Cris
Homestead Without a Homestead
Ah, homesteading……How do you homestead before you have a homestead?
Wake up, feed the animals, collect the eggs, milk the cow. Tend the garden and enjoy living off the land. That’s the dream, right?
While there are a ton of people who do it, there are a ton of people who feel that it is out of reach for them. There is always an excuse as to why it can’t be done, and I’ve had the same excuses. You can’t afford to buy land, you have no time to work the land because you have to work, you don’t know where to even start.
What if there were ways to start homesteading without an actual homestead?
Where to Begin
First off, think of it as a way of life. You don’t need the big farm and chickens and cows to have a homestead. Homesteading is about embracing the simple life, growing a garden, and learning to do new things.
Back in the old days, people really did live off the land. They grew their own food, they raised their own animals, they made their own stuff. Why? Because that’s all there was, they had to, so they did.
To start your homestead journey, you need to change your thinking. Start doing research to see what you can do right now, without having an actual homestead. This will help you be prepared to actually go do it in the future if that is your goal in life.
Take the First Steps
Start living like a homesteader! Try making your own products to ditch the consumerism. Today’s view of homesteading is vastly different from the days of old. Today it is less having an actual farm than it is having a modest garden, raising a few animals, and making your own products.
To get started TODAY you just need to change your mindset. You don’t have to jump off the grid in a rural area right away, you can urban homestead from anywhere.
Start learning how to cook from scratch. This means no bore boxed or canned goods. It will save you money in the long run. To go with this, source fresh in season produce and learn how to preserve it by canning it yourself.
Learn about animals you will eventually want and see if you can have poultry in your backyard. There are often people who will rent you a pasture to house an animal or two as well. You can’t have a cow in an apartment, but you may be able to team up with someone to raise your own meat as a joint venture.
Ditch the plastic waste by making your own cleaning products. This does not mean mail order from a green company; this means actually researching the ingredients and making them yourself. If you can read and make a food recipe, you can read and make a soap recipe. Body soap, shampoo, dish soap, laundry soap, all-purpose cleaner, yup you can make them all.
Take it to The Next Step
Once you have mastered some easy at home changed with food and cleaning, you can step up your homesteading game a bit. Learn how to sew your own clothes. I’m not saying to make a new pair of jeans but learn how to stitch up a tear in the ones you have. Recycle what you have to make it last longer.
I typically NEVER buy new clothes; I always go to a thrift store. It is not uncommon then to have to sew on a button or hem up a pair of pants when they get home. Let’s not forget about small mishaps that leave you with a torn pocket, or a hole in the knee.
There are hundreds of other crafts you can learn that will build on your homesteading skills. Try making your own candles, build a bookshelf, learn to cook on a campfire, grow a few vegetables. The more skills you learn now, the better off you will be when you DO get a homestead.
Step by Step
First off, it’s the above-mentioned research, planning and dreaming. This goes with the learning and practicing how to do and make things for you self.
The second step is figuring out where you would like to homestead. This information will definitely come from the research in step one. Figure out what you can afford, and what it will take to make it happen. Set your budget to be able to get there.
The third step is setting those goals to follow the budget to take that first step onto your new homestead. You will want to start small when you get there, no need to get all overwhelmed trying to do it all at once.
The fourth and final step is to keep building on your farm and your skills to survive on it on your own. This is the lifelong step; you will never stop improving and learning new things. Welcome to the real homestead life, you made it!
Whether it takes a few months, or years of planning and dreaming to make it a reality, you worked hard to get it done.
More Skills to Learn
Check out these other pages for more information to start your homestead journey:
Vegetables that Grow Great in Containers for Small Spaces.
The Best States to Start a Homestead.