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What does "homesteading" mean to you, and what value does it have in your life?
What does "Homesteading" mean to you?
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The concept of Homesteading has changed for me over the years. Well, not so much the concept, but how it plays out in my life.
Decades ago I dreamed of having a farm. Being more self-sufficient. Having the space to breathe. I planned and saved and scrimped and looked for a good long while to find just the right place. Finally I could have my horses in my own back yard. I wanted to make the place pay for itself. Over the years I built an indoor riding arena and horse barn. I took in horses to train. I acquired a nice flock of Polypay sheep and raised replacement breeders for other producers. I raised some Scottish Highlanders and I had 150 chickens or so. I had dairy goats (Saanens) for my own use. Gardens, gardens and more gardens. I raised a goodly chunk of my own food. I fixed up the old house and installed a woodstove, harvesting from my own property the downed trees. I heated only with wood. I had two wells. I put up a good portion of my own hay and bought locally for the additional I needed. I bartered for services needed. I did most all the work myself as my husband worked off the farm.
And then circumstances changed and due to a divorce I had to sell my dream farm. It about broke my heart.
I moved back up north to take care of my elderly mom. Now I am living in the very itty bitty house I grew up in. Tiny house, big yard. My expression of Homesteading has turned into an urban one. I am a prepper at heart. I dislike putting out fires and I like to have things set aside for rough days. I enjoy being able to do for myself. I have a passion for gardening, so I've built many raised beds and converted about half of my back yard to that purpose. I think sometimes about a small chicken coop because they are allowed here. I think about getting some bees.
I am getting on in years. There are some things I do not miss about the farm...such as having to use a pick-ax to break the ice in the stock tanks because they froze over despite the heaters.
Getting on in years brings new things to me from a Homesteading concept that I find utterly delightful. Teaching the girl down the block how to crochet. Helping a niece with her first crack at hosting a holiday meal or teaching youngers how to bake bread. Passing on tips of frugal living. Teaching others how to preserve food or what herbs are good for this or that brings a certain "homesteady satisfaction" to my heart. I've got a whole bunch of people in my neighborhood building raised beds and incorporating edibles into their landscaping. Many have discovered blueberry bushes are wonderful and the foliage in the fall is brilliant...and you get berries.
Decades ago I dreamed of having a farm. Being more self-sufficient. Having the space to breathe. I planned and saved and scrimped and looked for a good long while to find just the right place. Finally I could have my horses in my own back yard. I wanted to make the place pay for itself. Over the years I built an indoor riding arena and horse barn. I took in horses to train. I acquired a nice flock of Polypay sheep and raised replacement breeders for other producers. I raised some Scottish Highlanders and I had 150 chickens or so. I had dairy goats (Saanens) for my own use. Gardens, gardens and more gardens. I raised a goodly chunk of my own food. I fixed up the old house and installed a woodstove, harvesting from my own property the downed trees. I heated only with wood. I had two wells. I put up a good portion of my own hay and bought locally for the additional I needed. I bartered for services needed. I did most all the work myself as my husband worked off the farm.
And then circumstances changed and due to a divorce I had to sell my dream farm. It about broke my heart.
I moved back up north to take care of my elderly mom. Now I am living in the very itty bitty house I grew up in. Tiny house, big yard. My expression of Homesteading has turned into an urban one. I am a prepper at heart. I dislike putting out fires and I like to have things set aside for rough days. I enjoy being able to do for myself. I have a passion for gardening, so I've built many raised beds and converted about half of my back yard to that purpose. I think sometimes about a small chicken coop because they are allowed here. I think about getting some bees.
I am getting on in years. There are some things I do not miss about the farm...such as having to use a pick-ax to break the ice in the stock tanks because they froze over despite the heaters.
Getting on in years brings new things to me from a Homesteading concept that I find utterly delightful. Teaching the girl down the block how to crochet. Helping a niece with her first crack at hosting a holiday meal or teaching youngers how to bake bread. Passing on tips of frugal living. Teaching others how to preserve food or what herbs are good for this or that brings a certain "homesteady satisfaction" to my heart. I've got a whole bunch of people in my neighborhood building raised beds and incorporating edibles into their landscaping. Many have discovered blueberry bushes are wonderful and the foliage in the fall is brilliant...and you get berries.
Good for you, Kasota! A wonderful example of "going with the flow". If you tire of the winters up North, we could use your skills down here in west Texas! We have a few acres surrounded by cotton fields, but due to working a very demanding job do not get to spend nearly enough time in them. We have my mother in a fine assisted living facility nearby - our last surviving parent. I'm going to try blueberries again also, this time in raised beds next to the house (they really don't appreciate our soil or weather!). Keep up the good work!
My concept of "homesteading" is to be as self seficiant as possible. I really don't like the term of homesteading but rather subsistance farming seems to be more suiting. There is this romantic notion that comes with "Homesteading" and that's really not what it's all about.Once you are actually practicing subsistant living it's not so romantic. It's a bunch of hard work.I think as long as you have that romantic view of this lifestyle you are a homesteader but if you get beyond that to the real brass tacks of the lifestyle it's just that. A lifestyle.It's not a job and it's not a carreer , it's a lifestyle!
I guess an example would be raising your own animals,you butcher them or you pay a butcher to do it. A homesteader pays and a the subsistance farmer does it all himself.I could never understand people that kill deer "for the meat" then take it to someone else to butcher and cut and package and make salami and grind into burger and on and on. That's not what deer hunting implies to me. I guess that's deer hunting but you're only living a small part of the process.
Please don't get me wrong. I mean no disrespect for "homesteaders". I'm glad you're out there. It's a great thing . I'm only saying you're missing out on a whole lot that the "lifestyle" has to offer.I guess because I was raised in this lifestyle it's just a little hard to wrap my head around just doing some and not all that you can of any of these things.It's like saying you are a gardener and not putting up produce for the rest of the year. Ya you go out and raise a garden but you're missing out on a whole lot by not putting up foods for the winter months.I just couldn't imagine buying those old hard gas ripened tomatoes from the store in the winter.
Just get out there and experiance all of it you can!
Wade
I guess an example would be raising your own animals,you butcher them or you pay a butcher to do it. A homesteader pays and a the subsistance farmer does it all himself.I could never understand people that kill deer "for the meat" then take it to someone else to butcher and cut and package and make salami and grind into burger and on and on. That's not what deer hunting implies to me. I guess that's deer hunting but you're only living a small part of the process.
Please don't get me wrong. I mean no disrespect for "homesteaders". I'm glad you're out there. It's a great thing . I'm only saying you're missing out on a whole lot that the "lifestyle" has to offer.I guess because I was raised in this lifestyle it's just a little hard to wrap my head around just doing some and not all that you can of any of these things.It's like saying you are a gardener and not putting up produce for the rest of the year. Ya you go out and raise a garden but you're missing out on a whole lot by not putting up foods for the winter months.I just couldn't imagine buying those old hard gas ripened tomatoes from the store in the winter.
Just get out there and experiance all of it you can!
Wade
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Thanks for the kind words, WestTexas! Blueberries like things a bit acidic. Try the southern highbush variety. They don't require the cold winter the way the regular varieties do.
Up here we can harvest blueberries in the wild. Sweetest things you will ever taste. There's a particularly bountiful patch I know of up the north shore of Lake Superior that is amazing. I grow them in my yard because I'm planning for the days when I am too old to hike up the ridge where they grow.
Up here we can harvest blueberries in the wild. Sweetest things you will ever taste. There's a particularly bountiful patch I know of up the north shore of Lake Superior that is amazing. I grow them in my yard because I'm planning for the days when I am too old to hike up the ridge where they grow.
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Hey Kas,
I was reading about 'blueberries' and 'bilberries'. Many of my family had places on the south shore near Iron River Wi. They would always pick 'blueberries' but I discovered that the wild ones up there were actually bilberries - much more flavorful but smaller. You had to pick for hours to get e bucket full but boy was it worth the effort. You ever hear of that difference? None of my family ever knew it or mentioned it. Neither did the locals. And all these years....My aunt used to make the best blueberry pie.....actually from 'bilberries'!
Northern Wi was where I first encountered thimble berries too! Boy, I thought I had a gold mine of the biggest raspberries ever! The locals laughed....
I was reading about 'blueberries' and 'bilberries'. Many of my family had places on the south shore near Iron River Wi. They would always pick 'blueberries' but I discovered that the wild ones up there were actually bilberries - much more flavorful but smaller. You had to pick for hours to get e bucket full but boy was it worth the effort. You ever hear of that difference? None of my family ever knew it or mentioned it. Neither did the locals. And all these years....My aunt used to make the best blueberry pie.....actually from 'bilberries'!
Northern Wi was where I first encountered thimble berries too! Boy, I thought I had a gold mine of the biggest raspberries ever! The locals laughed....
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Osiris, I think a lot of people make that mistake. They look very similar, but you are right - the bilberries are smaller. They are also darker and have a lot more anthocyanins in them. Bilberries also don't fruit in clusters the way blueberries do and their flesh is reddish.
Delicious delightful berries, yes, but it does take a slew of them to make a pie!
Thimbleberries are delicious! I have heard you can eat the young shoots, too, but I have not tried that.
I have some mammoth ever bearing raspberries that produce HUGE berries. They fruit all summer and fall - only stopping when the snow and cold freezes them out. I am going to transplant some this spring and expand my patch.
Delicious delightful berries, yes, but it does take a slew of them to make a pie!
Thimbleberries are delicious! I have heard you can eat the young shoots, too, but I have not tried that.
I have some mammoth ever bearing raspberries that produce HUGE berries. They fruit all summer and fall - only stopping when the snow and cold freezes them out. I am going to transplant some this spring and expand my patch.
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