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Homesteading: A Journey of Self-Sufficiency

April 20, 2024

Homesteading: A Journey of Self-Sufficiency

It doesn’t take 40 acres, mule and a plow to start

Apple Trees on our farm, April 2024

Homesteading (or “Farmsteading”) is a journey of self-sufficiency, and a path that may or may not lead to a life off-the-grid. It’s about building or rebuilding a home and/or farm, and learning to live off the land. It may be about teaching those skills to others, such as family and friends. Homesteading often involves barter of food, seeds, resources and time. Whether you’re practicing on a small scale- like cultivating a hydroponic garden in your apartment or keeping three hens in the backyard- or on a larger scale, the sense of accomplishment and empowerment is immense. So, embrace this fulfilling and empowering work – you have the power to do it!

During WWII, victory gardens provided Americans and soldiers with much of their food. This movement was led by the government, but was immediately abandoned post-war as soldiers returned to the farm, and as the economy needed a reboot. Modern co-op gardens gained popularity in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s, led by a back-to-the-earth movement. Self-sufficiency movements in the 1990s and 2000s began to apply the concept to urban and suburban settings. Fast forward to the present and now the off-the-grid movement and regenerative farming techniques are sweeping the nation. Whatever the name, homesteading offers both a respite from “modern” life as well as healthier alternatives for living. One doesn’t need 40 acres, mule and a plow to practice homesteading. An old bucket and some seeds may be all that one needs to start.

Spinach and garlic that we planted in an old horse watering tank. The spinach is being harvested this month and the garlic is growing well for a July harvest. Jill has made an amazing quiche with eggs from our hens and spinach from the garden this week.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

10 Ways to use comfrey, a powerful healing herb

October 14, 2022

Image: 10 Ways to use comfrey, a powerful healing herb

(Natural News) Comfrey, or gum plant, is a medicinal herb that can be used as an astringent, anti-inflammatory or anti-rheumatic agent. It can also be used to treat wounds, bites, stings, rashes and other conditions. Not only does it speed up recovery on the surface level, but it also penetrates into the tissues to speed the healing of sprains, strains and even broken bones.

Comfrey is a nutrient accumulator. The roots of the comfrey plant reach far into the earth to pull up minerals, and it is known to be a good source of calcium, manganese, potassium, vitamin A and vitamin C. (Related: How to grow and use comfrey for gardening and medicine.)

Using comfrey for healing

As Oil

You can boil comfrey in a pan and heat it on low until the oil takes the color of the herbs. This will take about thirty minutes to an hour. You can then strain the herbs and bottle the oil. While it can be stored at room temperature, comfrey oil will last longer when kept in a cool place.

You can apply the oil liberally to aches, pains, and other areas when desired. Use a roller bottle to use the oil without getting your hands messy.

As Decoction

Use 1-3 teaspoons of dried comfrey root for every cup of water. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for up ten to fifteen minutes. Drink this concoction up to three times a day, or gargle it to treat infections, dry mouth, sore throat and bleeding gums.

As tea or water infusion

…click on the above link to read the rest…

Prepper medicine: How to use sage, a versatile healing herb

October 14, 2022

Image: Prepper medicine: How to use sage, a versatile healing herb

(Natural News) Sage is a flavorful herb that’s often used during Thanksgiving to season turkey and homemade stuffing.

The herb may be popular as a culinary seasoning for holiday recipes, but you also need to learn the medicinal uses of sage before SHTF. (h/t to TheSurvivalMom.com)

Sage: A versatile herb for your home garden

Sage belongs to the mint family. While there are many varieties, the one you’re probably most familiar with is the one used for cooking, Salvia officinalis.

Sage is very aromatic and using it gives your dishes an earthy, warm quality. The herb can be used fresh, dry, rubbed, and ground. (Related: 10 Ways to use comfrey, a powerful healing herb.)

While the modern use of sage usually involves savory dishes, sage has been valued for its health benefits for thousands of years.

The ancient Greeks and Chinese used varieties of sage to address different health issues. Native Americans used sage for meditation, protection and relaxation.

Common garden sage, the variety you often use for cooking, is also used for broader health purposes as recently as the late 1800s by early doctors like Physiomedicalists in the United States.

Traditionally, sage has been used to address minor discomforts like bloating and gas after eating a fatty meal to more serious health problems like typhoid fever and tuberculosis.

Sage health benefits

Sage is full of vitamins and minerals. One teaspoon (0.7 grams) of ground sage contains only two calories, 0.1 grams of fat and protein and 0.4 grams of carbs.

The same serving also contains:

  • Vitamin K –10 percent of the reference daily intake (RDI)
  • Iron – 1.1 percent of the RDI
  • Vitamin B6 – 1.1 percent of the RDI
  • Calcium – One percent of the RDI
  • Manganese – One percent of the RDI

…click on the above link to read the rest…

What It Takes To Homestead As A Working Retirement

March 22, 2022

What It Takes To Homestead As A Working Retirement

What are your plans for retirement? Are you looking forward to watching more TV, playing golf, or traveling? And when you aren’t doing those things, then what? This is why I’m looking forward to a “Working Retirement.”

Learning from previous generations

In my 50’s, I watched my mom succumb to Alzheimer’s, and later, my dad to heart medications. They both lived a long time. In particular, my father lived to be 92 years old. For me, that was a strong indication that I would also be long-lived. If I could do something about it, I didn’t necessarily want to end up in the same condition.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

At 60 years old, I still work full-time, which I enjoy. So why am I looking at homesteading as a “working retirement?” The last thing I want to do is spend all day watching television in an easy chair. This is what I watched my parents do, and it killed them. They both got to the point where they could barely do anything else.

On the other hand, regular activity has been proven to keep people young. A recent study by the National Institutes of Health found that even low levels of activity could increase life expectancy 4.5 years, regardless of body weight.[1] For an excellent example of this, look to Jack Lalanne, who was active from his teens until he died at the age of 96 years old.

A Permaculture Design Course opened my eyes

The other change that happened quite recently was taking a Permaculture Design Course (PDC). The information I received opened my eyes to the possibilities for using land, except I didn’t have land at the time…

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Rural gentrification Part II: Of localists and homesteaders

February 22, 2022

Rural gentrification Part II: Of localists and homesteaders

In this post, I discuss some issues about gentrification, localism and homesteading or neo-agrarianism, following on from my last post and the wider debate I referred to there.

Let’s begin with a word on gentrification, which is usually applied to urban situations where richer people avail themselves of cheaper property prices by moving into poorer neighbourhoods, resulting in rising real estate values over time that price the original inhabitants or their descendants out of the area, and changing its social character in ways more suited to the incomers than the original inhabitants.

As I see it, these trends are significant social problems but their framing as ‘gentrification’ raises some problems of its own, of which I’ll mention three. First, the gentrification narrative implicitly blames the affluent incomers, individualizing them as the source of the economic problems faced by the original inhabitants and thereby diverting attention from structural problems of poverty, inequality and housing access operating within the wider economy and its politics. Second, it also diverts attention from competing interests among the original inhabitants, not least the owners and sellers of property who benefit from rising prices and economic dynamism but figure as silent players in the gentrification story. Finally, it involves cultural conceptions of authenticity and threat – the locally authentic culture of the original inhabitants threatened by the cosmopolitan and inauthentic culture (or personhood?) of the incomers. Such conceptions could do with some further elaboration.

I’ll return to some of these points shortly, but I want to turn now to rural and agrarian gentrification. The urban gentrification picture I just described can apply equally to small rural towns and villages, with the same caveats, but when it comes to back-to-the-land neo-agrarian homesteading it gets a bit more complicated…

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

You’re Not Going to Homestead Through Collapse

August 23, 2021

No matter how self-sufficient you become

Photo by Roger Darnell on Unsplash

“By collapse, I mean a drastic decrease in human population size and/or political/economic/social complexity over a considerable area, for an extended time.” — Jared Diamond in Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (2005)

People who criticize billionaires for foolishly building underground bunkers believe they can survive the impending doom of climate change by hunkering down on a homestead.

Both groups are attempting to escape the realities of collapse. It’s a race that most humans will likely lose. It’s now a question of whether the species can survive extinction.

On one hand the survivalists (rightfully) poo-poo plans for colonizing Mars as too difficult on a “dead planet” while simultaneously clinging to the belief that for all their beans and bullets, gardens and wells —the hoarded supplies of a prepper will see them through the sixth mass extinction on a dying Earth. It’s the poor-man’s version of an Elysium space station.

The cognitive dissonance must physically hurt.

And let’s admit what no one is saying out loud. The carefully made plans for some sort of Neo-Thoreau lifestyle is more about surviving the collapse of civilization in relative safety and comfort than reducing a carbon footprint — the same attitude that put us in this predicament in the first place.

Here are just a few of the reasons this fantasy won’t work.

Collapse will be everywhere but not all at once.

The central idea of catabolic collapse is that human societies pretty consistently tend to produce more stuff than they can afford to maintain…

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Living the Homesteading Dream – Part 7

July 20, 2021

 Image by Jonathon Engles.

Living the Homesteading Dream – Part 7

Weeds and Bugs and Raccoons, Oh My!

I’m in the middle of the garden, dusk just tipping into darkness, wearing nothing but my underpants when I realise that chasing a raccoon whilst clapping and shouting—we’d just finished reading that they don’t like loud noises—might attract attentive neighbours with something they’d not likely seen yet.

And, believe me, they’ve been watching this little permaculture homestead come together for a couple of years now, so they have seen some stuff, if only via glimpsing across these boundary lines every so often out of perplexed curiosity.

The raccoon lopes away, turning to look back, suggesting this half-naked man’s—that’s me—effort is but a dream. I should have just stayed in bed because it seems to know that I’ll be back there soon enough, leaving the garden an unattended smorgasbord once again.

It started with our wood mulch pathways. Every morning we’d wake up to find them disheveled, the cardboard below them torn up in areas. Rocks from the garden borders would be tossed askew. Mulch in the garden beds would be tugged this way and that. Apparently, there were just too many earthworms for the resident raccoon to resist, so putting it all back together became a morning ritual for us.

The stakes got higher, though. When the strawberry mounds were promising huge harvests—we’d already pulled a couple of bowlfuls without making a dent in the future bounty—the raccoon started scrumping (Emma’s English term for stealing the farmer’s fruit in a sort of rascally way). The strawberries were all disappearing, with the raccoon having set the little green lids daintily on the ground after having snacked on them.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Which SHTF situation is most likely to actually happen?

May 5, 2019

Which SHTF situation is most likely to actually happen?

Image: Which SHTF situation is most likely to actually happen?

(Natural News) The prepping lifestyle can be overwhelming for most people but at its core, preppers prioritize readiness in all aspects of their lives. But amid all the talk about prepping skills, survival gear, and food supplies, how do you know which disaster event has the highest chance of occurring within your lifetime? (h/t to TheSurvivalistBlog.net)

How to prepare for possible SHTF events

For this article, an “SHTF” event is defined as “any event that upends your life” after it occurs, such as flooding in a major city. These events would be classified as major disasters or catastrophes, not personal emergencies.

On the extreme end of prepping are those who will do whatever it takes to get ready for apocalyptic events like EMP attacks or nuclear world war. However, more realistic preppers are concerned about events that may likely occur in their lifetimes, such as hurricanes or tornadoes.

No matter where you land on the prepping scale of SHTF-readiness, the important thing is to get ready for disasters that happen yearly worldwide.

Take note that the events detailed below are more or less likely to occur depending on your location. According to the U.N.’s Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), the single most likely natural disaster to occur anywhere in the world is flooding.

Flood preparedness

Rising water is “the most likely disaster to befall you anywhere in the developed world,” with about 30 percent of all disasters categorized as flooding. This coincides with data gathered by U.S.-based disaster response agencies and insurers.

Regardless of what causes flooding, it is a deadly and destructive event that occurs yearly. In most cases, a local major body of water will overrun its banks due to several days of heavy rain. However, other factors like dam failure, ice or snow melting, or tsunamis can also create severe flooding. 

 …click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The best ideas to turn your homestead into the ultimate edible landscape

March 10, 2019

The best ideas to turn your homestead into the ultimate edible landscape

Image: The best ideas to turn your homestead into the ultimate edible landscape

(Natural News) Homesteaders prioritize self-reliance and the cultivation of organic produce, but this doesn’t mean you can’t make your home garden look pretty. If you want to beautify your property, start a practice called edible landscaping. (h/t to RockinWHomestead.com)

What is edible landscaping?

Edible landscaping represents a different take on how to design and interact with yards and urban green spaces. The practice prioritizes the cultivation of food-producing plants and native perennials, and it helps home gardeners create green space and provide healthy, fresh food to their family.

Replacing even just a fraction of traditional lawns with edible landscapes designed around locally appropriate plants offers various benefits.

These benefits require little to no irrigation or fertilizer and can increase food production potential in cities, as well as attract pollinators and improve ecological diversity.

Flowers for your edible landscape

Edible flowers are a common feature of edible landscapes. But flowering plants aren’t just pretty, they also attract pollinators that can help your fruit-bearing plants thrive. (Related: Edible Landscaping Ideas For Small Spaces.)

Popular options include daisies, lilacs, pansies, and sunflowers.

Edible flowers can also be used for food decorating and subtle flavoring.

Herbs for your edible landscape

Herbs are another staple in edible landscapes. You can plant the following herbs in your yard:

  • Basil and thyme – Basil and thyme are beautiful additions to any garden. Both herbs are fairly easy to grow, and you can use them both as nutritious ingredients in different dishes.
  • Chives – Chives bear beautiful flowers that can add to the aesthetic appeal of your garden. This delicious herb is also the perfect addition to baked potatoes and other savory side dishes.

 …click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

How to build a self-sufficient garden on as little as a quarter of an acre

January 2, 2019

Image: How to build a self-sufficient garden on as little as a quarter of an acre
(Natural News) Modern conveniences like countless grocery stores and food delivery services make it seem like the average American family has no use for home gardening. But when SHTF, you could starve if you don’t have access to fresh produce growing in your own garden. (h/t to SHTFPlan.com)

Starting a home garden is one of the first steps that you can take to become self-sufficient. Like other aspects of prepping and survival, home gardening requires dedication and hard work yet it is also incredibly rewarding.

With some planning and the use of certain techniques and principles, your home garden can provide vegetables for the whole family. You won’t even need that much land since you can make do with as little as a quarter of an acre. This means even preppers who live in the suburbs can try their hand at home gardening.

Home gardening basics

Before you start sowing seeds, you must figure out how much food you need and can grow. These two things will depend on various factors, like the climate, garden space, the size of your family, and how much food everyone requires. (Related: A simple 5-step guide to starting your own vegetable garden.)

Back in the 1970s, research by John Jeavons and the Ecology Action Organization determined that 4,000 square feet (or 370 square meters) of growing space, with another 4000 square feet for access paths and storage, is enough land area to provide for an individual on a vegetarian diet for one year. This land is enough to cultivate a garden plot that’s about 80 feet x 100 feet (24 meters x 30 meters).

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Threats to Family Farms & Homesteading from Agri-Business and Groupthink

October 17, 2018

Threats to Family Farms & Homesteading from Agri-Business and Groupthink

This research-based article details the multiple threats to good, community farming practices and small-scale organic/cooperative endeavors. The threats take the form of social engineering in the guise of “managed providers working for the common good of the majority of people,” when in effect it concentrates the wealth and resources in the hands of the few and leaves the average family farm and homesteader out in the cold, or worse. “Legislates” them right into illegality with previously legal practices (such as rainwater catchments systems, or sustainable family farms.)

An older article I recently stumbled across is particularly revealing of the mindset that governs this struggle: one characterized by that mindset’s reliance on “technology” and “mechanization” to provide a plethora of bountiful harvests. The article is entitled “8 Solutions for a Hungry World” and it lists those “solutions” as such:

1. Farm the desert – using a greenhouse that converts seawater to freshwater,
2. Grow with precision – using soil sensors to inform when water and fertilizer are needed,
3. Rebuild rice – the genetic engineering of the photosynthetic capabilities of rice,
4. Replace fertilizer – with a mixture of 300 natural microbes (now synthesized) for Nitrogen fertilization,
5. Re-map a continent – to target new farming technologies in Africa,
6. Use robot labor – to monitor, prune, and pick produce,
7. Resurrect the soil – biochar machines the size of shipping (sea-land) containers,
8. Make supercrops – more genetically engineered crops.

All of these proposed solutions (although possible) can (and probably will, if implemented) have far-reaching consequences. Items 3, 4, and 8 involve genetic engineering and manipulation of other species. Items 2 and 6 are unnecessary, replacing human labor with faddish gadgets that consume both energy and fuel. Item 5 concentrates and categorizes geographic spreads of potential profitability (a return to medieval serfdom, fiefs and all) instead of viable human communities.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

How Permaculture is the Perfect Match for Homesteading

September 18, 2017

HOW PERMACULTURE IS THE PERFECT MATCH FOR HOMESTEADING

WHAT IS PERMACULTURE?

“Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted & thoughtful observation rather than protracted & thoughtless labor; of looking at plants & animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single-product system.”

BILL MOLLISON

The term permaculture is a portmanteau of “Permanent” and “Agriculture”, and “culture”. It began with a focus on the production of a sustainable food system, but grew into so much more over time, encompassing economic and social systems as well. The movement is dynamic, all-encompassing and still growing to this day. It is a very simple idea that is spreading world wide. It is living holistically, in perfect harmony with nature. Any system that provides for its own energy needs, is inherently sustainable. This same concept can be extended beyond things like biodiesels and solar powers.

The permaculture movement calls for many different things, different ways of planting and growing your foods. For example, it suggests using only plants that are planted only once, perennial crops, rather than things that need constant tillage. Tilling the ground is terrible for the soil. Along with that, permaculture encompasses the mantra of “working with, rather than against nature”. This is carried out by simple things, such as planting mashua under locust trees. Locust trees add nitrogen to the soil, while mashua needs a support structure to grow on. You won’t need to build a trellis for the vines, and the locust trees provide shade and protection for the vines while also serving as a nectar source for much-needed bees.

THE ORIGINS OF THE MOVEMENT

Bill Mollison, an Australian ecologist and professor, created the permaculture movement in the 1970’s. He was disgusted by the destruction of nature he saw going on around him, as his interests in nature and wildlife drew him into observing how natural systems work.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Self-Reliance Strategies: Resources for Setting Up a Prepper’s Homestead Quickly and Inexpensively

March 31, 2016

Self-Reliance Strategies: Resources for Setting Up a Prepper’s Homestead Quickly and Inexpensively

This week, the self-reliance report is about the resources and strategies I’ve used for setting up a prepper’s homestead quickly and inexpensively. A lot of research went into swapping environments – I moved from a low country rather dry farm to a cabin in the mountains to set up a homestead in the forest.  As always, I followed a thrifty budget to get things done.

The Self-Reliance Weekly Report is a collection of strategies, made up of the articles, books, DIYs, and products that I found useful on my own little prepper’s homestead.

Prepping

I recently spent a great deal of time searching for the perfect prepper’s retreat. This article discusses my search and offers some tips for finding your own perfect retreat. If your plan is to rely on your homesteading ability to survive when the S hits the Fan, it’s essential to get started now. There’s a steep learning curve and many will fail.

Following, find a collection of some of the most interesting prepper resources around right now.

Homesteading

The past couple of weeks my focus has been getting my new homestead set up as quickly as possible. Here are the resources that I found pertinent.

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Olduvai IV: Courage
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Olduvai II: Exodus
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