After years of reading about the homesteading adventures of Countryside readers, it has finally dawned on me. The difference between the homesteading success stories and the  tales of smoldering ruin is that successful homesteaders are craftsmen/women. They didn’t choose a minimalist lifestyle; instead, they combined determination and knowledge to craft a way of life , a heritage.  A lifestyle takes money. A  way of life takes time.

Established homesteaders like Sue Robishaw of Many Tracks and my friends Roger and Ann from Confessions of a Tightwad, are masters of the craft. They know full well that homesteading is a gilded craft, requiring the knowledge of the ages to sharpen modern skills. In the pages of Countryisde, the words of sage homesteaders guide others through the often tenuous steps to mastering their own level of self-reliance. I’m often in awe at the personal mastery of the readers who write to us. They are willing to try, repeatedly, to forge a way of life that reflects who they are and what they’re doing here. If you want to know someone’s heart, simply look at the things they care enough to do for themselves. Homesteading isn’t about a lifestyle; it’s about personal mastery.

Follow us on Twitter and get a FREE issue of Countryside.

They stormed the place just before lunch. A team of agriculture officials, along with members of SWAT, raided a farm in LaGrange, Ohio, on December 1st. They took the occupants of the home by absolute surprise, holding all of them at gunpoint for nine hours. All of them, even the toddlers. So, what horrendous crime did these people commit? Brace yourselves; it’s pretty bad. They were running a co-op, the Mana Storehouse, without a license. The owners of the co-op, the Stower family, insisted they weren’t doing anything that required a license. They’re not a retail operation; it’s members only. Members of the co-op grow and exchange food with each other; trade their home-preserved food amongst themselves; and support each other’s efforts at self-sufficiency.

Now, it would seem the moral of this story is never, ever, operate a food co-op without a license in Ohio. Their Secretary of Agriculture will send the law, complete with riot gear and counter-terrorist training. If they react like this to a licensing violation, what do they do to you if you return a library book late, shoot on sight?

[ad#countryside-inline]

The Stower’s situation illustrates just how deep the disconnect is between those who depend on the system for their very existence and those of us who are pretty sure we can provide for ourselves. Most of us, like the Stowers and their friends at Mana Storehouse, prefer to grow and preserve as much of our own food as possible. We have to ask ourselves, why does being self-sufficient pose such a threat to the larger population and government agencies? One would think it would be just the opposite.

Part of the problem is that we live in an era of social networking, unbridled consumerism and constant media bombardment. It is fast becoming the societal norm to be in a state of constant interaction with others. Those of us who are quite content to spend time alone in the garden or just hanging out with the chickens are perceived as somehow isolationist, anti-social even. But is it true? I hate to even suggest it, but maybe it is to some degree.

Before you decide that I’m out of my ever-loving gourd, let me explain. I’ve found that the more self-sufficient people become, the less time they spend watching television, playing video games, shopping at the local grocery store and visiting bars and restaurants. It’s not that we’re hermits; we’ve just discovered that less really is more; this includes social networking. In fact, after you’ve lived a minimalist lifestyle for any length of time, you find that you are quite content with a few quality social contacts. This is where we get ourselves in trouble. This kind of autonmy frightens the public and the government. Just what are we up to anyway? How on Earth can we stand to eat homegrown food all the time? Why don’t we buy brand-new designer clothes instead of going to the thrift shop? People are afraid of what they don’t understand; this fear is quickly whipped into hysteria when the public’s fears are confirmed by government agencies. Many homesteaders report problems with human services, local school boards as well as local government.

So, how do we change this wide-spread perception? We reach out. It’s not enough to defend our way of life; we have to share it. We have to take part in the larger community, even if they don’t seem particularly welcoming at first. Write a letter to the editor explaining your choices. Make sure it’s a coherent letter, not a rant. Attend community meetings, even if you are the only one there in clothes you proudly bought at the Salvation Army. Help someone who wants to know how to grow their own food or raise their own meat. Do whatever you can to demonstrate the positive consequences of homesteading, no matter where you homestead at. Hunkering down isn’t an option, and it could make you a target.

The authorities confiscated all of the Stower’s personal stores of food, all of their neighbor’s food, their computers, their telephones, their records, and all of their cash, but failed to charge the family with any crime. What’s next? No one seems to know. We’ll keep you posted.

Like this post? Vote for it

[poll id="5"]