“Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray.”
– Rumi
Where to Begin:
41 Ways to Become More Self-Sufficient
The Rustic Elk blog | Ideas for starting where you are – with whatever you’ve got.
How To Start a Homestead: Step By Step Beginners Guide
GroCycle.com | A thorough & practical “hands-on” guide to help you define your goals and get started with homesteading.
Helpful Books:
There are SO many helpful books, and I recommend checking your local or online used book seller before buying a new copy… here are some on my homesteading bookshelf:
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The Weekend Homesteader: A Twelve-Month Guide to Self-Sufficiency
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The Backyard Homesteader: How to Save Water, Keep Bees, Eat from Your Garden, and Live a More Sustainable Life
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A Chicken in Every Yard: The Urban Farm Store’s Guide to Chicken Keeping
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Storey’s Guide to Raising Dairy Goats
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Homestead Kitchen: Stories and Recipes From Our Hearth to Yours
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Golden Gate Gardening: The Complete Guide to Year-Round Food Gardening in the San Francisco Bay Area & Coastal California
I have also found Pinterest boards to be very helpful! You can easily spend hours exploring and building them, but they can be a great way to store and sort all kinds of useful information…
WHY HOMESTEADING?
I have been pursuing a more simple life for many years, with less clutter and stress and more alignment with who I am and how I want to be in the world. When we all went on lock-down at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in March of 2020, my husband and I had just started a small garden in the front yard; we built it using cinder blocks, local stones, and upcycled found objects, and I became more and more enamored of spending time in growing, cooking, and preserving fresh food. I have also wanted to live a more rural, “country” life for as long as I can remember; I encountered the idea of homesteading and felt I had found a word for what I’d been seeking.
Living in a more conscientious way, respecting the earth that sustains us, and treading lightly on it are not new concepts, and I don’t profess to any sort of original ideation of them. I am here to learn from others who have been living this way and do more of it myself as I am able. And so my journey has begun… or continued… and here we are!
My new favorite sustainable craft and trade is Blacksmithing, which my partner Mark and I began together in October of 2021… I’m sure I’ll have more to say on that as time goes by, but I’ll start by sharing that it is entirely possible to inexpensively convert an old kettle grill (or a new one, for that matter) into a charcoal forge – and there are lots of tutorials to be found online. Forged in Fire was our initial inspiration, but we quickly expanded from rudimentary knife-making to forging useful tools and household items; hence its inclusion under Homesteading. I am also finding it to be wonderfully therapeutic!
From Homestead to Farmstead 
In August of 2022, Mark and I were fortunate enough to buy a small property in rural SW Washington. We fully moved in on April 2nd, 2023 and have built a goat barn, started a herd of Nubian Dairy Goats; repurposed an old wooden play structure into a coop and run for our small flock of chickens; put up a large fenced-in garden area; and set up a forge and workshop. Feel free to come see what we’re up to online at AnderWolfe Farmstead and Forge!
What is Homesteading?
According to Wikipedia, “Homesteading is a vernacular term for a lifestyle of self-sufficiency. It is characterized by subsistence agriculture, home preservation of food, and may also involve the small scale production of textiles, clothing, and craft work for household use or sale.” Most importantly perhaps, you don’t need a special place or time to begin – you can start learning homesteading skills from wherever you are.
Danielle from The Rustic Elk writes:
It’s so easy to get caught up in the “someday” mantra. Like there are prerequisites to fulfilling your homesteading dreams. Like:
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Someday we’ll have time to start working toward our dreams.
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Someday we’ll have a big piece of property to start our homestead.
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Someday we’ll have the money to start tackling our goals.
But, I’m here to tell you, someday isn’t good enough. You can start living your homesteading dreams, today. You don’t need any of the above. I’m here to help you simplify and guide you through the steps you need to take to live a more self-sufficient life right in your own backyard. Whether you’re living in an apartment or a sprawling rural landscape or anywhere in-between. (https://www.therusticelk.com/)
Inspirational Blogs & Articles
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45 Chores and Activities Homesteaders Do During the Winter | The Homesteading Hippy . “If you’re wondering, “what do homesteaders do during the winter?” you’ve come to the right place. Here are some of the most common wintertime homesteading tasks.”
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4 Spiritual Benefits of Modern Homesteading | Aleteia. “Naturally our soul reaps fruit when it spends time closer to creation.”
- Articles, advice, seasonal & game recipes and ideas on homesteading | The Rustic Elk. “I help overwhelmed folks create their own self-sufficient life right in their own backyard, no matter where they live. This site is a place to find inspiration and clarity on living out your homesteading dreams without the “someday” mentality.” Includes sign-up for a helpful Homesteading Starter Kit.
- Recipes, articles, inspiration, and yes – goats |They’re Not Our Goats. “The grass isn’t greener anywhere. Not my house, not yours, not your neighbor’s. We are ever hoping to move upward and onward in our ventures in home, family, and career, but constantly learning to stay rooted and to be gratefully mindful of the many gifts we have already been given. There is peace in resting where you’re at, in finding joy in the mundane, in finding fulfillment in God, family, and love.”
- The Farm Girl I’m Not | They’re Not Our Goats.
- Living Without the Grocery Store | The Rustic Elk.
- Collection of the Best Homesteading Quotes | Hillsborough Homesteading.