What is Homesteading?

I get asked this question a lot when I share that our family is starting to homestead. There are so many different answers to this question. In the traditional sense, when I think of homesteading, I think of Ma and Pa Ingalls hitching up their covered wagon and heading to set up their home in a new frontier. I think of cutting down trees to create logs to build a home, and hunting bear to have a warm rug in the winter. Modern homesteading is not quite as extreme as that. Our family does have running water and electricity, I am after all typing this blog on my computer in my reclining chair next to my cell phone and my refrigerated iced tea and will be posting it online later with help from my Wi-Fi.

I think the best definition of modern homesteading is growing food and/or raising livestock to be able to live a more self-sufficient and sustainable life. It is a basic definition which really makes it so every person who wishes to call themselves a homesteader can be one in their own unique way. I follow multiple homesteaders online and it is fun and interesting to see how they make homesteading work their own way. There are some living on less than an acre while others may have fifty acres. Some will raise their own cattle, while others will raise meat rabbits. There are those canning their vegetables for the winter, making sourdough bread, growing herbs to create tinctures instead of mainstream medicine, homeschooling their children, using food waste to create compost, etc. It is such a beautiful thing to be able to watch how different people from different walks of life are following their own personal dreams.

We may not have traveled in a covered wagon to get to our homestead like the Ingalls did, however we may take some inspiration from them along the way. My hope is that as we share our personal homesteading journey, we can inspire future homesteaders, as others have inspired us.

Please leave a comment if there is anything that you would love to see from us or if there is anything you would like to share with us about your homesteading journey. Also if you would like to see more of the barnyard, follow us on Facebook and Instagram