Posted on 10/01/2015 8:47:01 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
So, you say you’re still on the fence about homesteading?
I get it. I really do.
Attempting to make the switch from buying all your food at the grocery store without a second thought, to someone who suddenly has an insatiable desire to garden and milk goats is quite the transition, ya know?
And then you have the whole “convincing the family/spouse” hurdle. Sometimes it’s easy to persuade them their future lies between rows of homegrown, GMO-free corn and beans, while in other cases, it can be a bit of a struggle to help them see the “vision”.
It’s easy to come up with reasons NOT to homestead in our day and age: (“It’s inconvenient”, “People will think you’re a hippie“, “Why grow food when you can buy it at the grocery store?”) but I’m here to tell you it’s worth it anyway. Really and truly.
If you’ve been hemming and hawing about the best time to start your new homesteading adventure, let me tell you a secret: The best time to start working towards your goals is always NOW. Even if it means taking the most minuscule of baby steps. Even if you face setbacks. Even if your goals will cause people to question your sanity. (And it WILL happen, especially when you bring home your first goat.)
So just in case you need a little extra push, allow me to present to you:
7 Reasons to Start Homesteading TODAY
Our society is disturbingly unaware of how our food arrives on our table. Kids don’t have a clue their hamburger once had eyes and a nose, or that their french fries grew in the ground (in dirt? ewwwwww…) Homesteading breaks this cycle by getting our fingernails dirty and encouraging us to return to an intimate relationship with the cycles of nature and food production. I’m convinced this is a need every human carries, and returning to it satisfies something deep inside us.
i would argue that all the land that can be successfully homesteaded is already in private possession
the land that can not support a living is not homesteaded
that would include much of Nevada and utah and other desert places
then there is Alaska........
“Beets” the blues too;
http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/antidepressant-microbes-soil.htm
A regular home owner may not be able to have live stock but maybe chickens and for sure Vegetables
The food just tastes better.That sweet corn cooking that was attached to the plant just 10 minutes earlier-can’t beat it.Same thing for the potatoes and green beans.
Been there, done that. The family may not be into it at all. If you really want to do it, do it all by yourself.
The kids may enjoy the goats or other critters for a while, but as they grow up they will probably not be interested. If you want it, it should be your thing that you do because you enjoy it.
The family members who are interested will help or not.
My spouse wasn’t into the animals and it caused tensions.
At 71 I still have a big veggie garden. This year was insanely productive. My freezer is full and I gave away lots of tomatoes, squash and eggplants. I put up several gallons of homemade jam. It is a lot of work, but satisfying for sure - - IF YOU LIKE THAT SORT OF THING.
“By declaring that the home you own and live in is your principal residence, Massachusetts will protect it against creditors for up to $500,000.00, or if you are disabled or 62 years of age or older, up to $1,000,000.00. But that’s not all folks, this protection can be had for a low, low, low charge of $35.00 in recording fees paid to your county Registry of Deeds.”
Great article that captures how I feel, completely. I know many others here work towards self-sufficiency, too! I’m a CONSERVE-a-tive all the way, Baby!
I’m leaving paid employment at the end of this year, getting married and moving to 160 acres in the next county, which is QUITE the step up from the 1.2 acres I currently, ‘farm,’ LOL! And by ‘farm’ I mean chickens and a HUGE garden, fruit trees, perennial fruits (raspberries, currants, grapes, rhubarb) and vegetables (asparagus, sunchokes), etc. I’ll be going from a county of 500,000 people (a good percentage of them turning feral) to a county that’s bigger, but only has 23,000, total. And that’s adding in the cows, LOL! 30 minutes to anywhere from there by car, but neighbors within walking distance. Heaven! :)
Beau will work construction one more year to pad his pension, then we’re going to take over production of the corn, soybeans and hay on land that he currently rents out. We’ve been raising steers for beef for the past 2 years, and we’ll add a hog or two for slaughter. I want a milk cow, but man, that’s a LOT of work! I can also have laying hens again - YIPPEE! It’s going to be an adventure to say the LEAST! Beau comes from a nearby small town; his farm is 10 minutes from where he was born. He’s never going to leave that land, and THAT says something in and of itself.
I grew up on cement in inner-city Milwaukeestan, but spent the summers on my Aunt’s farm, and my ‘City Grandma’ was a transplanted ‘Country Grandma’ so it wasn’t unusual for us to butcher a roasting hen on a Sunday afternoon right there in the city! She taught me to bake bread and make jelly and preserve the harvest, and how to sew, etc. My Mom was/is no slacker, but she spent her youth trying to get OFF of the farm; she thinks I’m a little bit nuts to embrace Farm Life life so WILLINGLY, LOL!
I’m thinking of starting a blog when I move out there; I’d like to share with others that it CAN be done and what mistakes to avoid along the way, etc.
We’re both in our mid-50’s, giving us (God willing!) a good 20-30 years to get the hang of it. It’s time. :)
Funny you should mention this. In a nearby town that has experienced an influx of "immigrants," one landlord had to demolish his apartment building. The tenants were raising chickens in the kitchen cabinets and were using their bathtubs to roast animals in.
Some small towns actually do allow livestock animals, if you have the acreage to support them. My town allows one cow or donkey per 2 acres, and many folks inside the city limits do have them.
These animals are brought down to the courthouse square on Christmas Eve for the living nativity.
Lots of folks in town have chickens, too.
But I do have my eye on a sweet little Guernsey heifer.
Well, not everybody needs, or can handle, a big spread of 100 acres or more. On ten acres or less, a family can easily grow enough to survive and sell, providing the soil is good and water is available.
If by “homesteading” you mean government owned land, where it still might be possible to just stake a claim for free, then you might be correct. I haven’t heard of anyone doing that in quite awhile. Seems like Obama wouldn’t like it!
I hate goats. I had to milk the blank-ers as a kid. The only good goat is a dead goat...in a gyro! :)
Oh, you betcha! They grew Sweet Corn on the 300 acres around me this season; nothing better straight from the field!
Oh how I wish I could do this again! I am 75 and while I am in good health, the body objects bending and stooping!
bkmk
Peas too. Delish.
I tried my best to like goat milk and cheese. Milked them in a proper bucket, hustled it to the kitchen to chill it fast. It still had that disgusting goat taste. Cannot stand it.
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