“Seeing you don’t object, I’ve decided to go see the West.”
Are there any homesteaders amongst us who haven’t found inspiration in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House Series?
As you know from our last podcast, Aust and Kendra are packing up the four kids and taking them West. Like the Ingalls family, they are looking for greener pastures.
The desire to hit the road. What motivates this? Is homesteading so challenging that after awhile, everyone wants to quit?
We realized many listeners were forlorn after learning we were selling the homestead to travel- “First Justin Rhodes (and wife Rebecca) and Dirtpatch Heaven (Julianne and John), now you guys-doesn’t anybody just want to keep farming?”
Instead of ignoring this question, we figured we would attack it head on.
There seems to be a common thread amongst homestead families. They want to give their families the best, but they can’t afford to when just starting off. So, to save a little money, they decide to do a few things themselves. One thing leads to another. Once this journey, all these families grew their homesteads, meeting challenge after challenge. They have collected a wealth of knowledge.
Each of these families problem-solved their way down different paths. “Lifestyle Business” is a catchword these days, mostly invoking images of an individual earning money by producing content on the internet. After Lyme disease waylaid Justin Rhodes, he was forced to learn new ways to homestead and earn an income. His path led him to taking up permaculture, and making daily YouTube videos.
John and Julianne found themselves in a precarious financial situation. With necessity always being the mother of invention, Julianne decided to go onto YouTube and share the day to day of her homestead. The ads that ran on her videos brought in the extra income that was so desperately needed to change the family’s situation.
One thing that Justin and Rebecca, the folks at Dirtpatch Heaven, and Aust and Kendra at Homesteady all experienced is that once they developed internet content to support their homesteading business, they simultaneously began to do more on their homesteads than ever before.
As you grow your homestead, one thing in your life decreases- the ability to travel. With crops and livestock needing constant care and attention, traveling goes on the back burner.
For John and Julianne, a severe back injury for John changed the course of their homesteading journey. As his day job as a delivery driver became un-doable, a new opportunity presenting itself. As they looked at their finances, they decided that “van life”- or life on the road in a motor home- was the solution. With a generous gift of a motor home from a neighbor, they were on their way.
Justin and Rebecca didn’t have to make a drastic change in their life, but an opportunity arose. They decided it was time to go on an adventure.
So- are Justin and Rebecca, Julianne and John, and Aust…quitters?
Justin and his wife, Rebecca, and Julianne and John of Dirtpatch Heaven, and Aust and Kendra want to travel to share their love of homesteading, not to quit! Travel allows them to share all of the skills they have learned, and tell the stories of their experiences. They want to visit other homesteaders and learn new skills, all while seeing new places.
Is the personality of the homesteader to always strive to move forward and seek new challenges? For all you “Little House” fans out there, you know that Pa Ingalls moved the family multiple times, until Ma finally put an end to his insatiable wanderlust. The take-away? Homesteaders want to live free.
So what IS going to happen to Homesteady? Don’t worry, the podcast will continue. You can also follow our adventures on the Homesteady YouTube Channel.
What about the Pioneer Program? Are you a Pioneer? Do you want access to master classes by experts about orchards, food preservation, and so much more? We are having a sale- Pioneer membership is usually $5/mo, but for the month of December we are selling a year long membership for only $40. Thats only $3.30/mo! Click here to become a Pioneer today!
Thanks to our new sponsor, Audible.com. Go to Audible.com/trynow for a free 30 day trial of Audible, and support Homesteady while listening to a good book.
Want to have us Visit your Homestead while we are on the road?
CLICK HERE to fill out our invitation form. 
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