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Great Benefits of Homesteading.

January 20, 2014 - 13 Comments

The Great Benefits of Homesteading

Even as I cursed the early morning, walking down to milk Sal with a bucket in each hand, cold air nipping bitterly at my fingers, I still felt blessed. Blessed to spend the first thirty minutes of my day snuggled up to one of God's most amazing creations (in my humble opinion) – the dairy cow.

The world is silent at 5:00 a.m., aside from the crunching of oats between Sal's teeth, and it gives one time to ponder. To think in silence (a rare commodity on a homestead full of noisy critters and toddlers). Today, I pondered life on a homestead. Why is it that I am choosing to be here… with this bovine… in the cold of January… all too early in the morning. Why is it that I'll slip and slide down to the chicken coop every week to scrap frozen poo from the floor and nesting boxes? Why is it that we'll spend three hours of our weekend hauling in heavy, itchy bales of hay (which is, quite possibly, my least favorite task on the homestead)?

I think it's good for those aspiring to homestead – and those of us in the thick of it – to be reminded. Don't you think?

Because when you're drowning in milk, fending off crazy roosters with a pitch fork, and chasing moles out of the garden, you may be wondering. At least I do. Ha!

The Great Benefits of Homesteading

The Great Benefits of Homesteading (that we have found)

Note: This list is infinite and inexhaustible. But it'll at least give a taste of what we've experienced.

Homesteading is humbling:

As a homesteader, one quickly realizes just how small one is and how finite life is. For any homesteader, mistakes will be overwhelming. Animals will die. Crops will be ruined. Structures fall down. Plans fall through. It's humbling to attempt and tame a piece of this Earth, only to have it implode time after time. Which – hear me now – it will. The chickens may be eaten by an owl or the cow may stick her food in the milk bucket – but regardless of the failings that will inevitable come, homesteading continues. So while it may be an extremely humbling road to wander down, the perseverance bred through the humbling failures is not to be missed. It's character building, don't you think? To fail, recognize one's inability to control life, pray for grace, and then continue on.

The Great Benefits of Homesteading

Homesteading builds a strong work ethic:

Work ethic is something strongly missing in our culture, don't you think? I've recently been rereading Farmer Boy and am taken back by the amount of work that was expected of children. At the ripe ‘ol age of six? seven? they're milking cows. Feeding animals. Training oxen. Cooking supper alongside their Mom. Kids are CAPABLE and thrive in such environments. While I'm thankful that our lifestyle no longer requires such labor from our children, it's important that the idea of building up ourselves (and our children) with strong work ethics isn't thrown out with the bathwater.

The Great Benefits of Homesteading

If anything will build up a solid work ethic, it's the responsibility that comes with growing food so that our family can EAT (ya. kinda important.) or raising animals that are reliant on us, day after day, for their survival.

The instant negativity associated with laziness in instantly felt on the homestead. The best way to breed it out is to slather it in work!

The Great Benefits of Homesteading

Homesteading tastes good!:

Many of y'all are chicken owners – you know the beautiful, orange, perky yolks that come from a well-loved and healthy hen. The taste is indistinguishable. I've ever surprised (why? I don't know) at the incredibly depth of difference of homegrown food to conventional food. Again, I think it's important to note: I'm very thankful that my survival is not dependent on my own ability to produce food. I think it's important and progressive that we have such food available to us year-round. But that being said, a lot of it just ain't good.

Ever tasted an out-of-season-picked-green-raspberry? It's like a flavorless gob of nastiness.

Even my hard to convince husband was undoubtedly convinced at our last dinner date out – he ordered the roast chicken. “Well, it sure isn't like our Rainbow Rangers. It's sort of flat tasting and squishy.” (You can read more about meat chickens here.) I felt the same about my steak, which was cooked and flavored beautifully, but still fell incredibly short of the grass-fed local meat we're used to. We spent the rest of the dinner planning how we could grow MORE of these things ourselves if for no other reason than the taste!

We're foodies. We like food that tastes the best.

The Great Benefits of Homesteading

And homegrown food tastes the best – fresh tomatoes from the summer garden, pastured eggs, homemade butter, fresh salsa, you name it. And I guarantee you it tastes better when you've grown it yourself.

I'd be hard pressed to find anyone who would disagree.

The Great Benefits of Homesteading

Homesteading breeds appreciation:

Back to those fresh tomatoes. Remember the first one you ate out of your garden last year? I bet you do. Because before you could taste that first tomato, you had to put in months of work planting seeds, caring for tender seedlings, planning the proper time to plant them out, protecting them from harsh weather, nurturing them as they grew and blossomed, trellising them as they became heavy with fruit, and patiently waiting for them finally ripen. And when that first delicious orb is removed from the vine, it's hard to not be brought to tears. I guarantee you that after hand milking a cow, you'll never look at a gallon of milk the same way, and the same goes for millions of tasks on the homestead.

Nothing breeds appreciation like knowing the hard work that went into providing our family with something.

I think this also correlates very closely with the homesteading mantra: “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without”. When the items that one grows or produces holds such extreme value, they tend to be treated far better and made to last, as well as utilized to their maximum. It's hard to find homesteaders that are wasteful – they appreciate the value of everything (even if it's garden scraps or manure for the compost pile).

The Great Benefits of Homesteading

Homesteading adds a new value to meat:

If you've ever grown your own your own meat, you know two things: 1. Meat takes an incredible amount of energy (ie: feedstuff) to raise and 2. Taking the life of the animal you are raising for meat is hard.

Let's start with the first point – the amount of energy it takes to raise meat. Whether this be in the form of grass or grain, the amount it takes to raise the mean is quite astounding. Because of this, we've found that the amount of meat that we eat has been greatly affected. We don't eat it at every meal. We don't even eat it every day. Limited resources of energy in the form of feed means limited amount of meat. Because vegetables and eggs can be grown here with such fewer resources than meat, that's a huge portion of what we eat. They are easier, cheaper, and require less energy to produce. Not something one really has to think about when purchasing meat from the store, but for a homestead, it's a really important equation to consider.

The Great Benefits of Homesteading

Taking the life of our meat animals also adds a new value to eating this protein. As was the case with our rabbits and our chickens, it was with great sadness and a profound appreciation that we slaughtered and butchered them for our consumption. It's not something to be taken lightly and when we've actually had to do the raising, killing, and processing of the animals ourselves we've found the meat to be far more valuable to us. You can read more about why we morally agree with eating meat HERE.

The Great Benefits of Homesteading

Homesteading develops a truer sense of gender roles:

We hold to a Biblical view and belief of gender roles and life on the homestead has proven those gender roles to be so true and necessary. Stuart is so strong and capable of many of the manual labor tasks that I am physically incapable of. I wish I was buffer – but I ain't. And so it goes. While nursing Owen, catering to nap schedules, preserving food, and preparing meals, I find myself naturally more drawn to work in the home (or that which can be done in the garden or in the coop with the children). While this isn't always the case (as I often lend Stuart a hand with big projects, bucking hay, or building fence) it's given me a new appreciation for my role as a Christian woman and as a wife, helpmeet, and mother.

I see great value in the chores that not only keep this homesteading running but also are of great service to this family.

The Great Benefits of Homesteading

Life on the homestead has caused me to see how these roles became so defined in times past – I picture a woman with a child on each hip, a giant white apron smeared with kitchen projects, and a few chickens following her around the yard. It's a beautiful thing and in no way less meaningful or important. All work on the homestead is extremely valuable and all of it is required to keep it running smoothly. Someone's gotta milk. Someone's gotta cook biscuits for breakfast. And someone's gotta butcher the animals.

The Great Benefits of Homesteading

Homesteading increases knowledge:

Like anything you commit time and energy to, naturally, knowledge is gained on the subject matter. Running a homestead has been no different. We've learned about everything from native grasses, to feed conversions, to heritage breeds, to the patterns and cycles of the honey bee, to milking a dairy cow, to fencing options, to soil assessments, to composting, to pollination, to cheese making, to water and energy usage, to first aid, to gutting a chicken, and everything in between.

One year ago, I had no idea how to do almost all of the homesteading tasks that I am capable of today. And we all remember my first experience hand milking a cow, don't we?

The Great Benefits of Homesteading

Knowledge is gained from other homesteaders, the internet, a variety of books (such as THIS, THIS, or THIS), and hands on work. It's a steep learning process full of common sense and practical knowledge.

And there is still so much to learn!

The Great Benefits of Homesteading

Homesteading breeds dreams:

As of yet, we've never found that nirvana of perfection with our homestead. We're always looking forward to what we can do better, more efficiently, and with improved results. Once we are successful with one project, it's time to expand the operation and dream bigger!

I love to dream. It's one of my favorite past times. It keeps us working and hopeful for what is to come!

The Great Benefits of Homesteading

While these great benefits of homesteading may not be true for every homesteader, we've found them to be very true to ours. At the risk of sounding cliche, homesteading has developed our character and grown us into better people of faith. We rely on the Lord for all the happenings every day on the homestead and are so thankful for every day that we get to continue on this journey with our land and our animals.

It's not a perfect life, and it's not for everyone, but it is pretty dang rad. If you ask me.

For other great meal ideas, no matter what your dietary restrictions, check out the meal planning service I use: Real Plans.

The Great Benefits of Homesteading

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Comments:

  1. Maria S.

    January 21, 2014 at 8:27 am

    Thank you for this humorous and encouraging reminder! 🙂

    Reply
  2. Caitlin | The Siren's Tale

    January 21, 2014 at 11:51 am

    This was such a lovely post. I’m saving money over the next year to purchase a home with my guy at the close of the year. Our goal is to start a farm and begin homesteading. Looking at posts like this reminds me why we’re sacrificing so much for now and our future, and the hard work that lies ahead. I can’t wait to begin this lifestyle… the lessons learned are ones you can’t find so easily in other work 🙂

    Reply
  3. Emma

    January 21, 2014 at 12:01 pm

    I have to say I agree with every thing you’ve mentioned! Since starting our homestead I’ve gained a vastly different view of the world, something that takes us away from mainstream society (yay) and into a life more fulfilling, more difficult, more tiring and more wonderful than anything I have experienced. There are days I want to pull the duvet up over my head but, when the challenges have been faced down, I feel like I’ve grown in strength and self respect. We too are Farmer Boy addicts, all the Little House books are sage reminders to me on days where I feel like I’ve got it tough!

    Reply
  4. Evelyn

    January 21, 2014 at 4:31 pm

    You know, this is exactly how our ancestors chose to live, at least the ones who decided to ‘MOVE WEST’. Reading your posts reminds me of some of the westerns I have read. Living this life should give us such a great appreciation for them (our ancestors), and for their sacrifices. We have become such a nation of liking the easy life and the lazy life that what our ancestors contributed has been totally lost. Your efforts and efforts of others who choose to go back to living a natural life and utilizing our God given blessings are such an inspiration to us who have an appreciation for what God has given to us. Please remember that we know how much effort is required to maintain this life, but we also know that God will bless our efforts especially if we are giving Him the glory.

    Reply
  5. Maria S.

    January 21, 2014 at 7:15 pm

    Thank you for this great and humorous reminder!!

    Reply
  6. Little Mountain Haven

    February 9, 2014 at 10:24 pm

    This was such a pleasure to read. Your site, photographs and family are so beautiful. I am delighted to start following your journey. 🙂

    Reply
  7. Laura Gibbs

    March 31, 2015 at 2:39 pm

    Thank you so much for this post! I needed to read this today. In the process of learning some of the skills you mentioned, I seem to vascillate between feeling so overwhelmed with gratitude that I have the opportunity to live this life, and utter frustration that there seem to be so many casualties. It’s always hard when there is a loss in any business, but when a living creature actually dies, it is a much more sobering and discouraging thing. Anyway…I just discovered your blog today, and I cannot stop reading it! My Pinterest boards are now full of links to your blog posts! 🙂 Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart, and may God bless you and your family in everything you put your hands to. <3

    Reply
  8. Stephanie

    May 8, 2015 at 7:27 pm

    I love this post. My husband and I can relate to a lot of it. We bought our 10 acres in September of last year, and abandoned place that needed work Just to move in. We couldn’t focus on the land until we could winterize the house. This spring we’re putting in every ounce of energy we have wile working full time at our jobs away from home. We have chickens and a large garden going in, but need a lot of fencing to be completed before we get our pigs and cows. This blog is very encouraging and gives me hope to keep putting everything i have in me into it. Like you we live with strong Biblical values and Faith and Grace keep us going. Thank you and please keep posting your experiences!

    Reply
  9. marie w

    January 31, 2016 at 7:16 am

    Great article.I also love the one about why you eat meat that you linked to.

    Keep the Faith,

    Reply
  10. Patti

    January 31, 2016 at 2:11 pm

    I’ve been following your posts for a year or so now….and your way of life and your faith is very inspiring! It’s something I don’t think I’d ever have had the courage to try when I was younger, and now at 62 and recently retired from 40 years hospital nursing, it’s not something I have the energy left to start! Although I think I will put out a garden this year! That will be new for me! And I’ll continue to just enjoy your blogs! I do my best to eat healthy…unprocessed, organic, grass fed etc but sometimes it is hard to find these if you don’t live near some of the stores like Whole Foods, but with the demand for ‘clean’ foods rising, it is getting a little easier to find what I need. You just have to search it out, and then support the business that gets it for you! Local grown is best! Why the FDA allows all the crap into our foods, I will never understand! It really shouldn’t be this hard to get healthy clean foods! Really!!! How wonderful it would be to have it right there, raised by yourself, so you would KNOW what you were getting in your food! Just wanted you to know that your blog is enjoyed by multi generations!! Keep the faith!

    Reply
  11. Miley D.

    February 1, 2016 at 10:01 am

    All I can say is AMEN Shaye!!! I have never been happier than being on my little farm – and at the same time, humbled beyond words at what God gives us and what God takes away! I am always learning and dreaming and doing! Keep up the great work!

    Reply
  12. Maria

    March 22, 2018 at 2:25 am

    Thanks for sharing your post. yes, homesteading has so many benefits, Nowadays its became more popular and people want to start a business in homesteading. We are a homesteader and provide blogs at free of cost at http://www.homestead.org.

    Reply
  13. Jatin

    December 31, 2020 at 3:20 am

    Great idea and great article, actually these days people are more indulging into homesteading because of corona pandemic and the pandemic has learned so many things to many people. Next time when I will go to my village for holidays then I will surely start homesteading. Thank you from https://www.leaseholdvaluations.com/

    Reply

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