A Modern Homesteader Journey

It all started as a simple challenge for myself to stop being a "plant killer" during the 2020 Pandemic. At the time, it was my family of five living in an apartment with a small balcony. We were fortunate to have a park with walking trails nearby, but it didn't seem to feel like enough. I was missing something important and decided it must be a better connection to nature. And so, like most people today, I turned to YouTube. I was determined to figure out how to keep plants alive and have been falling down the metaphoric rabbit hole ever since.

Gardening - The Gateway Drug to Homesteading

I started watching various people's videos on common plant issues and how to resolve them. The more I watched, the more I learned. The more I learned, the more I wanted to test my knowledge. I began buying some houseplants and plants for the balcony. The biggest nugget of knowledge that I learned that helped me so much has been to water from below, not from the top. Once I bought seeds to try that out, there was no going back.

Suburbs Gardening is Meh

I did not grow up on a farm or with relatives to show me a lot of gardening basics. In the suburbs, gardening is more like maintaining a grass-only lawn void of other natural elements and/or flowers if you're feeling sassy. By flowers, I mean mostly bulb types that you plant once and they come back on their own. Growing vegetables, let alone a functioning garden that includes "weeds" felt ludicrous. I really had to start from nothing in my gardening journey.

An Innocent Addiction

What had started as an innocent search for basic knowledge about keeping plants from dying eventually became a sort of obsession. I began to accumulate books - on gardening, on herbs, on cooking with the herbs, on baking/cooking with things you grow, on healthier ways to maintain a household with environmentally friendly cleaning products, and then I slowly began to purchase plant seeds and all the things needed to be successful with that.

A Way of Life

The more I learned and attempted to do, I soon found myself aligned with a lot of others online who I realized were part of a modern homesteading movement. I found the sub-culture very fascinating and would find myself supporting others in their small business/family ventures. Six years later, it is no longer just an interest but more of a way of living now. While I have a lot to still learn, I enjoy it having become a more ingrained part of my life. 

My hope for you, dear reader, is that you may find yourself also inspired to implement more knowledge and interaction with nature that I'm sure you would also benefit from. Best of luck in your journey and I hope me sharing my wins and losses will help you along the way!