Homesteading seems to be growing in popularity, which I LOVE. People are seeing the value in simple living, slowing down, and cultivating traditional skills. So often I hear people talk about the homestead things they’ll do *one day* when they have their own homestead. But there are so many ways you can be homesteading even if you don’t have a homestead!
I consider myself a homesteader even though I’m not currently living on a homestead. We likely won’t live on a large property for a very long time / ever because we live in a high cost of living province (and plan to stay here). Although at the end of 2023 we did purchase a one acre piece of land to build on!
Here are some of the skills I’ve developed over the past few years, or am currently working on, without even living on a homestead.
COOKING FROM SCRATCH
I think the #1 skill you should master if you dream of homesteading but don’t currently live on a homestead is cooking from scratch. If you dream of raising animals, whether for meat, dairy or eggs, you’ll want to learn how to use those raw ingredients! If you currently depend on lots of premade options, now’s a great time to start working on this skill.
Cooking from scratch is equally important if you one day plan to have a large garden to grow your own food. You don’t want to start harvesting vegetables that you’ve been growing for months just to realize that you have no idea how to prepare them!
Cooking from scratch can be done just as well in a tiny apartment kitchen as it can in a newly updated, Pinterest perfect kitchen. And if you ever get the homestead of your dreams, you’ll be happy you spent the time cultivating this skill now!
HANG DRY YOUR CLOTHES
Hang drying your clothing is an overlooked but SUPER easy homesteading skill to work on before you have a homestead. I also love hanging my clothing to preserve the life of my clothes, and to save on electricity.
In the winter we hang on a simple hanging rack, but in the summer I LOVE hanging my laundry outside on the clothesline!
LEARN THE ART OF SOURDOUGH
This might be one of the things that *feels* the most homesteading before you have a homestead! I’ve been making sourdough since 2019 and could never go back! It’s so much cheaper than good quality storebought bread, and way more delicious.
If you’ve been wanting to get into sourdough but don’t know where to start, I have an in-depth sourdough guide you can purchase, as well as my dehydrated sourdough starter!
FERMENT, CAN, PRESERVE
I think people often get it in their head that they can’t start canning until they have a big garden of produce to preserve! That can’t be further from the truth. While you don’t have a homestead is a perfect time to teach yourself different ways of food preservation. I love making sauerkraut, canning tomato sauce, jams, and have recently been learning how to pressure can!
You can purchase produce at the local farmers market, or look in the discount section of your local grocery store for produce to start canning.
LEARN TO SEW OR MEND CLOTHING
Learning to sew is a skill I’ve been working on this year! Sewing, embroidery, knitting, etc are great skills to work on if you’re living in the suburbs/an apartment, or even during the dead of winter (when I’m writing this 😆). I love making my own aprons, and I’ve been trying to teach myself how to make basic clothing garments!
KEEP CHICKENS
Obviously this isn’t something everyone can do, but we were able to keep chickens at our house in the suburbs! If your town doesn’t currently allow chickens, you can petition your town counsel! It was a local homeschooling group that encouraged hen keeping in our town several years ago.
If you can’t keep chickens, some people have luck with keeping quail, meat rabbits or even bees!
EAT SEASONALLY
Eating seasonally might not some like a “Homestead skill”, but if your goal is to produce most of your food on your own property, then you’ll have to practice eating seasonally! For me this has looked like lots of fresh foods in the summer – salads, raw or freshly cooked veggies, fresh fruits from the garden, etc. And then in the winter we eat lots of root veggies from storage – potatoes, carrots, beets, and winter squash that we’ve stored, as well as lots of soups, stews, or warm dishes using meat from the freezer.
I’m by no means against purchasing some “out of season” produce from the grocery store, but for the most part our diet does reflect the seasons.
START A GARDEN
No matter where you live, you can start growing food! In a small apartment, this may look like herbs in your windowsill, a few containers on your balcony or even a hydroponic system (I’ve done all of these!)
If you have a backyard, you can put in some raised beds, or even add some veggies into your flower gardens!
MAKE YOUR OWN CLEANING PRODUCTS
This is another great beginner’s skill if you don’t have a homestead! Making your own cleaning products or household products saves lots of money and is really fun! This can even include making your own beeswax candles, beeswax wraps, toilet bowl cleaners, air fresheners, etc!
KNOW YOUR FARMERS
Can’t grow all your own veggies or raise your own meat? The next best option would be connecting with local farmers! The most economic option is purchasing a full cow or half cow. But even if you don’t have the space (or finances!) for that, you can purchase the cuts you like individually. I usually purchase 20-30lbs of ground beef to stock my freezer and it’s much cheaper than the good quality ground beef at the store!
READ ABOUT SKILLS YOU’D LIKE TO LEARN
The last thing you can do while you wait to purchase your homestead is read about skills you’d to develop in the future. Maybe you dream of having dairy goats in the future – find some books at the library and learn all about keeping goats. Or maybe you would love to keep bees – take a class with a local beekeeper! You don’t need to wait until the time comes to start learning! 🙂
Whether you’re saving up for your forever homestead, or are happy to remain in town but just want to cultivate some old-fashioned skills – there are so many options! Never believe the lie that you need acres and acres of land to be homesteading. You can homestead from right where you are 🙂
