Modern Day Homesteading Pt.3

 My Wee Little Homestead

The first year I started, I have to confess I had no idea what I was doing.  While I had dabbled in some hobby gardening over the last 30+ years, I never really educated myself on it. I bought bat manure fertilizer and harvested a million (more or less) tomatoes in a season, from 4 plants. I didn't even know there were different kinds of tomatoes, or what kind I actually grew. I never even ate one because I thought I didn't like tomatoes since all I'd ever had were store bought tomatoes, and those were just... bland and kind of gross.  Pumpkins grew out of my compost heap and literally took over the entire back yard. I grew snap peas once.  That was essentially the extent of my food growing skills before 2020.  I also had never built anything before, never planned out an entire plot of land, or really any of the things I ended up learning how to do.  I had zero knowledge of what it means to create an entire ecosystem on a parcel of land (or even how or why to begin that process).  So I literally began as a complete newbie, and watched every YT video I could find on every subject that came to mind.  I still do that, as a matter of fact. 

While I wasn't sure how to do what I wanted to do, I was very sure about what I wanted.  At first, my goal was to just create spaces where I could grow the kind of food my family eats. My thought was, if I'm growing at least some of it, that's less money I have to spend at the store to buy it. The added bonus was, instead of growing grass that I have to constantly take care of with zero return on investment except looking pretty, I'd be growing food that would be taking care of me and my family.  I'm pretty sure no one in my family likes the taste of grass, so it was time to move on to tastier options. 

I watched countless in-depth videos and learned how & why to build raised beds (as opposed to just planting directly in the ground) and it just grew from there.  I made a lot of mistakes and will probably make loads more, but I've learned a wide variety of new skills and have found a real passion for the hard work that goes into all of this. I went from 2 raised beds at 6 square feet of growing space my first year, to multiple raised beds and nearly 200 square feet of growing space.

I did much of this with either materials I had on hand or items I found through online marketplace ads and then repurposed for the back garden. One of those projects was one of my raised beds: this 4x2 bed of two stainless steel window wells, bolted together with fence boards. I love the old country farm vibe it gives the back yard. Not to mention, it'll probably last for many years to come. Half of the season it holds my garlic and in the second half it's home to the beets.  

While my initial goals were to grow at least some of the food my family loves the most, I've been able to do that, plus put up enough ketchup, pasta sauce, salsa, garlic dill pickles, relish & beets, that I haven't had to buy any of these things from the grocery store in at least 2 years now.  

While I still struggle with growing Pizza Trees and Toilet Paper trees, it sure feels good to know I never have to buy certain things again, as long as I keep growing them, processing them and putting them up for the next season. And, as it turns out, home grown tomatoes are rather incredible, and taste absolutely nothing like those red things you find in grocery stores. 

My one and only negative thought about homesteading is this: 

I wish I would have discovered it 40 years ago, while all my babies were still small so that I could have raised them all to learn these skills and appreciate the space we have. Also, I would have saved a ton in groceries for 8 hungry kids 😂

Homesteading is so much more than gardening.  It's a truly educational, instructional, purposeful & productive way of living. 

While endeavoring into the homesteading life I've learned how to build things, make things, repurpose things, repair things, grow things, forage for things and learn new things I want to know more about. Also, learn new things I literally never wanted to know about, but am now really glad I do. I am not a professional in any capacity in this lifestyle, I'm a dedicated life-long student and loving every minute of it along the way.

Last summer one of my daughters had some friends over for a lunch on the deck, and one of her friends commented "your back garden is beautiful it's so lush, and there's food everywhere".  💖 I've come a long way from... looking at grass. 

I hope in some way I've encouraged your curiosity about this life, and inspired you.