Farm Dreams
Homesteading, Organic Gardening, How to Farm, Preparedness, Self-Reliance
Farming vs. Homesteading
So I'm a little confused as to the difference between Farming and Homesteading.
Is it like if you are raising meat and vegetables to provide for your family then you are a farmer? But if you are raising vegetables and meat to provide for your family then you are homesteading?
Tags: Farming, Homesteading
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Pat Barr on -
While I listed my self as a homesteader, I like the farmstead defination much better. To me, in many ways, it's like the small (160 acre) grade "B" dairy farms I worked on as a boy... Being retired, I depend on that money to support me... but, I'd 100 times rather eat my own raised meat, eggs, fruit and veggies! I think another thing that a farmsteader does (that a "farmer" doesn't) is appling symbiotic principles. (Using things for more than 1 purpose. While I will use chemicals if I have to (but haven't had to yet), I'd rather use my poultry as my primary (and actually probably in the 90 % range) insecticide. I use my hair sheep and the Highlands to keep the "trash" from growing in the pastures... (as well as they fertilize it)... and the "pig tractor" to till and fertilize the garden. (I also use the excess manure from the chicken house and the feed areas around my barn for the garden.) When I had 2 more ponds built, I stocked with fish (to keep the ponds clean also) and built a berm before the majority of the water runs into one of the ponds and "harvest" 2 - 4 yards of fantistic dirt a year for "raised bed" gardening also. I didn't invent any of these... and actually most were trained into me as I was working...
And, I agree, this is a great discussion, and makes me glad I joined the group!
Pat
Pat
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Permalink Reply by Pat Barr on
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I also think that a Farmsteader is more inclined to buy "Heritage" things (not only in animals, but also in fruit trees, and vegatables). Things that have been around for a couple of hundred (or more) years have been around because they can survive. They may not grow the fastest, or produce the most milk, maybe only produce apples every other year etc., but they can survive without all the chemicals. They have mostly (I say mostly because if sometime in the recent past the animal was a "favorite" breed, the breeders didn't care to be for the "heritage" qualities... they bred for animals to sell) proved themselves by still being here.
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Permalink Reply by Andrea G on -
I think that part of the homesteader mindset is to provide wholesome food that is not processed. A farmer could produce a cash crop, get paid, then go buy groceries containing chemicals he can't even pronounce. A homesteader produces his own food and knows exactly what has gone into producing it. He may sell some of the surplus to others, but only after he has ensured that there will be enough for his own family. Looking at it this way, it seems like being a farmer is more of a job, but being a homesteader is more of a lifestyle. Both work very hard though.
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Permalink Reply by Barefootingly Simple on -
For me farming doesn't have to be large scale, we are partners on a 300 acre farm and consider ourselves farmers. We do try to turn a bit of profit. Homesteading doesn't ONLY include food, it is just trying to do things for yourself more sufficiently. Homesteading also includes basic skills that have been forgotten- sewing, gardening, fixing things, cooking from scratch, canning, dehydrating, smoking meats, etc. We also raise a few chickens and meat rabbits, hope to soon get either a dairy goat or a family milk cow. A homesteader can live in an apartment in the city, A homesteader is a state of mind, while a farmer is an occupation. Farming is a way of life for most people to make a living, homesteading though is just an act - no one pays you to homestead - you do it for yourself.
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Permalink Reply by Emily Maker on -
I agree. =) I consider myself a homesteader, or on my way to it anyway. My goals are to produce MOST of everything my family needs on site. Fiber, food, water, electricity, building materials, animal's feed, labor (horse, oxen, or goat depending on my eventual scale.)
Grammy Dot said:It's sort of like a square is a rectangle but a rectangle isn't necessarily a square.
You can easily be both a homesteader and a farmer.
For me a homesteader implies that you are attempting to produce most all of your needs yourself.
Farming does not imply that you are committed to this level of self sufficiency. A farmer can raise 1000 of acres of corn/beans or a farmer can raise vegetables on a small scale. Most all of the folks that I know who call themselves farmers are producing food to sell to others as their focus. Those that I know who call themselves homesteaders are working to be independent as much as possible of outside inputs.
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Permalink Reply by Herbert Arce on
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I agree with your definition the most.
However, people are too focused on labels. Farm, homestead, farmstead. It's all fancy talk for family farm.
My grandfather wasn't concerned with whether he had a farm of homestead, he just grew what he could for my Mom and her 7 brothers and sisters, and sold the rest.
Little Seed Farm said:
I'd take brief issue with the idea that a farmer's purpose is economic gain off the land. That might be the end result of their actions, and for some farmers it may be the driving force behind farming (especially in the "developed world"), but I don't think it's necessarily the farmer's "purpose".
A farmer's base purpose is to feed him/herself and/or others. They may produce a monoculture, but the end result is food production (or fuel in some cases, but generally it's for food). Farmers are the result of a desire for a sedentary culture, not the desire to make money. In fact, the idea of "economic gain" largely exists because of farmers and not the other way around, agriculture being among the initial industries that drove the development of fiat currency.
So, what makes a farmer? In my mind it's someone who produces a crop (food, fiber, etc) for personal survival and/or trade with others. If trade happens to be another good/service or a big fat wad of cash that's up to the farmer and the community they live in.
A homesteader attempts to be self-sufficient. This makes homesteaders farmers, but not necessarily the other way around. In order to be self-sufficient you must farm (or hunt and gather I suppose). A farmer can produce one crop and not be self-sufficient, but still be a farmer.
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Permalink Reply by Greg Smith on
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I feel that part of the difference is the target market. If the majority of the goods produced are for the grower's family, then that is a homesteader. If the majority of the goods are for someone else, then that's a farmer.
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Permalink Reply by Tom Stewart on
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I think the "Homesteader" is as conserned with what he puts back into the land as he is what he/she takes out of it.
A farmer will use all the chemicals at his disposal to ensure that he gets the most out of his crop as possible. And put nothing back! I purchased 3 acres of crop land 4 years ago and the soil is DEAD! nothing will grow here, but weeds! It's all sand (no organic matter and NO WORMS!) and the sub-soil is so hard packed that nothing will get through it, not water, not compost!
That is, I think one of the biggest difference between Homesteaders and farmers!
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Permalink Reply by Rich Hamilton on
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A differentiation needs to be made between "conventional" farmers and "sustainable" farmers.
I'm a farmer - I raised over 3000 meat chickens this last year, have a 500 hen laying flock, a dozen cattle and multiple pigs. We are all-nautral using no chemicals, hormones or antibiotics. We feed non-gmo feeds and consider ourselves stewards of the land. We build soils, not tear them down. We practice the same princicples in our large garden area using heirloom seeds, etc.
And while convential farmers do some odd/bad things, we need to look for opportunities to help them change - for all of our sakes.
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Permalink Reply by Little Seed Farm on -
Right on Rich! Not all farmers pursue poor stewardship practices and good for you for setting a great example and pursuing change.
Rich Hamilton said:A differentiation needs to be made between "conventional" farmers and "sustainable" farmers.
I'm a farmer - I raised over 3000 meat chickens this last year, have a 500 hen laying flock, a dozen cattle and multiple pigs. We are all-nautral using no chemicals, hormones or antibiotics. We feed non-gmo feeds and consider ourselves stewards of the land. We build soils, not tear them down. We practice the same princicples in our large garden area using heirloom seeds, etc.
And while convential farmers do some odd/bad things, we need to look for opportunities to help them change - for all of our sakes.
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Permalink Reply by Deep Roots Farm on -
I am a farmer and a homesteader, I hadn't heard the term 'farmsteading' but I would put myself in that category. I consider myself both for a few reasons. I farm on several leased plots, I take a majority of my crop to market. Within these crops I grow, I also preserve and store enough for my partner and I so we reduce our reliance on the local food coop. I farm to live a lifestyle that aligns with my belief in providing more for myself and my community than relying on major corporations and megafarms. I don't believe farmers farm to make money. I believe farmers farm for a lifestyle. Yes, you can make money (Joel Salatin is a prime example), but he did not get into the business of farming for money. He farms to preserve a landscape he loves and feed people really good and healthy food. Making money is a goal.
In my perfect world, small farmers would make money by growing for their communities, megafarms would have gov't subsides taken away and forced to diversify and sell their crops locally. and EVERYONE would be a homesteader. Everyone would have a garden, a flock of backyard chickens, medicinal herbs for landscaping, and NO LAWNS.
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Permalink Reply by Deep Roots Farm on
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I am more and more disturbed by this thread. Please don't forget that there is a revolution happening of small, sustainable farming all over the world. Please don't generalize farmers as rapers of the earth. There is a long continuum of farming and homesteading.
I farm, I feed the soil first, I try to make the places entrusted to me better each season. I am a Farmer.
Tom Stewart said:I think the "Homesteader" is as conserned with what he puts back into the land as he is what he/she takes out of it.
A farmer will use all the chemicals at his disposal to ensure that he gets the most out of his crop as possible. And put nothing back! I purchased 3 acres of crop land 4 years ago and the soil is DEAD! nothing will grow here, but weeds! It's all sand (no organic matter and NO WORMS!) and the sub-soil is so hard packed that nothing will get through it, not water, not compost!
That is, I think one of the biggest difference between Homesteaders and farmers!
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