Homesteaders Burn Out all the Time
Burnout. It is very common in this pasture to plate, backyard farm, homesteady movement. People watch Food, Inc, vow to never support CAFOs, go plant a garden, buy some meat chickens… and 3 years later sell all their chicken butchering equipment on Craigslist.
Why?
Homesteading can seem super fun and easy and awesome. And it can be, if you are sent off in the right direction from the start.
But without a mentor, mistakes in the homesteading world can lose you money, cost you time, and make you want to sell the farm and move to the city for good!
Jumping into homesteading without a mentor is a BIG mistake!
The fact is without the proper exposure to the Homesteady lifestyle, the way things look can be very candy-coated.
There are a lot of popular blogs, websites, and youtube vids, that show the best side of the homesteading movement, without all the poop, guts, and bugs.
“Wait, Aust, YOU have a podcast that is always telling me to go out and grow veggies, and catch fish, what are you saying?”
I’m saying before you run out and buy a milk cow or move off grid, you need to get some real hands on exposure.
You need to find a mentor. A farmer who you can help out. A hunter who will take you into the woods. A forager who knows what mushrooms are delicious in butter, and what ones will kill you in 3 minutes… (yea, I dont do mushrooms…)
Time spent with these mentors will teach you what to REALLY expect when you begin your homesteading life, and not just what a filtered pic of a chicken butcher day on Instagram is like.
At Homesteady, we really, really want you to homestead. But we don’t want you to start homesteading tomorrow and stop next year. we want you to know what to expect from this life, so you can continue at it for keeps!
Finding a Mentor Can be Hard
Farmers are very busy. Fishermen hide their best spots. Getting these types of mentors to take you under their wing can be a challenge.
Don’t worry, we’re gonna help. Over the next few weeks we’re going to discuss where to find good mentors and how to get hands on experience in the homesteading world.
Don’t miss a post, these are the insider tips on how to connect with the people who can make your homesteading journey a real success, and not a three year stint in Craigslist sales.
-Aust
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Previous posts in this series:
What Does MT Everest and Mordor have to do with Homesteading
This article was featured in the Simple Saturday Blog Hop
This is such a tease! Can’t wait to hear more!
Congrats on a great post, and I can’t wait to read more. I believe firmly in having a good support system…glad you are addressing this. Apparently our readers are really interested too…your post was selected as “Featured” in last weeks Simple Saturdays Blog Hop!! Make sure you HOP on over and grab your “Featured” button to display proudly on your site…and we sure hope you come back and share again…thank you for participating! ~Kat~
Thanks Kat, we certainly will! Thanks for featuring us!
GREAT POST! Exactly what I’ve been looking for. We just purchased our Farm (20 acres) and plan to bring in livestock slowly. My hubby has experience with most animals but wasn’t raised on a farm. I would love to find a mentor to teach us how to process meat chickens. I’ve probably watched every video out there. It looks simple enough, but it sure doesn’t capture the smell, the emotions or mindset needed.
So thank you so much for your honesty and help in this area. It’s definitely an important area to take into consideration and explore.
Bobbie
Wow so exciting Bobbie! 20 acres! What livestock are you thinking about? And where are you located? We host a class on farm every year for how to raise and process your own chickens. Its completely HANDS ON, start to finish. Its in CT, if thats close by… 🙂
Hi Austin,
Well, as life sometimes is — we were thrown a curve ball with our Farm purchase. Hubby did a flow test on the well, in February, and it ran completely dry in less than 2-hours. Hubby also found that both bathrooms plumbing was connected to the creek – not plumbed to the house and well. Of course there were other issues, as we expected. All of these findings add up to thousands and thousands of dollars (even with us doing all the work). Of course our original offer was contingent upon inspections so we didn’t have any problem countering our original offer. The Farm is an Estate Sale and apparently two of the three siblings expected full-price for the property so there really wasn’t any negotiating with them
So………..We pulled up our jeans and kept searching. We found a Farm on 25.48 acres but it’s a foreclosure with all kinds of problems. We noticed the bank dropped it’s price by $20,000 so we jumped and our offer was accepted. Now we are in limbo waiting for Freddie Mac to set a closing date (ugh, foreclosures are a pain). The Land is gorgeous, the house not so much – but the price was $60,000 cheaper than the first farm. Just goes to show you — never give up on your dreams!
This property also has another house behind it that is also in foreclosure. Won’t be on the market for a couple of years. Guess you can figure out we will be saving every penny we can to bid on the back house (it’s much nicer and has a beautiful view of our 20.48 acre pasture). If we are successful, we will live in the front house while repairing the back home — then we want to sell the front home for materials only (it will have to be torn down and removed). That ground will turn into our orchard and berry area.
We are located in Oregon — other side of the map from you — but like backyard neighbors in our thinking! LOL
We are in our LATE 60’s and are as excited as 5-year olds on Xmas morning! Never give up on your dreams – stay focused – keep moving forward – and you’ll find your dream.
Wishing you the best of the best — Bobbie 🙂
Wow, sounds like an awesome place! 25 acres! Thats great! (and a great price too!) Happy for you guys, keep us posted if it all falls into place! Thinking about any animals for the farm?
Hi Austin,
very good advice, especially for people who have absolutely no experience on a farm. One way we thought of getting introduced to farming before taking the plunge with our own adventure is WOOFing. The plan is to find a farm very close to the area were we want to settle down in and volunteer. We figure this way we can get to know the area and the people, and also get a taste of what it takes to do the work before actually committing large sums of money. Does that make sense.
Looking forward to the next post.
Best regards,
Graziella
Graziella, thats a great idea! Get some real hands on exposure before you go out and buy the farm yourself! DO IT!
Amazing post! Exactly what I’ve been looking for. especially good for beginners who start homestead farming. If anyone wants to learn more about this topic then visit this link http://www.homestead.org. here you find the latest and high-quality blogs and libraries that can increase your knowledge about farming.