As we walk around our little town each evening, down red dirt roads and surrounded by mountain ranges, we are amused by the eclectic makeup of this place. We pass run down trailers, the yards filled with decades of accumulation. We pass new houses (definitely city transplants)- large “country” homes with landscaped yards and a few horses. We pass lots of old houses with large signs that state, “Enter at your own risk! No trespassing! Shots will be fired!” By looking at the old places one can certainly guess that government conspiracy theories and old Veterans might live here, and that would be true. I’m not ready to put up a sign, but I will tell you the older I get, the more I stand with them.

This Covid thing just increased my skepticism in the sanctity of government. The CDC keeps getting caught in lies and misinformation. During the lockdown, a bill requiring children to have any vaccination the state sees fit was pushed through quietly. Information changes daily, the government wields its agendas while more people than I have ever seen in my lifetime lose their jobs, and continue to do so. It makes you kind of wonder about things.

If my husband lost his job today, would we be prepared? (a resounding NO fills the air) Most of us wouldn’t. If the grocery store shelves were once again empty, would we be prepared? Homesteading isn’t a fad or a crazy hermit mentality. It is not an extreme lifestyle or a paranoid action. It is just smart. Plain and simple.

You don’t have to list your house and move to the middle of nowhere. You don’t have to go off grid. You don’t have to buy overalls (though they are super cute) and stock up on shotguns. But, let’s be honest, we have to do something! We have handed way too much power over to companies, entities, and government.

Maybe today list 5 things you could do to be prepared in the case of job loss, empty grocery store shelves, or natural disaster. Do you want to try to save an extra hundred dollars a month? Do you want to learn to pressure can? Want to get a clothes line? Want to get a wood stove? Want to list your house and move to a cheaper state? We can go as simple or extreme as we want, but let’s do something to be prepared for emergencies and life changes.

My blog can help. If you type in anything you want to learn into the SEARCH section on the side of the page (if you are on a computer, at the bottom if you are on a phone), you will likely find informative posts and DIY. The internet and old books are filled with valuable information for those of us raised post World War II! That was the pivotal era when folks opted to buy frozen dinners and pharmaceuticals and move to the suburbs. We don’t have to get paranoid (how come the advertisements on facebook are for the very thing my friend and I were talking about the yesterday?), but we can get smart. Maybe a ’38 Special and canning jars aren’t such a bad idea.

I want to make it clear that we aren’t doing these things out of fear. Being prepared, and being fearful are different. Homesteading is really a beautiful way to live. We used to be much more sufficient and we are working towards that again. Seeing jars of beautiful vegetables and fruits lining wooden shelves, the smell of clothes fresh off the line, wood smoke and a Dutch oven of stew simmering on top of a wood stove, money in a coffee can, and friends over to play instruments while watching the sunset with a glass of homemade wine. Rows of vegetables growing, medicinal plants in the gardens, chickens laying eggs, children running through pastures with goats. Peace. That is what homesteading is really about.