What does it mean to be a homesteader? For years the term “homestead” referred to lands granted through a government land program made possible through the Homestead Acts of the late 19th and early 20th century.
The Homestead Acts were a series of laws in the United States which gave citizens or future citizens the chance to claim acreage of public land provided they live on it, improve it, and pay registration fee. You can read more about it here if you are so inclined. The intent of this Homestead Act was to expand the population and territory of the United States westward, and to allow individual farmers to own and operate their own farms. Any adult citizen could apply. Sounds dreamy, right?
Of course, this wasn’t a perfect process and there were certainly some barriers. Not to mention the challenges of trying to live on unimproved land. Like, completely empty. It wasn’t as if these folks were moving to a developed farm with a nice big house, a barn, cleared fields ready for planting… There was a lot of work involved beyond growing food and raising animals. A homesteader literally had to start from scratch and DIY everything. Like, everything everything.
Homesteading is a lifestyle, not a location.
But if they could hack it for at least five years, 160 acres was theirs for the taking. I don’t know about you, but for me, 160 acres is living the dream. I’d be happy with half of that. Shoot, I’d be happy with half of half of that. Forty acres would be phenomenal! But I don’t have forty acres. I don’t have four acres. I don’t even have one. So how do you turn a measly little backyard plot into a homestead?
Good question. According to the dictionary I just consulted, a homestead is “the home and adjoining land occupied by a family.” So, I may not have all the acreage I want, and I sure don’t have the space to grow/raise/produce absolutely everything I will use or consume, but I have a home and a yard and that, my friends, constitutes a homestead if I want it to. And I want it to.
Homesteading is a lifestyle, not a location. To be a homesteader is a choice, a choice to live in a particular way. Homesteading is a lifestyle of self-sufficiency and sustainability. Does it require a certain set of skills? Sure, but that doesn’t mean we have to have a perfectly developed set of skills before we start. As with most things, we learn and grow and develop as we go. Ultimately, homesteading is a lifestyle of hope.
Ultimately, homesteading is a lifestyle of hope.
It is a process–a journey and not a destination. This is my journey, and I’m happy to have you join me on my way.
