Finacial independence and homesteading

I have a few questions concering homesteading. I come from a self reliant family, though they are not homesteaders. By that I mean they could be self sufficient if they had to be : Gardening, Repair Work, Hunting, Mechanics, Building, etc. I have not learned these skills, unfortunately and could not learn them from my family due to lack of ...well, getting along.

What I have seen in most homesteaders and homesteading families is they get tired of the rat race and choose to homestead. My experience is different in that I am not in the rat race, and want to homestead.

I am 22 years old, not currently in school but am registered to begin a nursing program. I have studied midwifery, which I can not stress enough, is totally seperate from the nursing. I'm not sure I want to be a nurse, but I am a good healer and see that I could make a living while helping others. I will eventually be a midwife, but I feel it is something I should do when I am older.

But, I don't know if school is the best idea. I know ultimately I want to homestead/farm and support myself somehow. I do not have any artistic talents such as sewing or painting. Money could be an issue. Which sucks when I'm trying to live unattached to money.

At this point in time I'm broke!!! What should I do to continue on this path towards homesteading? Should I go to school, whether it be for nursing or something else, and get a job and get in the rat race only to leave it when I can afford to buy some land?

I feel like I'm ahead of many people in knowing what I want and NEED to be happy, but behind them in the fact I'm starting with no resources.

Besides the finicial aspects, how would I go about learning to be more self suffiecent? I can garden, but that's about it. I'm not resourceful with building, or anything like that.

And, for the record, homesteading is something I'm MEGA passionate about and have been for YEARS (like, starting when I was 15 and got into cob building). I just feel like I'm not sure how to get moved out of this stagnant pool I'm in.

 

I think the most difficult thing about homesteading is coming up with the money for the land.
Modern day homesteading is really investing in real estate that you can live off of.

About learning to be self sufficient maybe you could visit some communes and check out the self sufficient things that actually have worked for them.

A lot of stuff labeled “self sufficient” is just an investment someone is living off of. I always see these magazines with interviews of some guy with a half a million dollar set up $90,000 solar panels $25,000 barn ect bragging about being self sufficient. They are just living off an investment.

Nursing and medical stuff is a really good thing to go into there are jobs everywhere for that stuff even in rural places with cheaper land. Plus there are a lot of things you could go into around that field.

Maybe you could pick a cool place you are interested in and go there and get a nursing job for a while, or visit some communities.

I don’t know I wish I were finical independent, I think everyone does.

 

I think that the most difficult part of homesteading/farming is making the commitment to do it and then sticking with it when the going gets tough. And make no mistake about it, IT IS TOUGH.

As to the money for the land, well almost all of us pay for where we live. I guess there are some folks who "live free", at least for a while. I don't know any of them, but they may exist. The question is are you going to spend money on some place you want to be or just pay money on some place to live. I've known folks who lived in the same apartment for a dozen years paying rent and ended up with nothing but a lot of rent reciepts. Homesteading has always been about investing in real estate you can live off of. But you invest in it with more than money. You invest work, blood, sweat, tears, hopes, dreams, etc..... but mostly you invest your time. And remember, you can spend all your money and then get more money, but when you spend all your time - that's it - the end.

As to "get a job and get in the rat race only to leave it when I can afford to buy some land? ". Over the past 35 years or so I've known a lot of folks who were going to work, save money, buy a piece of land and all that. I've not known one who did it, but that's just what I've known. I'm sure it has happened, I guess. But what has worked for a lot of people (including myself) is to find a piece of land, in an area you want to be in, one that will work for your idea of homesteading, then live there and work an off farm job to pay for it. That way on weekends, afternoons, evenings, holidays, vacations, etc., you can be working on getting things set up (this is when you'll be doing the learning you were talking about) for when you can make the switch to living off of "farm income". And make no mistake, even when everything is paid for you'll still need income. The idea of "trying to live unattached to money", sounds good and ideal like, but reality is that almost always, ALWAYS, you'll need money coming in. Property taxs, vehicle costs, phone bill, doctors visits, internet, power bill. You're 22, perhaps one day you'll have kids and a family -- again money needed. I imagine there are folks out there in internet land who will say I'm wrong about the money stuff, to them I'd say: fine, when you make your post to tell me I'm wrong please include how it is that you're living without money.

I'm sorry, I may be coming across too harsh. But consider, all the expenses I mentioned you'll probably have anywhere, but anywhere else you won't also and at the same time be working toward what you want. As time goes by, you'll find ways to simplify your life and your costs will go down. When you live in any rural area I've had experience with you'll find that bartering will get a lot of what you need. Of course, as time goes by you'll refine the definition of "what you need".

The nursing/healer and/or midwife path is a great one for what you're talking about doing. As a self employed midwife you could easily be working from your home (farm). BTW, my first grand child was born December 6th and delivered by a midwife. In rural areas these skills are much needed and sought after, could be that way in cities too. I don't know, I haven't lived in a city in many, many years. But in rural areas and with those skills, you could really be a big help.

Well, that's some of my thoughts. Again, if I came across too harsh I'm sorry. I've been doing the back to the land/homesteading/farm thing since the mid 1970s and I'll tell you it can be hard, but is also great. It has given me something a lot of folks want - Peace.

Peace,
poor_old_dad

 

Hey, you're not too harsh! I'm fine with reality checks. I'm quite familiar with rural places and rural living! I grew up in Millboro Virginia, it has about 500 people. That's guessing a high amount too. It's very rural, it's over an hour to the nearest "city", as in town with population over 10,000. My father grew all our veggies, I grew up with my grandfather who was quite the man of the land. I lived in the woods during my childhood, he taught me to identify wild edibles and showed me animals I might not have otherwise noticed. I was a very muddy child. We ate morels during the spring, and they were tasty. My dad hunts, but I didn't learn that. My grandfather grew up on a tobacco farm but he had moved away from that when he married so I never lived on an actual farm, other than briefly living on a commericial dairy farm which I have no interest in. I did however hear lots about my grandfather's childhood, and am going to visit the home he was born in soon. My great uncle still farms there, and still lives in the same home.

To me, homesteading is about my ancestors. I mean that in ways that go far beyond what I can write here in this brief message. My father's people have been here for so long, and my mother's for a long time too, but the last few generations have changed it so much. They've lost their touch, but I still see evidence of it. I guess because I actually lived with my grandfather, and listened to him the way few people did I got it. It's about honoring Appalachia, to be brief.

I've never lived in a city, the town I'm living in now has about 6,000 people. I can't drive in cities, I never learned, heh.

I don't think I need a reality check about rural living, nor hard work. I think I sound so young and I feel like I expect it, and I feel like I deserve it. All in all, I probably know very little. I am taking it in small steps. I mean, the home I'm living in now is heated purely by firewood, we have no other source. I can chop wood, haul it and heat my home. But I KNOW I still have lots to learn

 

Advaya, I don't have much info. to give you, but I have to say, I enjoyed reading your post...what a wonderful way to be raised! You were given quite a gift...

Good luck in your ventures; sounds like you already have the beginnings of a wonderful experience!

 

advaya we havent talked in ages but tryin to talk to ya on msn now after readin this...

 

I just love that statement.

Anyway, from your second post (in this thread) I know a little more of your situation.....

Definition: Wisdom = Knowledge + experience

I think you have wisdom , as they say, "beyond your years". Plus there is nothing at all wrong with sounding young, after all, you are young. And most of us who are, shall we say, no longer young, wish we were.

But all that is beside the point. I think you have something that is harder to come by even than land. You have a deep commitment to do it, plus the grit and determination to see it through.

Another very, very important thing is the "taking it in small steps" and your wonderfully great attitude that you don't know it all, but are willing to learn. Although I'd bet that you know more than you're giving yourself credit for. You've seen and experienced more than a lot of folks when they were just starting out. And when it comes to learning how to do things, remember there is a LOT of help available, tons of it. Books, county extension service, friends, neighbors, maybe relatives, and certainly the internet are all resources you can draw from. Then, if you are living on your farm/homestead while working on paying it off, you can (in small steps) be learning by doing as you work on turning your piece of land into your vision of your homestead.

One other thing I forgot before, if you want to be a healer, but are unsure of nursing, what about some sort of veterinary medicine. That works well in rural areas too.

Peace,
poor_old_dad

 

It is interesting you mentioned veterinary medicine, because that is what I said I'd be when I grow up, when I was small. It was all I talked about, and I was obsessed with animals. The voting place in my town happens to be my old elementary school and when I went to vote at 18 my second grade teacher asked if I was still working towards being a vet. I told her I was actually working towards being a midwife, and she said at least I am still working with mammals.

Maybe I really should consider it again. I imagine it could be pretty depressing. No one said I couldn't be a vet and a midwife/herbalist too. I could have full spectrum of care Bring your WHOLE family! hehe

 

sounds like you are totaly on the right track, thats all i really have to say lol. im younger than you and im dead set on homesteading, though not for a few years. i just cant imagine any way of living other than being self sufficient on my own land, or nomadic. i plan on doing both travel around and see the world before settling down on a bit of land and scrape a living off it.
im going to school this winter to become a farrier. i see it as a job i can do anywhere there are horses and one that is very compatible with how i want to live. i can be self employed, barter my services, etc. much like midwifery, herbalism and veterinary medicine lol! incidentally, those are three of the few other occupations i have considered for myself. i would definity like to train to be a midwife or paramedic at some point too, i just think it would suit me very well and i would be good at it.
anyway, you will make it work! having a skill like the ones youre talking about will surely be helpful too

 

Hi Advaya, From the sound of it you are almost exactly where I was three years ago. I wanted nothing more than to have a little piece of land and start a homestead type of set-up. I couldn't afford it at all because I didn't really have any marketable skills. I ended up going to school to be a diesel mechanic. I chose that profession because they need mechanics everywhere, so I though I could get into some places with cheap land and few people and still have work. I finished school and started working and was making really good money, but it didn't really balance out because to be a mechanic you need tools. Tools are expensive. I have student loans I have to pay now. Sometimes I wish I could go back and not go to school, I realize now how good it was to not have any debt and have more options. I did kind of slip from my dreams for a couple of years and started living based on my income and so got farther from the homestead dream. Recently though I have woke up and am working towards the dream. I am working at dropping expenses down while trying to make more money. I am getting closer little by little. I can't really advise you on whether to go to school or not, but in my situation I kind of regret going to school but I know in the long run it will end up being a good thing to have done.

 

Sounds like you have a vision of what you want and some valuable life experiences to build on. You seem to understand the reality of what it will take, and what to expect when you get there. The most valuable advice I could give would be to find someone you are compatible with to teach you the skills you need, and to stick with it. It took me years, but I can build just about anything, work on just about anything mechanical, hunt, fish, garden and so many other things, I wouldn't be able to list them all. I had a lot of "teachers" and it took a lot of time and patience, but I'm about as self reliant as I can be...It just takes time

 

Reading this thread is funny, many of the comments made have run thru my head at one point or another. I am working to save money for the purchase of land, that hopefully I'll be able to buy someday. I want to be as self sufficient as possible, but I enjoy modern technology too much to give it all up. A decent computer and internet connection are required no matter where I am at on land or sea... That said, once you give up the random purchases from trips to the 'evil mega retailer' and cut the excess luxury items living isn't that expensive or maybe I am just a cheap date...