Survival, Prepping, Cost of living, Eat healthier, Opportunity for income, Opportunity to give back to those who helped me, Opportunity to help others, Opportunity for community involvement, Preserve and improve my land, Be the change I wish to see in the world.
A few months ago @wholesomeroots did a video challenge on YouTube asking homesteaders to give 10 reasons why they do it. Lots of great homesteaders answered the call. I didn't have a homestead at the time so I was still dreaming when I made this list, and had no clue I would be acquiring one in the very near future when I made this list. The order of this list was changed from that above to the list below. Here's a link to the video playlist of other homesteaders who participated.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmNsCPmvFOipgmpAL-itEKhP02nWDY7kT
#1 Survival
I'm not talking about a zombie apocalypse, I'm talking about having food, water, and shelter in our current world. You can't always rely on government or family or friends or neighbors for more than a few days of help. Things happen. We've all seen beggars on the streets who are in this situation. With land, you at least have the opportunity to produce your own food, collect water if nothing else, and put up a tent if the government allows. I am not a survivalist, if there's a zombie apocalypse I will be a zombie and I'm sorry if I eat you, but we all need sustainable food sources to survive.
(My friends from Natural Living Homestead on YouTube hooked me up with some awesome homegrown "treats".
#2 Cost of living
Other than couch hopping or boon docking, you can't get much cheaper than having your own cheap land with low or no property taxes. Apartments or lot rent in a mobile home park? Forget about it, not cheap enough for me. A necessary evil, sometimes, but paying rent is basically just flushing money down the toilet. I want to minimize my cost of living and this is best way to do it over the long term. Everybody is in a different situation, but $5k for 2.8 acres is possible with no debt and low bills. I'm looking at less than $400/month for electricity, car insurance, internet, property taxes, and basic food needs.
(My place in Sacramento, I know how to live cheap.)
#3 Opportunity for income
Do your homework, but if you have land in a "friendly" area, you have opportunities to grow things or do things worth money. Flowers, livestock, eggs, plants, birdhouses, and 1,000 other ways to make money from land.
#4 Prepping
I am not a prepper, by my own definition. I don't have a specific or imminent date in mind when I believe the world is going to end or anything like that. I know my home state of Illinois gets closer and closer to a Greece like debt collapse every day, and I want no more part of that. I just would like to have some food and supplies saved up to make it through difficult times if needed.
#5 Eat healthier
When you're poor, you don't eat healthy, even if you're lucky enough to snag a SNAP card. Potatoes are cheap, bread is cheap, pasta is cheap, meat is expensive, good vegetables are expensive, and organic or natural foods are way out of the price range. If you can produce some of your own on your own land, you can eat healthier without spending more.
(I can roast a chicken I grow myself just as easily as one from Aldi.)
#6 Opportunity to give back to those who helped me
I've been down and out and have had people throw me lifelines on several occasions. I'd like to pay them back in some shape or form, even if its just some good food or some laughs at my adventures or some lessons I might have to share. I may never be able to write a check, but I can do what I can do.
(My living room in Illinois where almost everything is because of a little help from my friends.)
#7 Opportunity to help others
Again, I may never be able to write a check, but maybe I can provide a safe place to stay for a while. Or maybe I can introduce someone to a better quality of food. Perhaps I can inspire someone to do something that makes a better life for themselves. I don't know how now, but I'll know it when I see it.
#8 Opportunity for community involvement
This might not happen with my direct neighbors, although I hope it does, but thanks to social media like Steemit having land will help me connect with people doing similar things as I plan on doing. Hopefully I'll be producing some things that others will appreciate, creating even more opportunities both locally and online.
(The ham radio tower on my property, I might even put it to use some day, you never know.)
#9 Preserve and improve the land
This might be tricky for me, but I think I can pull it off. My land is a forest and was meant to be a forest. However, there is some junk there than needs to be taken care of and I aim to do that at the very least. Then I'll look for natural ways that the land and I can help each other without harming that land for the future. Who knows, I may even be able to team up with neighbors and help improve their as well.
(Google maps overhead photo of my 2.8 acres that I want to make even better.)
#10 Be the change I wish to see in the world
That's from a Mahatma Gandhi quote that has stuck with me for years. I was heavily involved in politics in a previous attempt to change the world, but now its time to do it at the personal level. I can control my own choices, that's as fine a way to achieve change as one will ever find. I can stop buying GMO soft drinks, I can stop buying high fructose corn syrup products that strips the land in places like my home state of Illinois, I can stop eating fast food and helping perpetuate that bad food system, I can reduce my waste, I can, I can, I can. I can control my own choices, and if a large enough chunk of us do the same thing the world will change.
Now that I have some land to move to this fall, I'm about to find out how bad I want to achieve this. Here's my YouTube video from a couple months back on this topic. Blogging might be a better media for me than video, but I tried.
You can also check me out on...
YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/c/PeoriaDude
Twitter
https://twitter.com/Bobbleheadstead
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/bobbleheadstead/
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/peoriadude/