This is NOT an article about pre-mixed vanilla cupcake batter. It’s an article about the determination, persistence, and action necessary to be a homesteader, and where we are as a society.
At the end of WWI, a little more than 100 years ago, the United States was still largely an agrarian society. The government encouraged and expected people to provide for themselves by planting gardens and owning livestock, like chickens. People worked hard to provide for themselves, and elders passed down their knowledge to the next generation.
So why the picture of cupcake batter? It’s just a representation of today’s society. We’ve gone from making cupcakes from scratch, to a buying a pre-made cupcake mix, to buying the batter already mixed. Was adding an egg and water too taxing? We’ve grown comfortable paying extra for convenience. We pay people to bring us our groceries, and we pay double for someone to bring us fast food because we don’t want to drive 2 blocks to pick it up. In addition to convenience, we pay people because we’ve lost the knowledge and skills to provide for ourselves.
When someone asks us “What is a homesteader?”, we explain is like this. Most people work so they can have money to buy stuff. The homesteader shortens the cycle by just making the stuff. It’s usually food, but it can be clothes, furniture, animal housing, or repairs. And it takes time, effort, and patience. We aren’t homestead purists. We hope we will never have to make our own toilet paper. But we work hard to supplement our lives with the quality products we produce, like eggs, meat, fruit, vegetables, herbs, cheese, maple syrup, and even wine.
American society has grown comfortable with paying someone else to do the work. And we’ve grown impatient when we can’t have what we want NOW! When egg prices were high, we received several calls per day from people wanting newly laying hens. They didn’t think about the large cost to provide housing for tomorrow’s breakfast-makers. Most of them knew nothing about chickens, but they knew they didn’t want to wait 5 months for a chick to grow up and start laying. And they didn’t take the time to learn because they told themselves they were too busy earning so they could buy more stuff.
One of my favorite motivational posters is the one that says “Get to work. You aren’t being paid to believe in the power of your dreams.” Some people WANT to be more self-sufficient; they just don’t want to WORK for it. Case in point: Happy Wife Acres has an apprentice program. Participants trade their labor for knowledge, working at least once per week for a minimum of 3 hours. Applicants tell us they WANT to learn what we know, but when they realize it takes a weekly commitment throughout the summer involving real WORK, 80% of them walk away. And this year, it’s closer to 90%.
Bob Parsons, the founder of GoDaddy, is credited with saying “If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, and you wouldn’t have an opportunity.” Homesteading isn’t easy, but there are opportunities for substantial results. There are no cheat codes or easy buttons to learn what we do. But the apprentices that took the opportunity and made the effort have gone on to raise their own chickens, quail, ducks, bees, and gardens with the knowledge they learned here.
If you believe in the power of your dreams, but don’t like to work much, then stay home and watch more how-to videos on your phone. But if you want an opportunity to work and learn from an operating farm about providing for yourself, then consider applying to be an apprentice at https://www.happywifeacres.com/apprentices/ We promise to send you home a little smarter and a whole lot dirtier!
And if you aren’t near Dayton, Ohio, find a mentor who will take the time to teach you.