Essential Steps for Starting Your Homestead

Embarking on a homesteading journey is an exciting and fulfilling endeavor that connects you with nature, promotes a sustainable lifestyle, and provides a sense of accomplishment. Whether you’re dreaming of a rural escape or a self-sufficient backyard in the city, here are the essential steps to start your homestead.

Define Your Homesteading Goals

Identify Your Objectives: Sit down with your family, or maybe just yourself, and write out your “why.” Your why is why you want to do something. For example, my why for starting a homestead started as a dream to have a large family and a farm. I grew up on my family farm, working every summer in the garden with my Mema. This quickly became a dream of mine. Being able to sit down and write out a short-term and long-term plan will help you on your way to homesteading.
Set Realistic Expectations: Be realistic about what you can achieve, especially in the beginning. While your end goal may be to have a mess of milking cows and 200 acres, that may not be a reality for you right now. You don’t have to have everything you want to start. Just start where you are with what you have! Homesteading is a gradual process that evolves over time.

Plan Your Space

Find/Assess Your Land: Whether it’s a large plot or a small backyard, understanding your land is key. Test the soil, note sun patterns, and consider water sources. If there is no house already, you may need to think of housing plans until you can build the house of your dreams. It may mean starting in a tiny home until you are able to build a bigger house. Finding and assessing the land is the biggest part of this battle. Once you find the land, start making plans for how you will use the space wisely.
Start Small: Begin with manageable projects like a small vegetable garden or a few chickens, and gradually expand as you gain confidence and experience. Whether you start with half an acre or ten, it is important not to bite off more than you can chew. Taking on too many things at once will lead to burnout and resentment. Yes, it seems like everything needs to get done at once, but it is important to pace yourself.

Budget and Financial Planning

Create a Budget: Understand the initial costs of setting up and the ongoing expenses. You will be surprised how much things cost, especially in 2025. The price of lumber has tripled in the last 5 years alone! Even building things yourself isn’t that cheap anymore. Make sure that when you are creating a budget, you stick to that budget. It is easy at the end to get caught up in the glitz and glamour of shiny things that will blow a budget quickly. Also, plan for unexpected costs. Things like cutting a board too short or breaking a new pipe will eat into the budget as well.
Look for Sustainable Solutions: Find ways to reuse materials, barter with neighbors, or sell your produce to offset costs. A good place to find lumber is at a reclaimed lumber yard. They will buy lumber that is still good from other projects to resell. This can save you some money in the long run and also make your project look a little vintage. As always, thrift shopping is a favorite of mine, and it is sustainable and affordable.

Build Your Infrastructure

Essential Structures: Depending on your goals, you may need a chicken coop, a greenhouse, or storage sheds. If these are larger builds and you have the budget, hire contractors or local handymen to build for you. This wasn’t an option for us, but we gathered all the material and drew up a plan. It doesn’t have to be fancy or be published in a magazine. It just needs to be safe and reliable to protect your family, animals, or whatever it is you are storing or growing. Building yourself helps you stay within budget as well, because then you can just build as the budget allows.
Energy and Water: Consider sustainable options like rainwater harvesting systems and solar panels. While we do have rainwater collection on our homestead, we have not yet invested in solar. Although solar is still a goal of ours for when we move back to my family farm.

Grow Your Own Food

Plan Your Garden: Choose crops that suit your climate and soil. Start with easy-to-grow vegetables and herbs. I find it helpful to look in the Farmer’s Almanac to help with when to plant what in my garden. It is also very helpful to know what growing zone you are in, and check it yearly because they like to change things.
Preserve Your Harvest: Learn canning, freezing, and drying to preserve your surplus produce. Depending on the harvest, you may prefer one way of preserving over another. There are several groups (and the USDA) who are opposed to canning certain foods – my philosophy on that is if the Amish haven’t died, I surely won’t. Please do your research for pros and cons of both, and do what you feel most comfortable with – everyone is different.

Raise Animals

Start with Easy Animals: Chickens and ducks can be a good start for beginners. They require relatively less space and care. They are also my favorite of the homesteading and farm animals. They can also be used for the dual purpose of meat and eggs. Once you get comfortable with chickens and ducks, you can move up to things like goats and rabbits.
Understand Animal Care: Ensure you are knowledgeable about the care and management of any animals you intend to keep. It is very important to know basic care for farm animals if you are going to have any on your homestead. Most veterinarians in your town will only service domestic animals like cats and dogs. While needing a vet isn’t as common, there are things that come up, such as infections, wounds, and worms. Make sure you know who the closest farm vet is in your area in case the need arises.

Conclusion

Starting a homestead is a journey of discovery, learning, and connection with nature. It’s a path that requires patience, hard work, and resilience, but the rewards are immense. You’ll grow not just food, but also your skills, knowledge, and a deeper appreciation for the simple things in life. Remember, every big homestead started as a small one, so take that first step and watch your homestead dreams come to life.