Now a days there are names for every little thing we do, from the way we homeschool, the way we think, how we move our bodies, to how we tend a home.
This posts intention is to encourage, to break down the walls we think are up (based on what others might be saying) and to remind us of who we are.
Homesteader vs. homemaker. Have you ever thought about that?
When I was first coming up with a name for FHS I was SO torn between those keywords.
I would ask myself the SAME DANG questions on repeat, such as: Should I call it homemaker because you can’t really have a homestead without a home?
But then I would think of how that might limit what FHS is so I would ask myself (and my close friend who I bet was getting annoyed at some points but she was being too nice to tell me): Or should I call it homesteader because if you’re a homesteader, generally you’re a homemaker too…. but I can’t leave out the homemakers who don’t have gardens or livestock or live off grid! … And the cycle would continue LOL
I just wanted to encompass everything that FHS was inside my head and make it clear to people when they read the name that it was everything I was imagining. I was at a roadblock.
I prayed, I left it alone, and I moved on to other aspects of the business. But it nagged at me.
I finally did decide on “homesteader”.
In a quick answer as to why?; I just needed to move forward. And being a seasoned entrepreneur I knew that coming up with a name is an unnecessary roadblock that can keep people from being productive and moving forward.
But I was left feeling like, “what label am I?” “who is Micheon in this wordy topic?” Am I just a homesteader then? Because I also run businesses, I educate my kids, I bake bread and cut my family’s hair. So what does that make me?
Although I had picked a catchy name, I was left wondering where my place on this wordy spectrum was. AND was it really that important to spend so much time on these words?
Official definition of a homesteader
If you google “definition of a homesteader” there are varying- but similar definitions. Here are a few I’ve copied and pasted from the first few results on google:
For instance this is how the term homesteader was coined in North America:
“The term homesteader started with the Homestead Act of 1862, which encouraged independent farmers and families to claim land west of the Mississippi River. Homesteaders were granted 160 acres of land to “improve” over five years. Settlers benefitted from the law, but homesteaders pushed Native Americans out of vast areas of the West. Today, homesteader is also used for anyone who lives in a self-sufficient way, especially if they grow their own food crops“
Other definitions that characterize what a homesteader is now a days are:
“Homesteading is a lifestyle of self-sufficiency. It is characterized by subsistence agriculture, home preservation of food, and may also involve the small scale production of textiles, clothing, and craft work for household use or sale”
“Someone who lives frugally or self-sufficiently (as on a homestead) especially by growing and preserving food“
“There are modern-day homesteaders who have traded contemporary conveniences such as … a reliable internet connection to grow much of their own food and—as much as possible—live off the land …
“a dwelling with its land and buildings, occupied by the owner as a home and exempted by a homestead law from seizure or sale for debt. Any dwelling with its land and buildings where a family makes its home“
Official definition of a homemaker
I also have copied and pasted results for “definition of a homemaker” and these were some of the answers:
“A person who spends their time looking after a home and doing housework rather than being employed outside the home (typically applied to a woman)“
“One who manages a household especially as a spouse and parent“
“a homemaker is someone who spends a lot of time looking after their home and family. You usually use homemaker to refer to someone who does not have a job outside the home“
“It is the act of overseeing the organizational, day-to-day operations of a house or estate, and the managing of other domestic concerns. A person in charge of the homemaking, who is not employed outside the home, in the US and Canada, is called a homemaker, a term for a housewife or a househusband. Historically the role of homemaker was often assumed by women”
Can we be both? Or should we choose a side..
In the end, do you have to choose which best describes yourself?
Both of those definitions piece together a typical homestead woman. Or a typical homemaker woman.
But giving everything a title or an explanation or a term can be limiting or discouraging. Like educating our kids for instance.
There are so many names and types of homeschooling now. When I grew up, I was just homeschooled LOL I wasn’t forest schooled, life schooled, unschooled, montessori inspired, nature based, child led, opened ended… just simply, homeschooled. (PS. If you were to label my moms methods of schooling me, take all of those wordy names and apply it to my education)
I feel sort of the same with this homemaker homesteader topic. There are so many names now for every which way of tending a home and family. Crunchy, organic, self sufficient, green, intentional living, farmer, country life…
But maybe you or I don’t fit all of the criteria to get into one of created boxes. Which in tern can make us feel left out, unwanted, not needed, or useless.
But we never have to feel that way because we are created in Christ to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do! (that’s quoting the Bible)
What We All Have In Common Here
SO in the end, whether you call yourself a homemaker, homesteader, crunchy momma, green or whatever else.
One thing is true for us all: We live, love, and care about our homes and the members inside of it. We are passionate about health, about thriving as a person and a family, and creating an intentional life that honours God.
SO whatever you call yourself, you are welcome here!
I encourage you to think of the labels more as guidelines instead. Or categories that can be of aide to us.
Not all labels are bad, as long as we don’t find our identity in them.
Words from joel salatin
If you haven’t listened to, or read Joel Salatin’s speech he did at a Homesteaders of America conference, I highly recommend you listen to it. (I will link it at the bottom of the page!)
When I first listened to these words, it filled me with so much joy. Because Joel’s definition of a homesteader is different from any of the other results I could find.
His is a definition from the heart. Here’s what he said at the beginning of his speech:
“What is a homesteader?
We’ve got a conjunctive word… home…. steader.
“Home” of course is pretty obvious. It’s where you live. And “steader” is an old Latin conglomeration that talks about your focus.
It’s about where your heart is.
So a homesteader is a person whose heart and focus is in the home. It’s a person whose life focus is towards living, staying, loving home which is a far cry from everything else in our society which is obsessed with everything “out there.”
That just makes my heart sing. Joel captured everything this life is to me. It’s my heart and my life. Its loving my home. Not just the four walls, but my whole property.
I hope your heart is singing as well from his words, they are an inspiration!
Final Thoughts
I did name this membership program “Faithful Homesteader Society”
But it wasn’t because you have to fit in the box of homesteader or sign up to identify as just that. It was simply because it met the description of what I am aiming to provide you and your family.
And after I read Joel’s words I knew I had to use this word, because “steading” your home and life is what we are all about here at FHS.
Happy homesteading ladies, I’m so excited to be here with each and every one of you!
–Micheon
