How to Start Homesteading

Today I wanted to share with you something that's very close to us here at the Farmers

Lab, something we're very passionate about, and that is helping others get started homesteading

We get this question a lot. How do I get started? What am I going to have to deal with

And how do you deal with those obstacles? We have just released a book, Living Off the Land, a modern guide to homesteading

We did this book because we receive so many emails, so many comments

We even have people stop by to let us know that they're interested and to see if we will

help them. And so we're always talking with people about this. We're very passionate about helping people on their homesteading journey

One of the first things that we get asked is, what does homesteading mean? Now, you know, people like myself and my husband, we were born into this lifestyle

So it's not something we had to learn. And for the last two or three generations, the skills and the knowledge are missing

And so these young people are coming and they're trying to start providing food for their family

and they don't know where to start. So this is what we're here for

This is the whole reason for the Farmer's Lamp, is to help you on your homesteading journey

If you ask five people, what is homesteading? You're probably going to get five different answers

But at the root of all those answers is going to be something like this

It's providing as much as for your family, as much food, as much comfort, as much as

you can for your family on the land that you have, whether that's a quarter acre, whether

that's an acre, whether that's a thousand acres, as much as you have doing what you

can to provide for your family. I'm not one of those people who say you have to have 10 acres of land and a garden and

you have to have this animal and that animal. I mean, really, I don't think it matters

To me, it is about the attitude of providing as much as you can for your family, no matter

where you are. Now, you have to determine what level of self-sufficiency you want to get to and you have to, what degree

of homesteading do you want to do? You have to answer those two questions at the very beginning of your journey

So let, I mean, let's face it, no matter what your lifestyle is, in this world, there are

obstacles, there are stresses. And the obstacles that we face with homesteading are largely based on the decisions that we

make about our homestead. And this is not an ad for the book, but the book is designed to walk you through all of

those and give you an action plan to help you get started homesteading or help you

even if you already have started, help you be better, help you be more productive on

your homestead. So let's take a look at some of the challenges

The first challenge that we deal with is money. Anybody who's on a farm or on a homestead, most of those people will tell you money can

be tight. It just seems like, especially in our country right now, if you've been to the grocery store

anybody at all, then you know, it's just, it's a crazy time

So a lot of people have to work and try to homestead, which is really hard because there's

chores, there's things that happen all day long. The garden needs daily attendance

You know, there's just things that can happen. So most of the time what happens is one person works a job away from the homestead and then

the other person is there, you know, doing what they can until the other one gets home

So finding a way to make money. A lot of homesteading families barter, a lot of them look for ways to earn money online

They sell products from the farm. No matter how much of the self-sustaining lifestyle you live, there always seems to

be something that needs, requires money. It's just the nature of our world

So before you do decide, consider, you know, that some areas have restrictions on selling

your eggs, selling your meat, selling your milk, selling your butter. So be aware of those situations in your area

The next thing we want to talk about is being flexible. Now, the weather

The weather is all important to a farmer or a homesteader, whatever you want to call yourself

It's the main reason that we have to be flexible. You know, I remember back in 2016, we had been in a drought for four or five years

And so we planted our garden in 2016, just like we always would

And then of course the rains came and we lost the whole garden

We had to start all over again. And it wasn't even in a flood prone area

It's just the rain was so much rain and the ground was so dry

The ground just couldn't handle it all at one time. So you know, as the old saying goes, the best laid plans of mice and men, right

So it's never truer than when it comes to weather. So on the farm we have a post called Old Timey Weather Sayings

And a lot of those are actually really very accurate. And it's a pretty fun read if you want to take a look at that

So what do you do when you face the obstacle of being flexible

You just reprioritize and you move on to the next chore. There's no stopping because the animals are going to need to be fed

They're going to need to be tended. They're going to need to be checked on. The eggs need to be gathered

These things just keep on going. So you just have to keep, you just get up and you keep going

There are a million and one ways that something can come up on the homestead

I mean, in the blink of an eye, it's not a question of if, it's just a question of when

You're going to have to change your plans and make 180 degree turn. I mean, it just, it just happens

I would say daily. You're ready to harvest your garden. That may be the same time as your colt gets colic

Or you're having a breached calf. I mean, you may spend hours leading a horse around a corral just hoping that he will poop

So bullet or horse, he became a top priority in a matter of seconds a few years ago

So these things are just going to happen and you're going to get frustrated

If you're like me, I'm a list maker and I love that to-do list

And so there's never a day that I get all those boxes checked

It's just not going to happen. Okay. You're not ever going to sit down at the end of the day and say, I got everything done

today that needed to get done. Take that off the table and give yourself the room to take a breath and say, you know what

I did everything I could today. I did the very best that I could today and move on

Take everything with a grain of salt and a pinch of sugar. As they say, frustration and anger are not going to get you anywhere

Don't be unreasonable in your expectations of yourself, of your finances or in others

Just look on the sunny side, as they say. There's a season for every work on the homestead and you will get there

Don't look at someone's farm and say, oh, that's what I want today. It may have taken them 20 or 30 years to get there

So, you know, allow yourself the time to grow, make mistakes, learn from others and just

keep moving forward. Now, on a homestead, a skill is as good as money in the bank

You can barter your skills. You can trade your skills. Some skills can become even relaxing or even hobbies

You always keep improving in this lifestyle. You're not stagnant at all

If you can develop a skill or you have a skill that helps you make extra money, that's

a real blessing. You can be doing knitting, woodworking, metalworking, leatherworking, mechanical repair work, food

preservation, write books, blogs, animal husbandry. I mean, the list could just, there's just no, it's exhaustive

There's no way to get to the end of all of it. But there are some skills which aren't as tangible

When your cow is in trouble, like we said, she's having a breech birth

Do you have a level head? Can you think clearly and find a solution before it's too late

Or do you just say, oh, that's it. There's no options. I don't know what to do and, you know, freak out

Do you know someone who keeps a cool level head in the face of adversity

They're the ones that you want to call in a situation like that. So each of us has our strong points and they can come in handy at the right time

Reach out to the people you trust, build a community in the homesteaders and farmers

in your area. And those relationships will help you survive in the homesteading life

You put your head together, you gain knowledge that you wouldn't otherwise have

Listen to the old timers, listen to the old timers, sit with them, talk with them

They love to answer questions. And most homesteaders and farmers love to help people

So I won't say all because this is the world we live in, but find someone who you can ask

whom you can trust that has the experience and grow and learn from them

There is never enough time to do everything. Never enough time. Like I said, I don't even remember a night when I laid down and thought, I've got it

all done today. You know, I laid out and I think, man, I wish I had had time to do that

I wish I had had time to do this and I hoped I would get to that

So time can be an obstacle in homesteading, but it's manageable and you can use it wisely

So you just make a list. I'm a list maker. Like I said, you prioritize, you work from the greatest to the least, and you just keep

moving forward because it's just a blessing to be living this lifestyle

This is that we're talking about right now. It's not exhaustive. I mean, you know, we can't cover everything in a short video or a short podcast, but these

are just the top things. Your homestead is where you hang your heart

It's where you wipe the sweat from your brow. It's where you bind the bleeding cuts

You find the balance in your spirit. You find what works for you and your family, make a decision as to what you want to do

what you can do, and then move forward from there. If you find solutions, share them with other people

If you need solutions, reach out to people. I'm always here. My husband and I are always here to help you in any way we can

The freedom you feel in a homestead is almost intangible. I mean, it visibly changes the people and the things around you

You're going to have your family may question your decisions. Just let them be who they are and just love them, and these are the decisions you've made

for your family, and go forward with it. You cannot expect yourself to be where you're going to be in 10 years

It's just not going to happen, so take a breath. Make the decisions that you need to make and move forward with your family

What are the top benefits that come to your mind when we're talking about homesteading

I want to give you a list of mine. The satisfaction of being self-sustaining

That doesn't mean that we don't have to purchase things off the farm or that we consider ourselves

detached from the world. To a certain degree, that is true, but that just means that we could, if something happened

live off of what we produce here on the farm. It's the knowledge of where your food comes from and what is in it

It's the reward of hard work, of a job well done, knowing how your food was raised, knowing

how your animals were treated and processed, a sense of independence, peace

I love that we're always learning new skills, always improving skills. If you have the right setup, the solitude and privacy, but my very favorite thing is

new life when chicks hatch, when kittens are born, when calves come on the scene

That's my favorite part. There are hard parts. When you have to cull an animal, when a bear breaks in and gets an animal, or something

else happens to one of your animals, that's the hard part of this lifestyle

Even though we're sustenance farmers, killing is never easy. We all have different ways of dealing with that

We tend to just say, you know what? The Lord provided us this meat

This is the animal he's put into our care. We've given it a good life

It's healthy and now it's going to feed our bodies. We're thankful to the Lord for that blessing

Do not be afraid to dream big, but keep in mind that it's one step at a time

Like I said a while ago, you're not going to be tomorrow where you're going to be in

10 days. If you have these goals, when my kids were little, we had this saying

I don't know where it came from, and I'm sure it's not unique to my family, but it's, by

the yard it's hard and by the inch it's a cinch. I would tell them that

Then I would have to remind myself, this is true. This is the way of life

Now, when you decide you're going to be homesteading, let's say you're in a subdivision

You may have an HOA, so be sure you know your rules

You can start with edible landscaping, and we have a post on the farmer's note to help

you with that. You can maybe have chickens. A lot of places like that can't have roosters, but you could have a couple of hens

Just start where you are, and then if your desire is to move to a piece of land or out

into the country or out of town, then take actionable steps. Every little step will eventually add up to you being where you want to be

In life, overcoming fear is the hardest step. Don't be afraid. Just take a look at it

We all have to start somewhere. Just begin at the beginning, right now, where you are today

Start thinking about ways that you can produce more for your family and be more independent

You might start with something small, like I said, like a couple of chickens, a tomato

plant in a container in your backyard. Wherever you are, just take that first step

Things are going to happen every day. Like we said a while ago, you have to be flexible

My husband and I discuss over our second cup of coffee what we want to accomplish that day

We set our priorities, and then based on that, we're flexible around that because things

are going to happen. Even though I was born and raised in this lifestyle, I don't know it all

Know anybody who tells you they don't have anything to learn and they know it all, they don't

They don't even know what they don't know. We still try to learn new things

We still try to grow new crops. The enemy is not failure

The enemy is fear because faith cannot live where fear abides. They're completely opposite to one another

Failure to us is the opportunity to stretch, to learn a new skill, to gain an experience

Believe it or not, things are out of our control. Things are going to go wrong, even with the tried and true ways that we do things, even

with the old-timey ways, with modern twist. We just learn from our failure and move on

There's no shame in asking. When I was a little girl, I was known for being inquisitive

Imagine that. My chemistry teacher even came up, this was when I was in high school, even came up with

a lab character based on me, and she named it Wanda Watt, as in Rhonda asked, what happens

when I cause more than one lab situation? I remember someone telling me I shouldn't ask too many questions

They made me feel like I was wrong. I remember to this day what my papa told me

He said, Rhonda Lynn, he never called me by my first name. It was Rhonda Lynn

The only stupid question is a question that you already know the answer to

You go ahead and keep asking those questions. Of course, he was right

As far as I'm concerned, he was always right. You shouldn't be concerned

Ask questions. Don't feel dumb. Don't feel like you should already know

Only you can decide. Only you know why you want a homestead

Only you know the direction that you want to take your family in

You know your desires for your family. It's always a good idea to ask good questions

Ask people who have experience, but bear in mind that the decision that best suits your

needs and lines up with your goals is yours alone. Expectations and desires of what someone else thinks or wants you to do, they don't matter

We live by a saying, and if you've been with Farmers' Night for any length of time, I know

you know this saying, but we live by this saying. There are as many ways of getting a farm chore done as there's farmers

You got to be willing to listen, help, and learn from them, even if it's just to see

what not to do. What I do, what we do, may not work for you, but if you see what I do and you say, hmm

that's not going to work for me, but this might, then you've learned something. Then you've gained something

My granny used to tell me whenever something bad would happen, she would say, Rhonda, it's

better to laugh than cry, so dry those tears. She wasn't a very emotional woman, as you can tell

Frustration and the lack of knowledge, it kind of skews our view of things

Learn to laugh at yourself. Learn to make mistakes, because trust me, you are going to make mistakes

We all do. It's going to happen. You just refresh. You refocus

You don't have to have a mental breakdown. You don't have to stress out

Give yourself a break. Take a walk. Remember why you're in this lifestyle

If you don't have clear goals and a clear decision, a clear reason why you want to start

homesteading, you're going to struggle, and you may even fail. These things are important

Just take some deep breaths. Remember why you're doing it, and just get out there and do it

I'm sure you know the old saying, experience is the best teacher. Well, it's true

No matter how much knowledge you acquire, no matter how many books you read, if you

don't get out there and do it, you're just not going to learn it

You can have it up here and not have it here, and this is where it matters

My desire is to help you, not only with this talk, but to encourage you

If you have questions or comments, let me know. Check out the book

Give yourself and your family a large learning curve. Above all else, enjoy your journey

It's fantastic. It's fulfilling. It's humorous, and it's inspiring. Until next time, safe and happy journey