Selling You Reality
On Being a Homestead Curmudgeon, part II
Hi friends,
Even though I wrote this in May of ‘22, this is a continuation of the conversation I started last week with my article “Making Peace with the Word Homesteading”
Maybe you have noticed something recently: the corporatization of homesteading. I know I have. You also can call it the rise of the homestead hustlers. Maybe they have always been there, and I am just noticing it, however, with the rise in popularity of homesteading I do think it is becoming more prevalent. I received an email in my inbox that really got me thinking about this topic and how it is a trap for many homesteaders.
The Dream
Let’s start with the email that got me thinking. Some of these famous homesteaders are selling you a dream, complete with an emotional docuseries. Selling a dream is easy. Selling a reality is not. Everyone wants to hear the fantasy that you too can be rich off the land; you too can own acres and acres of property that will yield an endless bounty. All for the low price of you buying a product they are selling. They will sell you the knowledge so you can live rich like them.
Maybe someone should start a new blog: homesteading for the working class. Or maybe, homesteading when money is perpetually tight because it all goes right back into your homestead. Homesteading for homeschool families living on a single income could be another blog name. Would you read such a blog? That is hitting closer to home for most homesteaders. There is no hustle in such titles.
That homesteader you love to follow, the one who you just paid $14.99 to tell you how to set up poultry net? They are laughing at all the way to the bank because they mastered a simple thing and sold their mastery. I am going to let you in on a little homestead secret- you too can master things and do so without paying someone $14.99. You can take that $14.99 and invest it in your own homestead, maybe even by setting aside some money to buy poultry net for you to master.
Yes, you can. I promise.
The Reality
You are not living a docuseries set to the perfect soundtrack and what you need to know about these emotional docuseries is that you are looking at the lives of people who are hiding something from you: the truth.
Take a look at some of the details. Sell eggs they say, yet they don’t sell eggs and they make their money with their online presence. Heating with wood is easy they say, as they post a video showing 8 hired men chopping wood for them. Buying property is easy they say, but they aren’t telling you they had tech money or sold a lot of expensive real estate to buy their property. Everyone should practice permaculture they say, yet they show a million-dollar property and even more millions in renovations put in. They didn’t happen to show you the stables, pool, and tennis court because it wouldn’t fit in with the narrative.
As a homesteader, a blogger, a person firmly entrenched in middle class life, married to a husband who worked hard over the years so that we could afford to live on a single income, and a farm owner. As all of the above, I want to tell you to - the dream they are selling you is not reality.
The number one thing you need to know about homesteading is: it’s hard. Let me repeat that.
HOMESTEADING IS HARD.
Paying $14.99, $99.99, or whatever amount to another homesteader to sell you a dream is not going to make it easier. Experience and time will make it easier. That money and time is best spent living your best life, not the best life someone is telling you is the best life. You also need to know that no amount of money is going to save you from making mistakes. Canning jars will break, the best of plans will go awry, and animals will die. You can’t escape that; it’s part of homesteading.
The Encouragement
We at Mossygoat Farm did it. We own income producing acreage and a homestead. We did it without large inheritances. We did it without involving ourselves in a multi-level marketing scheme such as doTERRA. We did it coming from a working and middle-class background. We did it with a single income for a family of four and we did it without social media.
YOU CAN DO IT!
But step away from the dream and focus on reality.
Yes, we did it because we dreamed. But we didn’t let other people dictate our dreams and we didn’t listen to homestead hustlers. The only way to succeed in homesteading is by doing it your way. The only way to discover your way is by doing it.
Becoming a successful homesteader takes time. You will fail along the way. You will also be successful along the way. You will have good times and bad times. That’s true of life no matter if you are a homesteader or not. But the only thing that is going to make homesteading easier and happier is experience. Enjoy your homestead journey and focus on you and your family.
Happy homesteading everyone and be on the lookout for more Monday Homestead Inspiration.
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