5 Beginner Homesteader Mistakes to Avoid

homesteading is an amazing lifestyle but there are some big mistakes that can really set you back especially in your first few years and these mistakes can cost you a lot of time and money and sometimes even give you a few gray hairs or a lot for that matter that's why in this video we are going to dive into exactly what they are and how you can avoid them I'm Moreno from root Rec connected.com and over the past 2 years my family and I have been working on transforming a raw piece of land into a productive and hopefully a future self-sufficient Homestead before this we ran a successful no dick Market Garden in France for five years and before that in our first year we tried starting a homestead that failed miserably during this time I've made just about every mistake in the book and I know firsthand how frustrating and costly they can be and one of the challenges of starting out in homesteading is that mistakes aren't just minor setbacks they can literally mean losing months or even years of hard work and I wish I had someone back then to tell me about these mistakes so I could have saved myself years of trial and error and set up our Homestead for Success right from the start so in this video I'll explain with you the five biggest mistakes new homesteaders make why they happen and what you can do to avoid them and with that in mind let's get right into mistake number one starting with without Clarity in 2016 or 2017 after my partner and I came back from our overseas travel to a variety of countries where we worked on many different types of farms and we got introduced to permaculture we knew that we wanted to create a lifestyle Closer To Nature where we could simply grow our own food raise our children and live a simple lifestyle so when we got the opportunity to buy a small piece of land on the edge of a forest in a small town in France we were super excited we had just learned about food Forest self-sufficiency gardening raising animals and all the great things this lifestyle could potentially offer so in our excitement we wanted to have it all without truly knowing what we were getting into we started implementing everything that we had learned we planted a food Forest we set up a veggie garden uh we got a few chickens and we even built a small pond we were doing a bit of everything without a Clear Vision or a step-by-step plan and as a result as you can imagine our efforts were all over the place we were stretched thin trying to manage all these different projects and it felt like we were constantly putting out fires instead of building the lifestyle we had in mind this lack of clarity cost us a lot of variable time energy and resources and instead of creating a productive Homestead we ended up with a lot of half- finished projects and quite a bit of frustration and after doing that for a while we decided that we couldn't continue on the same path and it was time for us to turn things around and this is where a vision comes into place because what I've come to learn is that before you dive into homesteading or any project for that matter you need to take the time to gain Clarity on your goals you need to ask yourself what it is that you're truly trying to achieve is it to grow your own food live a simpler life maybe raise some animals or even a combination of all of them once you truly know this you can then create a detailed plan where you can prioritize your goals and break them down into smaller more manageable steps and that is exactly that what we started to do after we decided to move on from our first failed attempt which eventually led us to build out our Market Garden and then later on build out our brand new Homestead here in Portugal once we started to approach our projects with Clarity everything down the road became much easier once we had developed a vision we were now able to break this Vision down into elements that we needed to install to realize our vision which we could then break down into individual steps that would allow us to work step by step to realizing what we were trying to achieve it allowed us to see exactly where to put our efforts what to invest in and not and how to effectively manage our time and resources this Clarity not only reduced our stress but also made our journey much more realistic and much more enjoyable and productive all at the same time but even with a Clear Vision it's easy to get carried away with all the things that you're trying to do and you're trying to do too much at once and this brings us to the next mistake most beginners make mistake number two taking on too much at once once you have a Clear Vision or even if you start out without one like we did it's very tempting to dive into multiple projects simultaneously while enthusiasm and ation are great and needed is spreading yourself too thin can quickly lead to burnout and unfinished projects imagine you're trying to set up a veggie garden a food Forest you build a chicken cpop and install an irrigation system all at the same time each of these projects requires time planning and resources and unless you are already or you already have the skills to do all of this and you're great at time and resource management by trying to do too many task you have a very high risk of not completing any of them effectively and this will result in overwhelming and frustrating yourself as progress seems slow and all over the place and the excitement that you once had can quickly turn into the stress of managing too many responsibilities so if you are a beginner just getting started on this journey I highly recommend you focus on one project at a time make sure to prioritize the task that you have to do based on your goals and current needs for example you can start with a small vegetable garden before you build a chicken CP or start any other project once you start to approach installing your homestead like this and you complete one task before moving on to the next you can then make sure that the effort and resources that you put into it will deliver quality work and this is what's going to boost your confidence and will keep you motivated in the long run taking on too much at once also often leads to underestimating the time commitment required for each task and this is the next mistake many beginners make mistake number three underestimating time commitment homesteading can be a time intensive lifestyle many new homesteaders underestimate the daily weekly and seasonal time commitments required to maintain a productive Homestead especially if alongside building out your homestead you work a full-time job you have a family to take care of and occasionally you maybe even want to have a little bit of time for hobbies or simply some downtime it's easy to constantly feel behind on schedule we've all been there that we've been planning a nice relaxing afternoon in the garden but instead you find yourself rushing to complete certain tasks this mistake can cause you to NE to neglect important chores which can affect the overall productivity of your homestead and it can also start to affect your own sanity over time the stress of constantly trying to catch up will will take away the joy of homesteading and will make it feel more like a burden than a rewarding lifestyle now fortunately it doesn't have to be this way and once again it all comes down to Clarity and planning before you dive into the daily tasks take a step back and create a realistic schedule that fits your life start out by listing uh some of the regular chores and seasonal projects you need to accomplish and be honest about the time each task requires and how much time you can realistic dedicate each day and week also in the beginning think about downsizing some of the projects instead of starting with a large garden begin with a smaller one a more manageable plot you can always expand later as you become more comfortable with the workload and if you find a certain tasks overwhelming consider Outsourcing them or getting someone to help you for example you could hire help for building out your structures or setting up irrigation systems this allows you to focus on the tasks that you enjoy or that are simply more manageable for you uh one thing we like to do on our homest set is automate as much as possible for example we set up an automated uh timer to irrigate our Gardens which saves us literally hours each day yet our plants get consistent watering without the daily Hassle and we've also set up an automated door on our chicken Coupe that opens and closes based on sunlight although we still need to automate their watering and feeding combining all of these smaller task can save you hours each day with appropriate and fairly inexpensive technology homesteading should improve your life and not take over it which by the way I've written an entire article about that on our website developing a clear and manageable schedule and installing simple systems and automation will help you stay organized so that essential task can be completed without without you feeling overwhelmed now alongside time management managing your financial resources wisely is equally if not more important and many beginners make the mistake of overextending their Financial Resources including ourselves in the beginning which is the next mistake mistake number four stretching your budget to thin starting a homestead can be extremely expensive and definitely in the beginning when you are just starting out it is easy to get caught up in the excitement and end up spending more money than you initially planned trust me we made this mistake too and this relays back to the first two mistakes of not having full clarity and taking on too much at once in the beginning you might feel the urge to have it all you buy tons of trees and huge piles of compost and when you go to your garden center before you know it your car is full with things that weren't on your list and very quickly you've blown through your budget and the stress of financial pressure starts to overshadow the joy of building out your homestead we've probably all been there dreaming of a perfect Homestead with all the bells and whistles but the reality is this approach can quickly drain your budget and once that happens you might find yourself cutting corners on essential items or pausing projects simply because funds have run dry this will slow you down and make it hard to keep the momentum going fortunately it doesn't have to be this way and just as with the previous mistakes the key is to start small and prioritize your spending in the beginning you really need to focus on the essentials first and build up gradually from there that's why on our Homestead right now you don't see us installing many new projects other than maintaining what we have and installing a few smaller ones we now have our first small veggie garden and poultry system Sy in place which provides us with a lot of food we've done some major earth works and planted a huge amount of trees since they take quite a bit of time to mature but at least they are in the ground and will provide us with an abundance of food in the future we are completely self-sufficient in water and energy with the systems that we've put in place and now that our basic needs are pretty much secured our next step is to build a comfortable home which is what we're saving up up for but believe me I would love to expand our Gardens I would love to build another massive s with food for us on them and build another huge Pond right here in front of the garden we'd love to have some goats and additional uh large water tank on the top of our property the reality is if you don't have the funds yet you need to take it a step at a time as hard or frustrating that may be the last thing that you want is to spread your budget too thin and end up unable to finish any of your projects this will only lead to more frustration and stress and it will make it difficult to see the progress you're working so hard to achieve the 5 years of commercial farming that we've done really has helped us a lot to gain a much better and stronger Financial understanding of how to approach all of these projects and most of it comes down to creating a simple financial plan so if you want to avoid stretching your budget too thin list out all the elements and all the items and projects you need to get started and prior prioritize them based on your immediate needs and long-term goals and then once you've done that simply stick to your budget and avoid impulse purchases that can quickly add up this approach will keep your finances in check and will actually allow you to enjoy the journey without unnecessary stress and then combining all of these mistakes brings us to the last one mistake number five starting without a plan although we've briefly covered some some of the parts of a plan in the previous mistakes there's actually a simple four-phased process that I found to be extremely helpful for starting a homestead this is the exact method that we use to first develop our Market Garden and it's also the approach we now take with developing this Homestead and on our website you can actually find a homestead startup checklist that goes over these individual steps but essentially we can break down starting a homestead into four distinct faces five if you also count the actual implementation itself and following this process will give you all the clarity and confidence you need to actually go for it and start your homestead and the process is as follows in the first phase which we briefly covered partly in the first mistake of this video we first need to build a foundation and the foundation is broken down into three distinct steps the first step is all about gaining Clarity where you write down your vision and get clear on what exactly it is you're trying to achieve once you have that in place in the Second Step you can now break this Vision down into individual components you will need to install to realize that Vision so the components are things like uh veggie gardens Food Forest buildings and so on once you've done that in the third step you need to do what I like to call a homestead Readiness check here you need to closely look at all the resources you have available uh this includes the amount of time that you can realistically spend per week your finances your physical resources so things like your land and vehicles and we we also need to consider the connections or the people who could potentially help you with your homestead and lastly we do a skill assessment this Readiness check will provide you with all the information you need to see exactly where you stand on this journey and this way you can create a plan to fill any gaps or limitations that will ultimately allow you to reach your goals that's phase one once you have this foundation in place in the next phase so phase two you need to get a better understanding of the land you're working with now if you don't own land yet you will first have to get one and then follow this process but in this second phase essentially what you're trying to do is get the best possible understanding of all the strengths and limitations your land has in permaculture we call this a site analysis and assessment and this is where you need to closely uh look at things like climate the history of your land the shape of your land the orientation potential threats or pollution Wildlife habits and a ton of other things essentially at this stage our goal is to figure out the ins and outs of your land this way you can come up with a realistic design for your land that takes into consideration what you're trying to achieve and base it on the opportunities and limitations of the land you're working with with which is the third phase now that you know what you want to achieve and you've verified that your land can support your vision you need to create a design for your homestead this is where you're going to take all the elements that you wish to install and follow a specific stepbystep approach where you're going to decide where to place each of them and design your landscape from the large scale uh patterns all the way down to the Min details now this is way too much to cover in this video and I've briefly covered it in a previous video but if this is something that you are interested in and want to know more about then please make sure to let me know in the comment section below because if there's a lot of people that are struggling with this and you would like to know more about this I'll make sure to create a deep dive video on this subject then once the design is in place in the fourth phase we need to create a step-by-step implementation plan essentially in this phase you're going to take the design that you've created and break it down into a realistic and doable implementation plan that is based on how urgent or important the individual projects are to the functioning of your homestead also here we follow a very specific approach where we take the most important elements first and we finish with the least important it's much like building a house you wouldn't start with the roof before you have a foundation in place well the same goes for your homestead you don't want to create a garden if you don't have an a water system installed or you don't want to have chickens if you don't uh if you haven't installed a fence yet you get the point and then once you've developed this plan in what's essentially the fifth phase is you start to install the individual elements one step at a time this is how you take a complex project like building a homestead and break it down into a doable and realistic Journey that is BAS Bas on your vision your unique length and based on the amount of time energy and resources you have available without a plan like this starting a homestead becomes extremely overwhelming and chaotic it's easy to get lost in the day-to-day tasks without making any meaningful progress towards your long-term goals and again if this is something you want me to create a deep dive video on let me know in the comment section below I've also covered all of these steps in in the checklist that you can find on our website that you can use as a guide to help you stay on the right track from the beginning I hope that by addressing these common mistakes you can shave years of trial and error off your journey and avoid wasting valuable time and resources the key to overcoming most of these challenges is to stay organized be realistic about your time your resources and the skills that you have and always have a clear plan in place I hope you've enjoyed this video and happy homesteading see you in the next one

Channel: The Dutch Farmer

Views: 25,211

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Id: 0WlJB_imF7Q

Length: 19min 31sec (1171 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 14 2024