The Homesteader Who Wanted to Do it ALL

I WANT TO DO IT ALL. I want to know where everything comes from and I don’t want to be dependent on anyone. The ultimate homesteading desire, right?

We’d like to create all of it – including, but not limited to:

• Food/Water
• Shelter
• Energy source “creation”
• Clothing
• Security
• Wellness/Health

As a homesteader, this sort of thinking can send you into a tailspin because you’d like to know the source of everything you use, and if you could be on the ground floor to see that product get made, even better!!!!  Plus, you want to be as independent as possible – you don’t want to rely on the grocery store when the egg supply is forever precarious.  Also, how do we keep track of recalls on fruit or the continual changes in labeling ingredients…is it safe or not safe? And, what is that chemical smell coming from that area rug I just bought?? The challenge for the homesteader is time, expertise, money, environment and community….to mention a few.

Tackling challenges is why many of us homestead – we like a good challenge! However, realistically, we must pick and choose. Here are some things we picked, but later outsourced:

• Making our own clothes (sew, knit..you name it)
• Milking our goats for cheese and soap
• Raising turkeys
• Growing medicinal herbs and making herbal health remedies
• Growing fruit trees

This is the deal – those things – they just weren’t for us – and that’s okay!

I honestly wish that when we began homesteading, someone had come to us and said, like a school guidance counselor does,

“Talk to me a little about how you spend your time. What do you like to do? What do you enjoy studying? What’s your community/social life like? What are you crazy passionate about?  What’s that thing you just keep seeing again and again, and you say to yourself, I WANT TO DO THAT.”

Homesteading is not an image; if you romanticize it, expect burn out quickly.

Homesteading is simply put…..how we do things around here. And what YOU DO, is based on your expertise and passion.

So, the key is…. to figure out – HOW do we do things around here???

It’s different for every homesteader.

I have to tell you, after sewing a set of napkins and making one apron on an incredibly nice sewing machine that I desperately wanted, I discovered I despised sewing!!!! It wasn’t for me!!! I could write a whole story about that – but that’s not the focus here. I gave my sewing machine away to a family member who will actually use it.

The key is, sorting out “image” from “how we do things around here”, based on your passion, your personality and simply how you operate. My husband loves physical work, therefore, not only is he a chiropractor, he spends his weekends building or digging on a variety of projects.

How do you operate? What feels natural to you? Once you discover your expertise as a homesteader, you’ll also discover how absolutely necessary community is to your world. 

We were told we needed to plant fruit trees. Over and over we were told this – it was part of homesteading – get it going! One day I went out and picked my own cherries and discovered I never wanted to do that again. It wasn’t for me. I actually use a lot of cherries. I make a cherry crumble bar that is a staple at my farmstand. However, I simply go across the street now and purchase my cherries from an orchard and support my community.  I have absolutely no interest, whatsoever, in taking care of fruit trees. These things all have a way of working out 😊

If you try to do it all, you’ll burn out, and you may, incorrectly, decide that homesteading isn’t for you. Don’t give up so quickly – remember this, homesteading works when you include community.

Start by figuring out what you love – look at the main facets of homesteading. Mull through these ideas. Experiment.  

Don’t go out and buy an expensive sewing machine, like I did, because the image of sewing my own children’s clothes seemed so dreamy and fabulous. Try out your neighbor’s sewing machine first or take a class at the rec center and see what you think!

Visit a fruit orchard and pick your own cherries or apples. Do you like doing that?

Buy some alpaca yarn and knit a blanket before you buy your own alpacas. Do you really want to weave your own alpaca fiber for knitting? You know, when you’re not milking your goat or building a chicken coop? OMG….seriously, think about this…are you a super hero? I’m not!

We have alpacas. I have adjusted to the fact that I absolutely adore them and they bring me such peace, as well as alpaca poop for my garden. This past summer I gave away all of my saved alpaca fiber; I relinquished the weaving and knitting plan. However, I sell alpaca poop year round 🙂

But let me tell you…I know a crazy badass weaving community here in town should I ever get free time to knit an alpaca blanket for the heck of it! I’m sure they can hook me up with some amazing alpaca yarn, or maybe I can make a trade? Maybe someone will weave my alpaca fiber for me if I give them some chicken/meat birds we have raised?

Maybe you want an organic turkey for the holidays? Nobody said you had to raise 25 of them!!! (YES WE DID THIS) We lost our pants on that investment. We turn to our community now for a local organic turkey.

Community makes the homesteading world go round.

Do what you LOVE and what you can feasibly make part of your daily life without exhaustion, injury or burnout.

Turn to your community to outsource the rest. They will in turn look to you for YOUR expertise. We are loved for our farmstand. Not everyone wants to run a farmstand. Take the win-win and breathe a little. It’s all possible! You can do IT ALL – WITH community.