All About Starting Your Homestead
A homesteading lifestyle can happen with or without that dream property. Let’s start your homestead journey together!
Start Your Homestead
Start your journey to a more self-sustainable lifestyle. Feel the freedom of starting slow and small as you take simple steps to homestead in the space where you are planted.
Creating a Homestead
Starting a homestead is achievable even without the ideal property you desire. For years, we’ve yearned for more land, often passing up opportunities that didn’t feel quite right. My husband has also desired to farm since he was a young boy, so we know all to well what it means to sit in the waiting. As we continue to wait for the right property, we’ve been cultivating our homestead on our half-acre property in a neighborhood.
Below are some ways that you can start a homestead in your space. Remember, THIS IS A SLOW AND STEADY PROCESS! Do not break the bank or overwhelm yourself trying to get your homestead off the ground… one step at a time!
Start homesteading in your kitchen
Transitioning from convenience foods to homemade meals doesn’t have to be a drastic change overnight. Start small and find what works best for you and your family. This might involve baking a loaf of bread each week instead of buying it from the store or opting to cook a meal from scratch at home instead of going to a fast-food restaurant. You could also try learning a simple new recipe. The key is to begin in the kitchen! I understand the time constraints, as I once thought there wasn’t enough time for this change in my own life, but starting with just one loaf of bread eventually led to weekly homemade loaves for my family. You can do it too!
Start homesteading by growing your own food
Embarking on your food-growing journey can be as straightforward as beginning with herbs. Herbs offer a simple entry point into gardening, providing incredible health benefits and often returning year after year as perennials. Additionally, there are numerous easy-to-grow vegetables suitable for containers like grow bags, pots, or even small raised beds. For us, our initial vegetable endeavor was a tomato plant and basil in a barrel! Choose foods you love to eat, as relishing the fruits of your labor adds immensely to the enjoyment!
Start homesteading by raising livestock
Chickens marked the beginning of our livestock journey on the homestead! Following them, we introduced meat rabbits. Bees will be next for us. If you can raise animals on your homestead, here are a few options for small lots: chickens, goats, quail, rabbits, and bees. However, if you’re starting in a city or neighborhood with limited space and lots of restrictions, this might not be feasible. In such cases, purchasing eggs, honey, milk, and meat from a local farmer could be a more practical option.
Start homesteading by preserving food
Preserving the food you grow is a fantastic way to ensure a supply during the winter months. If growing your own isn’t feasible, shopping at a farmers’ market and preserving what you buy is an excellent alternative. Also, consider reading articles or watching videos to learn about techniques and methods if you are not yet able to start purchasing what is required. Different methods for preserving food include canning, fermenting, dehydrating, freeze-drying, and freezing.
Support local farmers
Living on a small homestead may limit your ability to accomplish all your desired tasks on your property. Buying from local farmers encourages you to eat seasonally, enjoying fruits and vegetables when they are most nutritious. When you buy from local farmers, you’re putting money directly back into your community. This supports small businesses and strengthens the local economy. Buying directly from local farmers allows you to know exactly where your food comes from, how it was produced, and helps to build relationship with those that share your values.