HOMESTEADING

• Imagine growing your own groceries?
• Milking your dairy cow
• Harvesting bushels of tomatoes and peppers from the garden
• Having freezers stocked with grass-fed meat, pastured lard and a cellar full with home-canned goods lining every wall
• Imagine not needing to leave your farm to go to the store

There is a life that still exists where food is raised, not bought, and you can have it.

Homesteaders are increasing in number by the day and they are the ones making the change.

• We do not want to consume, we want to produce.
• We do not want to be fed, we want to feed.
• We do not want to hire, we want to know how.
• We want to teach our children where food comes from.
• We want to sustain ourselves as much as we can from our land.
• We want to go on when the world stops.

Every day, I am seeing the importance of knowledge. 

As our country closes more and more businesses, social distancing removes us, and the grocery stores scramble to restock, I am affirmed that my time is not wasted.

I received this email from a reader this week:

Candi,

You are awesome!  I love to read about your homestead.  If we lived in Kentucky I would love to buy your property.  We are so MANY years behind you with our little piece of land.  We do however have 2 freezers full of food, grass-fed beef (purchased) and multiple chickens and lots of venison.  Our vegetables and berries from the garden are now in jars and in the freezer.  I have a good stock of wheat berries, AND I know what to do with them.  Thank You for sharing all of your knowledge with us out here in the cyber world.   As I sit at work and listen to everyone panicking that they can’t get groceries I smile and think to myself – you laughed when I went home every day last summer and worked in the garden while you swam in your pool and sunbathed.  Now I sit and sip my tea- wine – coffee while you fight the crowds.  Something satisfying in that.  Thank You for all that you do. 

-G

My friend is right.  The neighbors scoff, the friends laugh, few understand the hours and weeks that we homesteaders devote to growing, harvesting, canning and preparing our food.

But it is time well spent.

WHY HOMESTEADING MATTERS

SKILLS

You will learn and possess dead life-skills.  How to garden, milk an animal, make butter, bake bread, etc.

THE NEXT GENERATION

Your family will be watching.  My children hold unknown amounts of information simply by living in this home.  They know how lard is rendered.  How wheat berries are milled.  How bread rises.  How ice-cream is churned.  How scratch meals are prepared.

THE RURAL SETTING

There is something quaint and peaceful about being on your own piece of land away from the city.  It provides health.  It allows for more oxygen.  It distances us from crowds.  It gives us space to find (or raise) food.

Whether you want gardens blooming with vegetables, woods filled with berries, land alive with tasty critters (turkey, deer, squirrel, etc), orchards dripping with fruit, or just room to do your own thing – homesteading provides the space.

NOT FOUND IN BOOKS

There are somethings that can not be learned from books.  Homesteading is the teaching ground for many lost life skills.  Unfortunately, life itself is the best teacher when it comes to a more self-sufficient life.

A LIFE TRULY LIVED

The extreme couponers are being applauded right now when grocery store shelves are bare, but I think the homesteaders are the real front-runners.

Unlike the Coupon Queens (and Kings) we homesteaders do not need the grocery to restock our shelves.  All we need is dirt.

If you spent your days somewhere between the garden and the kitchen last summer, stand proud.  This is not a life wasted or time wasted.

In fact, I believe we are devoting these hours to something terribly important.

More important than earning money.

More important than owning ‘things.’

More important than the latest Netflix Series.

At the end of the day, we humans are searching for meaning.  Many people are stuck in the cycle of working to earn money to buy stuff.  Or working to earn money to pay for the stuff we bought.

But money and stuff never satisfy.

Life is more than that

I can say confidently that my life is truly satisfactory.  My days are filled with worthwhile tasks.  There is so much meaning and joy found in the homesteading life.

The garden is a place where the hours disappear because there is no place I would rather be.

The milk cow is my favorite thing in the world.  I have owned milk cows for many years.  The time I spend working with the cows and calves is simply the sweetest time.  

Baking bread, canning, and scratch cooking are so dear to my heart.  Although it is a commitment and unfortunately becoming the exception (rather than the rule) I still love cooking for my family.  I know they are being nourished well and they will cherish the memories of all these homegrown, homecooked meals.  

If you have been dreaming of moving to a little piece of land and getting out of the hustle and bustle, there isn’t a better time.  I encourage you to get online and start looking for your dream-homestead.  It is not as far away as you think, we bought our farm in 2010 and moved to the country in 2011.  Our life has been precious and I wouldn’t change it for anything.

Don’t pass up our listing – if you are looking for a perfect place in the country this may be it:

KENTUCKY HOMESTEAD FOR SALE 

XO,

Candi