No animals-No problem

Do you need to have animals in order to consider yourself having a homestead? No! Of course I would love animals, they are a lot of maintenance with an even larger outcome.

A homestead is what you make of it. It is ok to still go buy eggs or meat at the store if that is not your hobby in the end. For me, if I had animals, I don’t think I could ever butcher them…which makes them not as useful in the long run. It all depends on what you want to get out of your homestead. There are growing concerns especially in the United States of our food and how it is processed to be sold to the consumer which is why gardening and homesteading has become so much more popular again. But, that is a personal output of what you are comfortable with and what you can withstand in your own homestead. Me, I simply don’t have the space for animals right now. But, I do still consider my home a homestead.

There are still plenty of things you can make fresh from a homestead that many people do not even realize. It is more than just growing vegetables and herbs and making bread. It is about experimenting on how you can take your garden to the next level. Using your vegetables in more ways than one or expanding your knowledge of nature.

I do still buy animal products from the store for a number of reasons. One, like I said before, I do not have room for any large animals. I could maybe get away with chickens if I really wanted them. Two, I personally don’t think I could butcher any animal for meat. Butchering animals is it’s own kind of art. Every animal is different and can get different cuts. I do not have the time or energy for that at this point. Three, animals are A LOT of work. Just take a house pet for example. A dog or cat needs to be watched and cared for everyday. They need to eat, have shelter, exercise, and they can get sick. Much like any other farm animal would. I do not have the resources, space, or finances, to take on animals personally.

There is also the aspect of what you want you want to gain from owning animals and raising them on your homestead. Having animals could just be a means to give your family meat or you can go as far as using every part of the animal like humans used to have to do. There are a lot of ways you can use animal products in your homestead.

I am somewhere in the middle. I do not have animals myself but I like to use animal products in many different ways. For instance, now that it is officially soup season, we like to buy a whole chicken from the store and spatchcock it and use the meat for eating and the bones to make chicken stock. Technically, there are a lot of animals in your garden. None of them are domesticated enough to get any use out of them! One easy way you can incorporate animal products into your homestead is starting a bee hive. This takes some skill also but honey is one of the most natural animal products out there!