It’s been almost two years since the start of the pandemic. As for most, our family has made some changes based on it illuminating revelations about our values and way of life. It revealed how fragile society’s current system is. We’ve gotten so far from what truly matters: sustainability, self-sufficiency, self-care, community and connection. The question we began to ask ourselves is what changes could we slowly start to make to move toward goals that reinforced our values for simpler living, grounding us to the earth and one another? We landed on homesteading. Over the last year, we’ve begun to take action steps that get us closer to fully embracing the homesteading lifestyle. These are some simple and easy first steps that can guide you with the start of what to do in homestead living.
What to Do in Homestead Living?
A homesteading lifestyle can involve a lot of different things, but when you’re first getting started some tasks are easier than others. With our resources and capabilities, we tackled planting a vegetable garden, raising laying hens and pigs, harvesting wood, and composting. Here’s how we tackled these things and how you can get started with them too.
1. Planted a Vegetable Garden
For our yard, this meant clearing out a large portion of brush, investing in seeds, and spending time researching the science behind gardening as well as countless hours of weeding and the priceless joy from the journey of getting to watch something grow that you planted. Gardening has so many beautiful life lessons and parallels. Even if you don’t have a ton of space, starting with one type of plant and learning all you can about it can start you off with a good foot forward with what to do in homestead living because that concentrated expertise might even benefit you more in the long run than doing multiple plants all at once.
2. Raised Laying Hens
It was much cheaper in the long run for us to build a large coop as opposed to buying one. We reused free pallets to cut down on cost and found a supplier who had broken down high quality pallets down to sell the wood at a fraction of the cost. Chicks and ducklings became our new pets and we raised them (which is a process in and of itself). Dozens upon dozens of eggs now fill our counter tops. Chickens are the “gateway” into homesteading so if you really want to know what to do in homestead living … get you a chicken … they may or may not whisper secret lost arts to you. “A little birdie told me” had to have an origin.
3. Raised, Slaughtered, and Butchered Pigs for Meat
We built a pen in the back corner of our property and purchased two piglets. It’s advised not to name the animals you plan on eating, but alas I dubbed our piglets Willie and Wallie. Just because they have a purpose doesn’t mean they couldn’t have an identity that brings joy. They were fun to watch and were akin to dogs playing, but there were some challenges that we learned from along the way. They were purchased for meat after all and we ended up slaughtering, butchering and preserving the meat ourselves after researching the process. It was totally doable and one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had. Our pigs had a good life and we know what went into them. We respect the life our animals gave and thank them for their provision.
4. Harvested Wood
As we began cutting brush down last year to regain our yard, we started utilizing the wood from the trees we cut down as firewood. Our pine was for bonfires. There were many bonfires at our house in order to burn the brush (hot dogs and s’mores included). The hardwood was split, stacked, and dried for winter use in the indoor fireplace to cut down on the cost of heating our home. That’s great and all if you have a fireplace or wood-burning stove, but is it really what to do in homestead living if you don’t? This is likely something you’ll gravitate toward with time as a homesteader, but in the meantime, you can actually sell it for a decent amount. If you don’t have trees or lumber already on your land, some states will allow you to get a fuelwood license so you can harvest fallen trees on public/state land.
5. Composting
Last year I began experimenting with composting. We bought a basic trash bin that we placed next to our backdoor to toss in biodegradable scraps. I also created a vermicompost bin, but it wasn’t sustainable in our household. In the future, I would like to try an outdoor method of vermicomposting. This year we created an actual area for compost in the back of our yard where we could empty the compost bin once full, the bedding waste from the chickens’ coop, and other brown and green matter. The biggest form of recycling we took part in this past year was feeding the scraps to our pigs instead of simply composting. This not only leads to compost in the long run, but also cuts down on our cost of feed and provided them with holistic nutrients. If you’d like to learn more about the importance of composting, I’d recommend watching the documentary Kiss The Ground. This is a really easy idea for what to do in homestead living because composting is such a scalable act. It’s more about the mindset shift and implementing a different system for what we already do … throw stuff out. Instead of throwing it in a bag that goes to a dump, sort it, and throw that organic stuff into your yard instead. Given, it’s not quite that simple. There’s some science involved and stuff too.
We live in a subdivision. Our backyard is a half an acre, more or less, and is where all of our efforts have been localized. This reinforces that there are initiatives you can make toward this lifestyle change without a lot of space. What’s even better is that there are a lot of ways you can begin implementing this lifestyle without a huge investment to see if it’s something you’re interested in before diving deeper. It also provides you with an opportunity to learn different techniques and skills, practicing before taking on larger, longer, and more costly commitments. Homesteading has been one of the most rewarding life experiences for our family. It’s challenged us to figure out solutions, be resourceful, learn and grow, and ultimately live better and more holistically. Want to follow us along our homesteading journey? Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
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