Is Homesteading For Me?

If you ask my family this question, they will not come out and say NO, but they will dance around it in such a way that you know that is what they are thinking.  Which, to be honest, kinda takes the wind outta one's sails when they find themselves sitting and thinking...is homesteading for me?

First off, I am not one to just jump in and do something.  That is my mommy in me more than anything else.  I ponder on it a while, and when I think it is something I really want to do I will research it.  I mean OCD research it.  I am now into my seventh month of just researching chickens and the fifth month I have been researching goats.  So, to say I want my own homestead is not something that is a whim, or a fanciful thought.  I am researching it--the best indication that I can say, when it comes to me, that I am very, very,--did I say very?--serious about this.

Am I scared?  No, not really.  At times I think of what if this happens or that happens, but I decided I couldn't let that keep me from trying.  Will me having my own land, and homestead, come to pass?  Who knows.  But, I can not, in my heart, let that keep me from trying.  The original reason I wanted a homestead, the original dream, has died.  I had a plan, and that plan involved multiple items if you will.  So, that plan is dead.  But, I am trying, with all my might, to come up with another plan.  One that will give me the drive to keep to my original dream, with a few sad modifications.

I know when I talk about wanting a homestead, my family probably think that I want their help.  That is just it, I don't want any help.  I want it to be something that is achieved by me, from my dream, and that I owe no one else for.  Some of my family doesn't seem to understand that, and that is okay.  I get that.  But, it is how I am approaching the concept, and if I can't do it on my own, then I have told myself it won't get done.  It will take a while, which as I have mentioned in earlier posts, patience is not a very strong concept for me.  However, I will just deal with that as I have to, in the whole process of what I am doing. 

Getting the land is the first step.  That I had originally thought "might" be doable by mid to late spring 2019.  However, there was a recent life event that took the wind out of me, causing me to seriously doubt the idea of land being an option for me.  After the last few days, with a lot of praying and soul searching, I feel that having my own homestead and working towards that homestead is what I really need in my life.  Whether others understand that or not, they just need to accept that I feel this way and move on.  I know that sounds kinda mean, but this is my decision, and for others to think that if they don't want to do it, then I shouldn't, doesn't help my dream along 

Back to the land.  I am planning on working towards getting the land first.  I hope to not have to move onto it right away, so that I may save for a trailer or a building to put on it to live in.  That will, going by a very roughly planned out timeline, be at least another two years minimum to achieve.  However, if for some reason that is not possible, to wait the two years, then I will cross that bridge when I come to it.  I have several possible backup plans for if this happens.

I currently raised bed garden on the property I rent and have four 4x4 beds.  I really like the raised bed gardening, but am finding I need more beds if I am going to be more self-sufficient like I hope to become.  That is why I plan on building two to three more 4x8 beds for this coming years gardening  The great thing about the raised beds is that I can always move them when I go, and with a little time and effort move the dirt within them as well.  So, I am still investing in future use, if not here on my own land.

So, that is what I have as an idea at the moment.  I am going to have to sit down and crunch the numbers.  See what I have, what I figure I will have to save up over the next four to six months, and where I would like to be in that time frame.  I also am realistic to know that nothing goes as planned, or as smoothly as one would like, but until I really get a plan in place--nothing will go anywhere.