The Heart of a Homesteader

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barn heart of a homesteader

Do you have the heart of a homesteader? I was talking to a friend a few days ago about Homesteading. During our conversation I told her she was a homesteader. What? She asked? I live in a town, how could I be a homesteader?  Made me wonder are you a homesteader, and you don’t know it?  Maybe you just have the heart of a homesteader. Let’s take a look.

Homesteading

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Homesteading is a lifestyle of self-sufficiency. It is characterized by subsistence agriculture, home preservation of food, and it may or may not also involve the small scale production of textiles, clothing, and craftwork for household use or sale. …

Modern homesteaders often use renewable energy Options including solar electricity and wind power. Many also choose to plant and grow heirloom vegetables and to raise heritage livestock. Homesteading is not defined by where someone lives, such as the city or the country, but by the lifestyle choices they make.[1] 

Lifestyle of Self Sufficiency

What does this mean really? Are you growing some of your own food? Having a garden and providing food for your family from your garden is at least in part a lifestyle of self sufficiency. Do you enjoy sharing seeds and heirloom veggies?   Do you have backyard chickens for eggs? This too would be a part of this part of the definition. Did you know that many cities allow goats? You could have your own supply of milk, cheese and soap from keeping just a few small goats. Do you ever shop great produce sales and can or preserve the produce? If you answered yes to any of these you could be a homesteader and not even know it.

Small Scale Production of Textiles, Clothing, or Crafts for Sale

Have an Etsy shop for selling your crafts? Do you love to hand make items that you sell at craft fairs, or online? How about sewing clothes for your family? Making curtains? Mine are made from a drop cloth. Do you make pillows? How about quilts? I think that repurposing  found items also falls into this category. A friend of mine  makes beautiful jewelry out of old silverware. One of my hobbies is making old furniture useful again, or into something completely different.  If one of these things describes you, you could be a homesteader and not even know it.

Solar Energy

Look around in cities and small towns alike and you will begin to get a feel for the popularity of solar energy. This used to be a sign of people trying to live “off the grid.” It has become so common now that we usually do not associate solar energy with that lifestyle.

So are you?

I agree with the last sentence of the definition. It’s not where you live, but the choices you make that determine if you have the heart of a homesteader. You can live in an apartment with a container garden on a balcony, and sew things for your home, or knit sweaters and comforters,  and have the heart of homesteader. You can live in a single family home and have a small shop in the garage where you repurpose or restore furniture, with a small garden in the yard. That is the heart of a homesteader. You don’t have to have a full on farm to have the heart of a true homesteader.