Creating Your Village
Homesteading is hard. I still have not figured out why they call it the simple life. It is full of challenges and there is never a time where everything is done. There is always a to do list much longer than the time we have in a day. It can be hard for a lot of us to ask for and accept help. We want to prove that we can do it all but that is not possible. That is why you must find your village. There is no way to do it alone.
Your neighbors and community will be a lifeline. Get out there and make some friends. Bring over a dozen eggs to a neighbor or go on your local homestead Facebook group and start asking questions and getting involved. If there isn’t a group already create one. I created my own New Jersey Homesteaders Facebook group and now we are over 5,000 members.
When we moved to Stockton, NJ, we knew no one. We were starting from scratch. The first thing I did was join local social media groups. I put out into the internet what we were doing with our newly acquired property. When I brought my first set of chickens, I met Jeremiah at Chasing Joy Farm. If any of you have taken our chicken processing classes, then you have met Jeremiah. Check out their Facebook page! Now we share equipment and help each other out when needed.
My neighbor is a great gardener, and I am notorious for letting my garden die. She has offered to help me with my garden. I have the space and she has the knowledge so we make a team. She has been coming over and we have been working together to get the vegetable seeds in the ground, keep on top of the weeds and lay down the mulch. This year’s garden is already better than any other year I have tried. I cannot wait to see where this goes.
My hay guy is also a cattle man. I spoke to him about the troubles we are having getting our cow pregnant through AI. He has offered to board her for a while with his bull to see if that helps. He is also a great resource for questions I have when it comes to my cows.
My village keeps growing with time and yours will to. Homesteading can be isolating and stressful if you let it so it’s important to make connections with like-minded people. They can be there for you when things just aren’t working out and you have a million questions. Just make sure you reciprocate. Be there for them when they need help with a project or on chicken processing day. The more help you put out into the world the more you will get in return.