My youngest son and I had quite an eye-opening conversation last night. How it got started, I dont know, but what I remember him saying was you and Dad arent REAL homesteaders. Dont you feel bad kind of lying to people? Gasp! What??! Lying to people??? I really needed to know what was going on in this kids head! I asked him why he thought we were misrepresenting ourselves. Apparently, to him a homesteader (at least a male homesteader) is something of a cross between the Marlboro man (cowboy) and Farmer Brown. Neither of which he sees my husband as. As for females homesteaders, they cook and stuff, but dont look like me. Hes not a small child. Hell be 17 in a couple of weeks and his opinion of his father and I was somewhat shocking. He participates daily in caring for the animals and he agreed that homesteaders often raise animals, but not OUR type of animals. We no longer have our goats or ducks, but we raise chickens, quite a few quail, and rabbits. He thinks homesteaders only raise cattle, sheep and FULL_SIZED goats (ours were dwarfs). Hmm. He thinks homesteaders own a whole lot of rural land. We went from living on 100 acres outside of the city to 1 acre cocooned inside a small town (which is temporary, but beside the point). When I pointed out the differences between our family and many of his friends families, he started to see the light. I told him homesteading is a mindset that morphs into a different way of doing things. I told him you could live in an apartment and still be a homesteader. To me, the first thing that separates a homesteader from others is their desire to do for themselves. To raise their own food through gardening, hunting, fishing, and owning livestock animals, when possible. To make their own goods rather than buying pre-made. To re-use and recycle items rather than to throw away.Taking care of the land and environment around them. Helping out their fellow man and cherishing the simpler things in life. Holding on to old traditions while improving on them. At our last place my son helped my husband to build one of the coops and put up pallet fencing for the goats. THATS homesteading. He often helped me in the garden with weeding and picking. That too, is homesteading. Canning up the garden, processing birds for the dinner table, picking wild herbs for healing salves and medicines....all homesteading. But homesteading is different for each and every one of us. It is no set place, no set list of chores, animals, or activities. It is taking care of ourselves and that which is around us, in the best way that we can at the time. Each homesteader evolves through their journey. Maybe youre a city dweller with container plants on your patio and fresh, homemade bread on your counter. Maybe youre a rancher with 1,000 head of cattle or a farmer with acres and acres of crops. Maybe, youre somewhere in between, like us. Youre probably thinking of the future a lot. Your next place, your next animals, your next project, your next batch of bar soap or that sweater pattern you were hoping to knit. Throughout history homesteaders did what they needed to do to take care of themselves without too much outside help. But they did accept help when offered and reached out that helping hand to others in return. I told my son this why his dad and I started Homesteading Ways. We wanted to help others by helping ourselves. Sharing ideas and information. Bringing people together to solve problems, give encouragement, and to basically learn from each other. I hope that is what you get from this page (along with a few laughs from Pauls jokes ;) ). We do make mistakes every now and then, but please dont judge us too harshly. Like the rest of you....we keep trying. ~Sandra
Posted on: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 14:30:01 +0000
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