When you think of a homestead, what comes to mind? Several acres out in the county with chickens, pigs, cows, horses, tractor, fences, big house, etc.? Well, what if I told you, that is not necessarily a true picture of today's modern homestead. With the word modern, I see a lot of different situations.

1. sub-division home on 1/3 acres with rabbits in the back yard and a green house and some raised beds. Eatables mixed into the landscape like apple trees, blue berry bushes and all kinds of annuals mixed in the flower beds. Perhaps a bee hive and a composting bed. Maybe even an aquaponics setup in the green house for fish and veggies. A family that recycles their yard waste and kitchen scraps to compost or share with the rabbits so they can make cold manure. A family that repairs home appliances and uses a clothes line instead of a dryer.

2. an inner city apartment or condo dweller that has no yard, but has a kitchen window herb garden and a plant stand with grow lights for plants that grow smaller options like onions and strawberries. A family that is using a small composter in the house that turns kitchen scraps into compost for the next potted plant. They do not own a car, but use mass transit to a neighbor a mile or two away and they yard share by planting on their lot and sharing the produce. Perhaps they keep chickens on the neighbors lots and collect the eggs every few days and share. They are also involved with a local school and have a garden there with an after school program where they teach inner city kids to grow food. They also changed over all their bulbs to led to save power. The family also travels to the nearest farmers market and buys food in bulk and goes home and cans/ freezes/ drys the produce for later consumption. Perhaps the family even keeps a 5 gallon worm farm to help with the compost and to use fishing in a pond on another neighbors home they access through public transit.

3. of course there is the rural homestead with 2-5 acres with room to spread out and build a variety of structures like a garage, tree house, hobbit house, geodesic dome, straw bale house, small cat fish pond, retaining pond, numerous hugelkultures, several raised beds and other projects more suited to a rural environment. OH, YEA, that's me. Or at least what I am working toward. I am presently living in a two story sub-burb home with an HOA and cant wait to leave.

Now, I realize, that if you have read this far, you might be the box of...if only, or when I have time or money is not available right now. Just stop a moment...think about this. If you have a dream of owning some land, perhaps near town or way out of town and you just don't see it happening soon...why not work toward that goal, so that when finances or other circumstances present themselves...you are actually ready, better prepared or at least have some skills/ knowledge and are better capable of making a quality decision.
What do I mean by all that? Let's look at an example. Say, you want to play basket ball on a big full size court. Your own court. But you live in xyz situation and that is. not possible. Perhaps, you can look around for someone that has a half court and practice you shooting and dribbling skills there. Or, say you have to get a membership to a gym and practice there. It is important to you so you figure out a way. That way, you get to practice so when you do have your own court, you can shoot and play the game with several skills you have learned already. In other words, don't let some limitations slow you down. Learn now, do what you can, so that when the time is right you...you are ready to hit the ground running.

That is part of the reason I am here. Why this website exists and why you need to keep you goals and dreams alive. Situations change and you need to be prepared to take advantage when the time comes.

The more I study homesteading and the more I learn about life, the more I realize that homesteading skills could also be called life skills. Many skills on the homestead can be transferred to a list of life skills. Many of which I hope to offer as a class, whether online as a video, or live feed class or an in person class. For example:
​1. budgeting
2. swimming
3. marksmanship
4. self defense
5. cooking
6. basic electrical
7. basic plumbing
8. container gardening
9. composting
10. basic mechanics
11. basic carpentry
12. preserving food - freezing, canning, drying, pickling 

***more to come