Justin, I challenge you to like my comment. I’ve been here before the pandemic and continue to stay after. Support us the commenters to stay and hang in there with all of us. The ordinary people watching and supporting!
My 94 year old father died in January of 2020, thankfully before Covid restrictions, because he would have been miserable to be isolated. He left me $46,000 and I knew exactly what I should spend it on…. A backyard garden. We started the construction in February of 2020 and then came Covid!! I have continued my 8 raised beds and consider it divine that I had my garden to tend during the spring and summer of 2020. I don’t think I will ever be without a garden. You and Jess at Roots and Refuge taught me everything I know about growing vegetables. Thank you.
As a daughter of a custom home builder and master carpenter, it made my heart so happy when your cabinet maker pointed out the continuous grain on your walnut cabinets. The attention to reminds me of my dad and what he would have done. Congrats!
I homestead vicariously through your family, the Hollars, and Sow the Land here on YT. The only energy I need is staying up later when I get behind watching your videos!
Your cabinet guy did an excellent job! I used to build cabinets with my dad and I can really appreciate his attention to the details. They will be a family treasure for generations. The kitchen is going to be amazing! Beautiful job by “The beautiful one”. ❤
My parents were homesteaders in the 70's - way ahead of their time. My dad chopped wood until he was 82! I'm not a homesteader (retired in my 60's) and simply dont have the energy for it as y9ou mentioned... But I admire you all, love learning about permaculture which proves how we are all connected. Your life is an absolute gift for your kids.
Thanks for sharing! I’m an urban homesteader that buys from local producers. Growing permaculture gardens since 1995 at my home in a small town. I love watching your family, farm & business grow! Blessings to all 🤗🇨🇦
When I first got married we lived in an Apartment. A year and a half later we were able to buy a fenced in three bedroom home with a huge backyard. I was 24 and honesteaded the property. All around the perimeter of the fence I dug gardens where I grew chili peppers, tomatoes, and bell peppers. I also planted a lot of rose bushes. In 1984 we moved into a huge historic Victorian and started the never ending renovations. I finally started gardening again in 2020, pandemic era. Been doing it ever since and I’m still watching you and the Roots and Refuge channel.
We started gardening and learning the homestead in 2020. We volunteered at a local farm until last spring when we bought our 64 Acre farm in Northern Canada. We cannot imagine going back to suburban life. We’re doing our second year of meat birds, pigs we’re starting in a couple of weeks, my milk cow should be coming home in the next few weeks and we just had our first goat kids born. Not to mention out horses and laying hens too. I remember the first egg now we get 18 per day lol 😆 but I’ve refocused our homestead to make our chores and processes more efficient and natural for us and the animals! Cheers to another beautiful day on the homestead
Austin, the music is good! It's at a good volume and it's at the right spots for just a super short moments so I vote to keep doing what ur doing! I love it! Justin, I have been gardening since my early 20's but had to stop for a few yrs and started agn 10yrs ago plus been doing it all alone for most of those. Thanx for all your help, wisdom, humor and community! And I cannot leave out.... thank you for sharing your family with us. I love you guys bunches!
I got my first Mother Earth News in 2012. I was already homeschooling, homemaking, cooking by then. Getting that magazine set me on the crazy chicken lady (homesteader) path, happily on it since 2013.
Grew up on a dairy farm with a five acre vegetable garden and fruit orchard. While i dont have any animals any more (we have family that raise beef cows and a neighbor with a dairy farm) I have always had a large garden and an ever expanding fruit orchard. Food independence has always been important for generations of my family and neighbors.
This is my sixth year of gardening in the city on a half acre lot. My grandparents showed me when I was young how valuable a good garden is, and how much you can feed a family with just a little land. I'm dedicated, I have plans that will grow with me. I finally have a home that is mine and have set down the roots to make this happen. Only wish I could have done it 20-30 years ago.
I started my homestead journey in 2017 with 32 acres of mostly pasture and some woodland. I'm still here even though we had 8 months of almost non stop rain. It's been the toughest winter yet, but we survived it. Thanks for your great content Justin and family. Your positivity has been an inspiration to me..
I was born into homesteading, got married and moved to the city… then started gardening in raised beds about 10 years later, then got divorced and went right back to the country (on less than 1 acre) and got my first flock of chickens in 2017 and front yard gardening. My dad passed away and we moved my mom in 2019, and then I found your channel. Kicking myself since I found your channel cause I could have had a 😅milk cow, chickens, lambs and pigs where my parents used to live on 10 acres.😢
Correct. I always wonder why homesteaders do not realize that biochar is one of the greatest soil amendments ever, especially since it's been around for thousands of years.
My fondest memories are at my family’s ranch harvesting okra we exported to the USA (live across the border from Brownsville,Texas) we had corn, yellow squash, watermelon, Chile, tomatoes, melons, wild berries, pomegranates, nopales on our back yard we were kind of homesteaders, that was more than 60 years ago. Like Justin our life improved, got better machinery, life change, kudos to him and his family
More than 10 years ago. And i wash the crazy guy in the neighborhood. In 2020 there was a line of people at my stall. Now I am part of the community. And source of inspiration. both for the garden. As the mental well-being. Nine Place my happy place. Ps in 2020 i found your chanel ;)
I'm barley hanging on - diagnosed with Lupus and it has limited my time, energy and strength. I still have chickens and turkeys and a small garden, berries and orchard, and run the community garden at our church. I have big hopes of finishing my greenhouse this year. I would like to get back into pigs and milking goats. I only have 2 acres so cows are hard to feed.
My parents built our homestead in 1976 after Monsanto accidentally poisoned Michigan's Dairy and the state may have tried to help them cover it up. My mom, a registered nurse, was already following Feingold and Weston Price so this just confirmed it all for her. I was raised on organic food and raw dairy long before that was even a common term. We also heated our home with our own forestry. Their goal was to be on the grid but able to keep going with or without it at a moment's notice.
While our family doesn't REALLY homestead yet (we have a garden, but it would be hard to keep any animals in an apartment complex lol) I've been talking and dreaming about it since probably 2018. Unfortunately we lost out on the sweet spot to buy land just before 2020 and then we lost a lot of money trying to keep afloat. Lots of tears in the meantime because we're not where we want to be, but we're getting there again. My husband grew up on his grandparents subsistence farm so he really knows what he's doing. I worked at a horse ranch for almost 5 years, so I'm aware of the hard work that's involved with keeping animals. We definitely want the lifestyle for our kids to grow up in!
I grew up on a farm doing everything “homesteaders” do now. Back then it was just “farming.” I completely understand the diminished allure of eggs! At one time we had over 200 chickens, and our eggs had their own separate refrigerator, which was always full during the spring and early summer. We sold some, froze some, and tried to eat the rest, but there were usually more eggs than we or our animals could eat! That’s what happens if you let “chicken math” get out of control! Now, I am retired, and still try to garden, but it’s getting more difficult for me as I age. I dread the thought of having to buy produce from the grocery store. Like Jessica Sowards says, “store bought tomatoes taste like disappointment!”
I'm on my 18 growing season, with Chickens and back when Covid came, I upped my game, ( Raised Garden beds wise) and gardening & preserving kept me busy and normal during a crazy time in our lives! I love watching your channel, I don't know how you don't run out of things to talk about , but I look forward to seeing vlogs!
I am born in Paraguay and grew up off grid on a farm. After I got married we lived on a farm for few years always had a garden and animals and milking. Moved to Canada in 2007 and since 2012 we live on a farm. Garden, cow's, chicken goat's and pigs.
We have gardened, had chickens, ducks and 4H pigs, Which is so different from how we raise our pasture pigs now, for most of our married life. We have turned it up (preserving mostly) since we witnessed what took place in 2020, and it has helped that I retired. Hubby is working fewer days so we are able to do even more. We were watching your channel before 2020 but not as consistent. Thanks for sharing
I don't Homestead, but I watch every steam of yours. I came from a farming family and my fondest memories were the summers spent at my Uncles farm in Nebraska. My favorite pate of your steam is sitting down for dinner.
Did we start homesteading before 2020? Yes. Did we start homesteading after 2020? Yes. We kept chickens and had a first attempt at gardening before 2019, when we bought an RV trailer and got into camping. We had a family with teens help us with the chickens, but eventually we decided we wanted to travel more, so we gave our chickens away to a homeschooling family. It was a small chicken outfit anyway (see what I did there?), so it wasn't a big transition. After a couple of years of camping trips nearly every month, we scaled back the travel to a couple of trips a year. So we got back into homesteading in a much bigger way than before. In 2022, we converted our front yard into a permaculture food forest. In our back yard we got chickens again, and also started keeping quail and rabbits. Oh, and we live within the city limits of Corpus Christi, Texas, so everything we do is on a city lot that's maybe a quarter of an acre.
I’d be so chocked if you guys weren’t a little burnt out. It’s honestly refreshing to hear that you guys are human lol because idk how you do what you do everyday with the house rebuild and grandmas illness etc all together with the normal day to day stuff.
In 2010 we lost my mother inlaw and inherited the family home. Which the land has been in my husband's family since before the Revolution. She pasted before one of our states largest fairs and wished he grandson could catch a piglet in the pig scramble. Well he did and were still here .
I don't know if I would call it homesteading but my family has been raising our own food in a mini farm setting, in the same town since before my great-grandparents. My grandfather moved over one street from his mother and I now raise my chickens, ducks, geese and turkey on the same land as well as garden. The birds are the the newest out of all those things as it is under a decade we have been raising them but I have gardened for my kitchen my whole life, 40+ years. My ex thought I was crazy when we were married by now he does it too. We are think, dreaming, of selling our place as the area we lived in has gotten so much more city than even when I was a kid and moving to a bigger place with cows, pigs and all the other big animal stuff but that is still just the dream right now. Every year that dream becomes more real as one of my boys got his degree in agg and wants to join me if I move. My circle of friends wants to join if we can find a plot big enough for everyone one to move wherever together as they want to homestead but have no experience with anything other than horses. I don't know, maybe, some day, till then, I'm just gonna keep doing what I've been doing since I was old enough to help my grandpa plant his garden. Still gives me so much delight watching my garden and animals grow, even after all these decades and loved ones calling me crazy.
I have been “homesteading” on a smaller suburban scale since I worked at a horse barn twenty years ago and they sent me home with three barn chickens tied up in an old feed bag. My mama and grandpa had always liked gardening and growing tomatoes and veggies so it just felt right that I should garden too. Some of of my earliest memories are sitting with my mama in her garden watching a monarch butterfly drink the condensation off my little cup of mama-made sun tea, or eating big juicy tomatoes over the sink with my grandpa, or helping him harvest pecans from his two big trees. My grandparents were from western NC, though they settled in Texas, and you can take someone out of the mountains but you can’t take the mountains out of them. I remember helping my grandma in the kitchen to shuck corn and snap beans. I still have chickens and a garden. I love watching your family and homestead evolve, as you homestead on the scale I wish I could but realistically will likely never.
I was born into a homesteading lifestyle. We were raised off grid, hauled water, used a wood burning stove for heat, the whole deal. My grandparents had us working in the garden from the time we could walk. When I married in 1990 I started my own garden in my backyard. Kept going and now we have a nice little homestead of our own. I love it!
I m 83 been gardening since I was 12. still do plus raise geese and hens, Had other farm animal over the years but down sized to a acre now, Been watching and learning from you since you started Y T
Started homesteading very small scale when I found your channel in 2017,gardening,making salve, bread.Still going strong.My reason;always wanted a farm,spent time on my grandparents farm when I was little fell in love with the life.The chemicals in store bought food is half the reason,love of gardening the other half.
We’ve been enjoying your Chanel for some time now ! Fellow North Carolinians here ( union grove ), hoping to have our chicken coupe build finished by June, I’ve been building it from all timber I mill from our land ourselfs, of course I chose to do it the hard way 🤦♂️🤪
I live in an apartment, so I can’t homestead. But I do grow peppers and cucumbers and tomatoes and union on my big balcony. I watch your videos for a long time.
Over 19 years but I changed my whole approach in 2020. I don't have land so I switched to Hydroponics, permaculture food forest and indoor growing year-round. i''m grow SO much more food now than I ever did before the change. I'm plant based though so it's a different beast.
I have hope. I love this life. It is hard work but I never had this much peace. My husband is retiring in a few months and we're going to expand. We started very small before covid. Your bus tour taught me a lot and gave me hope and a vision. God has been faithful to us and has blessed us with more, so, we keep going.
I started during the pandemic. And have continued! I don’t have any animals but I do have a garden. Each year I find ways to improve it and buy something I need for the long haul. I don’t have much space. I rent and I started with a greenstalk and some small containers. The next year I purchased two metal raised beds, ask my neighbor if it was okay to put them on her area, she said yes and I share my harvest with her. I started buying seeds and starter plants. Finding gardening stuff at dollar tree and Walmart. Last year bought better trellises. This year just bought a better hose and holder. And adding a third bed. My oldest sons loves to help me with the garden now and gets excited when we start to harvest. He just bought me a little plastic greenhouse for my starters, we have it next to our sunniest window. With a grow lamp. We live in Connecticut. I tell you all of this to second your advice that you don’t need lots of space to homestead with at least a garden. I also now do most of my cooking & baking from scratch. Thank you and the other homestead channels for teaching me so much! 👍🏼♥️👍🏼
🖐️ we moved to our property in SE WY in May of 2019 with horses, a steer, and laying chickens! We are still growing and work in progress, but yes your right, its important to find new ways to be excited! We love your channel and have learned so much! I have more seeedlings and garden infrastructure for gardening than i ever have this year. So I am looking forward to this learning curve and fresh food coming! 😊 Way to keep on keepin on yall! Z&F
I'm a gardener of over 30 years as an adult, add 20 years for my lifetime. I grew up barefoot in the garden and have always grown. I am still dreaming of my one-day homestead. I wish all the luck to all whatever stage you're in.
We've been homesteading, growing a bit each year since 1981. We had 13 children, grew into a farm, now downsized with only 2 home to a 5 acre homestead. After downsizing life seems easy! Hogs, chickens, rabbits, a milk cow and steer just went into the freezer.
I lived on a 5 acre small holding in South Africa, now I live in Henrico county in the burbs since 1999, got 12 raised beds that keeps me growing veggies, love that you share all you know with us. Happy building time, you will be moving in soon! Happy days!
I’ve always grown tomatoes while growing up with a grapevine til my teens, blessed with my first full yard/house in adulthood gave me the space to grow since 2014.. 10 years and now I’m growing so many varieties of veggies I’m running out of space in my city yard, giving away seedlings, hoping to move next year after 10 years we have outgrown this house and looking for acres for this Akers ;)
I'm 34 years old and we live inside city limits on half an acre. I have been interested in homesteading since about 2018. I started my first garden in 2020 we are getting layer chicks this week and have doubled our garden size.
GARDENED A LOT IN MY LIFE BUT WHEN I MOVED TO FLORIDA, I FOUND IT REAL HARD TO GROW A GARDEN. IN 2019, I FELT THE HOLY SPIT LEADING ME TO GARDEN AND I STARTED MY BACKYARD GARDEN AND PRESERVING WHAT I GROW.
Grew up in a homesteading family and when my husband and I got married in 1999, we started a garden and soon after, started raising chickens. My husband jokingly (but he's not wrong) refers to chickens as my "love language". Smart man! He just bought me 6 baby chicks the other day!
I absolutely love cabinets and color. I wanted you to have big farm table seating at least 12. Walnut makes a beautiful one then bench end chairs for king queen
I grew up on a farm. We did all the ‘homesteading’ stuff before it was a thing. I had a garden since I was 8 so 60 years. There were a few middle years where I didn’t have one so maybe 50 of gardening.
Had chickens and goats (sorry Justin. Lol). When we were growing up. A dairy cow for a while also. Middle times just a garden. But now I have chickens and ducks again. Best garden/chicken/compost system there is. 😉
I moved to Appalachia in aug of 2019 after selling my home in the city in May. I did not have much to spend, but I have made raised beds and have chickens. My mind was set on living in a rural location away from the homeless camps in the city.
Mine was getting rabbits. I cannot have chickens but I was determined to have my own fertilizer. I finally learned how to get comfrey to grow for tea and rabbit poo for my garden.
Started homesteading (mini version in town on 2 acreas with fruit trees, garden and chickens) since about 2008. Moved and now on only a 3/4 acre lot in town with same stuff but way more garden and way less chickens.
Love you all love the content been here for a long time i love seeing the videos to the point i wake up first thing i do is see if theres a new video yet
Your placement of the pigs and chickens next to the gardens is a brilliant idea.. Mix it up to prevent burnout...Change up your everyday routine.. & find something to give you joy each & every day.. ❤️🙏🙋🏼♀️🐈🐕
Post Covid. However, not because of Covid. Everything hit us at once. We sold our house, had a huge health diagnosis that changed our entire lifestyle, and husband retired. Still learning about this lifestyle but so much more knowledge about what's in grocery store food! This is when I found you and your family! Thank you for sharing!
Homesteading since 1993, but in honesty, my husband grew up on a farm in the 40's and I grew up in the 50's, so we had the background skills but didn't start doing it for ourselves until we moved to our farm in 1993. Now our sons take care of the farm and I help them do the canning/food preservation. No longer able to do the heavy lifting.
I have a Covid garden 😂😂😂😂 I have been trying to grow as much as I can. Unfortunately we live in a flood zone (creek out back & river less then 1/8th mile away. My wife doesn’t like the “flood water”. I understand, I just say it helps water the food!! 😂😂😂
Had a farm since 2012 Homesteading and harvesting since 2018. WE raise, harvest, package all on property. And started our greenhouse three years ago.. Five years ago with a small greenhouse.
Been homsteading since 2016. Got a lot more serious during covid. This is my garden sabboth year so focusing on animals and canning/preserving. Always somwthing new to learn and hone skills. This life never gets boring. Hoping to get our first dairy cow this year. Better learn to make cheese!! Keep up the good work!
Darrell and I met April 5, 1992 at Romayor Assembly of God Church, Romayor , Texas and married May 24, 1992 at Rainbow Baptist Church at Rye, Texas and lived at Segno, Texas.
Grew up in the city. Started growing in a garden provided by the housing complex I live in since 2013. It keeps me moving after extensive foot/ankle surgery.
Not all farmers are rich. Farmers work different crops and Justin is a homesteader. He lives off the land and does what has to be done to feed and teach his family. I know this because my Daddy was a farmer. We worked on tobacco , soy beans, cotton, hay, and two acres of garden. We had pigs, cows. and chickens that we harvested. If not for growing and preserving our food we wouldn’t eat.
Justin, I challenge you to like my comment. I’ve been here before the pandemic and continue to stay after. Support us the commenters to stay and hang in there with all of us. The ordinary people watching and supporting!
My 94 year old father died in January of 2020, thankfully before Covid restrictions, because he would have been miserable to be isolated. He left me $46,000 and I knew exactly what I should spend it on…. A backyard garden. We started the construction in February of 2020 and then came Covid!! I have continued my 8 raised beds and consider it divine that I had my garden to tend during the spring and summer of 2020. I don’t think I will ever be without a garden. You and Jess at Roots and Refuge taught me everything I know about growing vegetables. Thank you.
As a daughter of a custom home builder and master carpenter, it made my heart so happy when your cabinet maker pointed out the continuous grain on your walnut cabinets. The attention to reminds me of my dad and what he would have done. Congrats!
We have been homesteading since 1997, back when most people thought we were nuts. Thank you for normalizing what we do.
We've been homesteading for over 47 years. Times have really changed during those years, but we wouldn't trade it for anything.
I homestead vicariously through your family, the Hollars, and Sow the Land here on YT. The only energy I need is staying up later when I get behind watching your videos!
Your cabinet guy did an excellent job! I used to build cabinets with my dad and I can really appreciate his attention to the details. They will be a family treasure for generations. The kitchen is going to be amazing! Beautiful job by “The beautiful one”. ❤
My parents were homesteaders in the 70's - way ahead of their time. My dad chopped wood until he was 82! I'm not a homesteader (retired in my 60's) and simply dont have the energy for it as y9ou mentioned... But I admire you all, love learning about permaculture which proves how we are all connected. Your life is an absolute gift for your kids.
Thanks for sharing! I’m an urban homesteader that buys from local producers. Growing permaculture gardens since 1995 at my home in a small town. I love watching your family, farm & business grow! Blessings to all 🤗🇨🇦
When I first got married we lived in an Apartment. A year and a half later we were able to buy a fenced in three bedroom home with a huge backyard. I was 24 and honesteaded the property. All around the perimeter of the fence I dug gardens where I grew chili peppers, tomatoes, and bell peppers. I also planted a lot of rose bushes. In 1984 we moved into a huge historic Victorian and started the never ending renovations. I finally started gardening again in 2020, pandemic era. Been doing it ever since and I’m still watching you and the Roots and Refuge channel.
You’d like Hollar homestead.
We started gardening and learning the homestead in 2020. We volunteered at a local farm until last spring when we bought our 64 Acre farm in Northern Canada. We cannot imagine going back to suburban life. We’re doing our second year of meat birds, pigs we’re starting in a couple of weeks, my milk cow should be coming home in the next few weeks and we just had our first goat kids born. Not to mention out horses and laying hens too. I remember the first egg now we get 18 per day lol 😆 but I’ve refocused our homestead to make our chores and processes more efficient and natural for us and the animals! Cheers to another beautiful day on the homestead
Austin, the music is good! It's at a good volume and it's at the right spots for just a super short moments so I vote to keep doing what ur doing! I love it! Justin, I have been gardening since my early 20's but had to stop for a few yrs and started agn 10yrs ago plus been doing it all alone for most of those. Thanx for all your help, wisdom, humor and community! And I cannot leave out.... thank you for sharing your family with us. I love you guys bunches!
You are repeating yourself to much
@@davidgraber3286 Interesting, I didn't repeat myself even once.
@@hollytaylor6799 Interesting, I didn't repeat myself even once. (Sorry, I couldn't resist, lol!)
My 14year old Son just told me that the music is Phonk. It’s what he has been into for a few months now.
This! I can actually watch the vods wearing headphones again withouth crazy adjusting vol every few secs.
I got my first Mother Earth News in 2012. I was already homeschooling, homemaking, cooking by then. Getting that magazine set me on the crazy chicken lady (homesteader) path, happily on it since 2013.
Grew up on a dairy farm with a five acre vegetable garden and fruit orchard. While i dont have any animals any more (we have family that raise beef cows and a neighbor with a dairy farm) I have always had a large garden and an ever expanding fruit orchard. Food independence has always been important for generations of my family and neighbors.
I was born into the homesteading lifestyle in 1952, and I found your channel pre-2020. 🤗
I have homesteading for 50+ years and watching your channel since 2015.
I’ve been here from the beginning and you & uncle Pete talked me into planting a front yard garden. Thank you.
This is my sixth year of gardening in the city on a half acre lot. My grandparents showed me when I was young how valuable a good garden is, and how much you can feed a family with just a little land. I'm dedicated, I have plans that will grow with me. I finally have a home that is mine and have set down the roots to make this happen. Only wish I could have done it 20-30 years ago.
I love this video. The talking to your viewers, teaching moments and explaining “the why” of what you do with various tasks. Good job Rhodes Family!
We need a tour of the garden and what you’re growing. That will inspire people to grow groceries!
I started my homestead journey in 2017 with 32 acres of mostly pasture and some woodland. I'm still here even though we had 8 months of almost non stop rain. It's been the toughest winter yet, but we survived it. Thanks for your great content Justin and family. Your positivity has been an inspiration to me..
I was born into homesteading, got married and moved to the city… then started gardening in raised beds about 10 years later, then got divorced and went right back to the country (on less than 1 acre) and got my first flock of chickens in 2017 and front yard gardening. My dad passed away and we moved my mom in 2019, and then I found your channel. Kicking myself since I found your channel cause I could have had a 😅milk cow, chickens, lambs and pigs where my parents used to live on 10 acres.😢
Instead of burning the wood pile, you could turn the brush into wood chips and use them on the property. You could also make charcoal.
Correct. I always wonder why homesteaders do not realize that biochar is one of the greatest soil amendments ever, especially since it's been around for thousands of years.
@@georgiarasmussen8343 Ben Hollar makes biochar. :)
My fondest memories are at my family’s ranch harvesting okra we exported to the USA (live across the border from Brownsville,Texas) we had corn, yellow squash, watermelon, Chile, tomatoes, melons, wild berries, pomegranates, nopales on our back yard we were kind of homesteaders, that was more than 60 years ago. Like Justin our life improved, got better machinery, life change, kudos to him and his family
More than 10 years ago.
And i wash the crazy guy in the neighborhood.
In 2020 there was a line of people at my stall.
Now I am part of the community.
And source of inspiration.
both for the garden.
As the mental well-being.
Nine Place my happy place.
Ps in 2020 i found your chanel ;)
Beautiful cabinets, I can appreciate all the care that went into making them!!!
I'm barley hanging on - diagnosed with Lupus and it has limited my time, energy and strength. I still have chickens and turkeys and a small garden, berries and orchard, and run the community garden at our church. I have big hopes of finishing my greenhouse this year. I would like to get back into pigs and milking goats. I only have 2 acres so cows are hard to feed.
My parents built our homestead in 1976 after Monsanto accidentally poisoned Michigan's Dairy and the state may have tried to help them cover it up. My mom, a registered nurse, was already following Feingold and Weston Price so this just confirmed it all for her. I was raised on organic food and raw dairy long before that was even a common term. We also heated our home with our own forestry. Their goal was to be on the grid but able to keep going with or without it at a moment's notice.
While our family doesn't REALLY homestead yet (we have a garden, but it would be hard to keep any animals in an apartment complex lol) I've been talking and dreaming about it since probably 2018. Unfortunately we lost out on the sweet spot to buy land just before 2020 and then we lost a lot of money trying to keep afloat. Lots of tears in the meantime because we're not where we want to be, but we're getting there again. My husband grew up on his grandparents subsistence farm so he really knows what he's doing. I worked at a horse ranch for almost 5 years, so I'm aware of the hard work that's involved with keeping animals.
We definitely want the lifestyle for our kids to grow up in!
We have been homesteading 2022 when we bought 12 acres. Loving it! Thanks for all you do! 👍🏻
I grew up on a farm doing everything “homesteaders” do now. Back then it was just “farming.” I completely understand the diminished allure of eggs! At one time we had over 200 chickens, and our eggs had their own separate refrigerator, which was always full during the spring and early summer. We sold some, froze some, and tried to eat the rest, but there were usually more eggs than we or our animals could eat! That’s what happens if you let “chicken math” get out of control! Now, I am retired, and still try to garden, but it’s getting more difficult for me as I age. I dread the thought of having to buy produce from the grocery store. Like Jessica Sowards says, “store bought tomatoes taste like disappointment!”
I'm on my 18 growing season, with Chickens and back when Covid came, I upped my game, ( Raised Garden beds wise) and gardening & preserving kept me busy and normal during a crazy time in our lives! I love watching your channel, I don't know how you don't run out of things to talk about , but I look forward to seeing vlogs!
Homesteading pre 2020, Widowed sold the farm..now balcony ministeading! 10 years strong🙏🏽
I am born in Paraguay and grew up off grid on a farm. After I got married we lived on a farm for few years always had a garden and animals and milking. Moved to Canada in 2007 and since 2012 we live on a farm. Garden, cow's, chicken goat's and pigs.
I am curious as to your religious background. It may be similar to mine.
Cabinets are awesome....how exciting for Rebecca!
We have gardened, had chickens, ducks and 4H pigs, Which is so different from how we raise our pasture pigs now, for most of our married life.
We have turned it up (preserving mostly) since we witnessed what took place in 2020, and it has helped that I retired. Hubby is working fewer days so we are able to do even more.
We were watching your channel before 2020 but not as consistent.
Thanks for sharing
Love watching the kids grow up, mine are grown so now I get to see my grandchildren grow. Can't wait for the full house tour when it's done ❤
I'm a disabled veteran who aspires to do what you do, but will likely never afford to buy land. I wish the homestead act would revive.
I don't Homestead, but I watch every steam of yours. I came from a farming family and my fondest memories were the summers spent at my Uncles farm in Nebraska. My favorite pate of your steam is sitting down for dinner.
You have my support brother! Ive been watching your videos for years! Even my wifes family that doesn't speak great English knows who your are! 🙏
Did we start homesteading before 2020? Yes.
Did we start homesteading after 2020? Yes.
We kept chickens and had a first attempt at gardening before 2019, when we bought an RV trailer and got into camping. We had a family with teens help us with the chickens, but eventually we decided we wanted to travel more, so we gave our chickens away to a homeschooling family. It was a small chicken outfit anyway (see what I did there?), so it wasn't a big transition.
After a couple of years of camping trips nearly every month, we scaled back the travel to a couple of trips a year. So we got back into homesteading in a much bigger way than before. In 2022, we converted our front yard into a permaculture food forest. In our back yard we got chickens again, and also started keeping quail and rabbits.
Oh, and we live within the city limits of Corpus Christi, Texas, so everything we do is on a city lot that's maybe a quarter of an acre.
I’d be so chocked if you guys weren’t a little burnt out. It’s honestly refreshing to hear that you guys are human lol because idk how you do what you do everyday with the house rebuild and grandmas illness etc all together with the normal day to day stuff.
Been watching and homesteading for a long time. This will be our 14 th garden. The whole family enjoys watching and none of it gets repetitive.
In 2010 we lost my mother inlaw and inherited the family home. Which the land has been in my husband's family since before the Revolution.
She pasted before one of our states largest fairs and wished he grandson could catch a piglet in the pig scramble.
Well he did and were still here .
I don't know if I would call it homesteading but my family has been raising our own food in a mini farm setting, in the same town since before my great-grandparents. My grandfather moved over one street from his mother and I now raise my chickens, ducks, geese and turkey on the same land as well as garden. The birds are the the newest out of all those things as it is under a decade we have been raising them but I have gardened for my kitchen my whole life, 40+ years. My ex thought I was crazy when we were married by now he does it too. We are think, dreaming, of selling our place as the area we lived in has gotten so much more city than even when I was a kid and moving to a bigger place with cows, pigs and all the other big animal stuff but that is still just the dream right now. Every year that dream becomes more real as one of my boys got his degree in agg and wants to join me if I move. My circle of friends wants to join if we can find a plot big enough for everyone one to move wherever together as they want to homestead but have no experience with anything other than horses. I don't know, maybe, some day, till then, I'm just gonna keep doing what I've been doing since I was old enough to help my grandpa plant his garden. Still gives me so much delight watching my garden and animals grow, even after all these decades and loved ones calling me crazy.
I have been “homesteading” on a smaller suburban scale since I worked at a horse barn twenty years ago and they sent me home with three barn chickens tied up in an old feed bag. My mama and grandpa had always liked gardening and growing tomatoes and veggies so it just felt right that I should garden too. Some of of my earliest memories are sitting with my mama in her garden watching a monarch butterfly drink the condensation off my little cup of mama-made sun tea, or eating big juicy tomatoes over the sink with my grandpa, or helping him harvest pecans from his two big trees. My grandparents were from western NC, though they settled in Texas, and you can take someone out of the mountains but you can’t take the mountains out of them. I remember helping my grandma in the kitchen to shuck corn and snap beans. I still have chickens and a garden. I love watching your family and homestead evolve, as you homestead on the scale I wish I could but realistically will likely never.
I was born into a homesteading lifestyle. We were raised off grid, hauled water, used a wood burning stove for heat, the whole deal. My grandparents had us working in the garden from the time we could walk. When I married in 1990 I started my own garden in my backyard. Kept going and now we have a nice little homestead of our own. I love it!
I m 83 been gardening since I was 12. still do plus raise geese and hens, Had other farm animal over the years but down sized to a acre now, Been watching and learning from you since you started Y T
Started homesteading very small scale when I found your channel in 2017,gardening,making salve, bread.Still going strong.My reason;always wanted a farm,spent time on my grandparents farm when I was little fell in love with the life.The chemicals in store bought food is half the reason,love of gardening the other half.
We’ve been enjoying your Chanel for some time now ! Fellow North Carolinians here ( union grove ), hoping to have our chicken coupe build finished by June, I’ve been building it from all timber I mill from our land ourselfs, of course I chose to do it the hard way 🤦♂️🤪
I live in an apartment, so I can’t homestead. But I do grow peppers and cucumbers and tomatoes and union on my big balcony. I watch your videos for a long time.
We have been homesteading since 1974. A couple of places rented out in the country then bought our own small acreage in 1981.
Been "homesteading" the permaculture way since 2013!
Following you since the farm tour...
Almost 40 yrs now...
Yes, I've taken years off ..
I'm 57, raised by my Granny (1924). Thank you Granny!
Over 19 years but I changed my whole approach in 2020. I don't have land so I switched to Hydroponics, permaculture food forest and indoor growing year-round. i''m grow SO much more food now than I ever did before the change. I'm plant based though so it's a different beast.
I have hope. I love this life. It is hard work but I never had this much peace. My husband is retiring in a few months and we're going to expand. We started very small before covid. Your bus tour taught me a lot and gave me hope and a vision. God has been faithful to us and has blessed us with more, so, we keep going.
I started during the pandemic. And have continued! I don’t have any animals but I do have a garden. Each year I find ways to improve it and buy something I need for the long haul. I don’t have much space. I rent and I started with a greenstalk and some small containers. The next year I purchased two metal raised beds, ask my neighbor if it was okay to put them on her area, she said yes and I share my harvest with her. I started buying seeds and starter plants. Finding gardening stuff at dollar tree and Walmart. Last year bought better trellises. This year just bought a better hose and holder. And adding a third bed. My oldest sons loves to help me with the garden now and gets excited when we start to harvest. He just bought me a little plastic greenhouse for my starters, we have it next to our sunniest window. With a grow lamp. We live in Connecticut. I tell you all of this to second your advice that you don’t need lots of space to homestead with at least a garden. I also now do most of my cooking & baking from scratch. Thank you and the other homestead channels for teaching me so much! 👍🏼♥️👍🏼
🖐️ we moved to our property in SE WY in May of 2019 with horses, a steer, and laying chickens!
We are still growing and work in progress, but yes your right, its important to find new ways to be excited!
We love your channel and have learned so much!
I have more seeedlings and garden infrastructure for gardening than i ever have this year. So I am looking forward to this learning curve and fresh food coming! 😊
Way to keep on keepin on yall!
Z&F
surprised you are still there, what a hole, se wyoming
28 years of growing what we eat...Here in western Berkshire mountain's of massachusetts ..
I'm a gardener of over 30 years as an adult, add 20 years for my lifetime. I grew up barefoot in the garden and have always grown. I am still dreaming of my one-day homestead. I wish all the luck to all whatever stage you're in.
Love watching your beautiful family all the way from New Zealand 😊❤
We've been homesteading, growing a bit each year since 1981. We had 13 children, grew into a farm, now downsized with only 2 home to a 5 acre homestead. After downsizing life seems easy! Hogs, chickens, rabbits, a milk cow and steer just went into the freezer.
Please don't give up I enjoy your feed
so glad everyone was okay & damage was minimal.
I lived on a 5 acre small holding in South Africa, now I live in Henrico county in the burbs since 1999, got 12 raised beds that keeps me growing veggies, love that you share all you know with us. Happy building time, you will be moving in soon! Happy days!
Austin your editing is so good, I’m 16 and I find the clips so funny got me laughing so hard!
The cabinets look amazing. It is not going to be long now and you guys will be moving in. How exciting.
Hello framily. Happy day much love 👍👊💪🤞💜🇺🇲🙏
I’ve always grown tomatoes while growing up with a grapevine til my teens, blessed with my first full yard/house in adulthood gave me the space to grow since 2014.. 10 years and now I’m growing so many varieties of veggies I’m running out of space in my city yard, giving away seedlings, hoping to move next year after 10 years we have outgrown this house and looking for acres for this Akers ;)
I'm 34 years old and we live inside city limits on half an acre. I have been interested in homesteading since about 2018. I started my first garden in 2020 we are getting layer chicks this week and have doubled our garden size.
GARDENED A LOT IN MY LIFE BUT WHEN I MOVED TO FLORIDA, I FOUND IT REAL HARD TO GROW A GARDEN. IN 2019, I FELT THE HOLY SPIT LEADING ME TO GARDEN AND I STARTED MY BACKYARD GARDEN AND PRESERVING WHAT I GROW.
Grew up in a homesteading family and when my husband and I got married in 1999, we started a garden and soon after, started raising chickens. My husband jokingly (but he's not wrong) refers to chickens as my "love language". Smart man! He just bought me 6 baby chicks the other day!
My first memories of homesteading was my grandma sticking me in 1 acre garden as she tended to the garden. That was 40 years ago
I absolutely love cabinets and color. I wanted you to have big farm table seating at least 12. Walnut makes a beautiful one then bench end chairs for king queen
I grew up on a farm. We did all the ‘homesteading’ stuff before it was a thing. I had a garden since I was 8 so 60 years. There were a few middle years where I didn’t have one so maybe 50 of gardening.
Had chickens and goats (sorry Justin. Lol). When we were growing up. A dairy cow for a while also. Middle times just a garden. But now I have chickens and ducks again. Best garden/chicken/compost system there is. 😉
yeah me too, this "homestead" crap is stupid, they act like they invented something, just life on the farm
I moved to Appalachia in aug of 2019 after selling my home in the city in May. I did not have much to spend, but I have made raised beds and have chickens. My mind was set on living in a rural location away from the homeless camps in the city.
I liked Rebeccas cool narration in the greenhouse the other day
Pre 2020. Over 20 years. 60 yo and been farm/homesteading sense I could walk.
Mine was getting rabbits. I cannot have chickens but I was determined to have my own fertilizer. I finally learned how to get comfrey to grow for tea and rabbit poo for my garden.
We have been homesteading since 2017. 😊
Nice excavator and skid steer hard work pays off
Started homesteading (mini version in town on 2 acreas with fruit trees, garden and chickens) since about 2008. Moved and now on only a 3/4 acre lot in town with same stuff but way more garden and way less chickens.
homesteading since the 80s. follower since just befoer the great american farm tour
Love you all love the content been here for a long time i love seeing the videos to the point i wake up first thing i do is see if theres a new video yet
2019 started my homestead journey, my only regret is I still have to work my 9-5 job. At least I get to do it from home.
Your placement of the pigs and chickens next to the gardens is a brilliant idea..
Mix it up to prevent burnout...Change up your everyday routine.. & find something to give you joy each & every day..
❤️🙏🙋🏼♀️🐈🐕
Post Covid. However, not because of Covid. Everything hit us at once. We sold our house, had a huge health diagnosis that changed our entire lifestyle, and husband retired. Still learning about this lifestyle but so much more knowledge about what's in grocery store food! This is when I found you and your family! Thank you for sharing!
Homesteading since 1993, but in honesty, my husband grew up on a farm in the 40's and I grew up in the 50's, so we had the background skills but didn't start doing it for ourselves until we moved to our farm in 1993. Now our sons take care of the farm and I help them do the canning/food preservation. No longer able to do the heavy lifting.
WOW I love the Wood look So much better them the painted wood. I will never have painted wood. If I can get just wood look,
Growing up, I guess we homesteaded a lot. But I haven’t homesteaded for 30 years. And I must say I love to watch you do it even though I’m not in it.
I have a Covid garden 😂😂😂😂
I have been trying to grow as much as I can. Unfortunately we live in a flood zone (creek out back & river less then 1/8th mile away. My wife doesn’t like the “flood water”. I understand, I just say it helps water the food!! 😂😂😂
Had a farm since 2012 Homesteading and harvesting since 2018. WE raise, harvest, package all on property. And started our greenhouse three years ago.. Five years ago with a small greenhouse.
Been homsteading since 2016. Got a lot more serious during covid. This is my garden sabboth year so focusing on animals and canning/preserving. Always somwthing new to learn and hone skills. This life never gets boring. Hoping to get our first dairy cow this year. Better learn to make cheese!! Keep up the good work!
Oh your cabinets are GORGEOUS!!!
We have been farming since1999 . Currently farming grass fed Angus beef on 200 acres in central Wisconsin
Those cabinets are beautiful!!❤❤
We have been homesteading for 30 years and our children all have homestead to a varing degree
Darrell and I met April 5, 1992 at Romayor Assembly of God Church, Romayor , Texas and married May 24, 1992 at Rainbow Baptist Church at Rye, Texas and lived at Segno, Texas.
Grew up in the city. Started growing in a garden provided by the housing complex I live in since 2013. It keeps me moving after extensive foot/ankle surgery.
Not all farmers are rich. Farmers work different crops and Justin is a homesteader. He lives off the land and does what has to be done to feed and teach his family. I know this because my Daddy was a farmer. We worked on tobacco , soy beans, cotton, hay, and two acres of garden. We had pigs, cows. and chickens that we harvested. If not for growing and preserving our food we wouldn’t eat.