If you want to start homesteading, you don’t have to go it alone. It’s much easier with networking to build a local community with skills and items to share. Every area, whether urban, suburban or rural has other people who are doing things to live more sustainably.
Some Places to Start
The cities and suburbs have garden clubs, sewing/knitting groups, classes on canning, woodworking, and many other programs. Most counties also have agricultural extension offices that provide information on the fruits and vegetables that grow locally. All you need is your zip code to use this site to find your local office.
We joined a local community garden and a preparedness group through our church that helped us learn about growing food and being ready for emergencies. The next big steps were taking the Permaculture Design Course and a farm apprenticeship. We got really excited about growing our own food and making the most of our land’s resources. This sealed our decision to purchase land for our homestead.
Other Resources
We got a subscription to Mother Earth News and went to our first Mother Earth News Fair in Pennsylvania where we picked up even more valuable information.
Animal Welfare Approved had a booth that gave us the member closest to our new location who raises dairy goats, chickens and pigs in a very humane way. She just happened to be only a few miles away from where our new home will be built.
Networking Locally
Following that we attended a local seminar on foraging edibles in our area. We also met some other people in our new neighborhood involved in homesteading, sustainability, and growing vegetables and animals naturally. We followed up on a sign that said, “Goats for Sale” to meet another family near our property.
All of these contacts have given us the opportunity to find out first-hand what works and what doesn’t. We will visit more with them when we get moved. Each of our neighbors has a different situation, but despite that, we can gain from their experience and share what we are doing.
Neighbors with Knowledge
The neighbor closest to us had goats, chickens and ducks as well as information about which predators to expect. Their goats may also be a possible source for kids to grow our first flock.
We spent a whole afternoon visiting another nearby family. They had both tropical and temperate fruit trees, many types of poultry, and a number of vegetable gardens. What was really amazing was finding out how much they had accomplished part-time in just a year or so. We really enjoyed touring their homestead and meeting the animals. We also got information on vegetables that grow well in Florida’s heat to have in our own garden. They even shared seeds with us to try.
The third neighbor we visited has a working farm with pigs, goats, chickens, vegetable gardens, and tropical fruit. As we toured the farm, we also picked up information on fencing to keep out predators, rotational grazing, and native fruits and vegetables. An added bonus was learning how to milk their goats. We now look forward to doing this on our homestead.
A fourth family nearby has horses and chickens with tangerine trees throughout their property. We had a good time with them and discussed the plans we each have to build and the obstacles in dealing with the building department in our county.
Final Thoughts
It is obvious that people like to share their experiences with others. Homesteading and sustainable living are exciting adventures, even for people who have been doing it for a while. Once we get established in our new home, I know that we will find more neighbors growing food and raising animals from whom we can learn and who can learn from us in turn.
Sounds like you bought property in the right community. You should have no problem acquiring the first-hand knowledge you need for your future plans just by visiting neighbors. It sounds like homesteader’s as a group are pretty resourceful people that like to get along with the world to make something good out of it. That makes them very willing helpers in others doing the same, that’s a great group to be involved in.
I can see that you will have good time getting those people networked and helping each other.
I have been amazed how friendly and helpful people are in this area!