homesteading
Living off land
Homesteading is establishing a home on undeveloped land, historically under laws granting ownership to settlers who improved the property.
The term now often describes a self-sufficient lifestyle—growing food, raising animals, preserving harvests, and reducing dependence on outside systems: They left the city for homesteading in rural Vermont.
Urban homesteading applies these principles on a smaller scale.
Movement toward rural self-sufficiency
- simplicityLack of complexity
- permacultureSustainable ecosystem design method
- sustainabilityCapacity to endure indefinitely
- organicFrom living matter
DIY · handmade · artisanal · intentional · earthship · heirloom · eco-friendly · agrarian
Amount of land owned
- barnAgricultural storage structure
- livestockDomesticated farm animals
- orchardFruit tree plantation
- pastureGrazing ground for livestock
henhouse · granary · apiary · dairy · crops · harvest · smokehouse · woodlot
One who colonizes territory
- frontiersmanSettler of wild borders
- sodbusterSlang for farmer
- prairieOpen grassy flatland
- dugoutCarved-log canoe
pioneer · wilderness · frontier · westward · claim-jumping · squatter · preemption · territorial
Able to provide independently
- off-gridWithout utility connections
- rainwaterCollected atmospheric moisture
- preservingProtecting from deterioration
- foragingSeeking wild food sources
canning · fermenting · beekeeping · bartering · woodcutting · spinning · weaving · tanning
Turning earth for crops
- tillingCultivating soil for crops
- sowingPlanting for cultivation
- harvestingGathering mature crops
- cultivatingDeliberately developing or tending
irrigating · hoeing · planting · weeding · mulching · pruning · ditching · terracing
back-to-the-land
Movement toward rural self-sufficiency
- simplicityLack of complexity
- permacultureSustainable ecosystem design method
- sustainabilityCapacity to endure indefinitely
organic · DIY · handmade · artisanal · intentional · earthship · heirloom · eco-friendly · agrarian · pastoral
acreage
Amount of land owned
pasture · henhouse · granary · apiary · dairy · crops · harvest · smokehouse · woodlot · paddock
settler
One who colonizes territory
- frontiersmanSettler of wild borders
- sodbusterSlang for farmer
- prairieOpen grassy flatland
dugout · pioneer · wilderness · frontier · westward · claim-jumping · squatter · preemption · territorial · staking
self-sufficient
Able to provide independently
- off-gridWithout utility connections
- rainwaterCollected atmospheric moisture
- preservingProtecting from deterioration
foraging · canning · fermenting · beekeeping · bartering · woodcutting · spinning · weaving · tanning · butchering
plowing
Turning earth for crops
- tillingCultivating soil for crops
- sowingPlanting for cultivation
- harvestingGathering mature crops
cultivating · irrigating · hoeing · planting · weeding · mulching · pruning · ditching · terracing · composting
- agriculturefarms, crops, farm, farmers, farming
- 1800s AmericaOregon Trail, Trail of Tears, transcontinental railroad, Civil War, Abraham Lincoln
- American frontierfrontier, westward expansion, pioneers, pioneer trails, wagon trails
- Old Westcowboy, cowboys, cowgirl, sheriff, sheriffs
- rural lifefarms, village, villages, farming, farmhouses
- Westernscowboys, western, outlaws, sheriffs, western novels
homesteadingsuburban living
Residential life outside cities
urban living · condo living · high-rise living · metropolitan life · modern convenience
homesteadingnomadism
Migratory way of life
vagrancy · wandering · itinerancy · transience · remaining
homesteadingconsumerism
Preoccupation with acquiring goods
outsourcing · wage labor · industrial farming · agribusiness · service economy
home, homestead, stead, homesteader, homesteads, homesteaded, homesteaders