{"id":493,"date":"2006-09-17T10:02:27","date_gmt":"2006-09-17T17:02:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/getrichslowly.org\/blog\/2006\/09\/17\/an-introduction-to-homesteading\/"},"modified":"2023-09-23T16:11:16","modified_gmt":"2023-09-23T22:11:16","slug":"an-introduction-to-homesteading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/an-introduction-to-homesteading\/","title":{"rendered":"An introduction to homesteading"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am a huge fan of simple living<\/a> and of the do-it-yourself ethic<\/a>. It’s no surprise then that I am fascinated by homesteading<\/a>, the lifestyle of “agrarian self-sufficiency”. This article was written for Get Rich Slowly by Phelan, host of A Homesteading Neophyte<\/a>, a blog about learning to homestead. Phelan is a regular commenter to this site.<\/i><\/p>\n

Modern homesteading is a great way to save some of your hard-earned cash.<\/b> That is if you are not afraid of a little hard work and waking before the rooster. The fast-paced convenient world of today can and will lead you down the path to debt. Four years ago I found myself in a terrible situation: How does one go about feeding a family of four on one hundred dollars for two weeks? Did we have enough money to buy gasoline just to get to work? It was scary not knowing where my family was going. Yet when I planted my first tomato, a thought sprouted in my mind.<\/p>\n

My first homesteading goals were just to preserve my garden for the winter, insuring that there was always something to eat. But as my garden grew, so did my ideas.<\/p>\n

There are initial costs when it comes to living a self-sufficient life. But all of the things that must be purchased will pay for themselves<\/b> \u2014 the time that takes depends on how you manage them. We purchase our items slowly. Big items come with our tax returns, and only after any outstanding bills are paid. Smaller items are bought on an individual basis, depending what we can afford at the time, usually when we are out buying feed for our livestock. Because of the way we have built our homestead piece-by-piece, and the manner in which we have preserved our foodstuffs, we have money left unspent. Four years ago we would have never have believed this possible.<\/p>\n

Homesteading isn’t something that can be done only in rural areas; even urban dwellers can benefit from simple self-sufficient activities<\/b>:<\/p>\n