Social Media Comment Section: Homestead Bashing

Because I've set a boundary for myself in my activity on social media to contribute nothing but encouragement (hopefully), I choose to not get involved in the comment sections there in what may be considered to be controversial issues. So this is my space for sharing some expounded thoughts on what I see there. 

Recently I was standing in my dining room at the table, picking individual basil leaves off their stems from four different kinds of basil plants to lay out on a tea towel to dry.  I have a dehydrater, but certain plants I like to let leave air dry instead, so the task at hand was to pick off leaf, after leaf, after leaf, one at a time. Just part of the deal, if you harvest and process basil.

As I was doing this, I began to think about bits and pieces of a public conversation I read with a Homestead Basher (yes, it's a thing) and some other folks that were commenting on this person's opinion.  

First, I'll explain Homestead Basher.  I didn't even know this was a thing until I re-opened my long dormant account on twitter/X about a year ago.  I quickly discovered there is a group of folks that seem to enjoy making fun of and making condescending comments about those who homestead.  I'm not entirely certain why they do this, but the same folks also tend to loathe "the patriarchy", disrespect those who hold traditional opinions of gender roles, openly promote/embrace some form of feminism and almost always put "homesteading" in scare quotes. I don't have much in common with these folks but their comments come up from time to time as it happens to do on social media, so that's how I discovered them & saw this conversation. 

In this particular incident, The Basher had made a comment in reference to how some modern day "homesteaders" (and yes, it was in scare quotes) tend to romanticize the past, and then informed the reader that it was terribly hard work and that they would much rather be spending their time & using their gifts, skills and abilities elsewhere,  instead of "on the homestead". 

Basically all the comments agreed, more or less listing off all the exotic places they could be or incredible intellectual things they could be doing instead of dirty, sweaty, back breaking physically demanding work. 

As a work-at-home mom, and an urban, modern day homesteader... I had thoughts. 

First, I've never known of a homesteader to romanticize the work involved so I don't know where that comes from.  Homesteaders are in fact more familiar with the hard work involved than anyone else.  Because we do it and live it every day. We're also quite thankful that we have many incredible modern conveniences that homesteaders of the past only dreamed about. We talk openly about what we're growing, what animals we're raising, which ones are coming, which are breeding, which breeds do better for our situations, what we're getting out of, what we're getting into, what failed, what was a success, what's being built, what needs repairing, etc. Our physically demanding lifestyle is something we just happen to love, and we also love talking about it quite openly and honestly with fellow homesteaders, or those interested in the lifestyle.  

For some homesteaders raising animals as well, this is year round and for others it's a seasonal gig depending on their growing season and greenhouse availability. Either way, it takes an incredible amount of dedication to working hard, to achieve the goal. For some folks, there is just nothing more rewarding and more satisfying than feeling physically exhausted from doing all that work, planning and building, to provide for their family. 

No romanticism whatsover: if you're unwilling or unable to work hard physically, homesteading is simply not for you. I have very limited mobility due to my broken neck and my property is too small to have any animals so my urban homestead is very low-key compared to many, but it's still a load of physical work every single day of the growing season. 

The second thought I had was the idea that being somewhere else, with other people, doing other important things, than being at home working hard for your family, was far more appealing. 

As I picked leaf after leaf off the stems of the basil and then tossed the stems into one pile and the leaves into another pile my only thought was: what's more important than what I'm doing right now in this exact, dull, tedious, repititious, blessed, grateful, thankful moment, processing basil leaves that will bless my family in the way of meals, beverages and more? Is there anywhere else I'd rather be, or is there anyone else I'd rather be with, than the people God blessed me with as family? 

The answer was a resounding NO. There is literally nowhere else on earth I'd rather be. 

I think maybe this is where the dividing line might be for those who find this lifestyle deplorable and worth mocking. For the bashers, they believe their gifts, talents and intellect is wasted away if "merely confined" to the home as they put it. They have so much more to offer, they say, than just being relegated "to the home".  

For most homesteaders, we tend to believe our gifts and talents and intellect were given to us specifically to bless the home, and all who dwell in it. Instead of seeing the home as a place we're limited to, we see the home as the place of foundational blessings where we choose to invest all our talents and hard work into, and then hope our kids take some of that with them when they grow up and move out on their own, and then bless their own households.

So, that's the long version of a social media comment on this particular topic. 😊 

If you're someone looking to get into homesteading and you come across this sort of negative attitude about it, please know that there are folks loving this lifestyle and that most (if not all) the criticisms you may hear about it, are simply not true. And also, we'd be happy to put on a pot of coffee and then spend the next four or five hours telling you how amazingly blessed this life really is. 

Thank you so much for stopping by this old blog and reading my rambly thoughts. I do hope this has blessed and encouraged you in some way. 💖