Why Homesteading is NOT the Simple Life

Why do people always say that homesteading or living off grid is ‘the simple life?’ You ever notice that? As if the modern way of living is terribly complicated or overly intricate in some way that makes homesteading somehow less than difficult or less challenging.

Homesteading isn’t for everyone and yet, at the same time it really is. Any one of us can grow food or make what you need for yourself instead of buying it pre made. At its core, homesteading is about providing for yourself. Instead of waking up, heading to work to make money to buy what you need, you wake up and go work to produce what you need. Yes, you will need money. Even the homesteaders of old had to buy fabric and oats at the trading post but the focus of getting more money is not your driving force. Raising chickens for eggs and meat is what you do instead of punching a time clock in a cube farm so you can eat. There is real freedom to it and yet, the other side they don’t show on TV can make you feel like your homestead is a prison or get so overwhelmed at all the skills you need, you want to give up. Don’t believe me? Read on…

• Seasonal Cycles. When you get into gardening and homesteading, you enter the cycle of Mother Nature. She is finicky, moody, can be incredibly kind one moment and then bring your whole world down around you the next. As a person who grows/raises/hunts for their food, you are bound to the cycles of the year. There are certain things that absolutely must be done at the right time or else you and your family can suffer. Examples would be losing an entire crop or waiting too long to get firewood stocked up and then caught in a 5 foot snow dump.
• No Long Vacations: Say goodbye to taking 10 days off to go on a cruise ship. First of all, you won’t likely have the extra money for something so lavish and honestly, you would rather buy lumber to build a nice new fence for the pigs you just got. Also, unless you have someone who is willing to be at your home everyday for hours, tending to your livestock, you can’t get away for that long.
• Brutal Learning Curves. Unless you were raised in the lifestyle, the amount of skills you need and flexibility required can crush your spirit and make you want to toss in the garden gloves. In the modern world,  if you want clean clothes, you simply toss them in the wash. You need to figure out a way to keep the deer out of your garden – do you know how to build a good fence? How about with only the resources on hand, like trees and rocks? Then there are the food preservation methods, let alone how to garden. Do you know why a cold frame is so important?
• The Biggest Trade Off. You don’t see too many people who grow enough food for themselves, raise a flock of chickens, and knit socks while working full time jobs.Out of everything, time is the biggest trade off. It takes a lot of time to weed a large garden, let alone plant and harvest. What you think will only take a few hours turns into a whole day’s project and can leave you feeling inadequate, like you never get enough done. Modern life gives us  machines to do the washing, grocery stores to buy whatever we want or need, living accommodations close to do said shopping and washing.

Sure, all of the above can be worked around but that in itself is another skill set and trait that you need to learn or develop. I’m tellin’ ya, homesteading is not the simple life! It is, however, incredibly rewarding.

• Some of the best food on the planet (and freshest!)
• Having more daily freedom. An example: taking an extra half hour to watch your hilarious chickens. No one is riding you on the clock!
• More meaningful life moments and memories.
• Stronger connections to the people and world around you.
• Confidence in your abilities to meet challenges head on and provide for you and your family.
• Knowing when times are tough, you will make it through better than most.

There is little in the modern world that can reward you and uplift you quite like homesteading can. The rush of victory when something you improvised works, the bright and colorful jars of preserved food that you grew or traded for, and the warmth emanating from the wood stove while the snow falls silently outside is something money cannot buy.

Maybe there is a little romance to homesteading after all. 😉