5 Things People Believe About Homesteading

The word ‘homesteading’ usually conjures images of fields, livestock, gardens, and simple living. Maybe a cute little country home with a porch swing and outbuildings, all neat and tidy like a Normal Rockwell painting. While there are certainly places like that still out there, the modern homestead isn’t quite the same. Technology has changed the way we homestead forever, and that is a good thing! The modern world still clings to that old vision of the pioneers and believe that you aren’t a ‘real’ homesteader if you don’t follow one (or all) of the following common beliefs.

You Need A Lot of Land

This is the biggest misconception. Homesteading is a mindset, a mentality. In this day and age, people are homesteading on a ¼ acre of land. What they are doing with such a small space to work with is amazing, too! There are people who ‘homestead’ in their apartments and have balcony gardens that supplement their needs. Others may have a share in a community garden. The bottom line is that there are considerably more people on the planet now than in the 1800’s and there isn’t as much room for large spreads of land. Yes, there is a lot of land that could be spread out into but many other countries have even smaller city lot spaces than we do and yet, they still manage to grow a portion of their food. Notice I said only a portion. That brings us to the second point.

You Grow All Your Food

There are few on this planet who can grow everything they eat. That would be a substantial homestead with numerous people there to tend all that would be needed. Even in the pioneering days, homesteaders bartered with others, sold, or gave away their surplus in exchange for something they may not have done well growing. One person could have a bumper crop of tomatoes but have dismal results with their potato patch. The neighbor down the road could have had the opposite growing season and they would trade accordingly. They would also, of course, put up some extra ‘just in case.’ Beyond growing things, not everyone could have livestock or their livestock got sick or killed by predators. Many people today believe that if you don’t have at least chickens, you aren’t a ‘real’ homesteader.

You Raise Livestock

You don’t have to raise livestock to homestead. I don’t have any chickens (of course, I want them haha). there is little difference between someone who raises livestock and someone who goes fishing and hunting for food to eat. They are just different methods to reach the same goal: food. Just because you aren’t choosing to feed and tend to the animals you eat doesn’t make you any less than a person who does.

You Are Off the Grid

This one cracks me up! Saying that you aren’t a real homesteader if you are on the grid is like saying the pioneers who had kerosene lamps weren’t real homesteaders compared to those who used tallow candles. The truth is, there are few places anymore that will allow you to live and not be forced to hook up to their water and power lines. Most municipalities have some kind of law on the books that defines the rules for what you can do on ‘your’ land. So, you do what a homesteader would: adapt! You may be forced to hook up but that doesn’t mean you have to rely solely on those resources for your needs. You can catch rainwater (again, check your local laws as this practice is illegal in some places) or install solar panels to supplement and provide more of the basic needs yourself.

You Don’t Go Shopping

It should read “you don’t go shopping more than a couple times a year.” While it used to be true that homesteaders would have significant money to spend only one or two times a year, that is just not the way it is anymore. Rare is the homesteader who gets to live that free these days. Humanity itself relies on each other for our needs but with the global market so incredibly intertwined (how far away did those bananas travel before it made it to the store?), it is nearly impossible to not go to the store more often. It is more than a little silly to think that homesteaders never really went shopping anyway. They couldn’t provide all of the basic staples they needed to survive and thrive. Take salt, for example. Unless you lived near a salt deposit or the ocean, you pretty much had to buy or barter for the salt you needed to help flavor and preserve your food. No one is ever truly self-sufficient.

Homesteading is as diverse as the people who consider themselves homesteaders. There is no one right way to do it, in my opinion. A homesteader feels the need to provide more of their own needs and rely less on the systems around them. They look at the world differently and prefer a more simple and basic lifestyle. For them, it is the journey and satisfaction of a project well done and enjoying the fruits of their labor. They generally don’t subscribe to the idea that you have to have a lot of money and expensive stuff to be happy or successful.

When they are eating a venison stew with jarred vegetables they grew and processed themselves in February, THAT is success! What do you think? Have you heard weird things people believe about homesteading? Give me a comment or ask a question below!

WANT MORE about homesteading? Check out “How to Homestead When You Rent, Part One” being hosted by our friends at Backdoor Survival!