I really enjoy the current phase of homesteaders! When I grew up, I suppose we had a homestead, to us it was just normal. Mom birthed seven kids with a midwife. She gardened and canned and sewed and we’d put a beef in the freezer once a year. Foraging and camping and fishing were frequent. Chickens and a milk cow were added as we got older.
My dad built every house we ever lived in by hand and with his trusty tractor. Every fall we’d cut a ton of firewood with the trusty tractor and less dependable chainsaw.
But it wasn’t homesteading then. It was normal life. My parents were kind of preppers, but when you have seven kids you are less of a prepper because you can’t all travel in a cool Jeep or afford a new Hummer or build a gigantic nuclear bunker. So mostly we just learned to cook with rice and dry beans and keep a good supply of wheat on hand. Lol, we still use a lot of rice and beans but now it’s Mexican food!
The current homesteaders are more focused on building a country home for their young families than they are building bomb shelters and buying gas masks. They’re more proactive in building a sustainable food supply and learning basic skills beyond forest survival. They want to connect with the local community instead of hiding from it.
If you are a modern homesteader I would encourage you to adapt and persist. Involve your kids, let them follow and develop their own interests. Don’t give up your electric washing machine or hot water heaters. Keeping things clean —not sterile, just clean—is often my biggest struggle on our farm with all the children and cooking and animals.
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