Thursday
6/17/21 10:20
I posted on Facebook in a few different groups, “What is the difference between small scale farming and homesteading?”.
I was surprised how supportive people are. There were lots of ideas that were helpful.
This was my conclusion:
Thank you all for your comments. We live in interesting times. I find the point of exploding domesticated farm animals to be an interesting and valid one. I will not address conditions for farm animals in large scale industrial production, but I will comment on a small scale farming and what people refer to as homesteading. I believe the value of having domesticated farm animals in our lives teaches us to be more humane and loving.
I believe that the world is a far richer and more beautiful place because of the biodiversity and beauty that domesticated farm animals bring to the world. If people are not able to harvest these animals flesh, their fur,
their milk etc.…, Many of the people that have these animals will not continue to have them. Less of these animals in the world, less of these relationships that teach us how to be kind to others, less of these relations to teach us there’s more to being alive then the current trends of the culture, etc.… the darker the world becomes in my opinion. As technology marches on we will have a choice to get our flesh and milk from Petri dishes. There will be less farm animals in the world and for many people that will be a far better world but for me, I disagree. We are in interesting times in our ability to shape our future. We at Cascadia Heritage Farm believe we can make a difference and you can to.
I believe the language is confusing as to farming and homesteading. Homesteading in America has meant something very specific until the last 30 odd years. The meaning has been changing. I’ll share a little from what I’ve learned from my research but before I do that, I think language is really important to help us understand what we’re doing and also to help get support from those around us and possibly even the government. I believe as a Society we value in large part what we’re going to pay for. If you want to encourage people to Homestead or farm or become less reliant or become more independent there needs to be financial incentives. I believe the current trends of global markets is what makes the most amount of financial sense currently. It is what most of us participate with knowingly or unknowingly. It is extremely hard to fight this and expensive. Most of us cannot afford this fight, but I believe it’s a fight most of us should consider joining. Here’s what I found out about Homesteading Historical.
People got the land for free, up to 160 acres federal land. I believe they had $10 filing fee, I’m not sure what that would be in today dollars. Women, immigrants and African-Americans all were eligible to get a piece of the American dream. It was established to move people west by President Lincoln. No homesteading has happened since 1986 under the Homestead act. 1/8 of the land had to be farmed. That makes sense, how would people eat in the middle of nowhere. People had to live off the land when they were homesteading. As a reward for making this risky move they got land very inexpensively. It all makes sense, a Homestead was a government subsidize farm. I believe they should reenact the Homestead act. Perhaps to encourage people not to get free federal land but perhaps huge grants to encourage young people to be able to learn how to farm, how to manufacture etc.… How to be less reliant on hostile global partners to encourage biodiversity in our food supply. Homesteading is an interesting idea, but I believe it’s misleading in today’s world. It’s very expensive to live off the land. And I want to make sure young people are not misled. It’s not impossible to live off the land, but was far more achievable when the government subsidized it tremendously. Anyway I found it all pretty interesting. The language we use does have meaning. Homestead it’s just a Home, I believe the Bible has references to this. Thanks for everyone for sharing your thoughts, It has helped me tremendously! George