With the name of Haphazard Homestead, you might guess that homesteading is important to me. You’d be right about that – but why is it important to me?
This post is an entry into the homesteadingchallenge 1 being run by @kiaraantonoviche. The challenge is to finish the sentence, “Homesteading is important to me because…” I was encouraged to do this challenge by @lyndsaybowles. Otherwise, I don't talk about this very much.
Homesteading is important to me because it helps me live a self-determined life grounded in stewardship to a piece of land that provides for me and my community.
Let me break that down into a few pieces. None of this is meant to be judgmental of anyone else. I’m very clear – this is the “Haphazard” Homestead, not the “I Have Got It All Together All The Time” Homestead. Like Fiona Apple says, “My method is uncertain. It’s a mess, but it’s workin’.”
Self-determination
I’m under no illusion that I will ever be completely self-sufficient, independent, or secure from hazards, threats, or annoying rules and regulations.
Early in life, I had views that I needed to prepare for societal breakdown. I think it’s a personality trait – as a 5th grader, I bought the US Army book on “Survival, Evasion, and Escape”, along with a big buck knife and a backpack. Those were the first big purchases I ever made as a kid! I have no idea why, or where that drive came from.
Before too long, though, I realized that medical issues, environmental hazards, job loss, job demands – or even opportunities that take complete family commitment – are the common risks. And they can push people right to the edge of a financial or lifestyle cliff, if not over it.
Homesteading gives me enough security and independence to take risks and make demands in life that, for the most part, have paid off. That sense of security and independence came from being able to easily get most of my own food under most any circumstance, and having no debt, once I had paid off my first homestead, in my 20s.
Rather than trying to avoid working for someone else, homesteading has allowed me to have a rewarding career, on my terms, in a highly competitive field where conformity rules. I’ve had the career that I want, rather than being defined and confined by my career. I’ve been able to take multi-year breaks, work at home, and work mostly on projects that I created and wanted to work on. And that’s rare in my field.
With a homestead, no matter what happened in my career, I have had a place to retreat, be grounded, restore my energy and attitude, and provide me with enough food and money that I could get back on my feet, if I needed it. My homestead could take care of me, if I took care of it.
Stewardship - A Connection to the Land
A connection to the land around me has always been a big part of who I am. That’s one reason I like to forage for food and crafts. It connects me to the land, where ever I am. On public land or rented land, it always seems like I’m taking advantage of the situation, since I’m not putting back into that land over the long run.
With a homestead, that connection to the land becomes a real commitment. My homestead will take care of me, if I take care of it. But it’s more than that. My land has nature and it has a history.
A couple lived here for over 60 years, in this house on this land, supporting 10 kids and a mother-in-law, all on production from 1.3 acres and the income of a small-appliance repairman. They grew almost all their own food, including a cow and calf every year, and preserved it, too. Before them, this place was a walnut and prune plum farm. Before that, native people lived from the abundance of the wild plants and animals here.
Stewardship means that I honor the agriculture and homestead legacy of this land and work to bring back some of the native plants, too. The town has grown around my place, so I have close neighbors, who are in the city boundary. But my place is still classified as a country farm, so I have a lot fewer rules to watch out for than my neighbors. This land has Class I soil - while there is soil equally as good in other places, there is no soil better, anywhere!
So my responsibility is to keep my footprint on this land small, to keep the soil healthy and productive, and to keep nature going strong. And if I’m smart, I can arrange to keep this place as a retreat for nature and producing food, long after I’m gone.
Food And More
I’ve been a food provider as long as I can remember. I helped my dad forage wild food and tend the garden even at seven years old. Even in my early 20s, sharing rental homes with several housemates, I gardened every possible inch of the property and foraged a lot of food from a wide territory. I enjoy growing and finding food the way other folks enjoy making music or art.
Having my homestead makes it easy for me to eat well, all year long. I grow fruits, nuts, and vegetables. I store and preserve a lot, too – canning, freezing, dehydrating, fermenting, and pickling. And I eat my yard, foraging a lot of wild plants, including weeds, flowers, seeds, and tree leaves.
I like being able to eat many more kinds of plants than are common in grocery stores. There are so many kinds of plants that are good to eat - and so many parts of food plants that are often ignored, but really good, too, like the buds of sunflowers or rose petals!
I know many people struggle to eat fresh, healthy, affordable food. Gardeners have a strong tradition of sharing what they grow. Homesteading lets me help my community by providing hundreds of pounds of produce to my local food bank.
My homestead produces more than food, though. It provides me with firewood, craft materials, poles and stakes to use in my gardens, well water, food for wildlife, beauty, and so much more.
What Do You Think?
Well, that’s way more about myself than I usually write about. I know I’ve been fortunate in my life and could not have set up my life this way without the help of other people over the years. Having a homestead isn’t everybody’s goal. But it would be nice if everyone had access to plenty of good food, and enough security and independence to have a self-determined life.
- What is the history of the place you live?
- Do you grow or forage any of your food?
- What does homesteading mean to you?
- How do you connect to nature where you live?
** Haphazard Homestead **
