RE: How To Start Homesteading - Part 3: Just Start
Many people are saying "Just Start" homesteading. To a point I agree, then there is the part of me that says that is not the way to go. I got foreclosed after I came back from Iraq because of physical problems that had to be taken care of and the VA sucks. We were debt-free except the house payment, that is a big thing that is hard to be debt-free on, and we burned through saving trying to keep it and was working where we were homesteading.
We moved on and found a piece of property that we got for a good price and the owner financed, it was raw land. We thought that it would be fine as people said "Just Start". We did and what many people do not understand is that with raw land getting it cleared, cleaned up and started building on takes quite a bit of money and buying equipment to "Just Start" is a hard task.
Many do not think about this and if you do not have the money to get something done in the beginning and have the equipment to do this it will be a failure just as we failed because of the "Just Start" mentality.
There are three things you need to just start from raw land.
One is the equipment you need, a tractor with several three-point hitch attachment and having a bucket loader on it.
Two is a truck and trailer to haul the tractor because you will need the trailer to haul other stuff you will need. Because you might have to haul water unless you have the 4 thousand dollars or so, or whatever that cost will be in the area you are in, for a well right off.
Three Is the knowledge to run the equipment or the time to learn on the fly as you go. Also the ability to be a jack of all trades and some mechanical knowledge of how things work and building skills.
Also, you will need the physical ability to do everything that is needed to do all of the work needed unless you have the money to hire all of the stuff out to contractors or skilled people to do it for you.
So sometimes the "Just Start" is not the way to go about it under some circumstances. I say all of this so people do not fail and just quit as I have done and learn from my mistake and do not make it themselves.
Upvoted for visibility!
Well "Just Start" just implies to start doing whatever you can. If you live in an apartment and have a balcony, grow a tomato plant out of a bucket. Do what is within your means. If you are not physically capable of doing a lot of things, clearing land by hand probably isn't what you want to try and accomplish. But until this year, we haven't used any equipment to clear land with. It doesn't have to be expensive and you don't have to spend a lot of money. Everything is gradual. Just Start to learn and gain experience, save money and go for it a bit at a time. If you go all in and try to simply just be a homesteader overnight, you're right...you're going to fail. But everyone has to start somewhere.
I knew what you were implying! I had to jump in both feet and do what I did because I had very few choices. I was simply saying take your time and make a plan and if you can find land the has a spot cleared already to start or you have the savings to be able to do what you need to do and what you need to get.
I guess I was trying to tell people that it is not as easy as many of the homesteaders that have been doing it make it look sometimes. Many do not show the struggle at the very beginning just after it is set up and things are less stressful. Many homesteaders on social media paint homesteading as a pretty picture and do not go into the details of the struggle it really is and how it is from the beginning. Many people look at that after you have been there a few years and say I can do that and it is not that way at the start.
Absolutely! We point that out in all of our videos, especially the first one, in this series (linked below) that homesteading is probably the most romanticized thing out there. We were guilty of it, buying into the notion that it's all unicorns and rainbows. We were suckered with the YouTube videos with their nice music and cinematic footage that made it look like an incredible life to lead. And there is no doubt that it is wonderful, but it's hard as hell too.
We took many many steps to get here and that's why there is a whole series that we are putting out on this topic and they are steadily coming out every Sunday. This Sunday's topic will be covering buying land. The second topic was about getting debt free. It's definitely a process and if you get gung ho about homesteading and within 30 days have bought land, quit your job and plan to be debt free, you're probably going to fail.
I appreciate your comments and advice and it definitely holds true.