This is part 5 of my ongoing series in which I share more about certain areas of my life.

According to Wikipedia:

Homesteading is a lifestyle of self-sufficiency. It is characterized by subsistence agriculture, home preservation of foodstuffs, and it may or may not also involve the small scale production of textiles, clothing, and craftwork for household use or sale.

Basically, this is part of the goal for the future of the Hive account@papa-pepper tribe. We are already picking up skills and beginning to transition, and once a few more major expenses are crossed off of our list, we plan on attempting to live a mostly self-sufficient life from the homestead as a family.

The major expenses include purchasing our land, which we just have finalize the paperwork and payment, and then it’ll be ours. Once this expense is crossed off of our list, we will need to build a house. After we purchase the land, we will still have some of the money needed to build, but I’ll have to earn a lot more before we can completely build a home and move in.

Since we are against going into debt for any reason, we will be building as we can afford it and as I can earn what we need. Once we have the land purchased and the house built, we will attempt to generate whatever income we still need at that point from home, so I won’t have to leave to go to work every day.

As I shared in my last post in this series, we have transitioned to providing more of our own food from gardening. This is an enjoyable and rewarding hobby, and it is a blessing to teach the children how to garden as well. We plan on making the garden a little bigger each year and growing more and more of our own food. Hopefully, we can grow enough to eat, share, and perhaps even sell.

Not only will the annual garden be an ongoing food source, but we plan on planting many fruit and nut trees, and also perennial fruiting bushes and vines. Some of the food bearing perennial plants that we already have to plant on the land are Passionfruit, Figs, Grapes, Blueberries, Raspberries, Apples, Pears, Peaches, Elderberries, Beautyberries, Gooseberries, Strawberries, Redbuds, Mulberries, Paw-Paws, Che, Prickly Pear, Hazelnut, Pecans, Serviceberries, Persimmons, and others, just to name a few.

Thankfully, there are also many wild plants already growing in the area which can be used as food for us as we forage as well. Wonderful wild edibles like Dandelion, Common Yellow Wood Sorrell, Chives, Garlic, Blackberries, Plantain, Chicory and others have been appearing more frequently on our table. We are definitely going to spread these around and take advantage of the ones already growing too.

Hunting and fishing skills also come in very handy, and I have been developing them for decades. It wasn’t until last year though that I started hunting larger game, like the deer that I harvested. It was a special bonus that two of the deer I shot were on the land that we are purchasing as well. As we begin to develop and transform that patch of land, keeping a good environment for the wildlife will be part of the plan. We also plan on planting certain plants as an additional food source for the wild creatures.

Besides planting food for the wildlife, we will also plant some for our own farm animals. We are already raising chickens, rabbits and pigs, and hope to breed and raise all of them. If we can reproduce animals that can provide meat, eggs, and bacon, then we will be in pretty good shape. This was one of the main reasons that we moved out of the city. We also plan on adding such animals as quail, ducks, and a milk goat.

In fact, funds for a milk goat have already been donated by Hive account@smailer and Hive account@exploretraveler, we are just waiting until sometime this spring to pick one up. Actually, Hive account@smailer, Hive account@felixxx, and Hive account@dresden have already contributed to purchase a pig, a rabbit, and a few chickens for us! Thanks everyone!

The preservation of what we food we produce ourselves is also a big part of being successful at self-sufficiency. Though many methods have been used in the history of the world, so many of these skills are barely used at all these days.

Between the two of us, Hive account@mama-pepper and myself have been hard at work dehydrating, fermenting, canning, and finding other ways to preserve our own food. I also definitely want to get into smoking meat and curing it in traditional methods so that freezer and refrigerator storage can be cut back.

Ultimately, fresh food straight from the source is incredible, but there is no way to use everything that we produce before it spoils unless we preserve. Food preservation will be an ongoing skill to learn about and develop.

In the long-term, the plan goes something like this. If we own our land and house, there will be no rent or mortgage to deal with, so we will only really have to worry about property tax and insurance. If we grow and raise most of our food supply that will also greatly reduce the cost of living for us. Then, whatever money we still need will be significantly less, so we are hoping to make that money from home, sometimes even as a family.

One of my main goals for an at-home business is plant propagation. I have already learned quite a bit about this skill and have been practicing for a while now. If I can take plants that I already have in my possession and make more for free, my investment will only be time, soil, and pots. Then, as the plants grow, I can sell them to others who are interested in growing more of their own food too!

If no one buys certain plants one year, I can just eat the food that they produce that year and then attempt to sell them again the next year. If they have grown significantly, maybe I will even be able to sell them for more.

Some other ideas for things that we can do from home to earn an income are: steemit, crafts, breeding animals, and writing books. Since we are already involved in all of these things anyway, by not working a fulltime job I could focus more on these activities and finding ways to monetize them. Farmer’s markets and selling seeds and seedlings are some other good ideas.

Obviously, I am not a full-time homesteader at the moment, but it is the direction that we are heading. I think that people were designed to eat more raw and unprocessed, chemical-free foods, and I’d rather not be part of some dietary experiment. To be at home, raising my children and making a life, not just a living, is where my heart already is… now I just need to get my body there.