Question: Purpose of homesteading

[1Admin]

Here's a question for discussion-

In the context of a survivalist, what is the purpose of homesteading?

[Noble]

Hmm... I would say living the (mostly) self sufficient lifestyle on a daily basis, as opposed to just having items stored away for a shtf scenario.

Homesteading is a goal I hope to attain someday. :)

[Kat]

Gaining skills and knowledge over time that allow you to not only store your own home grown food but shorten or get rid of the learning curve in the case of societal breakdown.

[eeyore]

Homesteading is the only practical solution (for the survivalist) to a long term badtimes (economic meltdown, civil unrest, war, emp, terrorist attacks or most other reasonable scenarios).

Mad Max is fun to watch, but is not practical. For long term planning, homesteading is the logical choice. Anyone planning on pillaging for a living, which is really the only viable option for the unprepared (with no morals), will not last long(i think).

[Sanction]

In the context of a survivalist, what is the purpose of homesteading?

I think Homesteading covers a much wider scope of reason then just to survive. It's the connection to Earth we have been taken from all our lives by the system generated to force us into financial slavery. It is the Matrix with it's true reasons for existence obscured from our minds. The best slave thinks he is free... Homesteading, removing your self from the system, is the most direct way to free your self from the powers that be. And in turn, fight the system hell bent on destroying Mankind by taking the very fuel that drives the system away from it's flames... You will never be free, you will never be at peace, until you OWN the land you stand upon. Free of all debt, and free from the system. This is when you rise above the system and become your own master... Homesteading is the only viable vehicle to achieve freedom with out firing a shot... This is why it is in the Constitution of the United States of America to have the right to life liberty and property. Our fore Fathers knew then what the powerful bankers were trying to do. They did warn us!

[Kat]

I think eeyore hit the nail on the head there. Supplies eventually run out and if you have that homesteading knowledge and are able to implement it no matter where you are, you can keep your family going and still keep your morals intact.

[Juggl3r]

Gaining skills and knowledge over time that allow you to not only store your own home grown food but shorten or get rid of the learning curve in the case of societal breakdown.

I think Kat hit the nail on the head. I read somewhere that it takes 3 years practice before someone can grow a decent garden. I actually think it takes longer. I've asked people what they would do if there was no food at the store and have had some reply "I'd plant a garden." If you haven't been doing this before TEOTWAWKI, what you'll probably do is die, I'm sorry to say. I would encourage anyone who is not gardening already to start now. Whether city or country, plot or container, start now! Otherwise when the schumer hits the fan your family may die or be forced to loot and wind up dying anyway when the owner of the food you are stealing defends him/herself. :)

[Kat]

Thanks Juggl3r. I don't know how many people that I've talked to didn't realize how much nitrogen was needed to grow corn. And that's usually one of the first things people want to grow! It takes time to know when to fertilize, what to fertilize with, when you should start your crops, what even grows here, etc... When we first started our gardens, we had many challenges with crops because we were missing these critical need-to-know answers. Local feed stores sometimes provided answers. Looking at farmer's fields around here and noting when they planted and what they planted as well as other people's gardens helped too. We read a lot of books that were helpful when it came to companion planting and things like that. Another thing to consider is that there may not be commercial fertilizer available to you after the fact and organic gardening skills don't come easy. That's also something that has to be tried and honed over time. Gardening books can sometimes make that look easier than it is.

[Juggl3r]

Homesteading is the only practical solution (for the survivalist) to a long term badtimes (economic meltdown, civil unrest, war, emp, terrorist attacks or most other reasonable scenarios).

I think eeyore is correct if he is talking about gaining skills (and eeyore probably is) before TEOTWAWKI. But if the meaning is living on an isolated homestead with just your family, long term after the SHTF, your potentially making a grave mistake. If you read accounts of what happend in what was formerly Yugoslavia after the fall of communism, you will come to a different conclusion. During that civil war isolated farms and homestead were systematically destroyed by the various opposing forces, sometimes using armored equipment. My conclusion is after the SHTF the only way to survive is in a community of some sort. Depending on the circumstances and your isolation it may be a small group consisting of a couple of families, or a small rural community. No small family is an island. :)

[rice paddy daddy]

My wife and I sat in our suburban south Florida home, dreaming of the country life and praying for the opportunity to leave the concrete cess pool that my childhood home had turned into.
The Lord Blessed us, and due to corporate restructuring were able to realize our dream 14 years ago. We now live on a dead end dirt road six miles outside a one stoplight town of 2,000.
She always wanted to be a farmer, so we have a garden and chickens. She also wanted horses, so we have three, all rescues.
I don't think society will completely collapse on a nationwide scale, but if the cities do a Katrina, our little homestead is far enough away from a city that we should be ok.
For us homesteading is not a survivalist thing, it's a chosen way of life.
I stil have to commute 35 miles (one way) into the big city to work, but I can see retirement from here!

[Echelleg]

I live in a small town, however our house is on a city lot. Therefore not a lot of space to truly homestead. We hope to someday. Considering our current living situation we are approaching homesteading as a way of learning/relearning forgotten skills. We are also teaching our children the value of these skills, and that true freedom comes from self reliance. I want my children to have a connection to the land and the animals. I want them to know where their food comes from and it is not the grocery store. Most of all I want them to learn to be good stewards of their environment. If they take care of and nurture the land and animals, the land and animals will take care of them. No government or school can teach them that.

[Briar Wabbit]

Sustainable Independence (Independent Sustainability) ... Insomuch as that is possible.

If you can get a sustainable system of inputs-vs.outputs, on a ranch or farm or even on an urban roof-top or a River Barge ... Then you have a MUCH more robust and long-lived sustainance, especially if you live way-off the beaten path and your inputs (from outside sources) are few (significantly mitigated).

An animal (goat, lamb, goose, ginea-hen, rabbit, etc) is like nature's own refrigerator ... If you have fish in the pond and animals "on the hoof" (paw, foot, whatever) ... THAT is fresh meat that does not require any refrigeration (or a deep freezer).

So ... In the spring, you sow wild oats (literally) and plant veggies ... The goats eat the grass and oats ... The geese eat the goat-poop (yup, you move them around, together, in a portable solar-electric pen) ... As you harvest the veggies, you throw the scraps on your compost pile and the free-range chickens eat most of those scraps and the bugs they attract ... Your solar bug-zapper feeds the catfish ... The Gineas roam around eating grasshoppers and act as decoys, to pull the coyotes off the other livestock ... And the rabbit turds fall into a bin where they are used to make nitrogen tea and as a humus enhancer. ... Even the dry-composted human waste can be used in "feeder-pipes" (underground feeding) down in the fruit orchard.

The main thing to realize, as I did, is that you must sit on your spread, and tend it every day ... the goats MUST be milked ... All the animals must be fed ... All the solar, wind, pumping equipment MUST be maintained, all while you stay up nights, defending your "brood" from predators.

It is a good life ... but there really is no way to stay gone for more than 3 days, about twice per month, at MOST ... and ... ranch hands and "helpers" will let you down and may even steal you blind, or take to the bottle, etc., so ... And yer kids may not share your dream AT ALL (my plight) ... Dont want to force it, either ... it was MY "trip".

As long as you are commited ... Almost REQUIRES a copesetic and dependable partner, of SOME sort.

I *would* say that "it is not easy" ... But it IS, *IF* you are totally commited and will stay put.

... You really cannot do it alone and, if you could? ... You would not want to ... pretty lonesome.

Just MY take. My internet was slow and I spent most of my time in the cabin (A/C), surfing the satellite channels ... No way that attitude will make it work ... you ARE the farm ... It all depends on YOU, every single day (almost).

=Elmer=

[SCinPNW]

As others have already said it is a way of life where you connect with the land and produce all or most of your own food. Food storage will run out if times get bad and if you do not have a solution for new sources of food then you and your family will be in the food lines with everyone else, assuming there are food lines. If you look back to the Great Depression it was the people who lived on farms who had food, they might not have had money but they at least had the ability to grow their own food. That was definitely the case with my Dad and his family. They lived on a farm and truly had no money, but at least they could eat.

My goals in setting up a homestead are as follows:
1. To live as independently as possible from the mainstream system of life that the sheeple are currently plugged into:
2. To be able to produce all or most of our own food;
3. To reduce our "tax footprint" as I hate paying the high property taxes that we currently pay;
4. To have extended family living on or near our homestead partnering with us to be more independent.

Those have been my goals for many years. We are just now at a place in life where we are actively looking to make this happen. I do expect that it will take awhile to find a place that fits our needs, but then I do not want to rush and make a mistake in our purchasing decision.

SC

[MustangGal]

There is a definitely a learning curve for farming. I grew up on a farm, but we hadn't raised any farm type animals since we were married, almost 23 years ago. We aquired several different kinds of livestock. It started with chickens. I read somewhere they were "the gateway drug to hobby farming". How true. Anyway, back to the learning curve... We have had a very hot summer, and I was so dilligent about keeping ice out and bringing baby rabbits in the house during the day. Then the kits were out of the nest box and the weather became better... Yesterday it took a turned very hot and I never even thought about bringing the new litter of kits into the house. :( We lost an entire litter of eleven kits to heat. Totally my fault. It stinks. But what hit me harder than the loss now, was if I make the same mistake after TSHTF, I potentially put my family in danger of starvation! That would have been meat for more than 20, possibly even 30 meals! That might be what stands between us and survival.

[SCinPNW]

Wow, I am really sorry to hear that MustangGal, that is a really difficult lesson to learn. However, you bring up a good point in that it is important to learn these things now verses when the mistakes might mean life or death.