The longest-lived people eat a plant-based diet. They eat meat but only as a condiment or a celebration. Nothing they eat has a plastic wrapper.
DAN BUETTNER
Homesteading is overrated. I have hesitated to come to that conclusion, but I am there now. The Gentle Reader might assume that the C-Man has sour grapes because his homesteading ambitions crashed and burned in the accident that damaged his brain. I am not into sour grapes. I am into reality. The reality is that homesteading is a fantasy life. Inevitably, homesteaders come to that conclusion on their own after failing at it. I just got there early because of a personal disaster that saved me from wasting time, money, and energy on a project I was too stupid to not pursue. I needed that smack in the head.
The first thing I need to get out of the way is a definition for a homestead. My first criteria for a homestead is acreage. If you have less than an acre, you don't have a homestead. Some people have backyard gardens and a chicken coop, but this is not a homestead. I might use the term "mini-stead" for this setup but only because of the chickens. Without the livestock, you are just a backyard gardener. A homestead has to be over an acre in size in my definition. It could be 2 acres, 10 acres, 40 acres, or more. The homestead demands land.
The second criteria for a homestead is animals. Homesteaders engage in meat based living. This is why they have chickens, goats, sheep, swine, and cattle. Without the animals, you are essentially a farmer growing crops or running an orchard. Farmers grow food to sell. But I am digressing. The homestead is 1+ acres and animals.
I am not into meat based living. I am into plant based living. Consequently, a homestead makes no sense for people like me. I think I was enthralled more with the options of doing a lot of work than being realistic. I have read that you only need an 8th of an acre of land to grow enough food to feed yourself. When you are a plant eater, you don't need a lot of land. You need a lot of land to sustain animals not people.
I have read a bit about the blue zones and the lifestyles of those people. This is my lifestyle currently. We live modestly, and we grow vegetables to supplement what we buy from the supermarket. My other inspiration is the victory garden movement of the First and Second World Wars where people started gardens to supplement what they bought from the store to help with the war movement. I have read that 40% of the nation's produce came from these victory gardens. I think that model shows that it makes sense to grow your own food.
One of the debates is whether or not it is cost effective to grow your own food versus buying it all from the grocery store. Clearly, store bought tomatoes are cheaper than homegrown, but homegrown tastes way better than anything you can get from the store. Gardening is also good exercise, so you can add not paying gym fees to your savings. I just know that my grandmother was a gardener for many years, and it made financial sense for her. She wasn't doing it for the fun of it.
Is gardening a hobby? The principle reason for pursuing a hobby is to have fun. Vegetable gardening is not fun. You would be better off hunting, fishing, and playing golf if you want to have fun. I see vegetable gardening as being in the class of chores along with lawn care and housecleaning. We see it as optional because of the supermarket and the fast food chain which is how hard work gets turned into a hobby. In an economic collapse, gardening probably won't be optional. I think we are just about there.
Homesteading is a hobby that turns into a nightmare as the financial strain and the immense labor beat you down. Homesteaders generally have gardens, but those animals are the source of the nightmare. You can let a garden go and come back to it in a season or two. Dead plants make good compost. Starving animals will bring the SPCA to your door. Animals always have to eat and be watered. Feeding them costs money. You can grow feed or buy feed, but the end result is that you are buying groceries to feed to your groceries. I don't see how this is financially sustainable. My suspicion is that many homesteaders work a day job and subsidize the animals with that income. It amounts to having pets that you can eat or sell for other people to eat. I think this is stupid. It definitely isn't fun.
Eating meat, dairy, and eggs is not healthy. My decade of plant based eating and reading have taught me that undeniable fact. I credit the plant based diet for not being on meds and not having Type 2 diabetes at 55. Because of my brain injury and exhaustion, I don't move enough. The yard and garden chores help to keep me moving. I manage one hour of labor outside per day except for rain days and Sundays. When I move, I feel better. When I don't move, it is catastrophic. My brain gives out before my body. It has taken a physical toll on me. That hour of daily movement is helping to keep me alive.
Plant based living has turned out to be very beneficial for me. I think other people including you, Gentle Reader, would be wise to follow this example for yourself by eating plant based and planting a backyard garden. My intention is to live this way until the Lord decides that I am done with this life.
****************
Are Backyard Chickens Worth It? Why I Quit After 20 Years
My homestead was making me miserable
Is homesteading actually realistic?
The Real Reasons NOT To HOMESTEAD
Why Homesteading Doesn’t Work (And Why We Do It)
Is Homesteading Dying? Why The Popularity Has Declined Since 2020
Planning a Victory Garden
Join the Victory Garden Challenge
The Victory Garden (TV program)
