The Benefits Of Homestead Living

Have you considered switching to homestead living? There are several benefits that you might want to ponder on.

Why Give Homestead Living a Shot

Thanks to our sedentary lifestyle and our desk jobs, many Americans are looking for a reason to dig their toes into the earth. They are hungry for a reconnect and a break from the blue light screen that threatens their eyesight and their human spirit. This could come in the form of a weekend adventure or a total change in lifestyle.

Many people have made radical sacrifices to buy land and start a new chapter in their lives. This chapter is often titled HOMESTEADING and is full of surprises.

I will never forget the story about the newly retired couple who sold their high-priced home for land, hoping to live the rest of their days out on the relaxing prairie. Of course, they quickly realized that homesteading was hard work and not quite the retirement they imagined.

Adapting to the workload, it was clear that all this movement, building and exercise had added years to their lives in a way that dream of realizing on a porch swing would have likely done the opposite.

There's even the Homestead Act, do you know that?

Let’s look at some of the benefits of taking that jump and turning to homestead living.

1. Meaningful Life

The battle of paychecks in the bank and paychecks out of the bank doesn’t do a lot for your legacy, the meaning and lasting impression you leave on the planet. While homesteading gets to be tough, you get an incredible purpose when you till your own ground, harvest your own food, and gather chicken eggs from the coop.

The life of emails and board room meetings is as pale as store-bought egg yolk, in comparison.

2. Independence

Whether you spin fibers, make beer, grow tomatoes, or even age your own cheese, homesteading creates channels of self-reliance that make a difference in your day to day life. This independence gives you greater freedom and less worry based on the uncertain future of things like that food industry, agriculture, and even the economy, to some degree.

3. Preparedness

Living through this pandemic has shined a light on the importance of preparedness. Suddenly, Americans are awakening to the fact that this whole house of cards can come falling at a moment's notice.

When you live on a homestead, you are almost forced to have contingencies and extra resources. When you live that life of self-reliance it primes you for life after a disaster. You also pay attention to threats much more because you know, to some degree, you are on your own.

4. A Different Kind of Work

There is no escaping work. If I told you that living on a homestead is like not having a job or that you could forget about working and just homestead, it would be a lie. Now, it’s a different kind of work for sure.

Homesteading is filled with hands on, dirty, mucky, rewarding work and the pay comes in the form of happy animals clucking about while you weed the herb garden.

The hard work that goes into growing, raising, and harvesting feels like another version altogether from punching a timecard to make another man rich.

5. Great for Kids

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The homesteading lifestyle is also great for kids. It’s nearly impossible to get the kids out of the electronic hypnosis that is so prevalent.

It’s not to say that screen time is a make or break issue when it comes to the 21st-century child, but there are real benefits to having the children outside. Ponds, ducks, chickens, fields, goats, and all the things that go along with the homestead give kids a lot to draw, write about, and explore.

The digital world is undoubtedly entertaining to kids who are trapped in urban sprawl and have nothing but pavement to entertain them.

6. Learning New Skills

You will willingly and unwillingly learn new skills from homesteading. Maybe you have always wanted to get better at smoking meats but not fixing fences. Well, you are gonna have to learn how to do both!

You will likely spend more time repairing things than doing anything else! Stuff breaks on a homestead. Animals break things, people break things and father time has is way with all things.

Before long you will come away with a combined skill set that will impress you. This amalgamation of skills you wanted o to learn and skills you were forced to learn will be enough to write a small manual, at least.

7. Learning More About YOU!

Most people don’t realize how much they can be. They don’t realize their true limits. So many of us either think we have maxed out of potential or are too lazy to really push the envelope.

The great thing about homesteading is that it waits for no one. If you must plant this weekend or if you must harvest before a snap frost, well, it's gotta get done.

It has got to get done and so does everything else you planned on doing. You will learn much more about what you are capable of from the homesteading lifestyle.

8. Touching History

Of course, the idea of homesteading is anything but new. The great expansion west and the homesteading act gave Americans access to 40 free acres if they could live on that land for five years. It might seem simple now but back then you didn’t have hospitals and Walmart down the street.

You also had marauders and bands of violent Indians who weren’t too happy about you calling the land your own.

Modern homesteading puts you in touch with all that history. In some ways, you can understand and appreciate the struggle that went into all of it. Perhaps that is the biggest benefit of them all, to touch a time long forgotten.

What are your thoughts about switching over to homestead living? We'd love to hear from you in the comments section!

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