The Quaker Homestead at Freesong Farm

Never, EVER, invest in a large solar power system! NEVER! Oh, feel free to spend a couple thousand dollars if playing with these gadgets turns you on. But I repeat, NEVER, EVER get caught up in the solar-social-justice-save-the-planet thing. A homestead needs lots and lots of tools and equipment, almost all of those can be bought for the price of a whopping solar system capable of truly powering an American family home as currently constructed. (Single men living in RV’s not included.) Now, before the solarphiles jump down my throat: We visited a number of “solar powered, off-grid homesteads.” The dirty secret of these homesteads is propane/natural gas. They cooked with propane, they dried their clothes with propane, they heated the home with propane—and to be fair, with wood, but whenever I see a propane/natural gas furnace I get the sense that wood is used when convenient—and more importantly, they heated their domestic hot water with propane/natural gas. All of the big elec...

Someone recently asked me, "what is the difference between 'Homesteading' and 'Off-Griding.'" I have to tell you... that question really stumped me. So rather than just provide a flippant answer off of the top of my head, I spent a little time and did some research (as best I could online and using my own voluminous experiences and contacts), and I think I have an answer. A terrible, unpleasant, and brutal answer: "Homesteaders" are families who have enjoyed some success within the system and have been able to figure out how to acquire productive property, equipment, implements, and tools and have put all of this to profitable use. They also appear to be almost exclusively married couples with children. My sense is that these people put their family and children ahead of the nonsensical drama of politics, activism, and protest. They make the world a better place by caring for their family and living in Community with their neighbors. Self-descr...

One of the reasons I wrote the book, " Prosperous Homesteading " and my upcoming "Homesteading With Workhorses," was an effort to get our ideas of "community" and the successful socio-economic framework for homesteading that we have been privileged to learn and to live from the people who have succeeded at this for generations out into (what we thought was a self-reliance/self-sufficiency/debt-free living/home-based production movement/paradigm outside of the suburban mortgage/car payment/commute-two-hours-per-day life of endless hurry and fear of inconvenience and discomfort) the the purview of people who might be interested in homesteading. The book continues to sell far beyond my or my publisher's expectation. But we didn't produce that book to sell books. I am a novelist, and I want to sell novels, and my life on my very real homestead and in my community is a labor of love. We hoped to reach out to people who might like to live this way. After...

In the real world, there are facts—even in a world with a thousand shades of grey. These facts govern—and people who can accurately interpret the environment in which they find or place themselves in will have greater success and better outcomes than people who do not. The resettlement of the American countryside, what some people have taken to calling "homesteading," is governed by a set of environmental facts, and no amount of feel-good propaganda is going to have any impact on this set of circumstances. This article is directed at people who have amassed hard-won resources and capital and are considering moving from the suburban model of living to the American countryside. First, don't listen to the media. While it is true that most (there are plenty of wealthy landowners and businesses) of rural America is a disaster zone of government dependence, addiction, and obesity, disasters create opportunities. There are winners and losers in this environment, just as...

Is it your dream to live a contented life by removing complexity and distractions from it? Are you capable of making decisions and commitments and persevering? Have you lived providently and productively and have the means to do and not just dream? Are you physically fit enough to live the life you have imagined—and to be capable of being an asset to a community (and not just another liability)? Would you like to live in community with people who are an asset to each other and are committed to helping each other? Can you accept that there are hundreds of successful cooperative and interdependent communities in Amerca (but not a single successful commune) and that there is no reason to reinvent the wheel? Would you like to live a real life?  If you answered "yes" to all of the above, we would like to meet you and get to know you to see if there is a fit for you in our community. There are a number of posts on this blog that will be enormously helpful to real homesteaders ...

A homestead is a home. This simple fact is overlooked by essentially all of the homesteading books, websites, and social media homesteading groups. A homestead needs a real homemaker and she is the bedrock of her family and the home. The family needs a provider who does the heavy work around the homestead and brings in an income. This does not preclude the homemaker from actively bringing in an income, but it does preclude the homemaker from a 40-hour a week job and 10 hours per week commute. An individual leaving the home at 8am and returning at 6pm cannot possibly make a home or raise a family. No home and no family means no homestead. It means debt and wage slavery until you have accumulated enough assets to reach escape velocity—usually right about the age ( and body weight ) where you are no longer capable of doing anything. This is the corporate employment trap. I know it is harsh. Real life is like that. Because, in reality, "homesteading" is merely the resettl...

There are things that will make or break a family homestead. And there are trivial things that just do not matter. Like all the subject matter you see on the Internet. None of that stuff matters. The transition (from suburban debt and wage slave to independently productive businessman and homesteader) is fraught with risk—and the posts on chickens and tomatoes and puppies and questions—"anybody knows what kind of spider this is?"—are taking up valuable space and time in your plans. T here are real homesteaders out there , and there are real homesteading communities. REAL —not virtual—and you can go visit them and even work for them for a season and learn the socio-economic strategies necessary to occupy the American rural landscape successfully. And look, if this is all just simply beyond your reach and you enjoy talking with strangers online about tomatoes and chickens, have at it. But for those of you who are really thinking about making a huge change in your life and are...