Do the words, “homesteading lifestyle,” trigger a deep longing in your soul? Do you daydream about sitting safely with your family or a close circle of friends, watching a sunset from the deck of your house that sits on your own piece of land? Can you see yourself sawing up a beautiful old oak that’s fallen (on its own volition) on the back 40…and stacking this wondrous gift of firewood for the coming winter?
In the meantime, the memories of your old regimen of intense, long days in front of a computer, working for an irritating boss, begin to fade. “Slow living” is changing your life, becoming a restorative routine. You set your own pace. The days are long, perhaps — but as your own boss, the homestead nourishes you, strengthens you, heals you day by day. Work and play mix. You embrace a “homesteading lifestyle,” and do things in the “homespun” way!
The Origins of Homespun
What IS the “homesteading lifestyle”? To get an idea, take a look at my new, old book, Homespun, A Return to the Land. I call it both “new” and “old” because I created it originally back in 1980 as a Christmas present for my Grandmother, who lived in a nursing home far away. Here’s the original cover.
My grandmother and I kept up a lively correspondence. I tried to write her at least every other day! Little did I know that 40 years later, this little homespun book would actually be published!
When my Honey and I went “back to the land” in 1979, we were green horns. I was a newspaper reporter with a degree in the study of religions. My Honey, Larry, was a high school history teacher. We only had sketchy ideas as to how we could “live off the land.” At least Larry had been raised on a farm and knew about chickens, among other things. And we were both “out-door-sie” kind of folks.
Economics of Homesteading Lifestyle
But of course, much of the “homesteading lifestyle” requires an astute grasp of economics. In this day and age, land’s not as cheap as it was back in 1979! Imagine this: We bought our 54 acres of wild, wonderful West Virginia for $13,000! Most of it was steep wooded hillsides and the remainder was about four acres of nice flat “bottom land.” We had the best of both worlds!
When it came to money, Larry was quite a unique individual! He was older than me and his parents had gone through the Great Depression of 1933. They had NEVER borrowed money– never had paid for things “over time.” It was cash on the barrel as far as the Richie’s affairs were concerned. In this way, they never lost their property or home to money lenders. And they taught Larry to ALWAYS and FOREVER, PAY IN FULL!
Nowadays, our world is plagued by the practice of Usury. This is the practice of loaning money and charging a rate of interest that is….shall we say….way, way out of line! Of course you have doubtlessly heard people lamenting the fact that we now live in a culture plagued by “debt slavery”!
This is key to the “homesteading lifestyle.” Plan ahead financially and don’t let the bankers fool you. Work in communities. Be good to your neighbors and they’ll be good to you!
Good Fortunes of Slow Living in The Root Cellar
Fortunately, there was no house standing on our property when we went looking to buy. The house had been a small two-story white farmhouse, until it somehow caught fire and burned to the ground several years before we entered the picture. (The details of how or why the home had caught fire is, from what we were told, a mystery!)
But in any case, the house had been rented for many years and very little money had gone into maintaining it. The absence of a house really paid off for us, as we did not have to deal with a rickety old shambles of a home. Instead, in the summer we went to our West Virginia homestead, we took along a small camper trailer pulled behind a good ole El Camino. (The chickens road in the camper trailer.)
Fast Moving to Get to Slow Living!
Just in the nick of time, before winter fully arrived, we replaced the charred remains of the roof on the stone root cellar that was behind the old house that burned down. With a new tin roof and two scrounged wood stoves, and a loft to hold a full-size mattress, our little 15′ X 15’root cellar became our house for six years!
We also built an outhouse from old lumber found on the property and began drinking water from two wonderful hand dug wells!
The renters had deposited the various parts of at least a dozen old cars on the property! They’d removed the engines and other parts that they needed for themselves or were able to sell. Additionally, the renters had never had a garbage service! Imagine that!
So, there came a day when we brought in a bulldozer to build a road up one of our hillsides and level some ground to build a house. The bulldozer driver was a skilled magician as he was also able to bury the huge piles of garbage UNDER the new road! Just another day in the
” homestead lifestyle”.
And then, what a day of Celebration when the last of the dozen car skeletons were loaded on a metal recycler’s big flatbed and hauled off the property!
You know…. just another ordinary day in the “Homesteading Lifestyle.”