Here’s Why all Preppers Should Start Homesteading

by Brea

With all the threats our country is facing, especially from the likes of North Korea, TEOTWAWKI could be coming soon. When SHTF, the location of your home is going to play a huge role on your survival. It doesn’t matter what the disaster may be, whether it is: WWIII, nuclear attack, EMP attack, power grid down, pandemic, terrorism, natural disaster, or economic collapse. Whatever the event is that changes our lives forever, the outcome of how people will turn quickly and how we must live a certain way to survive, is going to remain the same.

You do not want to live in an urban setting when any disaster strikes. If you have no option but to live in a city, hopefully you have a family member or close friend that lives on a homestead, so your chances of survival can become significantly be higher. There are many reasons why a homestead is the ideal place to be during a SHTF scenario.

REDUCING STARVATION

When SHTF, there are going to be upon thousands and thousands of people that die from starvation. Luckily, reducing starvation is a huge emergency that your homestead will protect you from.

You can use your livestock for beef, pork, chicken, and dairy. Livestock is extremely important to have because you will not be able to run to the grocery store to grab meat for your family. You can just walk outside on your homestead and be able to provide your family and yourself an ample of delicious meat.

calf

Cows

If you haven’t already, you should invest in some cows for your homestead. You need dairy cows for milk and beef cattle for your meat.

During a SHTF scenario, you are going to need abundance liquids to keep you and your family away from dying of dehydration. On average, a dairy cow produces seven to nine gallons of milk a day. You can get approximately 128 glasses full of this nutrient-packed goodness.

Beef cattle are extremely crucial to your homestead. On average, meat from one cow is equivalent to 720 quarter-pound hamburgers. If you are a family of four, you can enjoy hamburgers each day for six months, and that is just from one cow. Imagine if you have a whole herd of cows.

chickens and ducks

Chickens

Chickens are very important to have on your homestead for eggs and meat.

Most breeds will lay eggs every day, while others lay every other day, and some will lay once or twice a week. Hens like to lay eggs until they have collected a clutch which is normally a dozen eggs. Their goal is to continue laying until they have successfully collected a clutch, so if you continuously take out eggs daily, it will make your hen lay more eggs. Let’s say you have 12 hens and each hen lays an egg a day, you will have 84 eggs on a weekly basis.

How to make a homestead that runs on autopilot from the ground up. Watch video >>

It’s wise to get a rooster if you want to mate your chickens to hope for more hens to lay eggs. The more hens that lay eggs, the better eating your family will have.

Chicken meat is high in protein, vitamins, and minerals that are essential for our health. The average chicken will turn out to be approximately two 6 to 8-ounce breasts.

baby goat and a rooster

Goats

You can use your goats for milk, cheese, and meat.

The average dairy goat will create six to twelve pounds of milk daily. By the way, one gallon of goat milk will produce around one pound of cheese. You will not have to worry about running out of dairy products for you and your family during SHTF if you have at least one dairy goat.

Goats are also well known for their meat. If your goat weighs around 100 pounds, you will be able to get about 50 pounds of meat.

Pigs

If you have pigs on your homestead, you will be able to feed your family ham, gammon, bacon, sausage, tenderloin, and smoked pork during a SHTF scenario. You will get approximately 104 pounds from an average 215-pound live weight pig.

Sheep

Sheep are great to have for their wool, meat, and milk. You can use their wool for clothes, socks, etc. so you never have to run out when SHTF. Annually, the average sheep produces two to thirty pounds of wool.

Lamb (young sheep meat) is a rich source of high-quality protein. There are very many minerals and vitamins, such as: vitamin B12, zinc, and iron. If your lamb is approximately a 90-pound lamb, you will get around 34 pounds of meat.

Sheep’s milk is very beneficial to your health, so it would be wise to have them on your homestead. It strengthens the bones, boosts immune system, stimulates growth and development, reduces inflammation, lowers cholesterol levels, and fights cancer. All of these are very important because when SHTF, your health is not going to be in the best shape because of poor eating, so much physical activity, and less liquids. During lactation period, the average sheep will produce 100 to 200 pounds of milk.

Horses

When you think of horses, they might not be the first animal you think of to have for when SHTF because not many people eat horse. If SHTF and your family has absolutely no food what so ever, you can eat horse.

Horses are very important to keep on your homestead for when a disaster strikes, not for a last resort for food, but for something even bigger: transportation and hauling. Horses can take you off-roading and deep into the woods, that other means of transportation cannot.

Once vehicles quit working during SHTF, you can saddle your horse up (or go bare back) and ride them to your needed location and grab your family or close friends.

You can have your horses haul logs, injured people, and haul your kids when their legs get tired from walking so much.

GARDEN

Having a garden is important on your homestead to provide you and your family with fruits and vegetables – to maintain the healthiest you possible. With your garden, you and your family will not have to worry about running out quickly of herbs and vegetables that meet your nutritional requirements.

You want to have multiple gardening plots in case of diseases, bees, or someone stealing your goodies. You can also opt for indoor gardening. Wherever you choose your garden to be, make sure it is out of sight, so thefts will not be able to get any ideas.

peas

For fruit, you can start out with a small orchard, using a container to plant a fruit tree, or growing strawberries in your garden.

If you plan, create, and plant your garden accurately, your family will not have to stress about not having: potatoes, beets, beans, eggplants, tomatoes, peanuts, carrots, cabbages, peas, corn, berries, broccoli, and squash. Your chances of dying from starvation while having a garden is very slim, especially to those that are in an urban setting.

child on log

WOOD

Wood is one of the most valuable resources on your homestead and will be essential during a SHTF situation. With all the trees surrounding you on your homestead, you can cut them down and start chopping up the wood.

You can use your wood to make a fire for warmth, use the wood to boil water to purify your water, or use wood to make your food over it. Wood can also be used to build extra shelters for family or anyone in your group.

Note: Please do not use a chainsaw to chop your wood, use an axe instead to keep the noise to a bare minimum. You do not want to use a chainsaw and strangers be able to hear you and go on your homestead to try to take your belongings. Yes, chopping wood is an exhausting activity, but your family will thank you later.

HERBAL APOTHECARY

If you or a loved one get an illness or infection of some sort, you will not be able to run to your local pharmacy to get the medicines you need. When SHTF, pain will be very common, and you cannot let anyone in your group suffer when you are going to need their helping hand.

An herbal apothecary provides you with making your own essential oils, vitamins, and natural medicine. Within your apothecary, you can even make penicillin on your homestead. You can even have a natural herb that is the best natural painkiller (wild lettuce), similar to morphine, in your apothecary! Wild lettuce can also treat migraines, anxiety, insomnia, asthma, and cough.

Your apothecary can be as small or large as you would like it to be if you have the required herbs. You can have a station for your herbs, a shelf with your items, or a whole room dedicated to your natural remedies.

child near creek

WATER

On your homestead, you more than likely have some type of water flow whether it be a small stream, creek, pond, or river. Having a water resource on your homestead can protect you from dying of dehydration, starvation, medical care, cleaning, growing of crops, and power if you have a hydropower system.

You can purify the water to have clean drinking water for you, your loved ones, your livestock, and your crops. Having a water supply on your homestead will protect you from dehydrating. You can also purify your water for cooking and cleaning. Some people may not even think about cleaning when SHTF but if our bodies aren’t clean or living area isn’t clean, there will be a lot of germs being active and will create illnesses that could have been avoided. Your creek, pond, or river should be stocked up with fish for your food supply. You can also grow your own algae in your pond, so you can attempt to create your own biodiesel fuel.

woods

LOCATION

Your chances of survival will either increase or decrease based on your location. If you are in an urban setting, your chances of survival will decrease greatly due to the riots, thefts, and punks going on a killing spree once they find out the law is not able to help you. If you are living in a rural setting, or homestead, the rate of your survival will incredibly increase.

Living on a homestead gives you a lot of protection but the location is one of the biggest emergencies your homestead will protect you from. If people do not know where you are residing, then they will not be able to come onto your land to steal your food, belongings, livestock, or hurting you and your family. Also, while most people reside in cities and when they are freaking out raiding stores and each other, you and your family will be able to get everything in place for TEOTWAWKI.

SHOOTING RANGE

Having a shooting range is very important to have before SHTF. If you are in the comfort of your homestead, you do not have to worry about being seen at public gun ranges, so no one knows if your loved one is not the best as shooting. Or, when SHTF, you can take your loved one out to your shooting range and have them shoot targets for practice and to be prepared.

You can use your shooting ranges for your guns, crossbows or compound bows. You can use moving targets and stationery targets. If stuff has already hit the fan, make sure to use your bows for practice instead of guns so you will not draw attention to your homestead.

You want to make sure that everyone in your group can hit bullseye or at least get kill shots on the targets to protect your loved ones against an intruder, theft, or animal trying to kill you or your livestock.

rifle scope

HUNTING

Although you have your livestock ready to provide for you and your loved ones, it would be wise to bring in more food in case you add more people in your group (only do this if they are beneficial to your family – doctor, nurse, etc.), or if it will be years until everyone can get food without every worrying about ever running out (you will be able to have an idea how long society will remain the same based on the disaster that triggered SHTF).

On your homestead, you have the opportunity to hunt. Hunting will reduce starvation and will add even more meat to your collection.

You should always use one of your bows to hunt during SHTF to reduce the noise and attention. If you do not own a compound or crossbow, there are ways to make your own bow and arrows. Always be sure to take one of your guns with you in case of finding an intruder in your woods.

You will get about 45 to 60 pounds of meat from the average large doe. No matter how much livestock you have ready to be butchered to provide your group with, always hunt every chance you get. You do not want to have to worry about running out of meat to feed your loved ones.

deer

LIVING OFF YOUR RETREAT

If you make a living off your retreat, all your worries and stress of the following first minutes of a disaster striking, go right out the window.

Unlike people that will be at work in the city during the disaster freaking out and not knowing what to do, there will be you on your homestead, prepared for whatever the chaotic world brings, and having everything ready. More than likely, your family is also with you working on your homestead, so you won’t have to worry about them getting to you safely. Instead of worrying about where so and so is, you can start putting your plan in action.

POST-SHTF

When SHTF, your homestead will help you survive but when its over and the rebuilding of society begins, it will help you thrive. You will have bundles of food, water supplies, land to hunt on, wood to start creating sheds and buildings, and the skillset of a hard worker.

You have all the necessities of survival on your homestead, so people will be coming to you begging to barter with them. You can set up a trading post, so you can get other items that you need, make “money,” and install yourself as at least one of the leaders in the new society. You and your family will not have to worry about barely getting by any longer, all thanks to your homestead.


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12 thoughts on “Here’s Why all Preppers Should Start Homesteading”

  1. Bear in mind that raising livestock takes a tremendous amount of water. It may take up to 30 gallons of water for a single cow. Making a stock pond for supplying this can run into real EPA type problems. Homesteads in dry areas make it even more difficult to provide water.

    Reply
    • Every homesteader and 3 in 5 people in our rural county keep livestock. They all use a natural or man-made pond or a creek to water them none of them have run into a single problem with the EPA, not even during the Obama years when the federal agency was extremely militant. Even during intense summer heat waves and little rain, no animals on the farms, homesteads, and backyard mini-homesteads, ever perished because of a lack of water.

      Reply
  2. While the intent of this post may be good, it is a long way from being realistic. Those with actual experience with raising cattle, goats, chickens, gardens, etc. have to be laughing at how easy this writer makes it sound to provide meat and vegetables for the family. The yields from the various animals are simply not accurate. There is no consideration given to securing grain and hay for the animals, vital to maintaining them in months with low forage and winter conditions. Ever milked a cow or goat in poor condition? I can tell you from experience it takes a lot of good nutrition for a mother to just feed their offspring, let alone produce for the family. Just try getting nine gallons of milk from your cow and an egg per hen every day on poor nutrition. Further, how easy would it be to protect these animals from other starving people, even at night in sleet storms and freezing temps? Grinding the hamburger? Storing fresh killed meat in the summer? I heat exclusively with wood I cut, season and house. While it “can” be done with an axe, not using a chainsaw because of noise is the advice of someone with a heat pump. Any experience with gardening on a large scale? Bugs, storms, predators, thieves, and fungus await. Heirloom seeds and seed saving? Enough details, we won’t talk about time and resources spent in self defense, garden and animal protection round the clock, tilling the garden with a hoe and mattock instead of that noisy tractor, and so on. I have lived this stuff for years, and giving people a pie in the sky example is a disservice. The problems faced with every topic in this article are real, and grow exponentially in a survival situation. My advice is to live it now, and be prepared for lots of hard work, losses, failures and more hard work.

    Reply
    • You have to have patience with these folks. Those of us who do have homesteads don’t have time to write about it and those writing about it rarely have time to do it. I know, I’ve tried to put up a blog but a well researched and written article can take 6-8 hours. I have pastures to mow, cows, goats, llamas, chicken and guinea fowl to feed, a garden to get in, a tractor in need of an oil change, barns in need of cleaning and firewood to cut for next year. Momma’s car needs head gaskets and I still have two rooms to sheetrock, tape and bed and paint. That solar system I spent $20,000 on is still in the shop and I promised Momma I’d have it installed last year. It would be nice if they would reach out to us every now and then ask for advice but I suppose they have things on their honey do list as well.

      Reply
    • steven ,,,,,,,, very-very ‘well-said’ … we are living the ‘almost-self-sufficient-life-style” …. and believe me = IT-ALL IS ALLL VERY-MUCH FUN —- ‘BUT, ‘A LOT’ OF VERY HARD WORK
      … WE ONLY HAVE 12-CHICKENS = eggs primarily, 4-GOATS = weed-getters and meat, A HORSE – transportation, WE GROW A {relatively} LARGE GARDEN (just at 10,000 square feet – primarily corn – for grain-consumption, potatoes, winter squash, dry-down beans), we get our beef from a neighbor, milk from a neighbor, HAY AND SOME GRAIN FROM A NEIGHBOR, OTHER VEGGIES, ETC. – FROM NEIGHBORS, and I DO NOT HUNT (I – thought – own several guns) – I EXCHANGE WEEDING FOR VENISON – hunting took too much time away from the homestead, WE HEAT WITH WOOD = neighbors help (now) = gather and chop and stack, …………. BEEN DOING THIS LIFE-STYLE FOR A VERY-VERY LONG TIME –
      I am retired now- but, early-on when the children were all home – we still survived quite well, we live in a most-excellent location – somewhat isolated = but the kiddos went to local ‘ small-school’, good/plenty of water ..
      YOU ARE VERY-RIGHT …. ‘LIVE-IT-NOW’ = AND LOVE & ENJOY THE WORK = IT IS THE ADVENTURES OF THE JOURNEY = NOT THE DESTINATION …. d

      Reply
    • I was with you on the article ,taking care of the animals ,food ,hay water I think the writer needs to rethink a little more. How many people will be needed to care for the homestead, thieves would be a constant threat.

      Reply
    • If you found the solid advice about homesteading to be unrealistic, you must not have possessed the skill set and drive needed to put in the daily work on even a small, 10 acre of so property. If chopping wood with an ax seems like too much manual labor for you, don’t expect to survive a SHTF scenario very long – FYI, we heat exclusively with wood as well.

      Reply
  3. I have a shooting range, but due to a lack of volunteers, I have not been able to practice shooting at moving targets. My targets just sit there, no matter how nice I ask, people just look at me like I’m nuts, and the dog only played that ‘game’ once before he smartened up.

    Reply
  4. While a bit idealized, at least the author is trying to encourage city people to stop being dependent and produce their own food.

    Yes, as a chicken-keeper, I know you don’t get an egg a day per hen all the time. Sometimes, like after the molt and before the young ones are mature enough, I don’t get ANY eggs a day. That’s life. I plan for it.

    Still, the author’s point is valid. A prepper with a long-term vision of self-sufficiency will homestead, not just sit on a pile of MREs.

    Reply
  5. Folks, Brea is actually on a farm, she loves homesteading, so that’s why it may seem a little intimidating for newbies, or for those on smaller homesteads. She really does practice what she preaches.

    Reply
  6. My In-laws have a farm but rent out tier tillage to neighbors. We ALL work in that frigging garden, al the time. Keeping the brush down with a zero turn is hard enough but using critters to do it would be even harder, Only a scythe makes no sound, animals certainly do. all I know is you only slow down working at dusk or when you are asleep. You also need dogs for security against preditors with 2 and 4 legs. Coyotes, skunks, coons and possum are real problems for livestock, especially chickens. Its a lot of work.

    Reply

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