The Hunters Introduce Themselves
Editor’s Note: We will print monthly homesteading updates from the Hunters on or about our first issue each month.
Where were you twenty years ago? Twenty years ago, Spencer was a nine year old in St. Anthony, studying how much space enough animals to feed his family would need and talking to people about what their dream home would be. Twenty years ago, I was eleven, on a farm and ranch on the Oregon Slope, spinning stories about people living “back then,” and reading Little House on the Prairie, Little Women, and Janette Oke’s prairie frontier novels. Neither of us knew that someday we would really, truly be living out what we were dreaming and imagining.
Jeff Olson expounded on the concept of the “slight edge” in his book of the same name. A slight edge is a small advantage gained in part by repeated actions working towards the goal. In some ways Spencer and I feel that we have a slight edge in the homesteading world. We have been thinking about it, studying it, and trying to practice for it for 20 years, starting in our adulthood with chickens, then adding goats, canning, and gardening, and finally jumping off the deep end with ten, unimproved acres of potential.
What is homesteading? Essentially, homesteading is a lifestyle that aims to be self-sufficient, especially in food production and preservation. For Spencer and I, homesteading means a sense of freedom. The ability to do our own thing. We feel more free because, since we are choosing to homestead off grid, we aren’t beholden to the electrical company. We also feel more free to build our home the way we feel fit, since we are not bound by CC&Rs. Now, it is a trade-off, however, because for every ounce of freedom, we have to spend a decent amount of effort.
For us also, homesteading means a connection to the land, to our food, even to our water, to knowing intimately where it comes from, what went into the raising of it, what went into the harvesting of it. You have no idea how much water you use until you are in a dry cabin (where all water must be manually carried outside and disposed of) or how much effort goes into getting water until you are standing six feet down in a four foot diameter hole, shoveling gravel into a bucket that will be pulled up, dumped, and returned. Suddenly, each drop of water is precious.
You have no idea how dirty clothes become until you are cranking a manual washing machine, wringing them back and forth from wash to rinse, pinning them to a clothes line, then delighting in the fresh, clean scent of wind-softened laundry.
Life becomes more intentional when you are living off grid in a tiny structure with small children. You think more carefully about each resource you use, each effort you make. Intentionality is important to us.
So that’s where we’ve come from, ideologically. Where are we going? Well, we intend to build a house this year, deepen the well until it withstands summer’s heat, build a root cellar, create a flourishing garden, and put in a few dozen or more trees. The overarching goal is to do it in healthful, holistic ways that keep us keenly in tune to the ebb and flow of life and weather and seasons. Can we do it? Well, we’ll sure try. I saw a quote the other day that said “our grandparent’s way of life was hard on the body, but easy on the soul.” I don’t know if I would go so far as to say that it is easy on the soul, but we are satisfied that it is easier on our souls than the life we left, and for us, that’s enough.
Please feel free to share your ideas for homesteading by emailing editor@therecordreporter.com.
