Education in Homesteading
In my last article, “Meet Marley,” I talked about needing a mentor for my daughter’s 4-H project. We consider ourselves very lucky to have found a family that was ready and willing to teach us.
I love to read and learn from books, but not everything can be learned from the pages of a book or magazine. Trial and error is a great teacher. Experience comes from learning from your mistakes and successes. Being able to know what works or what does not work is invaluable in any venture.
Homesteading is no exception. Unfortunately for modern homesteaders, the lifestyle we desire and strive for has been slowly lost through the generations. What was once second-nature to our great-grandparents is for the most part new to us. Do you know how to sow a field of wheat? Card wool? Do you know how much food to put away for an entire year?
My great-grandparents would have known how to be self-sufficient because that was their life. They were surprised at how fast society changed during their lifetime. From traveling on horseback and in wagons to the landing on the moon, it was just too amazing to comprehend.
I would have loved to have known them and learn from them. I treasure the stories that I hear about them and try to glean from their wisdom years later.
I am reading Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder to Jake. She is one of my childhood heroes, and Jake is really enjoying hearing about Almanzo’s childhood. Whether Almanzo is breaking calves, sledding, doing chores, or milking Jake can relate. He has similar experiences. Almanzo’s love for horses is another huge similarity between himself and Jake.
As I am reading the book, I am struck with such a strong sense of amazement. Almanzo’s mother was quite a woman. I admire her. I would have loved to have her mentor me. She would have been a good one. She was a great mother and wife.
The Wilder family seems to have been pretty well off. She did not have it easy though. Mrs. Wilder was constantly cooking, putting away food, cleaning, and mending. When she was not doing those things, she was carding wool, making yarn, weaving the yarn into cloth with a loom, or constructing various clothing items. Seasonally she made sugar from syrup, made candles, and cleaned the house from top to bottom. Almanzo says that she never sat still. How could she?
I am a busy person, but I have nothing on Almanzo Wilder’s mother. And, I do not know anyone today that is knowledgeable in all those areas. I wonder if there are anymore people like Mrs. Wilder.
I think that is key. Find someone with the expertise that you need. If you are interested in canning, find a man/woman who cans to teach you. Volunteer to help them can his/her food in exchange for the experience.
The family who is helping us with the market goat is very knowledgeable about goats. I have not asked them, but I doubt they could teach me very much about carding wool. So the trick is to learn from many different people.
If you cannot find anyone to help you, there are still other options. There are many books that you can read about homesteading. My favorite is Carla Emery’s, The Encyclopedia of Country Living. I also like a Reader’s Digest book called, Back to Basics. Both books are very informative, especially the former.
I have not watched it, but the Pearl family has produced a DVD on homesteading. It is called Homesteading for Beginners. They have two volumes available to purchase.
Another option that I have not tried myself is to attend a homesteading workshop. The Heritage School of Homesteading in Elm Mott, Texas has always intrigued me. They hold classes on a wide variety of subjects from cheese-making to blacksmithing. I think that it would be fun to take a class from them. Be sure to look for similar programs in your area.
In an article called, “Get Your Hands Dirty,” I discuss how important it is to try. As the saying goes, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” Modern homesteading requires getting your hands dirty. It requires being fearless in the face of possible failure.
Years ago when I made my first batch of dewberry jam, it was not good. I did not cook it long enough, and it was too watery. I did learn how to do a water bath correctly. The next batch was much better and each year I think my jam improves because I learn from my errors.
The future of homesteading looks bright. As we learn all we can about self-sufficient living, our children and others can learn too. Pretty soon the trades and skills of homesteading will be second-nature again. Maybe one of our children/grandchildren will be just like Almanzo’s mother. Who knows, it could happen.
What great advice, Lara. I’d like to add a few resources…BackHome Magazine and Countryside and Small Stock Journal are two great magazines that share everything from a “I’ve tried this and this is how it worked for me” point of view. There is also the Internet. I recently discovered the Homesteading Carnival of blogs. I haven’t hung out there too much, but it seems to have a lot to offer. Also, don’t forget your cooperative extension service. I’ve used their resources many times. And, lastly, don’t forget the public library. Ours has all kinds of helpful books on many homesteading topics.
Blessings,
Carol
I attended the Heritage Homestead;s (Elm Mott, TX)3 day Homesteading course last May and it was awesome! I learned so much. You leave there with your mouth watering at their model homestead! It was very hard not to “covet” their lifestyle and homestead. It is perfect and just what you envision your ideal homestead to be. It is well worth the money and time if you can attend.
I love your website!
Thanks,
Vallar
Great article. As I’m learning some of my homesteading skills I also often think of the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Is there a better record of the life of an original homesteader in our culture than hers?
[...] Education in Homesteading | Texas Homesteader [...]
Hi Homesteader friend. Your article I checked out today was great. I
love the Little House Books and have read them many times, even in my
old age. I have also collected several books about Laura’s life;
Laura Ingalls Wilder by Gwenda Blair and On The Way Home ( a diary
about her tirp to Mansfield Missourid in 1894) the place where she
went to live with Almonzo. I have another one but I loanded it to my
granddaughter and I can’t remember the name but it was written by a
man who went and visited all the places in her Little House series.
Have you read the Helen and Scott Nearing books Living the Good Life
and Continuing the Good Life. Ife you haven’t then you should . They
are both dead not but they did what all of us Homesteaders want to do
and the not only made a living doing it, they also lectured and wrote
books and taught anyone who wanted to learn their ways. I love these
two books too and re-read them often.
I don’t homeschool but I have 17 grandchildren and love to have them
come stay with us. Right now one of my grandsons is doing a project
at school for credit and we are mentoring him. His project is working
in a garden, helping us with the blueberries, learning to prune,
prepare the garden and things like that. They didn’t have projects
like that when I went to school. Too bad.
I can big time every summer. Some of the things we grow and some we
buy from the local farmers market. If it wasn’t for that when my
husband got sick and was out of work with hardly any money coming in,
I don’t know what we would have done about food. But I am happy to
say we didn’t have to go to the Government or to our Church for
assistance. I had also been putting other things aside for years that
were necessities. And now with the crazy economy and world problems
its a good thing for all people to do.
I have just started making my own yogart and boy is it good. When I
first made it I followed the recipe in the booklet but it turned out
too tart for us. So I found one on line where you could all a
sweetner and flavorings and it is just like the store bought but even
better because I know exactly whats in it. For the fruit on the
bottom I use my own homemade jam. Sometimes when I make jam it
doesn’t ‘jam’ but I keep it anyway and use it for pancake syrup.
That’s what I used in the yogart and Yum. Yum. Just stir and eat. If
you go to About.com Home Cooking and type in Homemade flavored
Yogurt the recipe will come up and you will find several variations
for flavoring the basic recipe. Okay got to go, have a good day. Pat
from Ga.
Thank you, Pat, for the book recommendations. I also look forward to spicing up my homemade yogurt with your tips. Thanks again. Lara
It’s funny, my first attempt at jam (just last year) yielded a whole bunch of ‘syrup’ instead, but man it was great on pancakes, waffles, and even oatmeal. I may have made a complete mess of it, but the mess was still so much better (and tastier) than if I hadn’t tried at all.
Now to find someone with experience in pressure canning….that’s a whole different ball game!
Pressure canning is a whole different ball game. Syrup jam is great. It is a wise use of your labor. Have you ever looked into lacto-fermenting your produce? Just thought I would ask.