

But I do hate goats.......

geo

I think one of the most important characteristics a person needs to be a homesteadeer is a large capacity for and need for solitude. Without it, I don't think you can really make a go of it.

Many who choose to follow the modern homesteading lifestyle will often make reference to both the Ingalls family as historical goal and the availability of technological tools such as the internet and such at the same time.

While using these perspectives as justifiers of their pursuit most forget that the Ingalls often worked off their small homestead farm to help cover expenses and with the use of technology after sorting out the misinformation aspects, it can be used to maximize the expanded effort on the farm for max output from less space and effort and if the right niche fir their area is developed, they can work on their farm regardless of size and use technology to telecommute to their off farm job requirement in some cases.

If they can't technologically telecommute to necessary society employment, they can use the technology to make the most of their small footprint farming exposure to at least provide themselves a degree of decompression and relaxation from the rat race life that makes most of their income.

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

This is sooooo my situation. My grandparents were true homesteaders. They would have put most of us to shame. I spent summers there learning....and loving it. As I got older, I wanted to be that person for my children and grandchildren. Hubs was a cityboy (he doesn't like to be called that....but it's true, compared to my upbringing). He is absolutely faschinated with aquaponics, my chickens, beekeeping, etc. He was already a welder, woodworker, mechanic, etc. I just brought him over to the "dark" side. He begrudgingly remembers helping his Momma with gardening....now, I've made it fun. All of a sudden, he sees what I see and feels what I feel. Homesteading to me is more than a way of life. For this girl, it also spiritual. We do not go in with unrealistic expectations. We know there will be good gardening years and there will be droughts. We know blight will hit. We know hawks will wait for our precious chickens. What we appreciate is the lifestyle.....mistakes and all.

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http://www.appalachianquilts.blogspot.com

Seems like an arbitrary distinction to me. I don't qualify as a homesteader because I can afford new tools and equipment when the need arises?

The true love of what your doing is the essence of Homesteading. We are lucky that 21 years ago we bought a Sawmill (It's in my DNA) though I worked in a Lag and was ridiculed for it. This gave us a base to do what we wanted when the company paid me to go home.
That said I feel that the essence is taking where you are and what you have and becoming self sufficient. Homesteading in my book doesn't have to be that living off the land with no outside help, but more of a synergy of what you have and what your doing with it.
We have moved to our dream place but the timber is smaller than I had hoped. In the homesteading spirit we have made our blythe our asset and now have as far as I can see the only outlet for split rails in the area. We are bone tired but the build is finisher and we start production Wed.(Got to run the mill for a couple of days)

So if you are in the city you can have a homestead. It isn't how much but what you do with what you got.

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It seems to me the way homesteading began was to settle on a piece of land that is more or less in a raw and wild state and, by hard work and proper husbanding, turn it into a fruitful and productive place for a family to live on. My ancestors had to cut trees with hand saws and convert woods to fields with horses. They built homes and barns with no power tools. Their skills and determination are things I am proud of.

We bought our land and home in dilapidated condition with no fruitfulness and rudimentary beauty and usefulness. We have steadily worked to improve it and to make it fruitful. This is in the same spirit as my ancestors, but with the tools and equipment that we have available in our time. The goals are very similar though. We share in a love for land and for earthy things like dirt and hard work.

I agree 100%. Many people are not ready to work 12 -16 hours a day when life calls for it. Those of us who are older, have grown up in a era that had much less recreational time.

Of course, almost everyone would like to have a big piece of land with wildlife and fresh vegetables etc. You can do that if you are rich, just hire people to take care of the place for you. You can do it if you work hard and have a decent job nearby or online. If aren't rich, or don't have a good job nearby then it is a different story. Many can only afford farms or land in the very rural areas of the country (like southern Missouri or Tenessee). If one takes a poorly paying local job, there is income, but less time to work on the place. If one tries to make enough money off the place that they can pay for their basic needs the farm doesn't provide, It is usually going to take some time to reach that point and they need money to survive a few years. In each of the last two cases, they are going to need to be willing to work hard for at least 12 hours a day. Most younger people are simply not ready for this. When they are working less, like in the short hours of winter, they will need to be educating themselves on all kinds of things from agriculture to mechanics to electrical wiring.

I have lived this life, I know enough about it that I won't have to do much studying, yet I am back at a standard job trying to save enough to get set up again. I retire in 3 months, I have the money now, I will have the time, but remembering the long days of hard labor, I am not sure that a 66 year old man can still handle it. I can't build fence, cut and manually split wood, build building, shovel dirt and gravel, go out and find birthing cows at night in a snow storm like I used to. Yet I can work more than most of my thirty year old fellow employees.

I don't want to say that young people that aren't familiar with farm life can't do it, but the learning curve and the drive to do that much work, day after day, seven days a week (animals still have to be taken care of on Sunday) and live a "get-by" life with no frills, is more than most of the people of the present generation will find they are willing to do.

Homesteading, being out in nature, working for one's own bread and meat has a tremendous romantic attraction. It is, in fact, a terriffic and wonderful lifestyle, but I hate to see people lose several years of their life, and usually their meager savings, unless they at least spend some time with a homesteader and see what it really takes.

New homesteaders, remember you will never be able to leave your place for several years. Animals have to be taken care of, wood stoves have to be kept burning so the pipes don't freeze, varmits have to be kept away from your gardens and livestock. Sure, you may develop friends and neighbors that will help you out at such times, but that might take awhile. Most of your equipment will probably be old and used, it will break down at the time you need it, not when you don't, it will break down when you don't have the money to buy the parts (if you can, in fact, fix it yourself) maybe the parts will be no longer available because the equipment is so old.

It is a great life.... just be sure you are up to it before you jump in. It is a life I could not stay in and make enough money to raise my children... even though those early years probably taught them more about logic, and engineering, and mechanics, and carpentry, and self reliance, and hard work and a thousand other things than they could ever have learned elswhere. They are all very successful now.

So remember, those people sitting out in their lawn chairs, surveying their gardens and animals and the wildlife, were either rich in the first place, or had great local jobs, or like most, worked their butt off for 30 years to get there.

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Moving to that big black hole in the night satellite photo. (also the hole in cell phone coverage )

I work full time, but I started what we do to get back to the foods and tastes of my youth. My wife had no idea how different things taste home grown vs store bought. We raise our own beef, pork, chickens,( for meat and eggs ) she milks goats and our garden is now 1 1/2 acres.

If it costs more than we can buy it, it is no longer done. But we can and do grow and can enough to eat just about the year around, st least some stuff. Others, we run out and have to buy to make it til next crop comes in.

If we had timely rains here, I could do even better, but we make do with what we have.

If the world dont collapse before then, I will retire in 4 years. I hope to have a bunch of projects finished by then so I can garden, and do what needs to be done and have a little time to do whatever or nothing at all.

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" Do or do not, there is no try. " - Yoda

I certainly dont have what it takes to be a homesteader..... not anymore.... I used all that up being a homesteader the last 35 years! My body is completely worn out, and even my mind is not what it was back in the day but I wouldnt swap my life here in these Ky hills for anything. Its been quite an adventure since I loaded up that old international truck and headed for my first homestead. I have dealt with the copperheads, chiggers, too much rain, not enough rain, living in tents with teenagers, busted legs, trampled by horses, argued with that goofy mule, cutting and hauling firewood in the snow, and a host of other "fun" stuff. These days I can sit on the porch and watch the world go by.... thank goodness coz I sure cant do much else! I set out to be a homesteader and have accomplished that goal... just like my grampa did back in his day... and his pappy did before him. I dont have what it takes anymore... but I'll be durned if anyone can tell me I didnt have it when I started!

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"Nothing so needs reforming as other peoples habits." Mark Twain

Mkokk

Money = hobby farm
No money = homesteader

Interesting. Frankly, I really don't see the point of the labels.

Agree, pretty hard to truly live off the land, better off keeping a job and being a hobby homesteader. Love burning wood, raising garden, harvesting fish and game, etc. but it's also pretty nice to have health insurance, electricity, heat & AC at the turn of a thermostat, etc.