Is It Homesteading or Lifesteading?

Amy Dingmann, whose Farmish Kind of Life podcast is another of my favorites, suggested in this week’s episode that perhaps we’re not homesteaders. Perhaps we are lifesteaders. Specifically, she said,

If homesteading is the process of building a homestead, lifesteading is the process of building a life.

Amy describes her podcast as “big thoughts from a little farm” and I appreciate her ability to convey those big thoughts so well. I told people that I was going to Tennessee to present at a homesteading conference because that was a context most people understand, especially people who know me. I’m that weirdo who was born 100 years later than I should have been, the woman who has acquired a skill set far better suited to Little House on the Prairie than life in the 21st century. If the grid went down tomorrow, I’d still be able to clothe and feed you. After last weekend, though, I no longer believe that homesteading is the right word for what those of us in that community are doing. Plenty of people who were at that event live in the city. Or the suburbs. Some have gardens, some don’t. Some raise livestock. Most don’t. What we all had in common was that we were building the lives we wanted, in whatever form that took. And Amy, as usual, nailed it with her observation that we are lifesteading, not homesteading.

It’s a subtle distinction, but an important one. “Homesteading” has been a useful description because it conjures up visions of people rejecting modern lifestyles in favor of simpler ones, although anyone who has done it will tell you that homesteading is not simple or easy. However, I wonder if perhaps the term has outlived its usefulness.

Here are a few more highlights from the weekend:

Did we eat well? Yes, we did. All meals were included. As much as possible, Nicole feeds attendees with food she has produced or sourced locally. This was our dinner Thursday night:

Wee had pierogies—Nicole’s neighbor Knighthawk did a seminar Thursday afternoon on making pierogi, which I missed because I was teaching, but they were served up as part of our dinner. These were fried, not boiled and drowned in butter, bacon, and cheese a la Grandma Szabo. They were delicious nonetheless. I had one stuffed with mashed sweet potatoes and it was yummy.

Top center was sauteed Swiss chard, another favorite. I had two servings of the Salisbury steak with mushroom gravy because it was SO GOOD. And of course, I’ve never met cauliflower I didn’t like. At the bottom right is a quail leg. Quail is a popular homestead animal. We also had salad at lunch and dinner every day.

I was highly entertained by this chicken, who took “free range” to a new level.

She spent the whole weekend wandering through the event attempting to steal food from people’s plates. She almost succeeded in getting some of my lunch companion’s soup, which was in a mug on the ground next to his chair, but I saw her coming for it.

Nicole’s mother, Mama Sauce, sat with us everyday and knitted. She made this gorgeous shawl for Nicole out of some ribbon yarn:

Parts of this event were videotaped, although the videographer had car trouble and didn’t arrive until Friday afternoon. As far as I know, my presentations on Thursday weren’t recorded. If anything shows up on YouTube, I’ll let you know.

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Yesterday was spent catching up on paperwork and managing a case of weather whiplash because it was winter when I left but summer when I came home. I took down all the insulated shades. I need to clean the little porch fridge and plug it in so the eggs can go in there. The husband put away my porch lights for me, but now I need to get out and hang up the windchimes and the porch shade. He shut down the wood boiler for the summer. If we need heat, we’ll use propane. I have to get my snow tires taken off and summer tires put on. We are firmly in the summer routine now.