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10 Things To Do When Starting A Homestead. If you are just starting out homesteading, these tips will encourage and inspire you.
Although I’m only a homesteader in training, after three years of doing this thing, I can tell you that there are a few things I would absolutely do differently if I could turn back time and restart the process. Obviously, I can’t do that, but what I can do is share with you what I’ve learned. Along with that, I can take these 10 things to do when starting a homestead and apply them to our plan for next year pretty much the same way.
This is one of those things I love about winter. It is God’s way of offering us a small break-in time to rethink, rejuvenate, relax, and reorganize.
So, even if you are like me and already homesteading, you can use these tips and find them encouraging and inspiring.
10 THINGS TO DO WHEN STARTING A HOMESTEAD
Have a plan
Hopes and dreams are beautiful things! They help us imagine what we’d like to see happen in our own realities. But if we don’t know how we are going to make those dreams a reality, then they simply sit in our hearts and eventually fade into the background.
I’ve had that happen a lot in my life and the emotions that arise if I allow myself to look back at all the things I dreamed up but never carried out, are not pretty. I refuse to allow that to happen with my homesteading dreams and if homesteading is a dream of yours too and you are passionate about it, don’t let it fade.
Get to work making a plan now. If you aren’t yet living on your forever homestead, begin making a plan for what you are looking for, where you would like to live, when you would like to be there by, and how it is all going to happen.
You might even want to include who it is going to be with. Put it all in a homesteading planner/journal and mark the date in red! Write down the steps that it is going to take to get you from where you are to where you want to go.
If you are already on your homestead like we are, know what your vision is for your home and land. What is your family’s mission? Are you working toward self-sufficiency, simplicity, and preparedness for when things begin to fall apart in society?
Do you want to make a sustainable income from the garden, and the animals you are raising? Do you simply want to grow a few things and not raise any animals?
All of these things should be thought out and planned on paper. Knowing what you want to do, how you are going to do it, where you are going to do it, when you are going to do it, who you are going to do it with, and how much it is all going to cost is important business!
Confession: I am not good at this at all. I know what I should be doing, but planning it all out? I’m terrible at it!
I told ya, I’m a jump-in with both feet into the deep end not knowing how to swim and without a life-preserver kind of gal. This is why I know, this step really shouldn’t be skipped.
Create a budget
Knowing realistically how much things cost and how much money you actually have or want to spend (without a loan) is important, especially for taking steps toward self-sustainability. You simply can’t sustain yourself if someone else is fronting the money and you are paying it back later. You also can’t sustain yourself or live a very simple life if you are always overspending, and not being frugal and practical.
Although we have never taken a loan to start a project here on the homestead, we do have a mortgage. It is one area that we are working hard at getting paid off so we can be free from that debt and self-sustainable.
There are many projects that can be done with free and upcycled materials. You can also look for people who are interested in trading or bartering items. For many of the projects we have planned, I keep my eye on the free section on Facebook and Craigslist, and other social media platforms. Don’t forget to check out your grocery store’s bulletin board and you can always put a listing up that you are in search of XYZ items.
Keep records
I didn’t do this right from the beginning and I really wish I had. Not only is record keeping important for keeping track of finances, medical/vaccinations, egg-laying, garden harvesting, meat production, etc. But it is also the very best way to keep track of your progress or lack thereof.
Something else I find important is to keep some kind of daily journal where you can record the weather, and important and notable events the first time your child assisted with a goat delivery. You can also record the weather on a separate sheet that way you can look up in coming years and see patterns that have developed for planting, harvesting, etc. A daily journal to record all the happenings of a day will also help you remain focused and keep your vision and mission in mind.
Start small and take it slow
You already know this isn’t easy for me. I am extreme, over the top, and frequently take on more than I should. But I am learning to slow down, think things through, and not try to do too many things at one time. If you are starting from scratch, don’t try to do all the things at one time. Assess safety and health concerns on your property first, you can redecorate the house later.
We did things a little backward and paid the price dearly for it later. With this lesson learned, starting with a garden and a flock of hens would be perfect during your first year on the homestead.
Homesteading will teach you your weakness and limitations…..but it will also teach you that you had strength and endurance you didn’t know you had and often, you will be shocked by how much you can actually do.
Make decisions together
I’m preaching to my married friends here. You two are building this life together and just as in all things concerning marriage, decisions should be made together. Projects, planning, the budget, your vision, your mission, purchases, animals, etc. all need to be discussed and agreed upon.
I know it isn’t easy and speaking from experience here, Hubs and I both have been guilty of making decisions that affected each other, the entire family, and our homestead without first discussing it together. There have been projects we have been working on and decided on a design and a plan and how it all needed to work out and the other person has gone and done things their own way.
This does not create a happy, joy-filled homestead built on faith, hope, and love.
Build the life you both want collectively, not one that is built individually.
involve the kiddos
Our homestead is a family homestead. We do all things side by side, with our kiddos. If we’re working in the barn, they are working in the barn. Sometimes “working” for them means learning a new skill or simply holding the flashlight for daddy, but they are there. They help feed and water the animals, clean the barn, build shelters, do yard work, housework, cook, bake, and pretty much anything else.
I suppose this comes from years before we were homesteaders, I was a chore/schedule kind of mom. My kids had a schedule and they all had chores, starting at a very young age. This has now just flowed over into this area of our lives as well.
I don’t want my children to not appreciate the results of hard work and I want them to learn these important life skills.
Homesteading is a legacy that has been passed down for generations and it is one that I strive to pass down to my own children.
Have fun
Another confession: I feel like a failure when things go wrong. I tend to be uptight about things and inflexible because I’m afraid if we waiver just a little, then this beautiful life will come crashing down. So I don’t always joke around, or have as much fun as I probably should.
I don’t always flirt with Dan as I rush past him with chicken feed. I don’t always stop to soak up a moment of my watching my husband teach his kids a new life skill. I don’t always take the time to play Scrabble with the kids or sit around the bonfire and roast marshmallows.
For too long this made our homesteading adventure feel more like a nightmare. So, I have been intentional about doing these things on purpose.
I’ve been intentional about letting Dan and the kids are creative with a project and a little more relaxed if things don’t go as planned or on schedule. I have learned to be a little more fun and a lot less serious all the time.
Be flexible
Trust me, pretty much everything you plan will change, at least a little bit.
An area you thought you could build the buckling shelter will turn out to be a little more on a slope than you anticipated.
The super-cute fencing you are looking at will turn out to be more expensive than your budget allows. Goats may become part of your homestead overnight without you even planning on or looking for goats.
Emergencies happen, weather happens, life happens, and when it does, we homesteaders have got to be able to go with the flow.
This isn’t easy and learning how to view these changes in a positive way instead of through the lens of disappointment is key.
Take time to relax
Today I am running on fumes, so this is a friendly reminder to myself and anyone else who is running with me, to relax and breathe. When the garden needs planting, and the goats are kidding, and there are kids that need to be bottle-fed, and a barn that is leaking, and chickens that need feeding, and a child or children need help with their schooling, and then the laundry is piling up, and your list just keeps going…take a step away from it all. I promise you, it will all get done a lot quicker and smoother when you are able to step back, take some time for yourself, reorganize, and then delegate who needs to do what.
I have found here on the homestead that when I delegate tasks instead of trying to do it all myself that things get done quicker. The saying really is true, something like “A lot of hands make light work.”
Stay focused
In the course of any given day, I give up a thousand times. I say I’m done and I’m not doing it anymore. But, I don’t really mean it. However, there have been times in the past when I have seriously considered moving closer to the city and going back to living life like the rest of the world. Not only have I seriously considered it, but in the Autumn of 2019, we were just 30 days from it actually happening.
Why? Because I lost my focus. We lost our focus. Life on a homestead is hard in every conceivable way. It will push you to your limits and when you are at the end, it will push you further. It is disappointing and heartbreaking. It truly takes blood, sweat, and a whole heck of a lot of tears. It takes a person who has grit, and perseverance, and if you don’t have those things it’ll do one of two things. Either eat you up and spit you out or it’ll teach you those things and you will grow through them. In 2019, I had almost allowed the first of those things to happen to me. Instead, I chose to stand my ground, get refocused, and dig my boots in deep.
But as much as homesteading is ridiculously difficult, it is always the best life we could ever live and be giving to our children. Next raising my children, is the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done with my life. It is wholesome and pure and real and authentic.
This is why knowing and writing down your vision and mission for your homestead is so important. Anytime it all feels like too much and like I’m ready to throw in the towel, I can look at it and be reminded of why I’m doing this in the first place. And usually, that is enough to bring me back into focus, ground me, and keep me pushing forward.
