Maybe you are thinking of changing your surroundings. Many people seek a more rural lifestyle. Perhaps you’ve already made that change. Either way, our goal in homesteading today is to enable you to learn about and pursue a more sustainable existence. Whether you’re from the city or suburbs, we’ll help you along the way on your homesteading journey.
Learn along with us as we share tips, ideas, and stories of real people making their homesteading dreams come true. We offer firsthand experience about homesteading, livestock, sustainability, prepping, survival, renewable energy, gardening, and personal finance.
We are an extended family that dreamed for many years of living a more outdoor-oriented, simpler and quieter lifestyle. Several years ago, we bought an old homestead farm we now call home. Three generations work and play together, learning to be more self-sufficient, developing a more sustainable lifestyle. We consider ourselves true homesteaders.
Our goal is to encourage others who are transitioning to a rural existence or who are already homesteading.
Have you been thinking that now is a good time to learn more about sustainable living? It’s time for all of us to become more self-sufficient. There are many ways, to become less dependent on outside sources of food, household products, and other goods and services. Why the emphasis on sustainability and self-sufficiency? After all, many of us live where there is still plenty of everything.
There are many reasons to consider a more sustainable lifestyle. Many people want to be prepared for the “what if” scenarios, including economic uncertainty, shortages of food, and weather catastrophes, even droughts. Additionally, others dream of living off-the-grid. They want to be able to provide for their family with minimal reliance on outside sources. In addition, others enjoy sustainable living as a hobby. Some want to save money. Also, some want to be more eco-conscious and create less demand for commercial products.
Therefore, we offer information about cooking with a solar oven as well as choosing the best water filter. We even have information about toilets that compost. You’ll learn why it’s important to be sustainable and how your choices and habits matter. We offer tips about how to live affordably off-the-grid, including having a garden or orchard, and how to preserve fresh food.
In conclusion, you’ll find great ideas to get started on your path to sustainable living. You will learn about helpful products and best practices whether you are experienced or beginning.
Putting Up Fencing – Have you been looking around your yard feeling that it’s got a real lack of privacy, and you just don’t feel as though the space is your own? If you don’t have a fence, then that could be your problem right there. Installing a fence around your property, specifically, your backyard creates a designated area that offers privacy and the ability to really make the space unique and your own. If you … Read more
Choosing the best rainwater harvesting system begins with figuring out your needs. What is the primary reason you want to capture water? Is it to have a backup water supply, to water vegetation, or to remove pooling water from your property? From there, you can work with your budget to determine the size and best type of rainwater harvesting system for you. There are many solutions. Rainwater harvesting systems can usually be categorized as either … Read more
Multiple income streams is important to making ends meet on a farm. Often, having several small income streams will merge into a river. Think you can’t thrive on the farm without that one fat paycheck? Think again! There are so many things you can do to supplement your income or to live off your talents. Making Ends Meet on the Farm Whether you have recently chosen a rural place to live or have lived in … Read more
If you’ve ever thought about beekeeping as a hobby or an income source, now is the time to start. Beekeeping is a fun and productive endeavor. There are a few beekeeping supplies you need to get started. Beginning properly with beekeeping equipment, products, protective gear, and these tips for purchasing hives will help your hives thrive. Many are one-time purchases which makes it budget-friendly as you continue. Starting out Perhaps the biggest mistake amateur beekeepers … Read more
Best Tools to Own, one of the challenges of rural living is having to do most, if not all, of the repairs around the house yourself. It is a challenge, but one that lets you have a lot of fun. Many of those who live off the grid actually have a full workshop for woodworking and general around-the-house repairs. You can too. There are several things you need to prepare before you can handle any … Read more
How to Escape to the country – Read this if you are working toward moving from city or suburbs to rural living. We will help you get from city to farm or ranch. How to Escape to the country Every day, Internet search engines receive thousands of queries using phrases such as “how to move to the country” and “how to get to the ranch or farm.” I have read countless forum posts by people … Read more
homesteading for beginners – The world is changing at a rapid pace, and despite many advancements in the fields of science and technology, it appears that life is getting to be rather an expensive affair. Homesteading for beginners aims to serve as part of a solution toward becoming more self-sustainable and less dependent on the external world, i.e. grocery stores and mass manufactured goods for daily living. Homesteading For Beginners Homestead house plans and designs … Read more
All About Homestead Legal Forms ~ Homesteading has been around for a really long time and its use has gone from meaning a free land program by the US government to living self sufficiently off the land. Leading a homestead lifestyle requires a serious commitment on the individual’s part which may include a sizable investment of the land itself and a good design. All about Homestead Legal Forms Homestead Declaration The awareness of the dangers … Read more
Family History of Urban Homesteaders – Here at Rural Living Today, our main focus is encouraging people in their transition from urban or suburban life to the rural lifestyle. That transition begins when a person makes a decision to live that lifestyle, and they may be living in a downtown skyscraper, an inner city neighborhood, or a suburban community at the time. We always encourage people to start wherever they are to learn what they’d … Read more
Homesteading for beginners, For those in the environmentally aware circles, there is a term that is making a comeback of sorts albeit in a slightly different meaning than was originally intended. That term is homesteading. Homesteading was originally a US government legislation that gave away free land to people who took large tracts of rural land and then converted it into their primary landholding and place of residence. It was a huge success as it … Read more
You can apply for a Modern homesteader’s life insurance, but it would be better to first do some research regarding what your insurance will be covering. Let’s first talk about what living off the grid is all about. The meaning of living off the grid is misinterpreted by many as a life full of hardships or a life wasted on substance abuse. This is not at all what living off the grid means; it is … Read more
When you decide to go green, it is important that you also get homestead insurance. Going green is the in thing these days and in the US there are thousands of households who are resorting to producing their own supply of energy. Living off the grid and Homesteading can be an interesting endeavor, especially when you consider the rising costs of fossil fuels. Many people cannot bear the burden of paying their utility bills each … Read more
Living off the grid can be an extraordinary experience. It is perfect if you want to escape the daily stress and frustrations of life. Paying utilities bills every month can be a really frustrating task. Water, gas, phone and power bills all haunt you each month when you go out to the morning paper and hesitantly check the mailbox. For some people paying bills can be an extremely hard task, especially when they are working … Read more
People who are looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint and avoid using fossil fuels are turning to off-grid living. This is a popular choice among such people as it helps them become truly independent. Making their own electricity, farming their own food and ditching the phone line are among the few things that going off-grid living entails. Off-Grid Living – Here is How You Can Do it Off-Grid Electricity Being on the grid … Read more
With more and more people searching for ways to become more eco-friendly, composting toilets are a popular way to start in that direction. Becoming environment friendly requires more than just buying energy saving bulbs or trying to recycle everything made of plastic. Taking care of human sanitation in an eco-friendly way is also a very effective way of going green. How Does a Composting Toilets Work? Dry and composting toilets utilize a natural process, one … Read more
The sun is an amazing source of energy… solar power electricity. It is always there and will keep doing its job for a few billion more years. It is the best alternate source of energy for electricity, a renewable source that virtually never runs out. Even though you cannot utilize the power during night, cloudy or stormy days, it can be counted upon to be there the next day, and the days after that. It … Read more
Are We Living or Just Existing – Here I am, living on 100 acres and real jazzed about it. I’m happy at night looking back at the day, and I’m really inspired when I wake up! I remember one day years ago in my corporate life. There I was, sitting in a meeting discussing TPS report cover designs, and I found myself daydreaming. The person addressing the meeting woke me up when he said that … Read more
Path to sustainability, what does that mean? These days many people rely highly on packaged mixes, precooked dishes, ready-to-serve meals, and dining out. Some don’t know how to prepare anything much from scratch. It’s really not their fault, since our culture has veered in the direction of fast food and easy meals. Home economics classes are no longer required in many schools. The majority of TV commercials for food are selling products wrapped in plastic … Read more
Affordable Living Off the Grid – Our last post, The Challenge: Affordably Living Off of the Grid, got so much response that I decided to tell a little more about our backstory. This is a detailed post with lots of experience and lessons we learned about moving from a fast-paced lifestyle to a remote location. I want to share our “get to the country” plan and how things changed and developed along the way. Affordable … Read more
Affordably Building and Living Off of the Grid, As many of you know, my husband and I have been working and planning towards our homesteader life for many years now. Affordably Building and Living Off of the Grid While many people don’t start on their rural living journey until after retirement, or spending several decades building a nest egg, we opted for a different route. Living off of the grid We did not want to … Read more