What makes a Homesteader?: Pictures from the Homestead Fair

What makes a Homesteader a Homesteader?

The Goat Cheese Lady and I had this conversation once.  We thought hard about the Homesteaders we know and what they do, but it would have been easier if we had waited a few weeks.  We could have just gone to the Homestead Fair!

Hello Homesteaders!

Good Earth Garden Center on Walnut St. holds a Homestead Fair twice a year, once in the spring and again in the fall.

Lil’ Bit Farms had chicken, duck and turkey eggs to sell!

Homesteaders of all stripes set up at the fair to share knowledge and offer the products of their efforts to the public.

The Greeter Goat at the beginning of the post lives at Easter Egg Acres.

Some Homesteaders live on farms.

You have to live on a farm to have a herd of goats! Stone Creek Farmstead sells cheese from their goats.

Others live in town.

Penelope and Clementine are the poster goats for No Goats No Glory. They are working with city council to make goats legal in Colorado Springs.

Some Homesteaders are hobbyists.

Our local Mary Jane’s Farm Farmgirl Chapter organizes homesteading activities and outings.

Some make their living from Homesteading activities.

Buckley’s Homestead Supply on W. Colorado and 15th St. has everything from books to chicken feed to cheese presses!

And some teach others.

Right to Thrive teaches people about homesteading on the Front Range.

Homesteading covers a wide range of topics and activities, from raising animals…

Easter Egg Acres brought some baby goats too!

to making soap,

Lil’ Bit Farms brought these homemade cupcake soaps.

to making our city more friendly to a simple life.

No Goats No Glory incorporates humor into its information on city goats.

The Goat Cheese Lady and I had concluded that Homesteading means finding ways to be more self-sufficient, to do more things for yourself.  It’s an attempt to return to the basics in a world so complex and removed from our fundamental needs that many people don’t know where food comes from.

This can be as simple as knitting your own winter hats or raising a few hens for eggs.  Or it can be as complicated as making your living from home.

Whatever it is, Homesteading reminds us of the importance of home, community and relationships.  Self-sufficiency quickly shows us it’s not really about relying only on yourself.

It’s about working together to make a better life for the community.

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© 2013 Hungry Chicken Homestead

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