You are doing well.

'This is the way'

 

Thank you for joining and a little over a month later telling us all we are failures at homesteading. Do you make your own iron and steel to forge tools? Do you drive a vehicle you didn't manufacture yourself? You posted a picture of store bought canned goods (even if from a salvage store). Sounds kind of dependent to me.

Before getting all judgy on people you might step back and focus on your own deficiencies.

 

Sometimes things are not as they are meant to appear. Just sayin.

 

One of the main goals for our homestead is self sufficiency in food. We cleared the land and constructed our food factory ourselves. I build all the raised beds, I built the soil. I made the biochar, I use all my own saved seeds and its a real buffer to high price foods filled with poison.

 

I started the grocery prices thread. I also think your post in this thread was very judgmental.

I came to this site to discuss with other like minded people, all aspects of homesteading and their journey from zero to 100 when incorporating homesteading into their lives.

I am unable to raise cattle or grow wheat on my property. I can't mine my own ore to use to make tools.

Does that preclude me from participating in this forum?

There are many limiting factors, from finances to health, property, or age that put us all on different paths. You have a lot of valuable information to offer, but you just insulted many people who are not as far along the path as you are.

 

We have had this homestead for only 3 years.

 

Some are able to produce a good portion of their own food. Some are not.

It's a journey. We are all at various stages of that journey. Your assumption, "I thought the homesteader is a self sufficient sort with little need for stores (especially for food)." is what many strive for, but not all achieve for various personal reasons.

You don't HAVE to be self sufficient to participate here. We welcome even people who dream of being self sufficient but are stuck growing one tomato on the patio or a few herbs in a pot indoors, under lights. We welcome peole who are starting their journey and those who once were there but for whatever reason are no longer capable of growing a big garden.

 

I have to agree with most of the folks responding here. Not everyone can do everything and that's ok. I can enjoy talking with people that grow a single tomato in a pot on their patio as much as I can enjoy talking with people that do more. I am not impressed with people that stomp on others because they're not 'xyz-enough'. I grew up in the city and did not come to the country until I was in my 50's. People here encouraged me to grow my skills, celebrated my wins & consoled me with my losses. At this point in my life, I'm content with my 5+ acres, herd of milk goats, chickens and garden. I am also content to go to the grocery store. I'm not interested in comparing myself to others, or expecting others to be me. Possibly the OP needs to start their own forum so they can be the pinnacle in their own online-community.

 

Wind Ridge, you have done well yes.
But don't be so judgemental of this site and it's members.
You act like you invented homesteading all by yourself.

You only joined this year. Look at some of the dates of joining
next to our names. We try to help each other here.

We are all on different paths.
In this household, we are older, have a paid for house,
pinching pennies and still making ends meet.
Both of us had health issues this year. But we continue on.
Life is good.

 

I’m waiting for the next meltdown.

 

Me too, Ive seen several so far in this thread. I did not mean to cause them to melt down. That was not my intent.

 

It looks like you are doing really well in your homesteading goals. Everyone is at a different level in regard to self sufficiency here. Some are happy to have a garden, some are trying to be full on self sufficient like you and many in the middle. Some here arent doing what they used to do because of age or changing situation but they still have alot of knowledge to share.

Personally, I still shop at the grocery store because I like my coffee, fresh fruit, and other things I cant produce. What I do produce [ meat, eggs, garden produce, firewood, hay, etc ] takes a big burden off of the inflation that others around me are struggling with.

I think OP is one of the most well organized and productive homesteads Ive seen [ at least the posts give me that impression....I chose to believe it because, why not? Its all doable ].

 

Depending on where one wants to live the conditions vary significantly. You may have wonderful produce but I don't want your mosquitoes or mini-permaculture plots. I like forest - you like plains. On and on.... There are always questions about the 'best' place to live. It is highly dependent on preferences and tolerances.

But you seem to be doing well! Congrats! Now lighten up on those who choose to live under different conditions.

 

Well, I'll be one of the few to say I agree with the intent of this thread. I shake my head when I see posts about grocery prices folks observe (not just here, but several forums) and the prices listed are definitely not the sale prices. Recently on a local forum someone posted about the price of coffee due to tariffs and put a pic of the label with the price. I have bought the same brand and same size at the same store they posted twice since then for less than 1/3 of that price, which is about the same as I have paid the past several years.

Grow what you can, but if you can't you should never buy anything when not on sale. I think this was meant to be the main point of the post and not that anyone should be 100% self sufficient. I'm not sure if people are just poor shoppers who don't put forth any effort to keep up with prices and sales or if they are taking the most outrageous examples to prove some kind of point. I have said before that we don't call ourselves homesteaders, but we do try to produce most of what we consume. I do not grow beef, since at my age the math of replacing fences and the other costs guarantees there would be no return on the investment in my lifetime. I'd rather grow my own, but it doesn't make sense, so with beef prices high we have cut it way back in our diet and either only buy what is marked down or buy from a local producer.

I'm also shocked by grocery prices, but not from my bill. I'm shocked when I see the total the person in front of me in line is paying for a bunch of crap in cardboard boxes out of the freezer section, junk food and almost never the stuff needed to cook from scratch. Looks like they wander every aisle and grab a little of everything.

Some of these reactions are probably why I don't see many actual posts about homesteading topics. The average person will just go away instead hanging around and ignoring the cliques of negative folks who can't understand the simple intent of a thread or offer any positive comments about any successes related to the main subject of the forum.

 

You wrote " Some of these reactions are probably why I don't see many actual posts about homesteading topics. "

I too am surprised at the lack of actual homesteading and self sufficiency content posted here. Lots of non-homesteading stuff is talked about here but not much homesteading.

 

I shop the sales whenever possible. I produce what I am able based on my property, location, income and physical limitations. I make an income with my labor, whether it is off-site on my property. I cook completely from scratch, except for when I eat out three or four times a year.

I still have to buy items that someone else produces. No one here got to where they are by being only a homesteader unless they were given a property or financial stake by someone else.

Celebrate and encourage those that do what they can. Insulting them because you are further along helps no one.

 

Never go shopping if you haven't eaten beforehand.

 

Here is one: it's getting to be wood burner season. And the always hot pot of water on the stove for tea. We're not so young anymore so some of the simpler stuff is important than how many mega jars of stuff are in the pantry. In a snow storm we can get snowed in longer than we have livestock feed (6-8 weeks) so our two legged provisions are not a problem.

But last night's cougar may have reduced our livestock needs. More on that later.

What IS homesteading?

 

Sounds rather braggy to me.

 

Sheesh, I’m hardly a “homesteader” and barely a Gardener, but I’m here, and always impressed when I see someone’s hard work and what it has produced in canning jars from someone’s garden.
Good for you Wind Ridge, and I hope to see more from the Garden.

 

I will admit to finding some of the responses to the OP here rather 'judgmental' but perhaps that is because we each have a different idea of exactly what 'homesteading' is. Is it building your own house and barn entirely without outside contractors (which I have done) or being almost entirely self sufficient as the OP appears to be (which I have not succeeding in doing)? Is being off grid and not relying on outside power part of 'homesteading'?
Is it working towards either or both of those endeavors by work in a job that has nothing to do with 'homesteading' nothing to do with it, does my years of self sufficiency by building and repairing mechanical stuff to make a few bucks part of that or not?
Perhaps 'self sufficiency' is a better broad term for 'homesteading, a previous poster on the thread said 'what is homesteading' …..good question, to each his own no matter what you call it!

 

From Windridge first post my first thought was he is a professional homesteader. He will have great info to pass on. But hay some of us are just happy we can pee on the back of the shed without the neighbors seeing. We can be wanna bes sharing what didnt or did work, or us oldsters that castrated piglets in a old rainboot....But today its a job to get to the kitchen. We are here to learn, to share, find like minded and even someone to fuss with now and then.

 

I think cooking from scratch is a big part of homesteading. Theres few things you can do in the 'homesteading' world that provide almost instant benefit/savings with almost no additional outlay. We all have pots, pans and a stove.

And of course even the best gardener or shepherd doesnt amount to much if he/she can't bring it to the table with a good meal.

 

BTW I think of this place kind of like an old hardware store in a small town. Theres always a few old timers hanging around talking about projects, family life, politics, or the price of tea in China.

 

I would hope so

 

Y'all are arguing with an AI bot.

 

Since the topic is ostensibly grocery prices, I'm going to drive across town in a couple days, and take advantage of some short-dated perishables, after seeing them on a local Facebook page devoted to this subject.

 

As much as I would like to be as well set up as the OP, I physically cannot.

There used to be a distinct ABSENCE of reliable info on most homesteading-related subjects, which is why (in my opinion) this forum took off in popularity. When a search only comes up with a load of ads and old wives tales it was LOVELY to bring a question here and to have people say "I tried that, and here is what worked for me and what did not work for me".
Because nobody was born knowing everything, and my neighbors might be experts on lawn can but they know bupkiss about raising and storing sweet potatoes, corn, etc. And they have no desire to learn more.

So, as I mentioned, I will never be as well set up as the OP. But, my sweet potatoes are sweet, my eggs are rich, my little squashes are making good "pumpkin" cakes, and my flour corn has not yet been tried because I lack a grinder strong enough to grind it. I am considering soaking the kernels overnight and running them through a blender.

That is the sort of thing that homesteaders here try out when they lack the equipment needed to run a well-rounded subsistence farm. And then share the results with other people who are wanting cornbread, have the corn, but lack a $500 mill to turn it into the desired flour to cook with. We try things out and then share the results

 

Even if you are a real homesteader and think you are "self sufficient" you still need to buy stuff to be "self sufficient". And that stuff is more expensive so it costs more to grow and preserve your own food than it did 5 years ago so it's basically the same thing as grocery prices going up.

 

Congratulations You just created your own personal supermarket for you and your family.