Summary: Doing full-out living off the land homesteading is very hard, and may not be sustainable if you jump into it too quickly. As always, smaller steps seems the best approach. Here's our experience: * Working from a home office in the country * One full-time spouse, one part-time * Get a decent high-speed connection if possible * Homesteading activities are time consuming, especially preparing most or all of your food from scratch. This can be eased into while living in urban areas, to get you used to the time demands. * Renting as an option to try out the lifestyle and check out the prospective area * Doing it for yourselves and for your kids. Your kids need to help out with this adventure. Everyone contributing to the family economy. * Priority shift: there will be less time to run around to social obligations, including lessons and sports games for the kids. * Don’t try and do everything at once. * First thing: figure out where you’re going to get local good food. Get a chest freezer. * Start a garden. When you feel you can handle it, take the next step and get chickens. Involve your kids in each of these activities; otherwise you’re not going to be able to do them. * Getting a milk cow is the biggest farm obligation we’ve taken on thus far. * We’ve been brainwashed into thinking that we always have to go elsewhere for our needs. Giving your kids a life more rooted in the house is a good thing. * Eating better and fresh air with exercise will increase your coping skills. Think of this as health insurance. * It’s the hardest thing we’ve ever done, but it is also the best thing we’ve done. * Good neighbors are a godsend. * Biggest advice is to make sure you’re okay with the whole concept and lifestyle of farming and country life. Most of us need to actually do this in order to really answer the question. We decided to get our answer sooner rather than later. References: * Check out my Beef Heart Chili blog, on saveourskills.com! http://www.saveourskills.com/beef-heart-chili * See You In a Hundred Years, by Logan Ward * Family Friendly Farming: A Multi-Generational Home-Based Business Testament, by Joel Salatin
