Is the homesteading movement slowing down? | Page 2 | General Homesteading Discussion | Forums

spotted-horses said

Gravel Road said
I have been thinking about this since it was posted.  I Don't think homesteading is really gaining in true numbers.  I do think more people want better quality and healthier food, that there is more conservation of resources, that people are doing small things in greater numbers (maybe a small garden, turning of lights not in use, supporting local farmers more, recycling...) All this is good. 

I think most people feel stuck and can't see how they will ever get back to the land and make it work for them.  Some things seem to be obstacles: 1) people have too much debt and are overwhelmed with it and can't see how to make the transition from suburbia/city or even start from scratch 2) people love the idea of homesteading, but day dream too much and don't even bother to try a small garden or even learn to build a fire, they spend more time on the internet rather than actually developing skills 3) when many people get a taste of the work involved they re-think the idea of that much work day in and day out and loose a lot of steam 4) just not having a good plan or understanding of how to do it or where to begin. 

At least that is what I have seen...people think it's great to live on the 'farm', until they realize the amount of work involved and the fear they have of giving up their middle class suburban life...It's not for everyone and better to realize that before they make the leap.

I think too that some of the magazines and other articles misrepresent the reality. You never see the broken down fences, overgrown brush types of pictures.  The farms represented in the main stream media are all pristine.

It does seem like we live in an era of IMAGE being king over any dream wrecking (gasp!) reality. Our last place had what I called an 'upright junk pile' that the previous owner said was a fence. Its MORE work to remove those deficits and then remake them in more serviceable manner.  But if one wants to have a fence, cleared pasture or garden WITHOUT rolling up one's sleeves and working with idiot sticks (hand tools), they really would be sooooooo much better off keeping their dreams in a 'city'.

KVR said
part of the reason I stopped reading Mother Earth News

We have all the first 120 issues of TMEN and stopped after Shuttleworths sold it. I believe they deserved the $$$ for efforts beyond 'call of duty' and was happy for them to retire and live as THEY wanted. However the promises of the 'Madison Avenue' buyers to maintain the focus of the magazine was soon broken and yes Gravel - Yuppie Earth News came to be!

Its so sad because the original 'eco-village' (out of Hendersonville NC) was a great FUNCTIONING example of many homesteading aspects. We got to see it just as it was being closed down . I now and then wonder what became of it. Its like Sunset Magazine on the west coast - great while the Lane family ran it up until 1990s(?), but when they sold it, all DIY morphed into HID.