How to Homestead When You Don’t Have Time

As we enter peak outdoor productivity season, let’s find some time to invest in our homestead but still meet outside demands.

The number one complaint I hear about living a homestead lifestyle is time. “I don’t have the time to make my own bread.” “But going to the grocery store is just so quick.” “I wish I could, but I just don’t know where I would find the time.” I’m here to tell you – you can have both.

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Tips for managing a homestead and external demands

Outsource

My best tip for striving for a more natural, homestead lifestyle is to outsource. Can’t dedicate the time to mastering your sourdough skills? Buy some from a local farmer. Love the benefits of raw milk but don’t have time to milk? Buy your milk from a local farmer.

Outsourcing also works if you’re looking to grow your homestead. There are many ways a farm hand or a ranch manager can assist you so you can focus your efforts elsewhere.

Start small

Keeping chickens doesn’t have to be time consuming. Want farm fresh eggs but don’t think you have the time? Start with a flock of five or six chickens and see how you manage. And if you can afford to invest the energy up front to build a proper coop and nesting box, you’ll spend less time fending off predators or searching for eggs.

Want farm fresh produce but hate the inconvenience of a garden? Try a small, raised bed garden. Try container gardening. A garden is what you make it, not half your yard full of produce you can’t eat.

Invest in time saving technology

Now a days, you can turn your water hoses on and on from an app on your phone. You can also line your garden with soaker hoses (like this one) instead of using a traditional hose and standing in your garden for half an hour twice a day.

Instead of closing up your coop at night, you can purchase a solar-powered door that will close your coop up based on the time you preprogram it to.

You can even order all of your homesteading needs online instead of going to the store! Whatever your issue may be, look into modern technology that may be able to help save you time.

Explore alternative ways to homestead

Homesteading is usually depicted as a family with six children sprawling their chickens, cows and garden across 30 acres. And that’s just not always the reality. A microhomestead gives you the best of both worlds – small space but food security. However, food security isn’t the only thing you can take in to your own hands.

If you’re watching the clock and realize you just can’t make it all work, start with something like making your own soap. Or learning how to cook from scratch. Growing your own eggs and bacon may be the goal, but until you free up some time it doesn’t have to be your reality just yet.

Want more ways to create your own products? Here are some ways to make your own homemade beauty products and here are some recipes.

Stick around!

What are some of your time saving hacks? Tell me about them on Facebook and Instagram!