"Real" Homesteader or not???

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It is fun and interesting to consider what makes one a real homesteader. On a recent thread I read where someone said that it is OK to have the internet as it saved time, but felt that a bread machine was not conducive to being a real homesteader. But maybe to some people the bread machine saves a lot of time. I admit to using a lot of time-saving conveniences, but I can also use the old tiime machines as well.

As I was growing up we did all sorts of things that many people thought were odd, but to us were just normal every day occurences. My Dad would be considered by most to be a homesteader but does not call himself one, and neither did I until recently. When we were young we raised beef cows, pigs, chickens, and butchered them ourselves right at our kitchen table. My Dad built everything we needed especially any mechanical things he loved. We lived in an underground house, had a greenhouse porch on the front, had a windmill, used a woodburning cookstove and a wringer washer,and raised a huge garden. I learned to can at a young age. We were also very frugal and conservative with money. But we owned 3 rental homes plus the one we lived in, and my Dad had a back-hoe, dozer, dump truck, and trailer to use in a side business. We have always burned wood. I have never lived in a house that doesn't use wood as the only source of heat.

When I met Cale his background was the same as mine, so we clicked right away. When we wanted to build a log house we used a hand-saw, a hatchet and a come-a-long, and his old truck. And lots of work!!!

Now we have come along way since then, and have managed over the last 17 years to build a nice home and to have some more of the conveniences that make life a little easier and give us time to pursue many other activites and hobbies we enjoy. So yes, sometimes I do use the bread machine, but I can surely bake it the other way also, and have many times over my life. Sometimes I use the sewing machine, sometimes I sew by hand. I use the fax and computer for business at times as well. But if I make use of these modern conveniences am I still a homesteader???? Which conveniences are OK to use and which are not??? Who makes up the 'rules' and gets to decide????

OK what do you all think. What makes a homesteader??? I think a lot of it is attitude backed by actions. Like I for instance will never use pesticides or chemical fertilizers, I don't even have to think about that one!! I will always grow as much food as I can, and forage for what I can get. I don't buy chemical laden meats. I like a simple, clutter free lifestyle. I keep everything neat and organized in the house, out-buildings and barn. I spend money wisely and am frugal in almost everything. I do consider myself a Tightwad, Conservative, Homesteader!!

Thoughts anyone???

-- Melissa in SE Ohio (me@home.net), March 24, 2002

Answers

Melissa, I have never thought of myself or my family as I grew up as "homesteaders" or of our selves now as "homesteaders"----but that is what /everyone else we know /refer to us as----& most all the people we have things in common with call them selves!!!

My Great Grandfather & Grandmother "homesteaded" in Kansas & are the first names on the land grants from the government---they also ran the Phillips Inn & had a stage coach stop---

Grandfather was the only surveyor in the state in the 1800's in the Eastern half of Kansas---& surveyed many of the larger Kansas towns & staked them out--back then----he was a judical judge also. He also led Kansas into a freedon state against slavery---

He was a large farmer & raised cattle & the best horses--& many other types of animals---& had a huge orchard----

I have read all of these accounts from Kansas History books---& newpapers----

Compared to them----Great-Grandfather would think I was a "WOOSE"- FAINTHEARTED!!!!

But we still live some what the same lifestyles handed down for these generations!! We share some of the same traits & share the same love & apreciation of a lifestyle----

"Homesteader"----I don't know ----I don't think Great -grandfather would be ashamed to claim me as his!!!

-- Sonda in Ks. (sgbruce@birch.nets), March 24, 2002.


I have been a homesteader at heart ever since beginning to read the "Little House" books in the first grade.

During my childhood, we were not allowed farm animals. I did learn about gardening, yard work, flower beds, getting firewood, and churning butter (we bought fresh milk from a farm). I married a "city boy" and spent a few years in the suburbs planning, dreaming, and discussing those plans and dreams with my husband. He has gradually come around to the idea that country life is good for children and is working and planning to give me my farm. He is all for whatever I, as farm manager, decide to do, and has helped a lot with what we have so far.

At this point, we have a garden, chickens, rabbits, a rented house in the country. I like to do things as economically as possible, considering money first and time second.

Since becoming acquainted with Countryside, I have realized that homesteaders cannot be put in a box, since every homesteader has a different idea of what that means. My homestead goal is this:

A garden to eat fresh, freeze, can, or store (root cellar).

A reproducing flock of chickens of various breeds for eggs and meat.

2-3 cows to supply all (100%) of dairy products consumed by this family (milk, cheese, butter, cottage cheese, yogurt, etc.), as well as an occasional beef steer if the spring calf is a bull.

2 steers not eaten would become working oxen.

2 pigs to aid in composting and to provide the family pork.

Enough sheep to provide wool for knitting and crocheting, and possibly weaving.

100% of animal feed to be grown by ourselves.

A working knowledge of herbs: medicinal and food flavouring, wild and cultivated.

Fire wood from our own woodlot.

Fruit from our own trees, bushes, brambles, and vines.

If at any point I can earn money by selling any of the above, fine. But the primary goal is to provide for the family and those in need.

As you can see, the above goals would only be reached through years of hard work and careful planning. As a "first-generation" homesteader, I am gradually learning through experience and research and accomplishing my goals one at a time. This year, I intend to improve my poultry skills and learn more about herbs. As long as we are renting, that is about all I can do.

The next phase of my goal will be aquiring land, preferably with house and barn, getting a tractor, and gradually sectioning the land into pasture, grain fields, etc., while gradually bringing in the animals.

Other aspects of homesteading for me (which would not work, or be desirable, for everyone) include homeschooling and home birthing.

-- Cathy N. (eastern Ontario) (homekeeper86@sympatico.ca), March 24, 2002.


I thnk your statement of attitude backed by action is correct. I'll elaborate later if I have time.

-- Cindy (S.E.IN) (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), March 24, 2002.

What a wonderful list of goals Cathy. Your right, it'll take time and money, but we're all on a continuem of sorts. It's a journey. If we got it all done, then where would we be? Enjoy and be thankful.

-- John in S. IN (jdoofus@hotmail.com), March 25, 2002.

I think you said it all as far as goals are concerned Cathy! Many people probably aspire to many of those and even others besides. It is nice to have a list to go from.

Some of my goals are to build raised beds, slowly convert to more solar and wind power, raise more of our own food, plant more fruit trees, start beds of asparagus, horseradish, and rhubarb, Cale would like to build a pond and stock it with fish. So many things to do, I am afraid one lifetime will not be enough!

I am not really that interested in raising animals for meat. We really don't have the room for it, and since Cale hunts and fishes it pretty much supplies our needs. Other meats I want, I can buy locally at a good price. I guess it is a matter of personal likes and dislikes more than anything!

-- Melissa in SE Ohio (me@home.net), March 25, 2002.



I know city folk and country folk that do many of the same thing as homesteaders, but not for the same reason. They're hobbies or fun, or something they've done all their lives. But they're not homesteaders. Homesteaders have an uniqueness and independence that is particular to the group. They don't have the attitude or desires that's common ground for us homesteaders. Then there are pretenders/dreamers, but when it comes down to the nitty gritty, they just don't have or don't want what it takes.

Nor do they continually seek out the best way to do stuff (generalization, I know). Homesteaders usually keep trying new ideas for the same project to see which one works the best. .

You'd have to live a mighty long time to run out of new(old) homesteading things to do

-- Cindy (S.E.IN) (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), March 25, 2002.


Hello Melissa,

There is a satisfaction of seeing one's conception of an idea or ideal way of life, bringing it into reality and achieving it all on one's on! The direction that one travels to achieve that ideal may not matter to many. I believe that traditional modes of creating a homestead are better only because those methods allow the development of lost virtues that our ancestors carried with them into this technological age.

Like, breadmaking as an example. Sure, the machines are time savers and the product is ultimately the same but, on the other hand, kneading out the dough with its labor intensive efforts of punching, rolling, and pressing create a sort of Zen in the baker's mind, a peacefulness, a tranquility that clears the mental processes of the technology that supercedes other parts of his or her lives.

This goes along with the multitude of tasks a homesteader faces every day. Each task can be more pleasurable if one looks at the task as a part of their mental and spiritual freedom. A cleansing of sorts is developed. The natural order of things seem to be more alive, knowing that you started it and ended it without any technological intervention. One feels closer to nature this way.

We all strive for perfection and want to accept our skills with that in mind. Anything less than that leaves us with doubt. Once a task is moving along well, we try to keep that perfection going. If there comes a place where it is interupted with our shortcomings, then we feel that we must fall back to others (technology) to reach that perfection again.

By allowing ourselves to pass through those shortcomings and accept the limitations of our talents we find ourselves back in the Zen state and resume our peacefulness and tranquility. But, if we stop and rely on technology to "bale us out", we never will rise above the state in which we as homesteaders wanted to leave behind in our cities.

Homesteading is everywhere, in the cities, in the country, in the office, and in the factories. The difference between a real homesteader and a "wanna be" is the attainment of satisfaction of a job well done. Technology does not really matter, nor does the technique. It is a spiritual awakening of lost foritude, self- determinism, and the desire to seek natural oneness with the world around one's self.

We all share the same thoughts on what we do as homesteaders and we all try different ways to achieve the simplicity of living in the country. Some feel that necessities are just air, water, food, and shelter. Others feel that with these basics achieved, that the grandeurs of technology will provide all the rest. I am one of the latter.

As I deprive my self more and more of modern technology, I discover a priestly feeling of joy only native peoples and those that relinquist their modern trappings felt. Monks in China live decades inside stone huts alone searching for the meaning of life. Rich men walk away from their possessions to discover that those possessions have reduced them to slaves and are only distractions from what is important. Jesus died with no possessions and yet he was the richest of all men. Because he held onto the natural laws that guided his spiritual well-being.

In a chaotic world such as ours, homesteading is more than just "living in the country". It is a way to reset the ticking clocks that are inside of all of us to a slower and more fulfilling spiritual growth. Technology and all of its splendor is just another form of interruption, which I believe is determental to those lost virtues and feelings of spiritual exturberance.

Sincerely,

Ernest

-- http://communities.msn.com/livingoffthelandintheozarks (espresso42@hotmail.com), March 25, 2002.


I never cared for the term "homesteader" for what most of us are doing. Both sets of my grandparents were the true homesteaders, carving their lives and livelihood out of the wilderness on a new frontier.

As my parents grew up the children of homesteaders, they have been very educational on what was positive and what was negative about the choices that were made for them. The goal of every parent is to make a better life for their children than what they had. I do not need to revert to all the old ways, but to build upon those things that were good in past generations, and thank God I have the choice not to experience some of the things my elders lived through.

-- Laura (LadybugWrangler@somewhere.com), March 25, 2002.


No one can say you are a homesteader, you can only feel it for yourself.

You are a survivor, you can make decisions to keep a family alive, and at home, as much as possible. And if things got worse, you'd get tougher.

My .02

-- Rick in SW West Virginia (Rick_122@hotmail.com), March 25, 2002.


I don't call myself a homesteader, because while I feel frugal, I feel like living more simply, I WISH I was more debt-free, right now I am not, and I also feel spoiled and selfish sometimes!

I think a lot of this feeling has to do with being able to return to "my" farm where my father was born and see the foundations of the buildings, and know there was no running water, no bathroom, no phone until after I was born and my grandparents gave in to the wishes of their kids to be able to check on them more easily. I am not living the life they had, and may never do so (though I could handle everything except the outhouse in winter, I believe!).

I only look for better ways to take care of my family and simpler less expensive ways to do things. If technology can help me, I use it. If it's more suitable to do it the old-fashioned way, I do. It's very handy to know both worlds, so you can live well in either!

-- Christine in OK (cljford@mmcable.com), March 25, 2002.



Laura, I like the term homesteadr,I know we aren't pioneers as were your grandparents, but if we had a new frontier to carve out, alot, maybe most of us would be there doing just that. And in a way we are carving out a place in modern society to hold on to and express our desires for a better and more natural way of life.

-- Cindy (S.E.IN) (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), March 27, 2002.

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