Now that we have our land and our lists of homesteading projects to research, what do we do for the next year? Sit around and twiddle our thumbs? If you know us at all, you know that will never happen. Planning, networking and education will be the cornerstones of making this dream a reality, and, luckily, there is no shortage of educational webinars, books, websites and other blogs available. So why do we call it a revolution? Simply stated, our main goal with purchasing this land is to be as self-sustaining and -sufficient as possible. Does that mean we’ll trade in our vehicles for a horse and buggy or shun electricity and start wearing bonnets? Will we become beard-wearing mountain men clad only in flannel or “long-haired freaky people” who don’t shave anything? Probably not, but much as I was explaining headings and subheadings to our son (because what five year old shouldn’t learn about bullet journaling), there are myriad implied tasks associated with that goal. Here are our top five categories.

#1-Live Off the Grid

This phrase is often associated with those long-haired freaky people and mountain men I mentioned above and used as a means of staying off the government’s radar. However, we’re law-abiding, tax-paying citizens who simply wish to reduce our carbon footprint and save some money in the process. We plan to dig a well and/or try to locate an underground spring. We’re exploring alternative energy sources such as geothermal, solar and wind, as well as considering building a double envelope house. I doubt we’ll go so far as to give up our cell phones, internet and access to modern medicine, and we promise to maintain our personal hygiene and contact with society, but every little bit counts. So, if you know anyone who has employed any of these off-grid ideas or others on their own land, we’d love to connect with them!

#2-Purchase Fewer Consumer Goods

Every year retail stores stock holiday, particularly Christmas, decorations earlier and earlier. There’s no doubt that we live in a consumer-driven society, but that doesn’t mean we have to succumb to the materialistic mentality that plagues our nation. One of my favorite things about this goal is that you don’t have to be a homesteader to accomplish it. You could live in the heart of New York City, near the vineyards of California or anywhere in between and make your own soap, sew your own clothes and build your own furniture. And even on the other side of the world, we have begun cutting out some of the daily “necessities” and experimenting with homemade recipes. Future posts will demonstrate our transition, so stay tuned!

#3-Grow/Hunt/Forage Our Own Food

Next on our list, and probably my favorite topic, is food.  Some people eat to live; I live to eat. Growing up in the country had many benefits, including, but not limited to learning gardening and canning and developing an excellent work ethic. As a child, I spent as much time in the kitchen as I did outside, and I vividly remember Mom’s successes and not-quite successes with fondness….delicious meals and canned goods year-round, spaghetti sauce on the kitchen ceiling, snapping green beans, pitting cherries and shelling peas, etc. So what’s our COA, or course of action, for you non-military types? Grow a HUGE garden, plant an orchard, berry bushes and vineyard, raise chickens for eggs and meat, milk and beef cows, dairy goats, pigs and bees, explore the world of aquaponics, locate existing and plant additional maple trees for syrup, forage for wild plants, hunt deer and turkeys, build a (possibly geothermal) greenhouse for year-round produce and a root cellar/storage area for food storage, plus process it all ourselves….just to name a few ideas.

#4-Homeschool

This is a fluid goal and will continue to evolve. We’ll be starting with Kindergarten for our son this fall and following what looks to be an educational and entertaining curriculum. More on this soon! I feel like there couldn’t be a better place for children to learn than on a homestead, but time will tell how this goal pans out.

#5-Make the Farm Our Job

How precisely do we begin to afford all of this? Well, we fully anticipate having jobs “outside” the farm, at least in the beginning. However, as our primary goal is to be self-sustaining, we’re considering raising a couple of specialty crops as our main bread & butter and planting a large orchard where we could offer U-Pick opportunities. We’ll likely also sell some of our garden surplus, honey, home-canned and baked items at farmers’ markets, participate in a bee pollination program (CRP) through the Extension Service for tillable acreage that isn’t in production, bring the family peanut brittle business out of retirement, manage selective logging of the timber, establish a CSA, apply for hobby farm/new farmers’ and Veterans’ farming grants, and I’ll continue to sew, embroider and quilt to my heart’s desire.

We know that our goals are lofty. We know it’s going to be a lot of hard work, but Grandpa always said there is no other kind. We know that there are going to be days when we’ll probably want to quit. We also know that it’ll be worth it, our ever-evolving goals will be realized and we will eventually lead the simpler and sustainable life that we crave. So when will you start your own revolution?