So you think you want to Homestead....some food for thought

When I was a little girl I use to love the Little House on the Prairie reruns. I loved the thought of family sharing actual one on one time in front of the fireplace while pa read from one of his favorite books or all of the kids running wild and free chasing butterflies through the prairie grass. Something about the whole idea seemed romantic. While hardships were shown on the television show, love always seemed to concur all. Almost to the point that the hardships were barely noticeable. I think that watching those old reruns is what started my fascination with living off the land. Ever since then I carried around this image in my head of simply foraging for food, smiling and laughing with my family in front of an oil lamp, and waking up each morning to the sweet smell of fresh dew drops as I thanked God for the peace and tranquility of living in the wonderful wilderness that He created. Even to this day that image still bounces around in my head, but it plays more like a comedy these days. A comedy because now.....I know better.

I think a lot of people carry the misconception that Homesteading is oh-so-nice. Many people would give up their 9-5 jobs and work from home any day. But is that any reason to homestead? Homesteading is extremely hard work, especially if you are limited in your resources, support, and start up finances. Some people aren't shy about hard work, and to those people I say "AWESOME!" However, they aren't the norm. If they were we wouldn't have any of today's modern conveniences. Let's face it, life's luxuries have led to an incredibly lazy group of humans.

So, you think you want to Homestead? Here are a few things that you might want to consider before making the big plunge.....

1. How physically fit are you and your family? Any average Joe can pull weeds, or feed the chickens, or sweep the porch. But what about if you had to pull weeds for four hours straight? If your family needs wood for heat, how many cords of wood can you bring in? Can you use a saw, and if so for how long? Are you physically capable of taking care of your family?

I have to be honest here. I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis a while ago, and find many of these tasks almost impossible now. If it weren't for the fact that other Homesteaders share my property and the big chores, I may not be able to continue Homesteading.

2. How large is your family and does every member wish to Homestead? Bigger families can have an advantage because there are more people to help with chores. However, they can also have a disadvantage, because there are more mouths to feed. Also, if you are going to be receiving slack from any member of your family, now is the time to confront the issue. If you are counting on your teenagers youth and strength to help with some of the big chores, and they do the task as fast as any average slug, it could hinder your family rather than help them.

I am a single mom. I have two mouths to feed. However, I live on 40 acres with two other families and we have a community garden. I love to garden, so normally I end up with way more produce than my little family can eat and I pass it on to my Homesteading neighbors, who in turn help with the more tedious and heavy duty tasks.

3. What is your financial status? How do you plan to obtain an actual Homestead? And how do you plan on financially supporting that Homestead once it has been established? These are some of the more important questions to ask yourself. If you are planning on purchasing property and a house, you need to figure out how you are going to pay the mortgage, insurance, and taxes. I know a few Homesteading families that have one member still working outside of the home. I think this is the most reasonable approach for families that have huge financial costs due to purchasing the Homestead.

Many Homesteading families get their property from relatives that have passed away. If this is the case, how can you financially maintain the property? I personally work from home. But it took me a long time to get to where I'm at. I blog, I sell almost brand new designer clothes on EBay, and I do photography on the side. I also make all natural/organic salt and sugar body scrubs and sell them at the local farmers market and health food store. There are many different options for working at home, however it is a timely process to get to the point to where working at home is your only income.

4. What skills do you have? Are you an avid gardener, butcher, repair man/woman, mechanic, doctor, herbalist, veterinarian? If not, what skills can you bring to the Homesteading table? And if you don't have many of these types of skills, what types of skills are you interested in learning before developing your Homestead? Also, are you interested in bartering with others who have different skills?

I am an avid gardener, herbalist, and am very knowledgeable in holistic health. I use these skills to keep my family healthy. However, I know next to nothing about butchering. When it comes to butchering my Homesteading neighbor takes care of that, and we trade services as he knows next to nothing about gardening, herbs, or holistic health.

5. What resources do you have available to you? Are you planning on keeping the Internet, or electricity for that matter? How will you find information when you absolutely need it? Library? Phone?

I personally have the Internet, electricity, phone, and use the library quite frequently. Perhaps I'm a new age Homesteader. I think that keeping the Internet helps me have immediate access if I have a question about gardening, such as when a plant needs a specific PH balance in the soil and how to get the soil just right. I also think it is helpful for being able to work from home. Not everybody feels this way though. There are days that I would prefer to not have the Internet, such as the days that I am not as productive as I could have been because Pinterest got away with me.....but that is a topic for another day.....

6. What type of support do you have? If you tell your parents, friends, kids, etc that you are planning on Homesteading, what do you think their reaction is going to be? Don't get me wrong, do what you want. Don't base your decision on what other people think. Do, however, take into consideration that some people see Homesteaders as "extreme." If that is a label that you are willing to live with, then definitely go for your dream. If it isn't, then you might want to rethink Homesteading.

Honestly, I lost a few friends when I decided to Homestead, simply because every conversation with them became them making fun of the way that I chose to live. In the long run, though, I think it was a good thing. Who wants to keep friends like that anyway? I don't know if I would have felt the same way if it were my family acting like that though.

7. How good are you at emergency situations? What if there was a fire? A snow storm? A broken bone? Would you have a plan? When dreaming about your future Homestead, try to put an image in  your mind about one of these emergency situations. How would you handle it? Would you have a plan for just that emergency? Or are you more a fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants type of person?

This most recent winter, we had a horrendous snow storm that left us without electricity for a few days. Thankfully, I have an emergency tote for just such an emergency. The tote includes extra flashlights, batteries, candles, oil and lamps, games to keep us occupied, matches, lighters, and a small first aid kit so that if something happens in the dark we don't have to scramble in the bathroom to locate the big one. I also always keep water jugs filled and rotate them every few months to keep the water good. Because we have wood heat, there were no problems with the heat.

For those dead set on Homesteading, I commend you and say "Good luck!" Seriously, if I can do it, anybody can do it. Just make sure you're ready for it and have completely thought it out!!

Cheers!!