Mother Earth News

I just got Issue No. 233 of Mother Earth News, and was blown away by one article: "Life On the Homestead" by Jenna Woginrich. It is the experience of the author, and how she changed her life. She started out learning how products get to consumers - what they go through. It made her consider being a vegetarian, to become healthier but also because she educated herself on what animals go through to become dinner on her plate. She became appreciative of small farms, and wanted to do more to not only feed herself, but to change how she clothed herself, lit her home, and the electronics she used. She finally is living her dream: grinding coffee by hand, using a hand-cranked radio, at peace in her simple and beautiful surroundings with her animal companions.

So much of homesteading is food. Basically, you don't grow your food, you either buy processed, chemically-enhanced foods, or you starve.

But once you meet that on-going need, you concern yourself with the other comforts of life, while earning enough money to pay property taxes, and purchase things you can't make at home.

I'd love to hear other stories while I work on catching on the posts of this blog. How do YOU homestead?