Beginning Homesteading

20 Things You Should Know Before Starting a Homestead

Table of Contents

Introduction

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Chapter 1–A (very, very) Brief History of Homesteading

Chapter 2–Frontier Living in Modern Times

Chapter 3–Downtown Homesteading

Chapter 4–Maintaining Your Shelter

Chapter 5–Preserving the Food You Grow

Chapter 6–Sustainable Homesteading Hacks

Conclusion

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Introduction

Classical history describes the moment in his life when Alexander the great wept upon seeing the vastness of his empire. He wept because he had reached the end of the lands he could conquer. So it seems in modern times, we have reached the end of lands to till and develop so that we might live a self-sustaining lifestyle. The rise of urban, suburban and exurban sprawl have reduced or eliminated arable land from many communities.

However, modern homesteaders have carved out places in any area to practice a lifestyle that is focused on respect for the land, being able to take care of one’s own needs and providing for one’s own family. Homesteading may seem odd, unusual or even a little crazy. But to those of us who have lived the lifestyle, there is no other way we would want to live.

Homesteading was what our forefathers practiced, all on their own, in the colonial and early days of the American nation. As technological advances allowed people to co-mingle more in the cities and urban areas and the promise of jobs made such living more affordable, homesteading became less prominent in our culture. But the ethic that animated homesteaders was not so easily purged from our collective consciousness. In the sixties, younger folks sought communal living in rural areas as a means of dropping out of a society they felt was no longer adequately authentic. And modern homesteading became less a means of preservation and more a statement. Thus the modern homesteading movement was born.

This book deals with a brief history of modern homesteading as well as an exploration of the essentials that beginning homesteaders will need to understand before setting out on this adventure. I have broken the tips into five sections that emphasize the essential skills that homesteaders need to master.

The first section will deal with cultivating the land. We’ll also include tips for cultivating land in interior spaces for when you do not have the luxury of acreage. The second section deals with hunting and the skills an individual needs to be able to sustainably supplement the food that has been raised on a homestead. The third section will explore first aid and other important considerations for self-preservation. Along with preserving one’s self, a modern homesteader must also preserve the home and land. That will be the topic of the fourth section. Of particular importance will be the means of supplying a steady source of energy to power the home. Finally, we’ll review holistic and natural cures that can be whipped up on the modern homestead. But first, let’s bust some myths surrounding homesteading and share a little about its history.

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Chapter 1 – A (very, very) Brief History of Homesteading

Before we get started with the particulars about homesteading, there are a few basic things you need to know about homesteading before you get started.

1. Homesteading is a lifestyle. You may recall images of roughing it, wagon trains bound for the open frontier and other relics from an otherwise long-forgotten history class. But the basics of modern homesteading are fairly simple. There are no hard and fast rules about homesteading. Many modern homesteaders buy land and build from scratch. Others acquire property with an existing homestead. Still more, just make due in the home they have today. But one thing is certain, homesteading has come a long way from the original Homestead Act from 150 years ago.

Have you ever seen a photo spread of a cabin in the middle of nowhere? The kind where you see an outhouse down wind from the home and livestock penned in, also down wind. If you’re familiar with that, then you understand the basic tenets of the original homesteading lifestyle. This is more frontier life than it is truly roughing it. As you have already begun to embrace the fundamentals of homesteading, you understand that the true pleasures of life naturally come without modern distractions.

Much rustic living requires land, and lots of it. But thanks to modern marvels of technology, we can homestead in confined urban spaces. If you want to pursue the truly traditional homesteading lifestyle, you will still need land. Your best bet is property in an exurban or rural area where you can acquire a dozen or more acres of mixed land. You’ll want hills to build your root cellar and provide defensive positioning, lake access or the ability to create a pond on site (fishing and ice for your icehouse), trees and shade, arable land to grow crops and land for grazing and pens for livestock. We’ll get into all of this in subsequent chapters.

2. The first misconception new homesteaders have, right up until they get started is that this living simply is easy. And they are sadly mistaken. Wherever one sets up a homestead, the work is hard. The time involved is the main factor. Every day brings that same redundant chores. Tend to the plants. Tend to the animals. Make sure their living areas are tidy and free of filth and other waste. Check on any sick animals to ensure they are recovering. Of course with anything in season, harvest and prepare or preserve the food.

If you are like most modern homesteaders, you found this calling through a desire to be closer to nature. In doing this you feel you can live a more natural and authentic life. This jives with the motivations of the second wave of homesteaders that swept the United States in the late sixties and through much of the seventies. This was a time of nascent environmental consciousness. In addition, the younger generation that adopted homesteading as a lifestyle wanted to do away with capitalist consumerism. The idea of engaging in a never ending rat race to accumulate the most stuff was anathema to their emphasis on authentic living. Many of those young idealists dropped back into corporate America. But some stayed the course and paved the way for us today.

Now, I don’t claim much political allegiance, one way or the other. I like to be left alone to live my life the way I want to, without any nosy busybody telling me that I’m doing something wrong. I can’t stand homeowner’s associations and stupid regulations on what I can do in my own home or on my own property. As a result, I am hardly a poster child for the homesteaders who are part of a movement to rid the world of consumerism or some such. Those folks want to go off the grid and home school their kids and live off the land because Jesus or Gaia or somebody told them this was the right way to live.

And that works for them. For me, the push to be self-sustaining is motivated by what motivates many of my friends who have become active homesteaders. We recognize that we have very little control over what we eat and drink. The food on our tables and beverages in our glasses are bussed, trucked, flown or delivered to a mega market, packed to the gills with unknowable chemical additives to keep them fresh forever.

Likewise, I recognize that the supply chain that provides these food-like substances is fragile. Most people do not think about the disruptions that even minor calamities can cause in our overly connected, globalized world. Too often our efforts are geared towards maintaining the status quo rather than finding better ways. As a culture, that’s dangerous. But that does not mean I cannot choose a better path. That’s why I began homesteading several years ago. This book is a collection of the important things I learned.

Chapter 2 – Frontier Living in Modern Times

Now that we understand homesteading and what it entails, we need to focus on how you can live outside of urban sprawl, beyond the suburbs and exurbs and other developed spaces. These few frontiers are where modern homesteading can be practiced in line with the traditions of homesteading practiced for decades.

1. The homestead centers on your domicile. For traditional homesteaders, that means you’ll need a cabin. In addition to your cabin, in the event you want emergency power, it never hurts to have a wind turbine or two that you can use for limited power for emergency situations. Additionally, solar power and battery backups are worth investing in. While homesteading is not strictly off grid living, having the ability to generate your own power makes you truly self-sustaining.

2. Next we need a well. Make sure the land you acquire as an aquifer and that it will support the installation of an artesian well. An artesian well will supply steady amounts of water that can be filtered for drinking. You’ll also need to incorporate your own septic system to process waste created within the home. That will primarily be human waste, as the remnants of food and other natural garbage produced in the household will feed your compost heap.

3. After water and basic sanitation are provided for, the next thing we need is airflow. The older homes that do not have central air tend to develop over time a stale smell to them. The best way to alleviate this is through air flow. But air flow generally requires some means of power unless you get convective. Prior to electricity, homes used the natural air flow of varying temperatures to make them more livable. So using a wood, coal or oil furnace to heat air, or even the warmth of a room that faces the sun and naturally heats the air will create positive pressure and force air upwards. In turn cooler are will flow to fill that space. In doing this you regulate temperatures within your home without fans or other cooling devices that chew up power. You can further amplify that effect by including extra windows that catch the prevailing breezes from outside. If your home gets consistent westerly winds, having many windows on the west, northwest and southwest facing walls will catch natural airflow and regulate temperatures within.

4. In addition to airflow, we want a heat source. You have several options but among the best is the venerable wood burning stove. In addition to heating much of the home, a stove can also provide warmth for cooking and if you direct the smoke towards racks of cured meat, you have the wonderful flavor of low, slow, home-cooked barbeque delights. Your best option is to choose truly efficient woods for burning. My personal preference is to go with oak, and in particular either red or white oak. They burn hot and form nice coals so you do not need an excess of heat. And oak-smoked meats are fantastic. Not as great as hickory, mesquite or assorted fruit woods, but our goal is not entirely taste as it is heating our home. So choose the effective wood over the more flavorful one.

5. Composting provides for better crops and as a a means of heating water for cleaning, showering and washing clothes. So I mentioned compost before, and I want you composting. One it makes for healthier crops ad that makes for better food. But in addition, it can heat your water. Compost not only makes for perfect fertilizer, it outputs substantial heat. Your leftover organic material expels energy in the form of heat as it decomposes. Rather than relying on a wood burning stove or other type of water heater let's use that to heat our water supply.

Composting is a process known as biodegradation. Organic material stores energy in carbon. When the microbes that create compost get to work, they increase the pace of degradation. Not only does that create good fertilizer, it unlocks all the energy in the carbon. And that gets pretty warm.

So in a sense, your compost heap is a controlled chemical reaction that produces heat and material to feed plants. Remarkably, this won't just get your shower water warm, it will wash your whites fairly well. In many respects, it will outperform the water heater you have in your basement today.

Start by running piping from your water source to your home. Hot water will flow from in a loop from the main home store to the compost pile then into the home. Inside the compost pile, you'll make it a coil so the water can heat adequately. Use piping that will both keep any compost out and still be a good conduit for the heat. Copper springs to mind.

Since the compost heap can be in excess of 150 or even 165 degrees, your water will have gotten quite warm. You'll want a regular insulated tank to hold water that flows in and regulates the temperature to avoid scalding those who shower.

6. As a side note, make sure you have a backup water source. In dry weather, your aquifer may not produce as much water as you need. You can begin with collecting rainwater. You’ll need to filter and purify that. But you should strive to have ore alternate sources. Like I mentioned back in the power chapter, this is a means of having layers of redundant sources of what you need, rather than one perfect solution. The reason is simple. There are no perfect solutions.

One of the easiest is to look for naturally occurring springs. These will need to be different from your own aquifer. Often times you can have a few sources of water on a larger enough tract of land. Take a dry day and scout around for wet places. An out cropping of trees will also signal a potential spring. If you find a spring, you can install a pipe and the water will flow down to your home from it. If the spring’s source is natural, the water should be safe for drinking. To make sure that it is, test it for impurities. If necessary, filter, treat and feel confident you have a back up supply of water.

7. Rustic living also provides ample opportunities for animal husbandry. But you need to keep the right animals to maximize the use you get from them. For starters, you want animals that can be a source of food. The usual animals spring to mind, chickens produce eggs and meat. Cows will provide milk and meat. Other animals are excellent protein sources. But when it comes to the best multi-tasking livestock around, you want those that can give milk, meat and fiber for making cloth.

Sheep, certain goats, and a few breeds of cattle will admirably produce meat, milk and wool for spinning and turning into cloth. That alone makes them more valuable than animals that are single use. To best care and feed your critters, you will need barn and pen space, plenty of grazing land and some feed crops to ensure they have plenty of food. They will also need their own water source. This is another reason to look for land a lake or pond already on the property. Of course, with the right tools, you can build your own. Just make sure that in building your pond, you do not disrupt the water table or contaminate your water supply.

Chapter 3 – Downtown Homesteading

While the farmhouse surrounded by fields and livestock pens may be the traditional view of homesteading. It is not the only way that we can homestead in modern times. The hippies may have pooled their resources to buy or build a commune in the middle of the wilderness, but if you want to stay in the prime urban locale you call home and live a more sustainable life, you can do just that.

That’s because a revolution has begun. In America’s agrarian past, the nation relied on family farmers to produce crops that fed millions. As corporations became engaged in agri-business, the focus shifted from the small family farmer who tilled the land, to massive multinationals who paid low prices for grains, beans and other agricultural products. With that shift came the rise of super ultra mega markets, and the benefits of freshness and quality were sacrificed in favor of synergistic efficiencies and other corporate goals.

In all of that we lost something. What we lost most of all was the connection with the earth and the responsibility that comes with good stewardship of the land. All the things that modern homesteaders seek to reconnect to and celebrate. My grandfather was a homesteader. I think that’s where I got the bug. He lived within the city limits of a fairly large municipality. And he didn’t have a huge plot of land. The home was a small ranch and the yard was lined with very tall pines. In his basement and backyard he grew tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and even grapes that found their way to our table. He would cultivate the plants outside, but when they were seedlings, they grew in his basement under fluorescent lamps. He controlled for soil quality, proper water amounts and helped nurture those plants when they were mere seedlings. This was his hobby in retirement, but he approached it with such a passion that it became a way of life that defined his later years.

What he understood those years ago, that I have come to understand as I have grown, is that when we grow food, we provide for ourselves. On many different levels this is an amazing thing. No act of independence can rival the feelings inspired by taking care of one’s own needs. That’s what makes indoor gardening a revolution that supports and benefits sustainable urban homesteading. What grew out of the illegal indoor grow houses for contraband plants, has developed into a way for individuals to do more to take care of their own needs.

More than that, it allows us to appreciate what we can do with a little ingenuity and hard work. No pursuit requires an appreciation of delayed gratification the way that indoor gardening and homesteading do. As an added bonus, indoor gardening is driven by technological advances and improvements. Better lighting due to advances in LEDs allow for plants to mature and develop inside. Better understanding of soil quality allows us to replicate ideal ground conditions for each plant. This enables us greater biodiversity of the different plants that can be grown and better options for our own sustenance. Additionally, improved technology allows for different types of gardening ventures. A recent example was a company that builds and markets grow sheds complete with lighting and irrigation. They use shipping containers for the sheds. With them, owners can grow multiple crops and renew those crops weekly, monthly or whenever the harvest has been completed.

That combination of technology and independence is uniquely American. As is the idea of gardening for oneself. The beauty of our modern era is how we can combine those and maximize another American trait, profiting from our labors. The benefit of indoor gardening is that we can provide remarkably fresh produce for purchase at any time of the year. In doing so, individuals can now short circuit the supply chains of the super ultra mega market chains and deliver fresher, higher quality products at a more affordable price.

This revolution may have been spawned by a prohibited cash crop, whose legality is an on-going battle, but it has spread to other uses that threaten to disrupt the modern means of food supply. We need no longer rely on someone else. And in declaring our independence from the status quo, we take control of our lives and future in a way that wasn’t available to our parents or other previous generations.

Additionally, dieticians and nutritional experts tell us all the time that eating locally sourced foods is better for our health and diet. Now you can source food from the most local source possible, yourself. In doing so, you ensure the freshest and most healthful foods are on your table. Produce products have a rapid spoilage rate. While most grocery stores maintain certain quality levels, there is no picked on dating with the fruits and vegetables we buy. As a result, we have literally no idea how long the food we are buying has been off the vine.

Let’s take a step forward and move away from trusting other people with the food we eat. At the same time, we are going to take a step towards our own sustainable lifestyle. So what else must an urban homesteader contend with to find success? Basically there are five things any successful urban homestead needs to manage.

1. The first is one of the same things frontier homesteaders need–a steady supply of water. Water accomplishes many things. First and foremost, water sustains plants and animals. It is as vital to their health as it is to our own. More so, water is the primary element in sanitation within a community or a home. Water when mixed with soap will clean our clothes, dishes, even ourselves. Likewise it is a means of removing waste and other by products of a homestead. Urban homesteaders have the advantage of municipal water supplies. But many times, that water is metered and you need to pay for what you use. If you use too much, your costs will become unsustainable. Besides, the goal of homesteading is being able to provide for your own needs. So when working an urban homestead you need to collect water to be repurposed for water plants and removing waste. Rain barrels are a start. Utilizing them in conjunction with a rainwater collection system will ensure you have adequate water supplies, even when the skies do not cooperate.

2. The second element of a perfect urban homestead is a collection of critters who can endure the cramped quarters of city life. Some animals will never be able to enjoy the city. They are too large and perceived as too unsanitary to keep within a small space that a typical plot for an urban home gets. So don’t plan on getting horses, cattle, sheep or hogs. At best you could conceivably keep a few goats. But given space restraints, you are best served raising rabbits, chickens and ducks. If you install an indoor aquaponic growing system, fish are a possibility. However, that’s a different book entirely. These animals are well suited for indoor habitation. The chickens are a source of fresh eggs as well.

3. Third you need to become adept at living a simple life. Urban homesteading takes up a lot of time. Raising and caring for animals and plants is a job without end. Your nights out enjoying the city around you become less frequent when you are tending to a collection of critters. Additionally, the food you produce is going to need to be preserved. That means dehydrating, smoking, or canning foods. We’ll spend a little time on how those means of preservation are handled in the next chapter.

4. You need to have alternate energy supplies. We talked briefly about alternative energy in introducing homesteading. As important as it is in rural areas, it is equally vital in the urban spaces. Your power consumption will cost far more in a city, where power is being consumed by many people. Having solar, wind or other means of collecting and storing power for use on your urban homestead is very important to sustaining your urban homestead experiment.

5. Finally, the purpose of the urban homestead is to cultivate plants. Organic, sustainable farming is the primary and most important point of a homestead. For those who dwell in apartments, the question of why garden indoors has a self-evident answer. Without property, one can have no tillable outdoor land on which one can grow plants or trees. And that necessitates the cultivation of trees and plants inside the confines of a home or greenhouse. Most apartment dwellers do not have the option of a greenhouse attached to their home. So for them it is make use of indoor space. But they are not alone. Many other individuals who might want to spend time growing and cultivating food do not have the option to do it outdoors

The average plot on which a home can be built, even in suburban or even exurban areas, is dramatically shrinking. In my community, the average home has a relatively small plot of land around it. Oftentimes it is just enough that the homes do not abut each other, and the owners to walk along the edge of the home without trespassing into the other’s property. That confined space is inadequate to grow much of anything. As a result, plenty of home owners can also see ample reasons to use the excess space inside their homes to set up an indoor garden. Indoor gardening and making use of your own limited land will enable even the most hemmed in city dweller to become a modern homesteader.

Chapter 4 – Maintaining Your Shelter

Homesteading is not just about living off the land. It’s about maintaining a safe home with all that we expect to enjoy. We all enjoy the warmth and comfort of our homes. If we want to be truly sustainable, we need to possess the skills necessary to maintain and service the essential systems within our home. If our home is to remain habitable, we need to have fluency in keeping the electricity on, the water flowing and having means of restoring those systems should they fail. When we properly maintain our home, we can spend our time maximizing the benefits of our homestead instead of dealing with those contingencies. With steadier supplies of necessary essentials and more stable housing arrangement, human civilization advanced and flourished. As such we began to adapt to a more germane and peaceful existence within structures. Our homes are both a product of and encourager of greater civilization.

This is why without the comforts of home, we struggle as much as we do. And no matter how strong our push to return to the simpler life of the homesteader, we will still want and need conveniences of our modern age. Electricity is necessary to power various appliances. Indoor plumbing is a necessity to all but the most hardy of homesteaders.

Here are the four essential systems of our homes that we need to take control of. If we cannot repair or manage these systems our home will fall into disrepair and our homestead experiment will fail.

1. The first system is the structural integrity of the home itself. Homebuilding has undergone several changes in the last century and a half. As a result, the sturdy homes of past generations are relatively rare in suburban or exurban communities. In rural and urban areas, ironically enough, single family homes and farmhouses were built to withstand the test of time. In many cases, their structure would withstand the worst weather conditions. But no matter how exceptional your home was yesterday, today brings new challenges. Wind, water and blunt force damage related to weather events will weaken the roof and support structure. Termites and other bugs will eat through the structure. Or if there has been a change in the water table, you may have trouble with sinkholes.

Newer homes are built in more of a mass fabrication manner. They are constructed assembly line style, either in factories and then trucked to the site of the home for assembly, or in large tract developments. The end result is a feeling that all these homes look alike. They are identical to each other. And because they are built with a premium of speed and efficiency, and the lowest possible cost, they are often made of inexpensive materials bought in bulk. The result is more risk for structural issues as the home ages.

To combat the problems for new homes as well as older and sturdier homes built a few generations ago is a cursory knowledge of carpentry. Knowing how to shore up the structure of a home, put on a new roof, or repair the structure when it is damaged allows a homesteader to confidently inhabit a home, knowing whatever happens, it can be repaired.

2. The second system that needs attention is the homes energy system. Most homes have at least one system. Some have several. Incoming energy may be live, like electricity, self-collected like solar and wind power or potential energy, like liquefied petroleum gas. No matter the source of energy, being able to detect and repair failures in these systems is necessary to maintain the comfort of the home. That includes electricity to light the home, gas to heat the home and cook food and back up systems, like generators, batteries and solar/wind power systems.

3. Third and equally important is the maintenance of indoor plumbing. As mentioned in an earlier chapter, water is vital for life and equally essential for sanitation. Plumbing will bring water from a well or other source into the home and remove waste to a septic system, or other disposal system. Being able to fix leaks, snake drains, replace pipes and keep your septic system balanced will keep your home habitable.

4. Finally, the home relies on a means of ventilation. In older homes this includes windows and maybe fans. This is as bare bones as it gets. The simplest system is also quite easy to maintain. Replace glass and screens as needed. Keep fans in working order. But for modern homes and anyone who lives in a hot or humid climate, the addition of an actual heating, ventilation and air conditioning system will make the home livable. HVAC repair involves knowledge of electronics as well as ducting and insulation to maximize the efficiency of such systems.

Having the knowledge to repair and maintain these systems, as well as the means of storing or fabricating their parts ensures a homesteader can live comfortably without fear of the collapse of the home or its essential systems.

5. In addition to knowing how to repair things, it is vital to know how to make replacement parts. I did mention fabricating parts. Now, in the past, that would have meant owning a machine shop. But technological advances are making it possible for individuals to fabricate parts cheaply and easily. I’m referencing of course the phenomenon of 3D printing. So add this to the list of equipment you need for your homestead. With just a set of drawings and the right materials, your 3D printer can fabricate simple mechanical parts for your home’s internal systems. Metal and plastic are the most common materials used in 3D printing, but the types of materials is expanding to include plaster, paper and even porcelain and modeling clay. Because 3D printing works with a great variety of materials, its efficacy for modern homesteading is unparalleled. As many do it yourself enthusiasts have discovered, when it comes to building new things or fixing old ones, 3D printing is your best friend.

I mentioned four specific systems and I am sure some of you are wondering about one I have conspicuously left off the list. That’s telecom. Telecommunication systems are a part of all homes. We all have phones, internet and some means of having entertainments beamed into our homes. They may come in wirelessly or on copper or fiber optic cables. The result is the same, it is relying on a service provider to send signal to you. And yes, you are paying a service provider to send electricity and LPG to your home, too. The difference is that you can generate your own electricity and set up the means of storing propane in the property. The spirit of homesteading is self-sustenance and self-sufficiency. While I enjoy those services, I recognize they are not something I can maintain on my own, because they are entirely dependent on outsider to provide them. You can choose to keep your internet and television service. But unlike energy, plumbing, ventilation or structural concerns, do not pretend for a moment you can maintain telecom on your own.

Chapter 5 – Preserving the Food You Grow

Now that we know how to setup and maintain our homestead and we understand how to raise and grow food, we have to learn what is, quite possibly, the most important lesson about modern homesteading. That lesson centers on having adequate supplies. Some years are leaner than others and when times are rough, we need to have stores of provisions available to us. The best solution to that question is preservation.

1. Preserving food is essential for modern homesteading. Much like our predecessors who knew to store up provisions for rainy days and leaner times, we as modern homesteaders know that saving and preserving provisions are what sustain us.

Food preservation is what made survival of our civilization possible. When the early humans were still hunting and gathering, they had to follow the herd or go hungry. As we learned how to cultivate and store foods, we could set down roots (in both the literal and figurative sense) and cultivate higher order thinking and acting. Without the ability to have a steady supply of food close on hand we’d be back to those days of scratching out a meager existence hunting game and gathering nuts and berries from wild growing plants.

Folks like you and I recognize that taking care of ourselves is a statement not only about living simple, but living in general. Natural disasters, and unnatural ones, too, are always possible. If a disaster disrupts our fragile modern food manufacturing mechanisms, how easily could others adapt the old fashioned means of keeping food on our tables? The answer we know is not fast at all. So we prepare. When we have stocks and supplies, we know we are safe.

We also are able to save our resources by preserving food in bulk. What we grow in large quantities can be prepared more efficiently and preserved en masse so when we want to eat it, we don’t use up as much time. These savings can be poured into additional preps for our homestead and a simpler life.

Food preservation begins with the basics. Where and how the food will be stored is the top concern. You will need proper containers to store preserved food. Always look for food grade bins or buckets to store beans, rice, and other hard grains. When you have the receptacles picked out, you will need to clean then thoroughly. Mix a tiny amount of bleach (a teaspoonful at most) with a liter of water. Then use a brush to cleanse the inside of the container with the solution. Rinse, dry and then wash with warm soapy water. Rinse and dry again and you are ready to store your dry goods. Make sure the container is scrupulously dry. Any moisture in the buckets will promote the growth of molds, spores or other fungi within the food.

So what goes in the bins? You can add anything that will store easily loose: grains, beans, or pastas that will keep well when stored in airtight containers. Don’t just dump the food in and close it off. After moisture the next thing that disrupts the edibility of stored food is air. You will want to drop in one of those packets that absorb oxygen before you close off the container.

After buckets, you will need zip top bags. You can get a lot of stuff into these bags. They can also be stored in the bins for better organization of your pantry. So stock up on quality standard and freezer grade storage bags. You may be inclined to go with the generic store brand. Skip the store brands. Buy superior quality. The worst case scenario is when you expect that you have plenty to eat and discover the five cents you saved on a bag has cost you a week’s worth of food to eat. Is a good deal, bargain buy worth your life? I think not.

Most modern homes have a tiny pantry for food storage. That isn’t going to work if the goal is to keep long term provisions on hand for an extended period of time. So if you have a home with some extra room, we can do some great stuff to build adequate storage for our food. Two things need to be top of mind. First you need to have a room that is secure from intruders. Human intruders are easy to guard against. Vermin are a little harder to keep out of your stuff. So the room needs to be clean, dry, well-lit and easy to maintain.

Shelving units should be off the floor and whatever goes into the larder needs to be sealed. Your regular pantry is likely to have crumbs and other debris from food. Your survival pantry cannot have any of those things, ever. Second, you need a room free from risks of flooding, overheating or exposure to outside elements. Your survival pantry should not be in basements that get cold, damp or flooded. Nor should food get stored in uninsulated attic spaces prone to overheating in summer months. With those concerns to the safety and security of your food in mind, we can begin filling the vessels and stocking the shelves.

Important to note, building up a supply of food for homesteading is a gradual process. If you stack food on yourselves all at once, it will tend to go bad all at once. At best you are buying between a month and a couple of years’ worth of shelf life. Our goal is to steadily replenish what we take off the shelves as it reaches an optimum time to be consumed. Saving for a rainy day means eating what you store up on those rainy days.

We have some basics that will get you a little ways. But after that we get into the vital techniques. The two primary areas we’ll cover are canning and dehydrating foods. Canning requires a high level of commitment to cleanliness. The resulting well preserved tastes last several months or years. Cans acquired at the grocery store have been heat treated to cook the food destroying any pathogens that may have been captured when the can was sealed. Curing, pickling and fermenting all involve the alteration of the composition of food to make it inhospitable to bacteria and other microbes. These are not arts, but are in fact science. Ignorance of proper procedures will result in illness at best.

Properly dried foods can last several months. You can extend the shelf life of fresh meats, fish, dairy, fruits and vegetables by storing them properly in your refrigerator. This will buy you a week to a month. Smoking is an ideal means of preserving meats. This can be accomplished at home, without fancy equipment. Smoking is a little bit curing, a little bit dehydration and a little bit of smoke.

Sugaring fruits that have been dried ensures a consistency of taste and longer shelf life. Additionally, the process of preserving fruit in jellies or jams is based on boiling the fruit with sugar to release pectin that creates a gel. That gel and the sugar suspended in it makes microbial infestation impossible.

As mentioned early, water remains the most vital aspect of the homestead preparedness. Storing water is the first priority. Second are means of collecting, treating and filtering available water sources. When I talk about preserving food, I always refer back to the importance of having adequate water supplies. They should be stored in tandem.

Chapter 6 – Sustainable Homesteading Hacks

Living as a modern homesteader means doing things differently. But one thing that homesteading has in common with most lifestyles is that homesteading relies on fixes and tricks that make it easier. These so-called life hacks are nothing new. They have made people's lives easier for centuries. Only the folks called them common sense rather than life hacks. Much we have forgotten.

So to remind us of what we can do to make our homestead life better, I have compiled a list of simple solutions to your major concerns. So let's begin with some obvious examples of common sense.

1. First up hone your natural talents and abilities. You can get more done than you can imagine. So instead of buying new, learn how to make it yourself. The skills you need to know are easier to obtain than you think.

One of the great resources to learn something new is the modern marvel of YouTube and the eBook marketplace where you obtained this book. There are countless skills you can learn through instruction that costs a fraction of what it once did.

2. Next, learn to maximize the use of the foods you consume. A good example of frugal living is the idea that you can get more food cheaper, by growing and preserving your own food. But if you are using homesteading to augment your regular purchases from the local store, you need to get the most value from your purchases. Skip skinless, boneless chicken breasts and buy the whole bird. Don't bother with the up town cuts of the critter, go for the lower cost and frequently more flavorful bits of the beast.

3. Likewise, just buy what you need. Are you under the impression that it's a good deal to buy more than you need because it's on special? I think that’s folly. Many prepackaged goods are more profitable at the larger sizes. Even if they look like a good deal for you, they are most often just a good deal for the manufacturer and retailer. If you are looking to simplify as a homesteader and save, go with what you need. Buying in bulk requires you store more in your home. It takes up more room and costs more. Buying just what you need is frequently the best deal your money can buy.

4. Take advantage of good deals when they are in season. An abundance of summer peaches can be preserved for the long winter ahead. You can do this with many fruits and vegetables when they are freshest and in the greatest supply. In doing this, you stretch your dollars and improve the quality of food you consume.

5. Raise your own chickens. They have many more advantages over the store bought birds. Among them are their talents at pest control. Bugs make for happy chickens. Additionally, harvesting freshly laid eggs will preserve the natural protective coating. Most store bought eggs have long lost their protective coating. But when it is intact, you can keep them at room temperature and save valuable space in your chill chest.

6. You can further take advantage of your warm clothes to keep your heating costs down in the winter. Wear your layers in the house and conserve your wood or coal supplies. Likewise use clothes that cover your head, your neck, wrists and ankles. These gaps in our regular clothes coverage are what leads us to feel the chilliest in the winter. Keeping them covered will keep us warmer whether inside or outside.

7. If you are truly committed to a self-sufficient lifestyle, you need to raise your own critters. As mentioned above, chickens are an obvious choice. When you have the land to get the right mix in place, add in rabbits, sheep, maybe some cattle and you can augment your provisions in terms of food and clothing. Another way to amplify your agricultural output is to keep bees. They will provide you with honey and pollinate your vegetables and fruits. Finally, don't forget to compost.

8. Heat your home with sustainable, naturally growing wood. And better still harvest your own timber. It's hard work and good exercise. It also ensures no one controls your supply of energy to keep your home warm.

9. Another simple hack to make it easier on the homestead is to alter your nutritional intake. Hand in hand are changes to your work out. Try something new to shake up your health and fitness. The best part of this advice is it is applicable to all of us. No matter how fit one is, eating cleaner and a new challenging work out will improve your fitness level.

Homesteading is often associated with poor diet, because many believe no homesteader can grow all the abundant food options that you will find in the grocery store. That’s silly. Homesteaders eat fresher foods that have greater nutritional content. Poor diet is the standard in the United States. Your choice to eat cleaner, more sustainable and fresher foods is the first step to a healthier you.

10. Avoid power tools. Some people will object to this idea, but it is part of the change to your physicality I just mentioned. Instead of nail guns and power drills, stick with good old-fashioned hand tools. You will provide the power, get a better work out and need to replace your tools with less frequency. All told, you are going off the grid and living more sustainably with every job you do.

I mentioned early on that homesteading is a lifestyle. It also means moving away from traditional means of buying things. So instead of using plastic, you can use a different object. Trade you stuff for someone else's stuff. So let's use an example. Your chickens have been laying more eggs than you can use. After a few days you have a few dozen you can trade. Maybe your neighbor has extra cloth from the last shearing. In the olden days before currency transactions were dominant, that swap was the way trade happened. It was a literal trade. So spend some time practicing on real wheeling and dealing.

Your efforts to be a successful modern homesteader do not need to be a solitary, monastic lifestyle. You can foster a sense of community and belonging among your neighbors, friends and other like-minded folks. That community will help foster greater ideas that make your off grid project even better. We live in a world where we are all connected and don't know anyone at all. The homesteading lifestyle is a great way to share a part of yourself and learn about others. In doing so it broadens your thinking and the reach of your life. Likewise, those folks who like you are walking this path can learn from you and teach you. And that is among the most remarkably fulfilling aspects of anyone's life.

11. Finally, take the time to live off the land more. I remember when I was a child I discovered a cluster of wild berries that were growing in the woods near my home. There were blueberries, raspberries and blackberries by the bushel to be gathered and brought home. So I did so. And all summer long, I sprinkled the freshest of berries on my cereal and had them for snacks. The only cost was the time I took to go gather them. There are literally dozens of incredible, edible wild growing plants within a few miles of your home. Seek them out. And marvel at their deliciousness. If you aren't growing them yourself, you soon will be.

These hacks create a better quality of living on a traditional or modern homestead. Whether you are just going about finding a more sustainable life or looking to move out into the wilderness to have a closer rapport with nature, nothing compares with the simpler living you will find as you incorporate these hacks.

Conclusion

When you got the idea to be a homesteader, it was likely the result of several factors. The first was your own connection to the land and a desire to work it and live off it. This is the most traditional reason. Many people in the early years of settling America wanted to live free on their own land. Even then it was a statement of independence.

Modernity has created so much consumption that hit lifestyle is regarded as archaic. Yet many still seek the wonderful feeling associated with tilling the land, raising animals and living simply. Make no mistake, living simply is not living easy. Homesteading, as you have read in the preceding chapters is hard work. The rewards are self-sufficiency and a security of self-preservation. No modern convenience can replace the satisfaction of providing for your own needs. And that is what makes homesteading so appealing to those of us who have taken the plunge.

Before I conclude this brief guide book, I want to remind you of six essentials of homesteading. First, homesteading is about your choices. If you are doing this homesteading thing because someone said it would be a good thing for you to do, please reconsider. Homesteading is a personal commitment to a changed lifestyle. You need to do this for you. I cannot make you do it. No one else should try.

Secondly, you should have some familiarity with farmers' markets. Before you strike out on your own, go to the farmers' markets near you and talk to these folks. Most will be like you, dissatisfied with modern society and the rat race of corporate jobs. They made a change in their life for a reason. And their reason may speak to you. These folks often times are glad to help others, just like I am.

Next, consider the impact on your family. If you have resolved that you want to do this, you must take their feelings into account. The price a family pays when it is not unified in its pursuit of a lifestyle is quite steep.

If you are all on-board with the change to lifestyle, seek out others who think and feel the same way you do. Build those relationships. Any lifestyle change is made easier by the presence of a support structure to help smooth out difficult times.

The rewards of homesteading do not happen immediately. Land often takes a few years to produce crops that taste good. Your patience is needed, but so is a reserve of resources to ensure you have what you need. If you are not well-funded, consider how austere your life can be, before the strain dooms your homesteading lifestyle. Plan and prepare. This is your life. If you want to pursue your passion, take the time to make sure your pursuit will be successful.

Thank you for downloading and reading this book. You are well on your way to becoming a successful and prosperous homesteader.

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