The worlds of survival, preparedness, self-reliance, and homesteading often overlap. There’s a big movement in our country right now of people who realize the precariousness of our global grid systems, and yearn to be free from the dependence on, and shackle to, modern life. Of course, these interests do not always collide. There are some people who homestead as a simple hobby and interest, some people who prepare for disaster in their urban or suburban homes, and some people who have their primary interest in wilderness survival.
If you’ve ever considered homesteading and are already interested in survival and disaster preparedness than your reasons for homesteading are most likely quite long-term-survival oriented. You want to grow your own food, raise your own livestock, live off-the-grid, hold down the fort when things get bad, and be entirely self-reliant and independent.
There is one primary reality of this dream that every aspiring homesteader must face, however. And that is understanding that this level of independence is very difficult to achieve. While our ancestors may have managed to live a life much more detached from the globalized norm of our world today, with less of the technology and resources that we have at our fingertips, it would also be very difficult to simply buy some land and go back to that way of life. It takes literally years to develop true independence and self-reliance, and a lot of very specific skills and knowledge.
Just as you can never truly prepare to outlive any disaster, you can never be truly independent of the world around you.
That being said, true self-reliance and a high degree of independence are in no way impossible. The reason it’s important to come face to face with the reality of homesteading is so that you don’t become discouraged the first year when you realize just to how much of an extent you would need to detach yourself from modern life to achieve your dream.
You won’t have everything you need or want right away, by any means. You’ll need to buy food, probably stay on grid for a time, and rely on many outside sources for supplies and sustenance. It takes work to build a true homestead, as any of your pioneer, mountain men homesteaders would tell you if they were here now.
So, if you have the patience, vision, and desire to learn, homesteading will be a good fit for you. If you’re up for the challenge, it is a very rewarding experience to build a homestead! And, you don’t have to achieve complete self-reliance to drastically reduce your reliance on the grid. Every little bit counts, so no matter where you are, you can start homesteading, by gardening, storing up food and supplies, finding ways to use renewable energy, and learning some of the ancient skills of homesteading.
If you liked this, you might also enjoy…
All Survival Preparedness Boils Down to This…
Is Doomsday Finally Upon Us?
Have You Considered Going Paleo? Read This First…