Your HOMESTEAD Must PRODUCE Something - Don't Always Be A Consumer.

In a recent video podcast Jaimie and I did on the homestead, we talked about how many will never have a homestead simply because people today are so burdened with too much stuff! I remember one guy who was determined to move to land and start a homestead and he spent an entire year selling and throwing away stuff he has collected over the years. Then he was able to finally look at buying land. It literally took him a year to get rid of everything.

But what was the reason you had all that stuff to begin with?

America today is a consumer based society. You want your homestead to be manufacturing based. This is what makes you a homestead. The average American home today is all about consumerism. The home itself doesn't produce anything at all or even have the ability to produce anything.

Here some ways we produce on our homestead. Some of these listed produce only for ourselves, while others can be production for others through a free market.

1. Water. We have two wells on our homestead that we can use. These provide all the water we need to survive on the homestead. Rain catchment also produces water. Instead of consuming and paying for county water, we are producing water.

Our 19th century well.

1. Lumber. Our purchase of a saw mill allows us to produce lumber and the by-products of that lumber also. The lumber produces slab wood which is great firewood. Saw dust also can be used for composting purposes on the garden.

The Sawmill

1. Garden. Instead of buying all of our produce at the local grocer, we grow a lot of it and it saves money. We are no longer consuming food purchased elsewhere, but we are producing food right at home.

Picking food out of our garden.

1. Solar. This is a big one. We have never had an electric bill on the homestead. We produce our own energy with our investment in solar panels and other equipment instead of consuming electricity provided by the power company.

Some of our solar panels.

1. Evaporator. Our evaporator is a great way to produce our own goods here on the homestead. It helps us make our own sugar, syrup and even water bathed canned goods. It's interesting to note that equipment such as the evaporator when purchased makes you a consumer but when put to use, in turn makes you a producer.

Our evaporator from Cottage Craft Works

1. Tractor. This is also true for our tractor and other equipment. By purchasing them, you are a consumer. But the purchase of such equipment is because you want to be a producer. I hope that makes sense.

The Old Massey Ferguson 165 (50 HP)

The goal for any homestead should be to morph your home and family into a manufacturing or producing mindset. This is what will make the homestead profitable and worth handing down to younger generations coming up. This is also why it's important to teach our children what it means to live debt free and step away from the consumer based society that entraps people into debt.

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EVERYTHING IN THIS POST POWERED BY SOLAR !