Homesteading Classes and Hands-On Homestead Courses
I’ve talked to a lot of homesteaders over the years – being extremely interested in the back to the land movement myself – and I’ve heard a lot of different opinions on what it means to homestead. In that time there is one thing I have NEVER heard: Homesteading is easy. But don’t be discouraged. With a bit of help from people who know how to live off the land, you can avoid many of the pitfalls and greatly improve your chances of success.
The first thing you should probably know is that most homesteaders have a second income. Maybe they work “in town” or telecommute, or perhaps they have their own business, such as selling honey or hand-made soaps. Even hardcore legends like the Nearings had supplemental income selling syrup and books. One way to bring in some extra cash, which we’ll talk about in an upcoming article, is to offer farmstay style cabin or cottage rentals.
Another way some homesteaders help pay the bills is to give classes on homesteading, which is – without further digression – the point of this article. Below is a list of some homestead families who provide individual homesteading courses, along with a bit of information about each to help you make a decision.
Six Schools With Homesteading Classes
Homesteading Heritage Center for Essential Education (Texas)
This “school of homesteading” offers a complete curriculum for sustainable living skills from their model four-acre homestead located within their larger 510 acre working farm. Located in Elm Mott, Texas, they offer single day classes covering specific topics like owning a family goat, the family cow (course pictured above) and beekeeping, as well as multi-day classes like their three-day homesteading course that covers everything from gardening and dairy animals to fencing and water supply. Single-day classes are about $75-$85 and multi-day homesteading courses are $155 – $250. Accommodation is not provided. Homestead Heritage is part of the Educational Ministry of Heritage Ministries, which is a Christian community dedicated to preserving and nurturing those principles and values and applying them with new understanding to the present and future, to create a viable continuity from one generation to the next. Although we found no evidence of “preachiness” from literature and descriptions of their homestead courses, this might be something for those of other faiths to think about before making their selection of a homesteading school.
Apple Family Farm (Indiana)
For three generations, the Apple Family Farm Store has been providing a glimpse into the past for city folk traveling east of Indianapolis. Although the information is difficult to find on their website (find it here), they do offers homesteading classes, which aim to teach beginning farmers how to avoid the many pitfalls that could lead to failure, disappointment and discouragement during the first few years of homesteading and hobby farming. They offer hands-on training on one, two and three day classes on subjects like owning a dairy cow, goats, keeping chickens, grazing, butchering, logging, soap making and even marketing and bookkeeping for your own country farm store.
Muller’s Lane Farm (Illinois)
Another Christian-based family farm offering classes on homesteading, the Muller’s teach visitors everything from driving a draft horse to soap making and canning. They chose to include these classes at the requests of visitors participating in their farm tours. We couldn’t find much in the way of prices on their website so you’ll just have to contact them and ask. Muller’s Lane Farm is located in Rock Falls, IL.
The Institute of Urban Homesteading (California)
Taking a different twist on homesteading classes, this school in Oakland, CA understands that not everyone who is interested in living a simpler, healthier life can live out in the country. Urban Homesteading is a growing phenomenon similar to the movement in which people living in city neighborhoods and suburbs are turning their small sub-acre plots into thriving vegetable gardens and small urban homesteads capable of providing enough food to feed their entire family. A classic example of success in urban homesteading is the Dervaes family’s Path to Freedom project. You can learn how to do what they’re doing by taking an urban homesteading class in Oakland.
Pioneer School of Homesteading (Michigan)
The Quaker Hill Farm is another Christian-based (Quakers) farm that offers homesteading classes to the public. Located in Harrisville, MI, the farm offers courses for about $75 each on topics like beekeeping, breadmaking, growing and using medicinal herbs, raising poultry, basic homesteading skills and many others. And who better to learn how to homestead from than the Quakers?
Self-Reliance Resources (North Carolina)
If you are unable to travel or take time off work for a hands-on homesteading class, you may want to check out some of the ebooks, free downloads and audiotapes offered by Kathleen Lamont of Back to Basics and Self-Reliance Resources. Kathleen also offers single-day, $40 homesteading classes from her farm in Western North Carolina. My wife and I just got back from vacation in that area and, let me tell you, it is BEAUTIFUL!
We probably won’t be updating this post, but if you have a farm or homestead and offer courses, please tell our readers about it by commenting below. And here is another resource you might want to know about if you offer any kind of agritourism.
Living off the land isn’t easy even for those who grow up on a farm. Take someone who lived their entire life in a city and that compounds the issue manyfold. These homesteading classes are a great way for former and current city-dwellers to bridge some of the gap between their knowledge and that of someone who grew up on a farm – thus improving their chances of making a go at living off the land.
I strongly support those living off the grid and would like to do so myself.
Right now I’m living in a motorhome.
Living where I can.
I no longer care to support greedy landlords,bill collectors or this high price of living this society is subjecting the people to.
I’m looking for a place to live Freely off the land.
Have my own energy and water source.
To have a place to grow my own crops and live stock.
To hunt and fish.
I say freely off the land because no man should have to pay for something that is our god given right and the right of every living creature on this ea.
I believe we lost our freedom when we were denied that right.
Now we find our selves unable to afford the right to own your own land without going deep in debt to a bunch of loan sharks and exstortionists.
Who’s laws give them the legal right to rob you of what you worked hard for.
i know this of the subject sorta, where i live (state,town) if you try to live off the grit or try to live without the grit. you would get charged no less than $700 and get jail time. they say that you are indagering others although there might not be people living with in 200 ft.
you can look where i live on the map ( big stone gap, Virginia).
sorry forgot to put that we can not have poultry and if you try to grow vegitables they try to charge different prices for each.
You have to be rich to own your own house or land. I agree with the early writer that it should be our god given right to own land. The homestead act that was taken away in 1986. So why can’t we get the act re-instated so maybe a tax paying citizen might have a house with some land. It’s not right.
Yes, everyone should own their own land. In sweden we never have had the law that says you have the right to own your land.
Here I haven´t seen any courses to learn homestading. We don´t even have a word for that!!
In your opinion where is the best place to homestead or “live off the land in the US?
Annette – Obviously from my choice of locations to buy farmland in, I’d have to say somewhere in Appalachia. The Ozarks are good too (from what I hear) if you don’t mind the humidity.
Hi everyone this is my first attempt to follow a dream my husband I have to start a new life living off the grid. We have no real knowledge how to begin finding somewhere to homestead. We are considering Colorado, Montana, New Mexico and hope someone out there can help us gain the knowledge we need to seek out a homesteading land opportunity in these areas. Our plan is to pay it forward and help others to spiritually grow and sustain themselves off the grid as we plan to do. Thank you and your responses would be most appreciated.
I also agree to the god giving right to have our own piece of land. We are owned by this system from birth. The lies and dishonesty of our government has been there from the start. All I want is peace in my life, a roof over my head, food,health and my son. Its 2:15 in the morning and I’m researching on how to survive in the wilderness so I don’t wind up dead within a few months of my future journey. I wish I could find a christian based organization that welcomed new comers in, and taught them to survive and had a payback system once you were established. I love life just not the life man created. GREED!!!
To those who think “God gave us the right to own land” I’d like to ask: How many children do you have? There is only enough room for so many people on this “God-given” earth. Imagine if all of the condo and apartment-dwelling people all over the world – stacked hundreds on top of each other in places like India and China and major US cities – were to each own five or ten acres. There just wouldn’t be enough.
So stop breeding or stop bitching. One or the other but you can’t have your cake and eat it too.
I agree with your staement (Off Grid Ebert) but you have to keep in mind that as badly as some people want to live off the land there is just as many if not more, people who simply want to live the easily paid for life in modern society. There is also the other poeple who simply could not function in the simplicity that is living “off the land”. I think that all in all given the choice there is enough land in this world that if a man wanted to take care of himself and live on the land he should not have to fatten the pocket of someone who is selling you what mother earth has already provided to everyone free of charge.
I think the govt should help us out in going back to the land,they help all kinds of groups do strange things, why not let us live the way we want to an leave us alone ? Also, for hose who are concidering property sites remember this….know what you need, are you going to grow and produce ? Then you need land that has a good growing season, dont just settle cause its cheap ! Study area, the surroundings and whats allready growing there….altitude and climate are key. T
I am going to be leaving this spring with the full intention of disappearing from all society and surviving off the land and the resources is has.Our earliest ancestors did it and the Indians did it.I have extensive training and knowledge of edible plants and catching food.Why should we have to live under the “laws” that the government set so they can get richer and we all starve or lose everything?Nature is free and the invaluable resources it provides is more than sufficient to support life.The trick is to stay as far from civilization as possible and be ready to defend your right to exist if necessary!!
Most people do not have the guts it takes to live “off grid”. my wife and I take a step closer each year. You cannot just snap your fingers and it happens. Think about these points, this is a small list that my wife and I feel we have to be able to meet to live off grid.
1.can you repair it if it breaks? take a welding and mechanics course.
2.can you grow it? learn from farmers, co-ops, agri. busness.
3.TAKE A EMT CLASS!!!!!
4.learn to cook from/with basics now.
5. how will we eat if there is a flood,drought,or just a bad year.
This is just 5 of our list, start with small steps. practice living with out the little things.
I agree with both sides, we should all be able to live free from the ties of society if we chosse to do so by self sustaining on this planet and that population is our largest problem when trying to do this. I do believe that the earth has its own form of population control that will govern itself if left to do so. Unfortunatley the inteligence (or lack of intelligence) of the human species has allowed it to evolve away from the earths control and create a false sense of reality to the nearly 7 billion people that live here. The problem is we got to good at farming and cultivating food. I am in a strange situation in my own life where I dream of being free of this societal mess we have made and yet I work for the government and depend on the pay check for survival, I am a hypocrit! Unfortunately its not by choice, Its just tough to fight against 7 billion people!
For those of you who are not sure if it can be done. Yes you can live off the land, grow your own crops and have solar energy. My dad does it in the Bahamas. He has solar power and gas powered appliances mostly solar except the stove. He does not have AC but knows someone who has enough panels to have AC. He ca tches his own rain water through the gutters on his house and filters them into a covered plastic tank. He has composting toilets that turn waste to a dust like substance and can fertilize the plants. He has chickens and a wide variety of fruits and vegatables. His wife spends about 20 hr a week in her garden but they have more than enough food to feed them and more. He found a radio tower and receives high speed internet throught the tower. Uses a marine radio to contact the locals by water. Its a great life and yes it can be done.
continuation of It can be done. My dad started off on a house boat and lived on that rent free and realized he didnt want to live like everyone else. If you live by the water you can fish for food.
I would like to try this lifestyle sometime. I just hope I dont starve to death because I am not good with plants.
Other ways of living off the grid — sailboats, working for one of the parks and volunteering for a few hrs a week some will let you live there for free. Thats how I plan to retire.
I am located in West Virginia, and have been homesteading a very short while now. I want to be totally off-grid, but I guess I am cheating for right now. I have electric, and I use it for my saws & things while getting everything prepared. That is the fences, barns/sheds etc. I find it very hard to get everything done when your doing it by yourself. I would love to have some others here with me, but so far I have no one interested in this type of life. I own my property here, but its rough farmsteading here. I live on the side of a mountain, that is covered in trees. I have worked hard and got a small part of the trees cleared, to make a field for my goat, and of course the chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese & guineas enjoy it also. I don’t have a fence up yet to really hold anything in, my animals free range all the time. The chickens, turkeys & guineas go into the chicken house to roost at night, and I shut them up to be safe & sound. I knew it would not be an easy life, but when you start going back in time to live, people thinkyou have lost your mind. My own family even quit coming around when I started this farming thing. But even tho I do miss the company of my family, I still have to move on & not let them or anyone else drag me down. I would actually like to meet a couple guys that would like to be part of this homestead, so that I can have others input, plus someone of like mind tobe around for good company. I want to wish all of you great success in your dreams of homesteading.
I am somewhat surprised by what I have read at this site but not in total disagreement! Everyone cannot live “off-grid” and neither can everyone life On-grid either. There is room for both and should be. I have skills gained in the U.S.Military to live off the land, for and extended time, however not to this degree, but rather for one person only! What your talking about is farming and long term living for larger amounts of people for ever…This is a whole different kind of living and it is at this the pioneers did when they first came to this country as the came from England and established the Colonies in the “New Country”! At some point those people formed a set of laws for the good of the many! This is the foundation of our style of Government I would say get involved or leave! I am ultra conservative and you can find nobody that is more upset about how this country is ran, but we have to work from with-in to change not waste our energy and leave! So, I say get busy and get involved or get busy and leave and do it now so we don’t have to experience the dead weight of people that serve no useful purpose! What I would prefer is you stay and get to work for this country! What will it be?
to wvhomesteader, please explain your plans and situation. i would also like to live off grid. i am currently in cali. i spent alot of time in the minnesota. i love to cut wood and clearing woods is enjoyment for me. i am a 37 yr old male, divorced and ready to get as far from the daily life of modernism. please write me back at rikabsher@hotmail.com i hope to communicate with you more on this.
I come from Ireland orginally, and in the time of the potato famine, people used to live off plots of land not much bigger than some people’s gardens. This is why they grew potatos, as this vegetable supplies so much nurishment per small area, but this became their undoing as the potato blight left them with nothing to eat. Note that there was plenty of food in the country if you had the money. The English were exporting a lot of grain from Ireland at the time, just they didn’t give a shit about those who were dying of starvation….
A decent vegetable garden is where to start. If you live in the city in a house with a big yard (half an acre or so), dig up your lawn and turn it into a vegetable garden and see how you do. You will learn an awful lot about how to get certain vegetables to grow and about crop rotation. Learn how to store these veggies without the need for refridgeration. Use dehydration and cold storage (in a cellar for example) for tubors like potatos and onions. Learn how to pickle foods also.
Make your meals from mostly vegetables with a little meat (very little) as this is how people lived back then. A few chickens might be kept in a coop in your yard….maybe start there with meat. Convert your house to solar and whatnot to see how far you can get off the grid. You can do all this without homesteading.
My concern is for when society and government breaks down, which seems inevitable these days (maybe 100 years from now), but all it takes is a really bad pandemic like the black death, and thats the end of society as you knew it.
Also try backing up the web to a disk farm. Believe me, if you can archive large portions of the web, it could be the difference between life and death.
Also grow a good herb garden both for natural medicinals as well as food flavoring.
Next time you are at the beach, try collecting your own salt.
There is a lot you can do by continuing in your day job and learning “on the job” as it were. Eventually you’ll be ready.
Very well said mr murray. We were your average couple. paid taxes, ss, and health insurance. We both sold our business so we could have quality life together. when was enough, enough… My husband suffered a very serious stroke and now depends on me 24/7, wheelchair bound, Our life’s changed forever. We have lost our health insurance, I get no ssi for my husband. I have recently bought five arces of land. My over all plan is not to become totally independant, only more aware of what I can do. I was told my husband would never live outside of a nursing home, he has been with me here at home for four years. Yes, it is a lot of work, but, I did what I believed in… not what I was told. Even the smallest thing you do, Do for yourself… it will put a smile on your face… believe me. giggle pk
I’m very intriqued with idea of living off grid and have been for some time. It sounds like just as folks are wanting total “freedom” they are already looking for groups of people to align with. I think that living off the land is highly admirable and a solution for people struggling to survive in a money-rich world that has left them behind. But I also think that it should be stressed that we have the luxury of knowing that our for-fathers have already been through this like someone else mentioned. We built our country on that journey so anyone willing to commit to that legacy along with living off the land or off the grid is a friend of mine. I don’t mind paying taxes, voting, and doing my part to protect society because I live in one of the greatest countries where I am even allowed to explore the idea of living off the grid. It is my dream to be self-sufficient one day on a huge piece of land where I garden and have solar and wind-power. I like the idea that if disaster hits, my family would come to me for help and to live well. Maybe someone should set up a site where we all can talk and support each other as well as teach each other what we have learned in our own endeavors.
Is anyone in Alabama looking to live this lifestyle? I want to but am single and couldn’t do it on my own.
I think that living off the grid is exciting and would become useful down the line. I aim to learn all that I can to be able to live off the land if need be. What is 2012 does happen and only hundreds of us survive…? It would be like starting over almost…only we know is advance and could prepare. I’m not saying that it will happen and I’m not saying it won’t. All I’m saying is that if something happens and I survive then I’ll wanna keep on surviving…
TO wvhomesteader PLEASE CONTACT ME AT CAROLP15012@YAHOO.COM
This site is very interesting.It’s funny of all the people(males and females) that are having the same thoughts of living off grid.I believe it can be done,but are we really ready to give up cell phone,TV,warm running water,air con,and I could name numerous other things.How would you feed your livestock? winters are pretty hard sometime.You would have to have so kind of income for seeds for garden.What about if it didn’t rain,water for the garden and livestock.There are a lot of unknowns.( BUT,I think I am about ready to try)I am a 60 year old male divorced and ready for new adventure
Oct 21st, 2008 at 4:40 pm
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Oct 24th, 2008 at 7:27 am
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