With a new homestead comes lots of new challenges- for most people, they have to start entirely from scratch.
For us, we purchased our home, had a baby, and we were faced with buying a new (to us) car within months of each other; therefore, getting our homestead up and running was quite the challenge, as our budgets were stretched thin. I’m well versed in the frugal ways of homesteading, thanks to that!
If you’re new to the homesteading movement, you have likely realized (quite quickly) that it can be very, very expensive, too.
Do not allow this to hold you back, and prepare to add to your homestead continuously as time and money allows. These tips are for my fellow homesteaders who simply can’t figure out how to get started on a low budget; whether you have $50 to start or literally pennies in your pocket, there are ways to homestead starting today.
Where there is a will, there is a way; and I am paving the way for you to get started with your homestead as soon as you have finished reading this post! Oh, and if you need a little help raising capital to expand your homestead, I finished a great post recently with some unique ways for you to turn a profit from your farm.
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Collecting and Saving Seeds
Want some new seeds? There are many different ways to get them for free, as I discussed in my post about gardening without spending money. If you cannot get the seeds you want for free by using any of those options, there are cheaper ways around spending $5 for a pack of seeds. If you cannot purchase them from fellow gardeners in your area, there are several sites online that offer $0.99 seed packs (I love SeedsNow because they usually offer just the right amount for a home garden in these packs.) For seeds that you cannot seem to find on these websites, skip over the expensive vendors and try sites like eBay. I have purchased harder-to-find seeds on eBay, while spending a fraction of what I would have spent through other vendors. Be sure to check seller feedback, though. You must use caution when dealing with ANY online vendor- eBay is no exception. With that being said, you can find excellent deals on seeds from other homesteaders just like us through this platform, without paying more for fancy packaging, distribution, or online and physical store fronts.
For everything else that you already have (or have access to, such as local parks), be sure to save seed. Save seed from each and every plant that you enjoy growing so that you avoid future seed costs. This excludes diseased plants, as diseases can survive on infected seed. If you are saving seed from a local park or neighbor, be sure to ask for permission. When it comes to wild plants, you want to ensure that your seed collecting is not harming the environment; for example, endangered annual plants may rely on reproducing through the limited seeds that they produce rather than spreading, or an endangered insect or rodent may rely upon the seeds, foliage, or nectar of one particular plant for survival. As homesteaders, we must work with Mother Nature to preserve sensitive ecosystems while building our bountiful, flourishing homesteads.
Herbs, Fruit Trees and Berry Bushes
If you go to any big box store, you’re going to spend $3 to $10 for herbs, $6 to $30 for fruit or berry bushes, and $15 to $100 or more for fruit trees. What if I told you you could have all of these plants for free, or under $5?
First, you need to evaluate what you can and can’t grow from seed. Grow all of your herbs from seed, unless you’d rather buy a single mother plant and begin propagating her. Some fruits, such as blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, apples, peaches, lemons, plums, and much more can be grown from seed. However, you don’t know what traits those plants will possess at maturity (fruit flavor, shape, color, sweetness, size, disease susceptibility or resistance, growth habits, thorns, etc). This does not mean that you cannot grow them; it just means that they’ll be a fun experiment that may possess unique fruit.
For everything else that you cannot grow by seed, you will need to move along to propagation. If you already have a plum tree on the property but are considering paying for more, propagate the existing tree, instead. This goes for many other plants as well (most berry bushes included!) See if any friends, family, or neighbors have what you are looking for, as chances are they will not mind if you cut a few branches off of an adult plant. As a matter of fact, they’d probably be happy for you to prune it for them! If this is not an option, offer plants that you already have for trade in exchange for cuttings or suckers from a local homesteader’s plants.
Containers, Compost, and Raised Beds
I’ve previously compiled a post for finding tons of gardening containers, so please don’t go out and pay an arm and leg for them! Instead, invest that money elsewhere on the homestead and check out these free container ideas I’ve mentioned to keep your garden expenses to a minimum. Landscapers are truly your best friends! You’d also be surprised with just how many household junk items you could use as containers for plants (specifically flowers). Like the image of the galoshes below, you probably wouldn’t want to grow food plants in items like this (besides it being a bit gross to grow food in shoes, you just don’t know what types of chemicals or materials the items are made with- I only advise using kitchen items, such as glass bowls or coffee mugs, for food plant use).
As soon as you have access to your homestead property, fire up your compost! Begin composting boxes, weeds and grass clippings, old paperwork, and old food. Compost can take a while, so this is one of the first free resources that you want to jump on when you move in. Compost is very, very expensive to purchase; why not make your own for free, all while knowing exactly what went into it? Use scrap wood, wire, fencing, or even bins to start your pile. As it grows, it’ll no longer need support; unless you have issues with neighboring dogs or wildlife digging through the composts.
If you plan to build raised beds, begin sourcing your materials as soon as possible while improving the land. Even if it will be a few months before you can assemble the bed, you can begin mulching and amending the bed’s location in order to give your garden plot a head start. If you keep your eyes peeled, you’ll find all sorts of free resources for building some beds including stone, dirt, wood chips, wood scraps, landscaping pebbles, pavers, cardboard, old hay, and much more.
Standing Trees: Fencing, Browse, and Mushrooms
If your property has trees on it, identify the different species and find uses for them as you decide on the layout of your homestead. If you need to thin the forest, there could be some great uses for the timber. For the ones that remain standing, they will be a valuable source of browse for your animals and leaves for your compost pile.
Some species, such as Cedar or Osage Orange, are excellent for fence posts. You can read about why Cedar is an excellent choice here. Fence posts can be relatively expensive, so why not produce them yourself if the opportunity presents itself? Of course, you should not just go into this without training or experience either; let someone else clear the land for your safety if necessary- once the trees are down, then you can begin cutting your posts with safety in mind.
Fresh logs are necessary for mushroom farming, but fresh wood isn’t ideal for building. If you have the right species of trees on your land, this will be one of the only immediate uses that you can take advantage of once the trees are down. Mushrooms will take months before they are ready, but they are a worthy investment of your time and money. You can inoculate an unbelievable amount of logs for $10 to $20, yielding you deliciously fresh mushrooms for a rock bottom price.
Hatching Your Own Birds
If you want chickens, ducks, guineas, turkey, peafowl, quail, or pheasants, I recommend hatching your own eggs. Run your incubator with a few rounds of cheap, local fertile chicken eggs first, though. This gives you a chance to get the hang of incubating, while ensuring that your incubator is running efficiently.
Once you hatch your chicks, attempt incubating other types of eggs to build your own flocks. You can purchase eggs by the dozen and have a significant savings; hatch rates should reach at least 75% for many types of eggs, giving you your money’s worth even if some are lost. Typically, you can buy a carton of chicken eggs for $3 to $4 from many local farms. They may not be completely organic, but that is perfectly fine for the frugal homesteader (you’re not eating the eggs). A single chick will run you $3 or $4, and the incubator could pay for itself within the first or second hatch!
What Now?
I will continue to provide frugal homesteading posts in the future, so be sure to hit “follow blog” down in the comments section! In addition, if there are any questions you may have about frugal homesteading, I’d be happy to answer them, experiment, and/or dedicate an entire post to them. There is never enough learning or experimenting when it comes to homesteading! I’m always happy to start a new project.
