If you are reading this post, I'm going to assume that you have grand, romanticized dreams of one day having a homestead of your very own and you want to know how to get started.
You may even be like me and are looking for ways to prepare yourself for that life while you impatiently wait for it to become a beautiful reality.
I'm here to lead the way and feed into those wild dreams of yours.
I don't want you to become discouraged and lose your way because something seems difficult.
My goal is to provide you with the important details while adding more fire to the flames of your homesteading dreams.
You can do anything and I'm going to help make it as easy as possible.
So, what exactly do we do while we wait for our dream homestead to become our reality?
We learn.
We learn patience.
We learn what we can grow.
We learn what the local laws are.
We learn what animals we are allowed to raise.
We learn how much time we will be able and willing to put into a homestead.
We learn how to be handy.
We learn how to do research on-the-go.
We learn every single possible way to use tomatoes!
Oh...you don't love tomatoes? I'll take them! Thanks.
As a homesteader growing your own food, you'll need to learn all the ways to use that food in order to take full advantage of your harvest.
Especially if you get carried away with planting every variety of cherry tomato in your garden...you will be up to your neck in delicious tiny tomatoes. Sorry, not sorry.
HOMESTEAD GARDENING
One of the biggest reasons for starting a homestead is growing and raising your own food.
Have you ever planted a garden before?
If not, you'll want to know what you can grow in your climate and when to grow it.
Gardening will teach you many things such as patience and learning as you grow. Literally and figuratively.
So, getting an idea of what you can grow and what you want to grow and then getting a good idea of how to grow it will get you started on the right foot.
You can also plan out your garden!
This could end up being both exciting and overwhelming.
There are so many plant varieties and endless ways to lay them out.
There is a lot of information out there about companion planting and how much space a plant needs to grow to its full potential.
There are infinite ways to plant your new garden, but the most important thing is to just start!
FOOD PRESERVATION + STORAGE
If you're fully invested and want a lot of land with a large garden, you'll most likely need to can, dehydrate, freeze-dry, and cure your food to last through the winter.
You don't have to live on a farm in order to practice these skills. You can buy produce from a farmers market or your local grocery store and learn different ways to preserve them.
Don't waste time learning how to preserve foods in ways that won't benefit your budget.
If you don't like pickles, but you love raw cucumbers, don't spend hours of your time canning pickles that you won't eat. Instead, eat them raw and share the wealth with family and friends.
If you frequently buy salsa at the grocery store, but don't eat a lot of pasta sauce, read up on different salsa recipes for those tomatoes, and don't bother making pasta sauce that will sit in the pantry unused.
Get it? Good. Moving on...
HOMESTEAD ANIMALS
If you dream of having a handful of farm animals or opening a dairy, you'll need to learn about different breeds.
You'll also need to learn what geographical locations these animals can live in.
What they eat.
How to care for them during different seasons.
Whether or not you want to breed them.
How much space you need for them to live in, etc.
There are animals that need more attention and require more cleanup, but there are also more low-maintenance animals. This will depend on your time availability and your commitment to raising them.
You also have the option to raise animals for meat, if that is something you're interested in. You can do the raising and then have someone else do the butchering, or you can learn to do it all yourself.
When I was first looking into homesteading, I was very interested in being as self-sufficient as possible.
But I didn't want to kill an animal.
I'm not vegan or vegetarian, but I love animals. I appreciate what they do for us in every way.
But I didn't want to kill an animal.
The more I've looked into everything, the more I've been leaning towards learning how to do it all myself.
Not because I love animals any less or because I'm detaching myself from the reality of the situation, but because I want to have the skills and willingness to do it in case there is no other option.
To be fully self-sufficient.
WAYS TO MAKE MONEY HOMESTEADING
If your goal is to quit your day job and work from your homestead full-time, you'll need to look into different ways that your farm can provide income.
Do you want to sell produce, seeds or plant starts at the farmers market?
Do you want to breed rare chickens and ducks?
Do you love alpacas and want to sell their fiber once a year?
There are many different ways that your homestead can work for you and you will most likely need to take advantage of several different income streams to keep it running.
Now, depending on what route you want to go, in order to pay the bills, you may need to learn some new skills!
If you want to raise alpaca and sell the fiber, maybe you could learn how to card it yourself and sell it to crafters.
Maybe you dream of having several goats and need more uses for that goat's milk! You could learn to make butter and cheeses or even soaps to sell.
There are so many ways to take what you have and turn it into something new that people will pay money for.
You have plenty of time to learn these things before starting your homestead. Even if you already have the land picked out and you're just waiting for moving day.
Do some reading and dreaming and you'll do great!
You can follow along with me as I deep dive into the world of homesteading and garner knowledge from my research.
I have crazy big dreams and I'd love for you to join me on this journey!
Don't forget to follow me on Pinterest so you don't miss out on future content!
Where are you on your path to homesteading? Let me know down in the comments.
Thank you for dreaming with me!
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