Modern Day Homesteading Pt.1

It recently came to my attention that some people don't understand what modern day homesteading looks like. It's decidedly different than old time homesteading to be sure, but in many practical ways it's actually the same thing. For this reason, I'll be starting a series of posts on what modern day homesteading is all about. I hope it serves to bless and encourage you.

So, just what is modern day homesteading? In the most simplistic terms, it's using the space & the intellect God has blessed you with, to be as self-sufficient as possible and provide for your family. Some people might call it simply "gardening". While gardening is certainly part of homesteading, it's just one part among many others. Homesteading includes gardening, as well as knowing how to put up (preserve) that food that you grew. It also includes learning numerous new skills to build & create things (as much as possible) that your household needs. From furniture to soap, pet food to clothes, medicines to nutrient dense compost.

Homesteading looks very different for every household. For some it may include a large plot of land with barns, coops & greenhouses along with meat & egg chickens, raising goats, beef cattle or pigs. For others it will be an herbal or basic apothecary, kitchen or grocery row garden. For others it might be soap, candle making, or beekeeping (and selling those things at a local market). For most people who come into the homesteading life, it will often include many of these things.

It looks a little different for each family yet the goal is exactly the same: to produce as much of your own home grown, home preserved or home created products as possible, to eliminate the reliance on local grocery or big box stores and pharmacies. For many people the inspiration to live this way was especially highlighted during the worst part of the product shortages & lockdowns during the covid pandemic years of 2020-22 when we realized just how reliant on them we really were. Most of us had never really given it a second thought how dependant we really were, and that was a huge inspiration to remedy that.

In contrast to what homesteading used to look like 150 years ago, you don't have to be a pioneer with a covered wagon, building your own cottage from hand cut, peeled and split logs, relying on hand cut firewood & your own hand built outhouse to be an actual homesteader. That is what our ancestors had to do, but it's not what we have to do, thankfully, to engage in the same self-sufficient, satisfying hard work they engaged in. We have the conveniences they didn't have but we're usually not using up the growing space they definitely would have been using, and we usually don't know how to preserve what we've grown or create things we need, the way they knew how to do it.

In 2024, modern day homesteading means making use of your situation, whatever that looks like, to be as self-sufficient as you're able to be.

Modern Day Homesteading Part 2