Why do I homestead? It started back as a kid hearing my mom’s stories about growing up on a farm. She would talk about chasing chicks out of the corner of the coup, and loving potato season when she got to walk behind the equipment and pick the potatoes off the ground. She would talk about walking the bean fields, climbing the apple trees, and all her dad’s milk cows. I loved to hear about all of it, I loved books like Little House on the Prairie, and I would makeup games about living as a pioneer and collecting rain water. I was elated when we lost power for a week in our small town and got to use candles to see at night!! I dreamed of making candles and wanting to weave baskets. I dreamed of living in the country.
Now, as an adult, I get to live out those dreams. When I first started homesteading, it was a 1.5 acres property that we raised ducks on. We had a couple maple trees I would tap for maple syrup, a few blueberry bushes and strawberry plants. We planted a couple apple trees and tore up our front yard for a garden. It wasn’t a big homestead, but it let us put our feet into this world. Through some unexpected circumstances, we ended up raising a pig over winter and were hooked on pigs.
A couple years later, we were presented with an opportunity to buy a 12 acre piece of property. We jumped at the opportunity. Now we have the room to grow as much food as we could need in a year. I have 3 gardens, a berry patch, and an orchard. We now raise cows, pigs, geese, ducks, and chickens. We get eggs, meat, and milk from our animals. We have the plans and space to raise almost all the food our family could need in a year.
I even get to do the little fun things like make candles and weave baskets. What a joy it is. But why else, homesteading is a lot of work so why put the effort into something I could go get at a grocery store? Not long ago I learned I am at a very high chance for some health issues. I don’t have any right now and want to keep it that way. My husband and I decided, raising as much food as we could ourselves was one of the best preventative measure we could take for myself and any of our children that may have it as well. It isn’t just about living a childhood dream, it’s about wanting to enjoy my children’s and grandchildren’s childhoods as well. I want to be around to see that.
Knowing where our food comes from, and what we do and do not spray it with and how it is raised allows us to keep track of what chemicals we are ingesting. While any one of them in our food at the stores today may not be a big deal, put all of them together and some people will start to have health issues. We want to be in control of what we eat and put around our bodies as much as possible. Are we purists? goodness no!! I don’t think that would be mentally healthy to never go out to eat at other people’s houses or restaurants, or to never buy a convenience meal at the store, but we like to limit it as much as is possible for us.
But what about you? Maybe you don’t have much land, if any! What if your homestead dreams seem like years away? It has been 4 and half years since we got our first animals and 5 years since we planted our first garden. I do not grow most of our food, in fact, I only produce an estimated 10% of the fruits and vegis we consume in a year, if i’m generous. I hope to increase that next year by a lot but that is not where I am this year. That is OK! A potted tomato plant and a lettuce box is a good start. One salad a year that you grow is a great accomplishment. One little plant that you can handle and not waste the produce from is better than a whole bunch of plants that you let the produce pile up and rot before you ever make anything with it (been there, done that, and still do, just ask the raspberries that molded on my counter yesterday). There is so much you can do, even in an apartment. You can bake and make food from scratch. You can make soap! Plant some herbs in a pot on your counter or window sil, my first herbs were pots on the counter, they did great! till I forgot to water them…….. oops. Just because you don’t have a lot of room, doesn’t mean you can’t become a good homesteader.
What if you have little kids? I have 7 kids, the oldest is only 7. I know a thing or two about trying to get stuff done with a lot of little kids crying around you. I don’t do it very well, and more often than not, have piles of laundry, sinks full of dishes and produce piled on the counter hoping to catch a moment of my time. It isn’t easy, but it can be done. Keep reading this blog and you’ll get to see a beginner try, fail, learn, and hopefully succeed at caring for this land. Thank you for taking your time to read this.