Homesteading and Livestock | South Salem Real Estate

If you suffer from Barnheart and would like to homestead but are unable to do  so right now for whatever reasons (there are many), do not despair. There are  still steps you can take in order to move yourself towards the goal of being  more self-sufficient. Happily, most of them don’t involve much money! Here’s a  list of my top 10:

 

1.  Save more, spend less. The sad fact is that most people cannot afford to buy the  homestead of their dreams … or any homestead, for that matter. In many places,  acreage is expensive. In order to make your dream a reality, you may need to  make some drastic changes. Thankfully, most of those changes have positive  outcomes …  stop eating out and instead, learn to cook the kinds of dishes  you’ll be making when you can have your own garden. Cancel cable and instead,  read books and magazines that will teach you about living self-sufficiently.  Make time work for you, and contribute annually to your IRA. Your 70-year old  self will thank you for it. Your co-workers and friends won’t understand why you  want to live so simply … but they don’t have Barnheart.

 

2. Seek to become debt-free. Once you have begun spending less, and saving  more, consider paying off those loans. No homesteader I know has ever said “I  wish I owed more money.” Every dollar in interest you are paying on your home,  car, or credit cards is one less dollar you have when at last you are able to  purchase your homestead.

 

3. Learn a new skill. You may not be able to milk your own cow, but you can  learn how to make your own yogurt and cheese. You may not be able to spin  your own wool, but you can learn how to knit or crochet. You may not be able to  build your own farmhouse, but you can learn how to do smaller woodworking  projects. Sign up for a class, have a friend teach you, or watch you-tube.

 

4. Learn to preserve food. Anyone can learn how to can and  dehydrate, and it doesn’t take a lot of money to get started. Someday you’ll  have a huge garden and bumper crops of produce, but for now you can support your  local farmer by buying in season and preserving the taste of summer all year  round.

 

 

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