Let’s start with “what is homesteading”. Homesteading is an idea that has been gaining in popularity lately, but it’s not a new concept. Way back in the American 1800s, Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act which gave people up to 160 acres of public land, provided that they would pay a small registration fee to live on it and improve it.
Sounds pretty good to me, but in that time and place, homesteading was serious business. It was building and growing and making to survive. They did it because they had to, they couldn’t just pop over to the store to get what they needed. I know it must have been hard, but also I think it must have been a very satisfying life. These days a lot of us can probably go for days without really accomplishing much. I think that negatively affects our mental health. I doubt the original homesteaders had such experience. There was no drive-through to pick up meals, there was planting, harvesting, preserving, hunting, foraging, butchering, baking and cooking to feed their families. Sometimes I feel like we spend a lot of time on things related to feeding ourselves, and we don’t have to hunt or raise or butcher or preserve our meat!
Think about what life would be like if you had to make everything you need: sewing clothes, making soap, all the things related to making your food from scratch! These are some the activities of a modern homesteader. You don’t have to have a lot of land to participate in the trend. It’s more a mindset, an idea. It’s about producing rather than just consuming. It’s about self-sufficiency, or at least community-sufficiency. It’s about being prepared for whatever comes your way. It’s about improving yourself. Improving your skills. Perpetually learning, and trying new things. It’s doing the best you can with what you have, right where you are.
We have a cozy little lot in the suburbs. There is not a lot of outdoor space, but still, we do these things, and you can too.
- Compost – We have a great little composter out in the garden that converts all our veggie scraps, coffee and tea grounds, and eggshells into good food for our veggie garden. With the exception of the eggshells, our compost is vegan.
- Make soap – there’s about a bazillion recipes out there. Choose a beginner one and give it a try. Be careful when handling lye – make sure there are no free-ranging children or animals that could cause an accident.
- Pick a household cleaner to try – again – a bazillion recipes. So many of what we find at the stores are green-washed toxic substances. Make something cleaner to clean with! I really like the recipe from DIY Stain Remover Recipe (mommypotamus.com) for laundry stains.
- Preserve – I started with water bath canning jams, jellies, tomatoes and salsas, and then moved on to pressure canning chicken and beef stocks, soups, and beans and chick peas. I also like fermentation preservation methods and recently got a dehydrator for my birthday that I’m experimenting with.
- Grow food – even with the minimal garden space we have, I will be harvesting chamomile, yarrow, rose, tomatoes, lettuce, sorrel, kale, thyme, oregano, sage, chives, basil, tarragon, parsley, and blackberries. Also mint that lives in a pot on the patio –always in a pot for mint, & not in the garden! Friends don’t let friends plant mint in the garden – it will totally take over.
- Make cheese.
- Bake sourdough – or choose something that your family eats a lot of and find a recipe to make it from scratch instead. I’m sure you could make it just as delicious, while also being healthier (with no unpronounceable ingredients), it may even save you some $.
- Make tinctures and herbal remedies. I’m just starting to get into this area. I have rose tinctures that I haven’t tried yet. I’ve harvested and dried some plantain. I have half a batch of elderberry syrup in the freezer for when we next need it. There’s always some “Cold Killer” Ultimate Cold Killer Shots – Fermented Food Lab in my fridge for when we feel we might be coming down with something. There’s a jar of fermented honey garlic we dip into when we feel we need an immune boost.
- Keep bees. Nope, not in my backyard. My bees live at the farm. Maybe you could find a farmer that would love the benefits that these lovely little pollinators offer. Did you know that big beekeeping operations offer pollination services? They do this by shipping truckloads of hives to a grower’s property where the bees forage among the crops and do their work. When the blossoms start to fade and fruit begins to grow, the hives are loaded back on the truck to go to whatever’s blooming next. …but I digress… maybe you could find a spot to keep a couple hives where the landowner will allow you space there for the pollination services and a jar or two of honey?
Other ideas I like, that we haven’t tried (yet):
- Learn to identify more native/wild plants. I’m searching for a good plant identification book.
- Render tallow and/or lard.
- Make yogurt.
- Make jerky.
- Make my own shampoo/conditioner.
- Get rain barrels – rain water is better for your garden & saves $$ if you’re on city water. Apparently some cities, towns municipalities have free or low-cost rain barrel programs.
- Get rabbits – although chickens are not allowed in a lot of suburban backyards (check your bylaws), rabbits are usually allowed, and are a great lean meat source, plus they make a lot of manure that is gold for the garden! Rabbit manure doesn’t have to be composted before being added to fertilize your garden.
See something interesting? Have another idea? Pick something and just start! You can do it. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It probably won’t be as a matter of fact, and that is ok. No one is great at something the very first time they try it, but keep going and you will get better. Practice makes progress. Let me know what you try!
– Beck
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