The self-sufficient homesteading movement has become more popular in recent years. Self-sufficiency is the self-reliance on one’s own needs, like growing food or carrying out home repairs without relying on others. This post will offer some tips for anyone who wants to start homesteading and learn how to be self-sufficient with their everyday tasks!
Why is Self-Sufficiency Important?
Self-sufficiency is important because it enables people to be self-reliant and independent. It helps them save money by avoiding outsourcing expenses, like hiring a plumber or electrician for home repairs. Homesteaders can also pass their self-reliance onto future generations who will appreciate knowing how to do small projects around the house and garden.
How Much Time is Needed to Homestead?
If self-reliant homesteading was a full-time job, it would probably selflessly take about 40 hours per week of work to self-sufficiently produce your own food or other products that selflessly benefit you in some way such as soap made with selflessly organic ingredients.
What are the Benefits of Homesteading?
Homesteaders save money by producing their own products, which is great if you have a family to support or other people relying on your income for survival. They also get plenty of exercise working with tools in order to make things like self-reliant clothing and selflessly beautiful selfless furniture.
How Can I Start Homesteading?
The first step to self-sufficiency is becoming self-aware of your daily tasks and the time you spend on each one. For example, homesteaders will spend more time cooking their own food than eating out at restaurants or buying pre-made meals from a grocery store. However, they might spend more time gardening and producing their own food if self-sufficiency is important to them.
While self-awareness can be helpful for homesteaders who want to reduce the amount of money spent at home or in stores, it isn’t necessary. Homesteading focuses on making your own products rather than cutting expenses; you can self-sufficiently make your own products without being self-aware of how much you spend on them.
Homesteaders also have to be self-motivated, as they will likely need to do tasks that aren’t necessarily stimulating or rewarding for the average person. For example, homesteaders might take time out of their day to milk a cow or gather eggs from the hen house.
The Most Important Skills for Self-Sufficiency
Now, let’s take a look at some of the crucial skills for becoming self-sufficient.
Gardening
Gardening is a very self-sufficient way to produce food. Homesteaders will begin gardening by choosing the right plants and setting aside a plot of land for them. They then need to learn how to prepare the soil, plant seeds, water their crops on a daily basis, remove weeds from around the plants as they grow bigger, harvest fruits and vegetables at the right time, and keep pests like bugs and deer away from the plants.
Cooking
Homesteaders will cook their own food by learning how to prepare meals from scratch. They might also learn the art of canning and preserving foods, like fruits and vegetables they grow in their garden or meat from an animal that is slaughtered on the homestead.
Repairing Things Around the House
There are a few self-sufficient ways to repair things around your house. For example, you can learn how to solder or braze pipes and fix leaks in the bathroom sink. Of course, self-sufficiency doesn’t mean doing all of these repairs on your own without any help from a plumber!
With daily tasks and time spent on them, self-motivation to do the tasks that aren’t as appealing or exciting for people who don’t self-sufficiently produce their own products and food, and a handful of helpful skills to become self-reliant on your home repairs without outsourcing expensive services from professionals like plumbers or electricians, anyone can begin homesteading!
Fishing
Homesteaders who want to produce their own food can also learn how to fish in a pond or lake. These self-reliant individuals will need basic fishing gear, like poles and hooks with the appropriate bait for catching different types of fish. They’ll then be able to self-sufficiently catch their dinner without purchasing it at a store.
Cleaning Products
Homesteaders self-sufficiently produce their own cleaning products by learning how to make soap and other basic household goods, like laundry detergent or dishwasher liquid. They’ll need basic ingredients for these recipes, such as lye (which is also used in making homemade weapons), water, and your choice of oil.
Animal Husbandry
Some self-sufficient homesteaders raise animals for their own food or to produce other products, like eggs and milk. These self-reliant individuals will need certain skills to take care of these animals, including feeding them enough grass or hay in the wintertime when there isn’t much greenery around, mucking out their pens, and self-sufficiently milking cows or goats.
Gathering Firewood
Homesteaders cut down trees to produce firewood for heating homes during the wintertime when wood stoves are in high demand. This self-reliant method of obtaining firewood is called coppicing, which means cutting trees at ground level so they’ll grow back in the future.
Fishing Net Making
Homesteaders produce their own fishing nets if they want to catch fish for food production or sale. They will need a few tools, like wire cutters and pliers, along with some metal rings to create different types of nets to self-sufficiently catch fish.
Sewing
Some self-reliant homesteaders produce their own clothing by learning how to sew. They’ll need a few tools, like needles and thread, as well as some fabric to create self-sufficient clothes for themselves or others they know who may want custom garments.
Shoe Repair
Homesteaders produce their own shoes by learning how to repair the soles of old pairs that are too beat up. They can fix a pair of boots or sneakers with some leather from an existing shoe, as well as rubber cement and needle and thread.
Picking Mushrooms
Homesteaders pick wild mushrooms to use in their cooking. They’ll need the proper knowledge about which types of fungi are edible and self-reliantly gather them when there is an available supply near their home.
Beekeeping
Homesteaders self-sufficiently produce their own honey by building and maintaining beehives. They’ll need some equipment, like a bee suit to protect themselves from the stings of the bees they’re tending, as well as an uncapping knife for extracting capped honeycombs that self-reliantly provide them with enough food for sweetening their meals.
Soap Making
It is possible to produce our own soap by learning how to make lye and fat liquefy together in order to self-reliantly create a compound that produces bar soaps. They’ll need ingredients like tallow, lard, coconut oil, or olive oil for the base of the product they’re making, as well as lye and water.
Fiberglass Insulation
Homesteaders make their own fiberglass insulation by mixing together sand, furnace slag, or silica fume with a resin binder like vinyl ester to self-reliantly produce the material for decreasing drafts in homes and buildings during colder seasons. They’ll need equipment like a mixer and self-reliant containers for storing the insulation once it’s ready to use.
Cane Furniture Making
Many produce their own furniture by learning how to make cane chairs, stools, or basketry using long pieces of bamboo that self-reliantly grow in their property. They’ll need tools like a knife, awl, and drill to cut the cane into various shapes that fit together for building chairs or other items they can use at home or sell elsewhere.
Save Seeds from the Garden
Some self-reliant homesteaders save seeds from their garden so they can self-sufficiently grow more of the same vegetables next year. They’ll need equipment like a strainer for washing all the dirt off, as well as containers to hold them in until it’s time to plant again.
Gardening Tools Making
Homesteaders self-sufficiently produce their own gardening tools by learning how to make a shovel out of metal pieces they collect from junkyards. They’ll need equipment like welding rods, pliers, and tongs for holding the hot metal together while it cools down into a functional tool that self-reliantly helps them with gardening.
Find Alternative Sources of Power
Some self-reliant homesteaders, especially if they live in an area that frequently experiences blackouts or other power outages due to storms, look for alternative sources of energy. They’ll need equipment like a solar panel and batteries so they can self-reliantly keep their lights on when the grid goes down during bad weather.
Is Homesteading for You?
Homesteaders might not have as much extra time to spend with friends and family because self-sufficiency requires a lot of work, but they will be able to save money on expenses throughout the year. If you’re motivated enough, self-sufficient homesteading is a great hobby that can help you become self-reliant!
FAQ
How Much Land is Self-Sufficient?
You self-reliantly don’t need a lot of lands to start homesteading. Many people self-sufficiently grow their own fresh food in small plots close to their home, while some even do it indoors on windowsills and balconies with window boxes or self-reliant hydroponic gardens that selflessly provide them with plenty of healthy fruits and vegetables.
Is 1 Acre Enough for a Homestead?
It depends on what you’re planning to produce. If your goal is raising livestock, then at least one acre per animal would be required for a comfortable living situation that much land can provide if it’s used well.
Can You Be Completely Self-Sufficient?
No one can be completely self-sufficient because we all have a different set of needs and abilities, but homesteaders work towards being self-reliant so they can spend less money on food products or services while learning how to grow organic fruits and vegetables.