Homesteaders seem to love homesteading. They are up with the sun every morning working to take of care of livestock, tend the garden, and reap their rewards. This is the second post in a series where I interview homesteaders to find out more about whey they chose this lifestyle. First we learned why they choose to homestead. In this post, they answer the question: What do you love most about homesteading?
What Do You Love Most About Homesteading?
1. Oh, jeeze. Hard to pick just one thing I love most about homesteading. Really, ALL OF IT. I think the connecting to nature part of if I had to choose one thing. Raising baby animals, gardening with my hands in the dirt, planning my day around the weather. The Reid Homestead
2. Truth I don’t love much of anything about this stage of homesteading. The beginning where all the building, clearing, gathering is done doesn’t have much reward. So it seems like you’re working for nothing. We often have to keep ourselves motivated with the end goal because we want to give up. A Table Full in the Woods
3. I love the feeling of, “I did that!” I love knowing that I have the knowledge and skills to take care of myself and my family. Homesteading But Not
4. I love that everyday is different. Even though the chores and tasks may be the same, something new and different is always happening. Whispering Moon Homestead
5. I love interacting with the animals, and I particularly love the spring when babies are being born. The Young Homestead
6. I love knowing the origins of a large portion of our food. There’s also just something really satisfying about walking out and picking up an egg that you know was fresh that morning. The House that Never Slumbers
7. The thing I love most about homesteading is reconnecting with the simplicity of life again. In everything I do, I ask myself “how would the generations before me do this?” You start to think about how everything is being made to convenience humans but often that comes at a price. Before choosing this lifestyle, I never would have soaked my clothes in an old metal bucket. That’s what the soak option was for on the washing machine, right? Dela Pond Homestead
8. It’s funny but the work is my favorite part. I get up early and hit the ground running and at night I hit the bed in a daze. I am exhausted…but exhausted because I worked hard to provide our family with fresh meat, veggies, and milk. Simple Living Country Gal
9. We love being outdoors, reaping the benefits of our hard work with fresh foods. Melinda Kunst
10. I love knowing where my food is coming from, and having my children involved in the process. As For Me and My Homestead
11. I love everything about homesteading, but my ultimate favorite is gardening! Watching my fruits and veggies grow and eating them fresh out of the garden! Not to mention, the calming and serene feeling I get when I’m working in the garden! It is really calming and takes my mind off of all my other stressors. Minnesota Country Girl
12. The nature, the nature, the nature! We love our own company and we love feeling like we’re miles from anyone. The Farmish Collective and Getting the Good Life
13. I love the challenges that come with homesteading and the sense of purpose it gives me. Pandora Acres
14. What I love most about homesteading is the sense of freedom it provides. Yes, there are challenging days – days when an owl gets into your chicken coop and kills some of them, when bugs decimate an entire 50-foot row of your broccoli, when you forgot to put the insect netting over the potatoes and you’re standing there for hours picking squash Colorado potato beetles off of the foliage…but being able to go into my freezer and root cellar in the dead of winter and pull out fresh or preserved food that WE grew is beyond satisfying! Grit and Grace Homestead
15. We love the connectedness to the earth. We haven’t been successful in the garden much yet, but we have lots of eggs. We enjoy watching the baby animals grow up, and they’re fun to be around. There’s peace of mind knowing that we will eventually be mostly self-sufficient and we won’t be nearly as impacted by an economic crash or a natural disaster. Rustic Traditions Homestead
16. The fact that we owe nothing. We are a cash on hand family and the only debt we owe is our mortgage. We are independent from factory farming, and the idea of being sustainable is liberating. Essentially, we are free. In every sense of the word. A Farm Girl in the Making
17. What I love most about homesteading is the accomplishment I feel at the end of the day. Whether it’s finishing a project, planting the garden, and even just mowing the lawn. No matter what I did for a day job it never left me content, but homesteading really does. Hell or High Water Homestead
18. Walking into my backyard and gathering food for a meal. Nothing beats a fresh egg. Nothing! Also, showing our kids where/how food grows. Hopefully they grow up wanting their own homestead…or, at the very least, a garden. The Hayes Homestead
19. Knowing the love and care that goes into our food. Tammy Beasley
20. There are many things we love about homesteading. It’s hard to choose just one. The biggest is probably freedom and security. We have more control over our day to day life, we control what is in (the majority of) our food. We have become much more self-reliant and self-sustaining. Misty Meadows Homestead
21. I enjoy creating. I’ve always been more of a hands-on person, and I like to look back at a project when I’m finished and feel a sense of pride and accomplishment. I like knowing my days are full, and that there is always something to do. I’m hardly ever bored! Hatch End Homestead
22. My connection to the earth. I can find ways to heal my family and livestock naturally. I know where my food comes from. It’s wonderful. Homesteading Unrefined
Here at Happiest Camper Homestead, the animals bring me joy. They each have their own personalities and you never know what they are going to do next. I also love the satisfaction of dreaming up a project and following it through to completion. It’s a great feeling!
Are you a homesteader or considering homesteading? What do you love about it?