I had this thought as I was perusing Pinterest a few days ago. So I asked some of my fellow homestead bloggers to share their thoughts on the topic: Women are the Future of Homesteading. I think you’ll find their responses very interesting and touching…even if you are a guy.
I’ll start…
If you’ve been reading my blog you may already know my story but I’ll share a bit. I started in a a strange way – I was no country kid, I grew up in the city and never saw myself anywhere else. I couldn’t keep a house plant alive, much less grow food. But then I started watching documentaries like Fresh and Food Inc. I started reading books about Backyard Farming and a dream started to blossom in my heat. My backyard homestead is in the huge city of Phoenix (though we will be a property eventually). I wanted healthy food, a more sustainable and self-sufficient life; and I found I could do this right where I was!
But I am not the only one. So let me introduce you to some of the feminine faces of homesteading: the future of homesteading. Look at the faces of these lovely ladies, read their thoughts and stories!
One of the things I love about homesteading is that women are leading the charge. Almost all of the homesteaders that I know are women! Women have always been strong and capable, holding home and family together when it seems impossible. We’re resilient and creative – think of ‘mother necessity’! Now, with homesteading, we bring all of that to the forefront. If you think about it, our Grandmothers did all of this – scratch cooking, gardening, raising small livestock, doing it all by hand – but it was shrugged off, deemed unimportant and taken for granted. Today’s homesteading women stand proudly and say that work done at home – traditionally ‘women’s work’ – matters! Just Plain Marie
Women are the future of homesteading and I believe this to be true for a couple of reasons one of which homesteading in my opinion does not have the same meaning it did years ago…sure it does resonate with a pioneering and innovative spirit which is a must but you no longer have to have a 100 acre homestead to be a homesteader. We have been homesteading for over 28 years in some fashion or another and I have learned to use tools on our suburban homestead to get certain tasks done, I keep bees alongside our husband, I am the head chicken Mama on our suburban homestead, and as more couples work outside the home women have taken on more skill sets. I do think it takes a village or in my case a family more often than not oftentimes women have to model for their children traditional skills such as canning for example, and in many cases pick up new ones such as blogging like I did and learning WordPress and plug-ins and other technologically advanced information. Those skills are not necessary for homesteading exactly but definitely necessary to keeping our stories alive. Many women tend to be natural born story tellers and love to share their experiences as well as collaborate and share on Pinterest and other sites via technology. I think women are the future of homesteading because we are taking our skills to the technology realm and using it to tell our story for generations to come. It’s all just pretty amazing and I am glad to be a part of the the future of homesteading! Lil’ Suburban Homestead
As a wife, a mom and a childcare provider, I care for a lot of people. It’s super important to me to know where our food comes from. Women who grow their own food are contributing more than just calories to their families. Knowing where your food comes from and what’s in it is such a satisfying feeling. The garden teaches so much and one of the greatest pleasures of my life is teaching my kids the skill of growing food for themselves someday. Women have been growing food for their families for centuries and I love knowing I’m carrying on that skill. Little Sprouts Learning Garden
I can’t speak for all women, but I can speak for myself. I was raised in a suburban area—I didn’t grow up in the country, wasn’t raised around any farms, and though I learned skills like cooking, baking, and sewing, I never grew up thinking, “I want to be a homesteader.” You would never have looked at my sixteen-year-old self and said, ‘Yeah, that girl is going to have a flock of chickens someday’. And let’s be real, I still shop at Target and totally can’t live without the internet. But that’s not what this is about. The more I learned about our food supply; the toxins, the hormones, the loss of nutrition, the lists of ingredients I couldn’t pronounce, chemicals I didn’t even know existed, the more determined I was to create a better life where I was with what I had for myself and my family. More and more women are waking up and realizing they want more than what commercial agriculture is throwing at them. So here’s to the AG industry: We’re tired, we see you, and we’re choosing to do something about it. We’re choosing to shop local, choosing to grow and raise our own food, choosing to barter, choosing to teach our children that we are here to love and care for the Earth. We’re choosing to get messy and learn new things, we’re choosing to go to bed tired and dirty because it makes us happy and healthy. Like I said, we’re tired, we see you. And we’re choosing homesteading. Folk & Co.
I see women all across the world wanting a better life for their families. Interestingly enough, it seems that the old ways are becoming new again through the efforts of women trying to take back their homemaking skills. We can make our own shampoo, soap, grow and preserve our own food! Women are empowered to give their family the best that life can give, that is why they are the future of homesteading. Homestead Wishing
Women have always been an integral part of farming communities. From backyard gardens to agricultural giants like Marie Sharp’s, the worlds agricultural workers are nearly half comprised of women. Women own most of the small farms in the US, and are the fastest growing sector in agriculture here. I can see this trend in the homestead friends I make, online social communities for small farmers, and in local farmers markets. I can even see this trend in my own family. I’ve always wanted to homestead, though back when I first started dreaming about it the term was “hobby farming”. Now I’m living my dream, and my mom is looking for her own homestead property as well! The women I know who are homesteading are doing so because they have an interest in knowing where their food comes from and what has gone into it. There is also a push led by women, such as Temple Grandin, for more compassionate treatment of egg, dairy and meat animals. Historically, women have been in charge of feeding their families, and the shift from grocery shopping to growing their own is only natural! Personally, I much prefer growing and harvesting my own foods to purchasing from the grocery store. Part of my homestead drive was knowing the animals providing for me were well cared for and lived happy, healthy lives. And, as a mother, I want to my daughter to have the best things in life. Growing up on a homestead will provide healthy foods, as well as freedom to explore and ask questions. It will also teach lessons in compassion, the circle of life, and our need to be connected with our food. Homesteading also allows my husband and I to be home with our daughter, which makes it a wonderful job opportunity for working mothers. I believe women will continue to be drawn to homesteading in the future for all these reasons! Sled Dog Slow
As a homesteading Mama, I’ve had to creatively establish multiple streams of income from our homestead, so I can stay home and raise our two toddlers. As I’ve blogged about some of these homesteading income streams, I’ve realized something. I am not alone in this! I’ve been contacted by hundreds of homesteading mamas who share one thing in common – a raw, powerful determination to stay home and raise our kids on the farm, while working toward financial freedom. We dream of a life without debt. We believe that with enough drive and creativity, we can bring our husbands home from jobs they hate. We’re working for a life we love, and we’re doing it with babies on our backs, and dirt under our fingernails. In a rat-race culture that calls for two off-farm incomes, an unstoppable sisterhood of homesteaders is proving that there’s another way to thrive – through homesteading! Salt in My Coffee
I believe women are the future of homesteading because of several innate feminine characteristics. Women are natural nurturers. It is part of our makeup to feed, care for, watch over, and love all of our creations. We carefully tend the plants and animals and relationships we grow on a daily basis. Women also understand the great responsibility that being a steward entails. Stewardship over our homes, our land, our little piece of the world means responsibly caring for the things under our control. We understand that we may not be able to affect Wall Street, or Capital Hill, or even the next town over, but our world – however big or small it may be – is ours to protect, care for and love. Another strong feminine characteristic that make women essential to homesteading, is our quiet strength. We have the strength to toil in the sun all season, only to lose an entire crop. We have the strength to watch an animal labor all day, only to lose the baby. Our strength isn’t in the ability to lose things – it’s in the ability to lose these things and get up the next day to do it all over again. A homestead is most successful with a woman’s innate nurturing, stewardship and strength. Hillsborough Homesteading
Women the future of Homesteading: I see women leaders emerging in every aspect of rural life, including Homesteading. It’s about creating something bigger than themselves. It’s about providing healthy food and product for their families. Most importantly, it’s about building and shaping the next world for the next generation to continue.
Women are the future of homesteading because they are also homesteading’s history. Traditionally the garden and kitchen were a female’s domain. It is the pioneer wives who put up pantries full of preserves and woke early to milk the cow and make breakfast. I believe that today’s woman is rediscovering the contentment of working the land and taking control of her lifestyle through homesteading. These roles are no longer an expectation on girls in society. However, having the freedom to pursue their values through simple living provides women with a creative outlet, independence, and the ability to provide for their families in a self-directed and fulfilling way. I believe in our modern cultural climate women are really finding the motivation and inspiration to live a homesteading life—often with the support of good men behind them. I see this in myself, in my mother, and in many of the families that live in our rural area. It is empowering and fulfilling to put our hands into the soil. Whether we are investing in our families or in grassroots businesses, women are truly growing the movement towards wholesome country living. Growing Wild Roots
I hadn’t ever really considered that this “movement” is being lead by females, but I think it is true, especially when you consider (as one of the ladies said) that we enjoy sharing our stories, and we want to be able to preserve that way of life, that history…and it’s so much more than that. Somehow we lost so much information, so many skills, in just a few short generations. As a 29 yr. old, I stand out to lots of people because I didn’t go with the modern narrative of college, career, then all of the rest…I wanted the older ways, the way things were done for thousands of years, and here I am, 5 kids in, nearly 10 years of marriage under my belt, working on our homestead. I do have to say that I am grateful for aspects of freedom that I have as a woman today, for some of the technological advancements of our modern era, but I always find myself questioning “When did it go too far? When did we cross the line?” Thank you to all of you ladies out there who are working to share your stories with others so we can all continue to re-learn these old things!
Women, at least in my life, have always played a major role in homesteading and farming, though without the credit they deserve. Summers on the family farm in Mt. were proof that the women in the family worked just as hard as my Uncles, cousins and I. It was the women, My Grandma, Mom and Aunts that kept the place running by providing gentle (and sometimes not so gentle) nudges that this or that was a priority, kept the ranch houses (all 4 of them) clean, our clothes mended, the vegetables canned and preserves made and kept all of us male folk fed. That last one was no small feat in itself as there were up to 16 of us tending animals and crops. While we were out taking care of the animals, crops, tending fences or whatever else needed to be done, my Grandma and Aunts would take the eggs, fresh milk/cream and butter and head out to barter with neighbors. I do wish that I had spent time with my Grandma and Aunts learning to can and preserve the harvest, but I am working on it!!
I think this is so awesome! I love to read how other women are doing it to get ideas. I never would have thought I would be out in the country let alone have a garden, make everything we eat and use from scratch and raise animals. It’s been wonderful!! And I’ve only just begun!! You ladies rock!
I remember a period of time that women who wanted to remain home… to take care of household chores, to breast feed the babies, to care for the family via “unpaid” work, and to work at home in whatever capacity were frowned upon and looked down on. I’m THRILLED beyond words that this is changing and women can both choose to homestead and are making this choice while supporting and educating others. YAY! I am a small farm girl (during some periods of my childhood) who wanted to experience urban living. I’ve been off the farm and out of the country for decades. Wow, do I miss country life and am working hard to get back to the country. I’m planning on retiring to my four acres and and soaking up every bit of homesteading advice I can find. Thank you to all of you ladies who are sharing your homesteading experiences and wisdom!
I’ve been a homemaker for nearly 22 years – never regretted my choice. I have always been around a lot of other stay at home women because of homeschooling. But I agree, there is a surge in the homemaker/homestead “arts”.
Well said! We are right there with you, growing and learning within a community of lady homesteaders! I would not be the woman I am today without the influence and friendship of women homesteaders, past and present. Gardening, canning, making medicine, chicken keeping, the list goes on and on.
For me it started with fermentation. Having those ferments made me feel rich! My life felt abundant in a way I can’t describe! I knew I had food for months if I needed, just from these jars. I already had a balcony garden that was dramatically cutting down my need to go shopping, and with these two things, I was rich! I was no longer heavily reliant on the rigormoral that this society paints as normal and a necessity, trapping us into a sense of not having another way and paying to the point of going into debt for things we can create ourselves. A grain mill came next, along with sourdoughs and self made nut and seed butters, then came Big Bertha, and the canning began! This newfound abundance has removed many of the limitations I felt in the past and has made me feel my life is back in my hands. If I had a family, I’m sure that sense would be magnified!
I haven’t bought my land yet, but I have been learning about everything I can while I save, and now have a lot of the intellectual knowhow for what I need. As a carpenter’s daughter, I feel confident about the build of my small house. This along with my life experience in living off the land out in the bush, spending time on farms and being put to work here and there as a kid, has set me up for what I hope will be a positive experience. For the time being I am essentially homesteading in the middle of a big city!
There are plenty of those who want nothing to do with homesteading, but it’s great that there’s more respect for wanting this way of life, and for the skills it takes to accomplish it!
So, congrats to all of you who have made your dream happen! Women, indeed, are leading the way in this new generation of homesteaders. And for all of you who have made the leap, there are others who are on their way, and yet, others who, whether it be due to finances or a marriage or fear, are dreaming, and /or doing what they can within their own circumstances. A very exciting time, indeed!
I am just starting my journey to find a homestead and I am 60, Thank God my husband is younger than me. lol I love this blog and will learn a lot and I am starting my own blog to chronicle my journey. It definitely takes a strong woman to be a homesteader. I am looking forward to learning from all of you!
I’m 70, single, and living on an acre of land I bought 2 years ago. I grew up in the country, but have always lived in the city. Although I still work as an RN 2 days a week, I have plenty of time to putter in my little piece of land. It’s a good thing, because it takes me FOREVER to get things done! I’ve never been happier.
I love this! Aspiring homesteader here and would love to hear stories from more single women who are homesteading without husbands or partners. Is this crazy or possible? I am 50 and would like to homestead with a permaculture forest farm into and beyond retirement.
I came out of an incredibly abusive relationship while pregnant with my son. I weighed 78 pounds and 5ft 3. I was 20. I had a small patch of land and a small shed turned tiny home. I decided I would no longer be afraid and would figure out how to survive. I grew a garden then learned to make clothes. Just because we were poor didn’t mean we had to look like it. Then learned to make my soaps, shampoos, and detergents. I started to pick myself up and then thrive. I met a wonderful man that I married. He loved my homesteading life style and allowed me to quit my job at the local hospital and focus on my family. I have been married for a year and my baby boy is 5 now. I couldn’t dream of a better life for us. I love my farm. We now own a large plot of land a nice home and lots of chickens. Up next goats. I would love to expand and continue making this homesteading dream a reality.