In this article, I’ll share 3 simple ways to start homesteading today. Spoiler Alert: you don’t need to have inherited 40 acres from a family member who settled their land with The Homestead Act of 1862 in order to start your own journey of self-sufficiency. You just need the right mindset.
What is homesteading?
Homesteading by definition is “a lifestyle of self-sufficiency”.
In the last few years the principle of homesteading has made a comeback and for good reason but really, homesteading as a verb has been around since God created the earth. He created Adam and tasked him with caring for the Garden of Eden. Every thing we ever could have needed was found in that garden and provided by God. “Self” sufficiency in my opinion is breaking the chain that bind my family to convenience-living of grocery stores and restaurants for provisions.
God provides all for us. Abundantly and sufficiently.
With the introduction of the Industrial Revolution is when homesteading took a downward turn as both men and women were taken out of the home to run factory equipment. Essentially, to manufacture things those men and women once made by hand themselves that is now made by machine.
The Industrial Revolution started the ball rolling that eventually brought in technologies and advancements that I, too, enjoy today. However, it slowly caused generations to lose their traditional skills of making, creating, building, providing for the sake of convenience. These skills never made it to us today. If you’re really into deep dives, take a look into the public school system. If you like reading books, “Durable Trades” by Rory Groves.
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Why is homesteading popular?
I read recently that it only takes 2 generations for the average family to forget how to raise and preserve their own food. I’m living proof of that. Born in the 80s during a recession, moms had to put their kids in daycare to help provide for their family’s needs and bills. Some moms worked outside of the home because they wanted to, others because there was no other choice.
Home-cooked meals were replaced with McDonald’s and microwave dinners by TV light because there just weren’t enough hours in the day for moms to work 8 hours and still take care of their families. The ways that they were raised by their parents in homes that raised yard birds, large row gardens, and hogs in the back farm got lost in the daily need to survive financially.
When you realize there’s a better way to eat, to live, to provide– you wake up from the convenience-living trance you’ve been in and start making moves to get back to the basics. Not to rely so heavily on mass production of food and goods. It’s a big change that requires small steps at first for most people with the desire. There are many other simple ways to start but here are 3 simple ways to start homesteading today that you may not have even realized were “homesteading”.
3 Ways To Start Homesteading Today
1. Start Making More Meals From Scratch
And I know a blog that can help you with that 😉 Psstt…. you’re on it now. Follow me on Pinterest @johnsonhomenc, Instagram @johnsonhomenc, Facebook @johnsonhomenc, and YouTube @johnsonhomenc for more!
Can you imagine a time in life where there were no drive-thrus, no Door Dash, no food trucks? Well, there was such a time. Even so much as 50 years ago dining at a restaurant was considered a luxury for many families. Cooking 3 meals a day at home was the only option.
Cooking from scratch is a great way to be healthier, spend less money, and break a chain holding you down to convenience-living. Those wishing to homestead are generally the same ones looking to break free of what this fast-paced world has to offer in favor of the slow, the calm, the joy in working with their hands to create even a simple, nourishing meal.
Commit to making 3 dinners a week all from scratch to start off. Try to limit or completely nix boxed or bagged packages. Rice, I’ll let ya slide. Maybe even pasta noodles. Basically, no frozen lasagnas or reheat Asian fusion rice and vegetable bowls. Get in the kitchen and get creative or at least use a recipe like homemade alfredo sauce to guide you.
2. Bake Your Own Bread, Cookies, Cakes, Crackers, Brownies, etc.
The issue here is that most people don’t want to take the time to bake from scratch because it is so much easier to grab a package of cookies or some frosted cupcakes from the grocery store bakery that often times they didn’t even bake! The cake came frozen to their store, thawed out, and iced to be sold. Next time you do, take a gander at the ingredient list. I love (sarcasm) how the print on the grocery store bakery label is so small and often cut off mid sentence so you won’t even want to take the time to read it.
The ingredients are startling. Especially when I can recite for you my homemade brownie recipe right now and every ingredient you know and trust and likely have right in your pantry. Most common baked goods have fairly simple recipes. You just have to find value in the longer process and healthier ingredients in order to do the task.
Sourdough is making a comeback and a way onto many kitchen countertops. Long before bread was found in a long plastic bags filled with many unrecognizable and hard to pronounce ingredients in its list was the sourdough. Sourdough is the sour fermented dough used as leaven in making bread. There are countless things you can do with active sourdough and sourdough discard. I’ve listed a few family favorites below for you to save and come back to later.
Look at you! Breaking another chain of convenience-living! Hooray!
A few more SIMPLE to make baked goods recipes for you to try TODAY:
- Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Yeast Sandwich Bread (turn this recipe into cinnamon rolls and burger buns!)
- Brown Sugar (never have to buy it again!)
- Quick Hot Dog Chili
- Blueberry Jam with no pectin needed
3. Grow Herbs or Microgreens in Your Kitchen
The last of my simple ways to start homesteading today. Find the southern most facing window in your home and put some potted herbs in the windowsill. Find you a good hydroponics set up and have yourself a fresh lettuce salad in the middle of a snowstorm if you want. Grab some grow lights and heat mats and, ma’am/sir, you’re doing homesteading things! HOA, be danged! What they can’t see growing in your kitchen window, they can’t set parameters around. Literally ANYONE can grow microgreens inside their home. Microgreens are nutrient dense first and second leaves of a plant that are great in salads and on omelets.
Growing herbs is one more chain broken. One less bottle of dried herbs to buy. Herbs and microgreens have an affordable start up set up cost that bring many great healthy nutrients to your homemade meals. Basil and cilantro grow well in a pot in a sunny location and can be easily dried with a dehydrator or even tied in bunches and hung to dry. Rosemary is the first herb bush I planted in our dream of an “edible backyard”. So many uses in food and in hair and skin care with rosemary.
Are homesteaders happier?
In a word, yes.
Have you ever stopped to observe a small flock of chickens as they eat? No? It’s interesting to watch them interact. Have you ever enjoyed the compost under your fingernails because you know it means you turned your family’s meal scraps back into soil to feed your garden that will feed you again? No? Start today, friend, and you’ll soon find these same simple joys.
But dear fellow homesteader, please do not be discouraged because you don’t have livestock or because you’re renting or because some big homesteading Instagram account messaged you directly to say you aren’t a “real” homesteader.
Homesteading is a lifestyle, it’s a state of mind, it’s a feeling.
One that anyone can TAKE BACK again at anytime. This world needs to get back to the basics of life. It needs you to start somewhere and start today. Break one chain at a time and use these 3 simple ways to start homesteading.
Come back to this later for inspiration
Pin this post to your Pinterest and share it with your social media friends! One day, one step at a time, homesteading is a goal anyone can set and achieve. Are you ready to use these 3 simple ways to start homesteading today?
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Didn’t realize I was already on the right track! Living in a neighborhood makes for some challenges … wish I could have chickens 🤣 but I already do a lot of these things. This makes me feel better about the impact I’m having on my family! ❤️