Begin Your Homesteading Lifestyle

How you homestead will depend on where you want to live and how you want to live.  Considerations for the amount of space you have and your commitment to it are important factors in choosing your homesteading lifestyle. Whatever your choice, it begins with a healthy and upbeat attitude. It will be a lifetime of learning. 

Do not make a huge list before you get started, being overwhelmed will take the joy out of the equation. Homesteading is simplifying and enjoying the adventure.

A few things you will need to consider about your homesteading lifestyle, consider your property, your budget, your skill level, the weather zone you live in, the resources available to you and your time commitment.

Read and learn as much as you can but remember there is no replacement for being hands on and trying your skills for success.

Make a list of priorities keeping in mind your goals or write out your goals and make a priority list from that. You will find that as things develop, they are dependent each other.

Plan on a small vegetable garden to start, then move on to planting trees that provide fruit and some that will provide a windbreak. 

My first garden was a container garden as I lived in an apartment with a balcony. Later I was able to buy a small plot of land and had a small garden worked up with a rototiller. Now I have 7 raised beds that I rotate each year as well as container plantings on my porch.  I began composting by using an old garbage can drilled with holes as my bin.

The next year I was able to fence my yard, and I planted raspberry canes and a lilac bush; one for eating and one for the beauty and aroma of those pretty, purple lilacs that bloom every spring. The year after that I added some evergreens and some maple trees for wind protection.  Keep in mind you do not want to shade your garden. 

This year I am adding a wildflower garden to the yard to help feed the bees and butterflies as I try to naturalize the front yard.

Next year I plan to add chickens and a beehive to my little homestead.

Plan ahead so you don’t get overwhelmed, you will find time management and organization will help you immensely.  Start with menu planning and you will discover you are more organized, and you know what has been done and what you need to do.

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Where to Begin Your Homestead

Remember homesteading is not defined by where you chose but how you use what you have.  Consider your lifestyle and family dynamic having influence on where and how extensive you want your homesteading efforts to be.

I suggest you start where you are and plant vegetables where you usually plant your flowers. Replace or start your trees and bushes with fruit bearing ones that will grow in your particular zone.
I live in a small town and have raspberry bushes for a hedge, saskatoon trees, a cherry tree and am adding blueberries this year. Living in zone 2-3 I know my cherry tree will be a bush at most but that makes it easier for me to pick and preserve. My saskatoons started producing fruit when it was merely a twig with a few leaves and has doubled from the previous year so I am hoping they will produce more and the tree will grow stronger and higher this year.

Container planting is also a great start to being more food secure. No matter where you are, just begin and as you are saving money and learning how to preserve food you can start your nest egg for a more traditional piece of land.

Homesteading is a gradual process that will teach you patience and continual learning. Embrace the new paradigm.

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