Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Did I make a mistake jumping on the homestead bandwagon?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 188 posts

Re: Ask HN: Did I make a mistake jumping on the homestead bandwagon?

#61

Post by mitchell_h »

yread wrote: post #39
mitchell_h wrote: post #33

As a rural dweller(15 miles from the nearest town) the whole homestead(read: (semi)off grid, no prior experience, DIY ALL THE THINGS!) movement to me seems completely stupid. It's encouraging people that have no experience or knowledge to leave the world they know, and enter a world they don't. Then, start that world on extra hard mode, and if they don't do it all they're laughed at. They also neglect to tell folks t…

It's nothing new https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouvard_et_P%C3%A9cuchet (1881) is a novel about two clerks who move out to the countryside and try to learn how to manage a farm (and other knowledge) and completely fail

even today where knowledge of farming and land maintenance is basically free and available to anyone with a phone, farms fail ALL THE TIME. And not just startup farms, multi-generational farms. I live around a bunch of farmers & ranchers, I don't know a single one without a side gig or 8(more towards the 8).

My personal ranch is just a money pit. It's my hobby, it makes a little bit of money but it would never be sustainable. People with much less debt than me and a whole lot more land & equipment are in the same boat.

Re: Ask HN: Did I make a mistake jumping on the homestead bandwagon?

#62

Post by twobitshifter »

I think hackernews is the wrong audience to ask this question. Reading all the comments I didn’t see any other “homesteaders” or those that had tried it. You might try looking into the “back to the land” movements from the 70s. They reduced the soul crushing labor, kept socializing, and saved money by setting up communes.

However overall, it seems like your current situation is not meeting your expectations financially and socially. If you write down what you expected and what you got, maybe you can see where your assumptions were invalid and can decide to adjust your plan from there.

Re: Ask HN: Did I make a mistake jumping on the homestead bandwagon?

#63

Post by chrisjc »

lb1lf wrote: post #30
chrisjc wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There might even been a decent exit plan... I'm sure there's many people out there ready to jump onto the homesteading wagon and pick up where this person left off. That is of course if they haven't already done so much that there's nothing interesting left to do.

-You're never done with a farm, it is a constant battle against the elements. (It's just doubly hard if you need to break the land first, making it suitable for farming - but maintaining land comes with its own set of challenges. (I've got approx. .4 sq miles of land to tend to beside my engineering job.)

Just to clarify that I didn't mean all work was done... more that the existing homestead footprint leaves nothing of interest left to do as far as homesteading goes.

But still, it's an important point to drive home to anyone thinking of doing homesteading or farming... you're right, the work is never done, and it's often really hard work.

Might be better to go off and work on a farm or homestead to see what you're in for before committing your life to it.

Re: Ask HN: Did I make a mistake jumping on the homestead bandwagon?

#64

Post by dkrudy »

auslegung wrote: post #31

We’re planning to buy 10-20 acres about 30 minutes outside the city, have a few animals, have a large garden (0.5 acres probably), but I intend to keep my job. Our goal is to produce something instead of only consume, reduce our dependence on a supply chain that we think is untenable, and be able to grow most of our own food should we need to. We’re going to focus on growing food that’s easy to grow. I expect this wi…

That is a good middle ground, but be ready to drive for SO MUCH more of your life. I grew up this way, and now, live in a city, where I'm engrossed in my whole life, except my job is 30 minutes away, out into the country. 1. You'll be shocked how much planning it takes to accomplish any little task. You'll need to plan days or weeks in advance in order to not forget to get little items that will keep your progress going. And the planning ahead and covering contingencies also gets expensive. 2. As much as it makes sense, it will be also somewhat exhausting to work a whole day, and then have to make 3 stops in town for provisions before getting to go home. Keep that in mind too. 3. Cheers! Weigh these cons, and if they're not bigger than your pros, then find joy in what you've picked. Make some of driving prayer time. Buy a jeep to love time on the road. Gain confidence and self appreciation for the planning and consciousness you're capable of when you're calculating and covering contingences. Nothing is perfect, only good.

Re: Ask HN: Did I make a mistake jumping on the homestead bandwagon?

#65

Post by ehnto »

jmacd wrote: post #27

It's very difficult. If you don't LOVE it then don't fight it. If you loved it, you'd know. You might still dislike the amount of work or some of the work itself, but I think you'd know. The other possibility is that you are re-romanticizing city life. Grass is always greener. Perhaps an extended vacation of a month or two back in the city will give you fresh perspective or the certainty you need.

> The other possibility is that you are re-romanticizing city life. Grass is always greener. Perhaps an extended vacation of a month or two back in the city will give you fresh perspective or the certainty you need.

Like you alluded to, we tend to romanticize what we don't have, but I think the mistake is in attaching too much existential meaning to it, like we might get it wrong and fail to be happy. If you do it earnestly, with intentionality, it'll never be a period of failure if you end up changing your mind. Maybe you eventually find that an occasional trip to the city is all you need to satisfy the city dweller inside you. Or maybe a retreat every year and regular hiking is enough nature to calm the soul.

I can yearn for nature and crave a coffee in the city center all in the same day, I think that's pretty normal. While travelling and deeply immersed in another country, I'll get pangs for home, it doesn't mean I need to get on the first plane home but it doesn't mean I hate travelling either.

There is a bit of a false dichotomy going here anyway, there is a broad range between city life and homesteading, maybe just re-gearing to be somewhere inbetween is a good compromise.

Re: Ask HN: Did I make a mistake jumping on the homestead bandwagon?

#66

Post by tjic »

auslegung wrote: post #31

We’re planning to buy 10-20 acres about 30 minutes outside the city, have a few animals, have a large garden (0.5 acres probably), but I intend to keep my job. Our goal is to produce something instead of only consume, reduce our dependence on a supply chain that we think is untenable, and be able to grow most of our own food should we need to. We’re going to focus on growing food that’s easy to grow. I expect this wi…

This is similar to how I've been living on my homestead for the last 8 years, and I'm enjoying myself.

Re: Ask HN: Did I make a mistake jumping on the homestead bandwagon?

#67

Post by fifticon »

There seems to be separate things at stake here, though they are not independent. (1) the amount of and 'pleasantness' of the work involved. (2) the basic social consequences. (3) the 'joneses' social consequences. (4) what originally, and what still, motivates you about it. (5) what the alternatives are.

(1) is for you to judge. If you find the amount of work is not rewarding, then you are the source of truth on that. (2) is whether or not you can partake in a social collective of likeminded people doing something similar. If your homestead is isolated, I empathize with this being unfortunate. In my own country, there are rustic collectives (think small villages) that have a great community about being self-sufficient. (3) is a personal thing. Personally, I couldn't care less; part of the appeal is refusing the 'keep up with joneses' threadmill. (4) is the core.. do you still trust your basis for making the choice, and with what you have experienced now, can you find a valid basis to continue on. (5) This "FOMO" bit is split between (2) and (3). The 3-part, you can live without. But if it really is more your (2) - your basic social needs - then of course it's not negotiable.

To sum it up, you need 'your fair share' of a social existence, but I question whether you need the joneses-part of it.

I have in my basement between 30 and 40 mechanical keyboards, and the last 4 or 5 months, I've dreaded ordering anymore, because how many keyboards does a human really need.. Are you missing the basic social community we all crave, or that they are caught up in their modern-forever-busy-for-no-reason lives..

Re: Ask HN: Did I make a mistake jumping on the homestead bandwagon?

#68

Post by maxduckworth »

auslegung wrote: post #31

We’re planning to buy 10-20 acres about 30 minutes outside the city, have a few animals, have a large garden (0.5 acres probably), but I intend to keep my job. Our goal is to produce something instead of only consume, reduce our dependence on a supply chain that we think is untenable, and be able to grow most of our own food should we need to. We’re going to focus on growing food that’s easy to grow. I expect this wi…

That seems like a great model for the modern world.

What is the food that's easiest to grow?

Re: Ask HN: Did I make a mistake jumping on the homestead bandwagon?

#69

Post by mitchell_h »

maxduckworth wrote: post #57
lb1lf wrote: post #26

I am by no stretch of the imagination homesteading, but I happen to live on a farm. It is not an active farm - the land is rented out to a nearby farmer and the only animals to be seen are a couple of cats and deer like you wouldn't believe. Anyway, just keeping what land is not rented out and the buildings from degrading is nigh on a full-time job in itself; trenches need to be dug and maintained, forest kept at bay…

What you said about the work required to keep buildings from degrading and the forest at bay is so true, but it's something you don't realize until you live it. The other option I've been playing with is to treat homesteading like a hobby. Outsource all the non-core homestead work and insource the gardening, animal husbandry, etc (which is harder to outsource anyway), all while keeping a remote tech job.

I've tried the outsourcing part before. Unless you have fields you can lease out or some other basic need of other farmers, it really doesn't work. Especially today with the shortage of "blue collar" workers. The costs to have someone clear land, dig ponds, run water lines, etc is either too much or you simply can't find someone that's reliable.

I've seen a few folks move from the city in the last 5-10 years and try the "we'll just hire a landscaper to manage the drive way and cut by the trees". It didn't work out well. 10s of 1000s of dollars a year to have someone reliably do it, or they simply couldn't find someone.

Re: Ask HN: Did I make a mistake jumping on the homestead bandwagon?

#70

Post by shireboy »

Similar. I built “out in the county” and first thing I did was get chickens and make a garden. I didn’t plan on a full farm, but had a picture of raising a few chickens and things for food. The chickens all got sick, were very gross, needed wormer and finally raccoons and possums killed them, despite my best attempt at an enclosed coup. Fun fact- raccoons will just rip off a chickens head and leave it. I did a spreadsheet and each egg cost about 20$

The garden has fared a little better. I’ve lost crops to squash borers and bad blight. I’ve gotten a few things off of it. But not nearly what I’ve spent in dirt, amendments, plants etc.

What I’ve decided is that there is an economy of scale to these things. For all its flaws, factory farming is efficient. Just like factories cranking out widgets are more efficient than a guy carving widgets by hand one by one.

It may be that after several years I get more efficient. Im trying more from seed and seeing what amendments work. But for me, I now garden for fun. I enjoy digging in the dirt and growing things I can eat. It’s a hobby and not something I think makes sense for financial or even environmental reasons.

Post reply on HN