3 Ways to Start Homesteading Today –
No Matter Where you Live
Homesteading is a “Can Do” attitude that isn’t afraid of failure
If you are new to homesteading or would like a crash course on what it means to be a homesteader, head over HERE.
Basically, we homesteaders like to do it ourselves. We like to make it ourselves. We want to fix it ourselves. We even sometimes want to kill it ourselves (hunting is a huge part of our life around here).
And it’s not usually about the money. I can afford groceries. I just want to grow all my food because I want to.
We homesteaders are doing it for the life – not the money.
We like knowing how to do things.
We like being able to do things.
We like having the freedom to live the way we want.
People incorrectly assume that you need to move to acreage and get a chicken in order to be more self-sufficient.
The truth is you can embrace the homesteading spirit, no matter where you live.
THE FOOD
Perhaps the easiest and most impactful way you can start living like a homesteader today is to focus on your plate.
We all must eat every day.
It is essential to life and has a huge footprint on the earth.
Where and How your food is raised affects more than the nourishment of that food
- Pastured meats are more nutritious for consumption.
- Pasture animals are healthier (and happier).
- Farms with pastured animals are healthier for farmers who work there.
- Organically grown fruits and vegetables are healthier to eat
- Organic produce does not leach unwanted chemicals into our food or the environment
- Farms that are pesticide and herbicide-FREE are healthier for the farmers working there
Growing or sourcing food from reputable producers will have an immediate impact on your life.
Choosing healthier grown food will instantly improve the number of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients in your diet. You will eat more fiber and antioxidants.
NUMBER ONE Way to Start Homesteading Today:
GROW FOOD
(OR SOURCE IT FROM A RESPONSIBLE GROWER)
Noting affects our sustainability more strongly than food production.
Eating is far more essential to life than being able to build furniture or sew clothes. Let’s face it, we could probably live the rest of our lives in the clothes we now own and on the furniture we have.
Food, on the other hand, is something we need every day in order to live.
When you take control of your food – you take control of your health and your ability to thrive.
NUMBER TWO Way to Start Homesteading Today:
STORE FOOD
The second step you can take today to begin a homesteading lifestyle is to think about “putting up” some of that healthy food you grew (or purchased from local growers) during the growing season.
Canning is easy. If you have a bumper crop of tomatoes, make spaghetti sauce. If the cucumbers are dripping off the vines, make pickles. If a friend invited you over to pick berries or peaches, make jelly!
Just about any vegetable can be canned to enjoy year-round. The Ball Blue Book is a great place to start.
If canning is not your style, freeze produce to enjoy during winter.
NUMBER THREE Way to Start Homesteading Today:
SCRATCH IT BABY
Cooking from scratch is another easy way you can get off the grid and be more responsible for your own basic needs.
Home cooks are a dying breed and busy people everywhere are turning to takeout, boxed meals, and pre-made dinners.
Scratch-cooking is a great life-skill to cultivate and it will do more than make you self sufficient
- Home-cooked meals are healthier
- Home-cooked meals are cheaper
- Home-cooked meals taste better
- Home-cooked meals have less sodium
- Home-cooked meals will have your family back around the dinner table smiling
- Home-cooking passes the skill to the next generation
It’s not hard to cook from scratch, and it doesn’t take that long.
In the time it takes to drive to a restaurant, order, eat, and drive back home you could have cooked & enjoyed a homemade meal. The kids could have the kitchen clean and you will even have leftovers for tomorrow!
And it’s WAY cheaper than eating out.
Where to Begin? – Easy Scratch-cooking HERE
Even if you live in an apartment you can begin to live like a homesteader today.
Don’t be overwhelmed. You can start small and feel good about the changes you are making.
There was a time when I lived in a neighborhood and couldn’t have a garden (dang HOA). I still found ways to take responsibility of my food production. It began with cooking from scratch. I stopped using those canned “cream of something” soups and ditched the boxed pasta.
I started focusing on healthy meats and fresh vegetables (as sides).
I learned to mill my own wheat and hand-make bread. More on breadmaking HERE.
Once I moved to our farm I began taking more control of our food with garden production, raising livestock, and preservation.
But it all started with my desire to get rid of the processed foods.
MAKE YOUR CHANGE TODAY
- Ditch the boxes, packages, and cans.
- Shop the perimeter of the grocery (vegetables, meat & dairy).
- Stop consuming store-bought bread and baked goods. Almost all of them are junk food.
You Got This!
If you want to give up the junk food for good and start living a different life, I can help. There is a glorious membership community inside this site. Members get breadmaking videos (a 9-video course), free ebooks, homesteading tutorials, how-tos, and farm-living instructional videos. There are hundreds of real-food recipes, menu plans and tons of Premium content.
To learn more about the memberships go here.
Wishing you all the best on your journey!
XO,
Candi
