Start Homesteading Today | Homesteading Where to Start

Many people start homesteading at first because they realize the food they have access to is not exactly healthy. Striving to grow your own food, preserve it, and eat it is a lot of work. Learning how to garden when you “have a brown thumb” is a job in itself, but take it from me it’s possible and worth it!

Tackling the idea of how to start homesteading begins with where to start. The best place to start is by slowly introducing your family to small did bits of it at a time. If you’re not already, cook from scratch a couple days a week. Find recipes that your family loves.

Start Homesteading – Where to start?

1. Home cooking – I cook for three boys and a husband. I have a lot of “family favorites.” You can check out most of our favorite recipes on the blog. Start preserving your own food. Simply by saving vegetable scraps you can make your own vegetable broth, and bone broth. You could also do something as simple as freezing techniques like making marinara, and freezing it for later. Another way to preserve food, and possibly my favorite overall is fermenting. 
   
2. Talk about it. Talk about homesteading topics to your family such as raising chickens. One of the first things I had to tackle when I first started dreaming that I wanted to start homesteading, was getting my family on board with the idea.

   I used to bring up random facts about fresh chicken eggs vs. the kind you buy. This tactic is especially helpful when you are trying to talk a spouse into homesteading along with you. After a while of talking about them, my husband brought the chickens home himself. He was against having them at first, but now he loves them!

3. Speak it outloud! Call yourself a homesteader too. It will remind you that you are working towards many goals.
   Speaking of goals, grab this homesteading goals printable. What do you want out of all of this? I wanted my family to eat healthier, and BE healthier. That was my main goal. Eventually, I added chickens, because it fit into my eating healthier plan.

4. Start making your own homemade items. I learned to make my own chap balm, because I was allergic to the store bought stuff. Did you know it’s cheaper to make your own? Yep, depending on the ingredients, it can be. Most of the ingredients I use are organic too. I also make my own laundry detergent, Shea butter Moisturizer, and antibiotic ointment.
   
5. Gardening – Having a large garden can provide you with all the vegetables, herbs, and fruits you desire. It’s best to start out small though. This let’s you learn a lot and lose less. In your first year of gardening, you may have a lot of loss. Losing to insects, diseases, over or under watering, or too much or too little shade. One or all of these may happen, actually almost everyone encounters pests! Learning to deal with these issues while your garden is small, makes it much more manageable.

   For More Info on Gardening Read:
   40 Things To Read Before Starting a Garden
   5 Steps to Start a Garden
   Brown thumb’s guide herb garden
   Vegetable Garden Class – It’s online, and affordable!
   Seed Starting Class
   Year Round Gardening
   Learn How To Grow The Best TOMATOES on The Block!
   
   

6. Raising animals – When you start homesteading, you might think about raising some animals for meat/milk/eggs, etc… Raising chickens is probably the easiest. The best way to start raising animals is to gather supplies and build living quarter FIRST. Having everything they need before they arrive makes it much easier.
   
   For Chickens Read:
   How to Care for Chickens
   Do I Need a Rooster in My flock
   36 Chicken FAQ
   
   
   For Goats Read:
   Goat Dream & Goat Realities
   21 Things You Should Know About Goats Before You Start a Goat Farm
   
7. Learn to be frugal – Homesteading and living frugally kinda go hand in hand. One reason this is, is because many of us try to make it a point to use what we have, and buy less. Reusing and repurposing items can be a fun hobby at times. I repurposed some tin cans I had and now I use them all over the house.

   Many of the items listed already are all about living frugally. Cooking at home is much more frugal than eating out. Making homemade items is usually something that is cheaper to make at home, but not always.

   Read More About Being Frugal:
   10 Frugal Tips For The Homestead
   What to Do When The Kids Are Eating You Out Of The House
   Frugal Homeschooling
   Homemade Bone broth – Frugal and Easy
   DIY Citrus Peel Cleaner | Homemade Citrus Cleaner with Herbs | Stronger than your average homemade cleaner
   15 Uses For Coffee Grounds – What To Do With Leftover Coffee Grounds
   Creative Uses For Herbs – Homemade Items Using Herbs

8. Buying land – When we were trying to find a property to buy, I learned a lot from the experience. There is so much that goes into it. Align your homesteading goals with what you will need from your property. Make sure that the land is not prone to flooding. Make a list of needs, and of deal breakers. Understand that you probably need to have money up front to pay for inspections, and other fees like closing costs.

   If you are looking all over the country for the perfect place and haven’t nailed down a certain area, then you should think about what kind of laws are important to you. Some states are stricter on guns, homeschooling, farming, etc… You will want to research laws extensively to find the right place for you and your family. Another thing you might want to put on your list, is the weather. I don’t necessarily want to live in an area prone to tornados. I would avoid tornado alley like the plague.

   Read More Tips About Buying A Homestead:
   12 Questions to Ask Before Buying Homestead Property
   4 Mistakes To Avoid When Buying A Homestead

So here’s the thing about when you want to start homesteading… Just start. Do it in your own way. After all homesteading is all about living a life you want to live. It may look different from the way I live. You may want to live in a tiny house, on a lot of land, or in a cabin on the mountain. No matter what it looks like to you, start with the basics and go from there. My journey has been slow, but so rewarding!

So I wish you the best! If you want to tell me all about your homesteading journey join our weekly mailing list. You can reply to the emails and tell me about your week! I have several pen pals all over the nation, and I enjoy writing to them each week and reading about their homesteading tales too!

 

 

 

 

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