Wondering about how to start a homestead? I have you covered with our complete modern homesteading guide.
Isn’t it crazy how life changes? Homesteading isn’t the life that I envisioned for myself. I always pictured myself living in the city, wining and dining the weekends away. Instead, Ben and I spend our evenings watching videos about goat labor/ delivery, preparing for baby goats, and making garden plans (still with wine, obviously) This life isn’t what I planned for, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. If you’re wondering about how to start a homestead, but you have no idea where to start, I get it. We’ve been there, friend. Below details my complete modern homesteading guide to get you started.
What’s your motivating factor?
First step is identifying why you want to homestead in the first place. For us, our motivational factor was to live a healthier and cleaner lifestyle. What exactly does that even mean? Ben and I want to know how our food is grown, so we’ve decided to grow our own. (hello organic veggie garden!) We want to eat eggs from happy chickens and consume dairy from happy goats. Although we don’t currently raise any animals for meat, but that would be a logical next step for us in the future. You’re goals might look a little bit different from ours, but that’s okay. (I would love to hear about your goals in the comments below!)
Identify your vision
When we started researching how to start a homestead, we knew that we wanted to make it aesthetically pleasing. Making your homestead “pretty” might not be a priority for you, and that’s totally cool. With that being said, I’m happy to admit that I’m a clean freak who vacuums and mops the floor 73647382 times per week. I knew that in order for me to get totally on board with a modern homesteading lifestyle, I needed it to look attractive too. We gave the chicken coop and goat house a little extra love with white board and batten siding, a white chippy door, and black wall sconces. Needless to say, I love the end result.
Even though I envisioned a “pretty” homestead, our main goal was to create a homestead that allowed us to live cleaner while producing most of our food. The appearance is a bonus, but not the focus. Identifying a vision for your homestead, whatever that may be, will give you a framework for making plans.
Plan for more than you want
As I started brainstorming things to include in my complete modern homesteading guide, I kept thinking of one main point. Start small, but give yourself room to expand (if your property will allow it.) Think you want 5 chickens? Plan for 10. Want 2 goats? Plan for more, because you’ll probably want them.
Our flock quickly doubled from 10 to 20. Having 2 goats quickly evolved into 3 goats (and future babies!) Although our space won’t allow us to expand much more in the animal department, we’ve worked to maximize our space to the greatest extent possible.
Make safe housing plans
If you’re considering how to start a homestead, then please don’t skimp on housing! For us, safe housing meant a fully enclosed chicken coop, a large run for predator protection during the day, a fully enclosed goat house , a covered deck for the goats, and LOTS of electric fencing.
Another important part in this complete modern homesteading guide? Remember to have extra space in your animal housing to accommodate more animals … because it’s going to happen 😉
Nutrition plans
Healthy animals are happy animals, so nutrition is important. Each farm animal requires different nutritional needs, so do your research. Alfalfa hay, de-wormer,loose minerals, copper, chicken feed, grit, oh my! There are so many nutritional needs to consider. I’ll do a full post on what we feed out goats and chickens in the future, but for now – make sure you’re giving your animals everything that they need.
Buy from reputable sources
Sometimes deals are too good to be true. Always buy registered animals, and be cautious when expanding your herd and/or flock. Diseases can spread throughout your farm and have a devastating impact. We chose to purchase our goats from reputable breeders and we recommend My Pet Chicken for baby chicks.
Develop a chore schedule
Between work and family life, farm chores can feel overwhelming. Develop a farm chore schedule and stick to it.
Enjoy the weirdness
Homesteading isn’t exactly common place these days. If you decide to pursue homesteading, then there’s a good chance that people will think that you’re a bit weird. You’ll probably get some strange looks when you tell your friends that you need to go home to feed your goats and chickens, or that you’re on baby goat watch for the next week. But who cares? Enjoy your newfound weirdness, friends.
How to start a homestead: a complete modern homesteading guide:
Have you researched how to start a homestead? Would you add anything to this complete modern homesteading guide?
As a side note, Frenchie Farm was recently selected by FeedSpot as one of the Top 15 Modern Homesteading Blogs! Click the link to check out the full list of featured blogs. Thank you for supporting this little blog! 🙂