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Episode-2070- Challenges In Modern Homesteading and Solutions to Them

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Many years ago, I can’t say exactly when but it would have been in the “Jetta Days”, when I still worked a full time job and was running a “regular company”.  So it had to be prior to 2010, I did a podcast on homesteading and said something akin to this….

The modern homesteading movement is here to stay.  Many are comparing it to the quickly passing back to the land movements of various flavors of the 30s, 50s and 70s but this time is different.

This time it won’t stop it will have decades or more of growth behind it, it isn’t a fad this time, no this time it is a return to being human.

I feel the past 6-7 years or whatever it is have proven me right.  Homesteading is more popular than ever, in fact most prepping and survival minded people today are really at heart simply homesteaders.  They run the gamete from urban folks making it happen on a 1/10th of an acre to people returning to large farms and ranches and earning a living with agriculture or agrotourism.

How popular is homesteading today?  Well a google search for the term homesteading brings up 28 million results and a youtube search for said same brings up over a quarter of a million videos.

And even with that the reality is the movement is so much bigger, as people who are homesteading are really more likely to be looking for content on specific subjects, like gardening, canning, aquaponics, plant identification and dozens of other terms.

Entire forms, facebook pages, etc are dedicated to the subject and the movement is attracting people from every part of the political spectrum, every income level and frankly ever race and faith from devote believer to atheist.   As I said, it is a return to being human, something we all need right now.

The focus of today’s show though is with so many interested the challenges are becoming more evident.  Growing up in the 80s I was a homesteader but no one called it that, just like I was a prepper an no one called it that.  Our methods were not the very best but they worked and every old timer knew them and could teach them to young folks.  Those of us that would listen anyway.  Many of us didn’t!

Today we have more options and choices than ever, it also seems we have more challenges and that is what we are going to discuss today, those challenges and ways to overcome them.

Join Me Today to Discuss…

  • How my last two days on my homestead led me to this topic
  • Why I feel homesteading has become so popular and will only get more so
  • Challenges to modern homesteaders and ways to get past them
    • Land Access
      • Use what you have
      • Understand even a half acre can feed you
      • Incorporate a “Hunter Gather” mind set
      • Be patient and “do the work”
    • Government
      • Design around the restrictions
      • Be creative in how you cheat the system
      • Avoid areas of high regulation if you can
      • Work to change regulations (least effective)
    • Knowledge
      • Use the internet (intelligently)
      • Design a system 4 ways before committing to it
      • Start with only one or two things, get them working
      • If you do nothing else with permaculture learn zone thinking
    • Unreasonable Expectations
      • Start out with a modest goal (10% of your food)
      • Be patient, you will get better with time
      • Forget about being “completely self sufficient”
      • Make the journey enjoyable, if you are miserable you are doing it wrong
    • Time
      • Again think in permaculture zones
      • Use automation
      • Perfect a system before adding another
      • Design in seasonal breaks
    • Money
      • Make more, save more, spend less
      • Become an adept scavenger (craigslist FTW)
      • Think maximum ROI starting out
      • Set and stick to a budget
      • Make some of your hobbies pay for themselves
    • Staying Motivated (significant results)
      • Microgreens and baby greens
      • Aquaponics hacks
      • Quail and or Chickens
      • Composting systems
    • Final Thoughts

Resources for today’s show…

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Comments

Episode-2070- Challenges In Modern Homesteading and Solutions to Them — 2 Comments

  1. Jack in four five gallon wicking buckets we get 25% of our fresh in season. We use vegetables that are not easily gotten in the store.

  2. We are long time homesteaders…in our 60’s. Best advice I can give is to grow less and concentrate on the produce that is easy to grow, harvest and maintain. A small patch of greens and herbs can produce more than the 2 of us can eat in a week. I keep a small kitchen garden right out my back door, it is filled with the items I use daily to cook but in small quantities.
    We also raise beef and chicken for meat and eggs that we sell on farm and at market. The meat sales are our “side hustle” after 30 years of working and owning restaurants (we sold in 2008). We do work in seasonal breaks and time certain activities so we are not over run and worn out. Jack is spot on with start small. Love the idea of wicking beds too. Those are really easy ways to build in everyday versatile food into your systems. We keep it all simple and have systems in place to make it easier for us. “Retirement” ….is great!

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