To Homestead or To Farm? What's the difference?

I recently read a post on the School of Traditional Skills community board from someone in Australia. The Aussie asked the difference between what a farm was compared to what a homestead was. That sparked curiosity in me to look up the actual definition. Most of us have an opinion of what a farm is and what a homestead is. We'll get more into this later. In recent months and currently in the states, we see what Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm refers to as the "Homestead Tsunami". In fact he's written a book with that title. Many people have heard the call to return to what the vast majority would consider a primitive lifestyle. One that forsakes some of the comforts that many of us have become accustomed to. It seems that the desire for comfort and convenience can be an unending endeavor in our culture. I've wondered within myself, "When is enough, enough"? I think each of us have to find this answer within ourselves.

A company starts out with a sales goal of 1 million dollars. 20 years later the goal is 22 million. What an increase right? Growth seems to feed the desire for more growth. The company now considers increasing the square footage by 2/3's. That's great on one hand, but one has to question, when is enough, enough? The desire to increase is not foreign nor is it inherently wrong, but it takes discipline to remain humble and think of ourselves as being temporary stewards. Compromise often begins to take place as we increase. Why is this? I'm sure there are several reasons, but one reason is that our priorities start to migrate or jockey for position. The prime concern often becomes growth and subtle compromises can begin to emerge in areas like the time needed for adequate job training, safety, environmental concern, employee reward programs, and other incentives that keep the workforce engaged. This example is not abnormal, and has become accepted and justified as the cost of doing business. You can see this on a national level or a community level. I've often said that when a new restaurant comes to town, it's never as good as the first year it opens. People open with lofty ideas of integrity, but find that culturally, often times we're forced to compromise to stay open.

When my wife and I started this PMA, we didn't really have any sales goals. We would have been fine breaking even on feed costs alone. Not figuring in our labor or even infrastructure costs. To be completely transparent, my personal goal was to earn enough to decrease our own food costs, break even or better on animal feed costs, and decide if that trade off was enough to step away from my job in town. Taking that incremental approach, I started to pursue this in 2021. Thankfully my current employer was willing to allow me to cut some hours. The PMA has grown to have more than 40 members which is encouraging and exciting! The number of members is a far comparison to members that actually take advantage of the superior quality products that we offer. I don't really have an answer as to why this is, but those are the current conditions.

So I too have had to ask myself, when is enough, enough? The timing of coming across the question "What's the difference between a homestead and a farm"? stands out to me. It motivated me to take a look at things here and ponder where is this going? The dictionary defines a homestead as (noun) a tract of land acquired and lived on with the purpose of cultivating. Farm is defined (noun) a tract of land devoted to agriculture purposes and or to raise livestock on. I don't see much difference there other than one is inhabited by the "farmers" and one is visited by the "farmers". The verb tense is where I see a greater difference. Homestead (verb) to live frugally or self-sufficiently (as on a homestead) especially by growing and preserving food. Farm (verb) to devote to agriculture, to manage and cultivate as a farm, to grow or cultivate in quantity. One seems to be for the sole purpose of providing for others and one seems to be more geared towards the occupants of the land.

Our vision is to provide for ourselves first. This is not motivated by selfishness as much as it is credibility. There are many "farms" where I don't think the farmers would eat what they produce. There are "farms" that don't produce anything or they produce a small portion of the products they offer. All of these "farms" are farms in name only in my opinion. It is also my opinion that maybe I should have named Embrace Farm, Embrace Homestead. It doesn't have a bad ring to it, but it doesn't carry the same feel either. It may however be more accurate. We won't compromise our food integrity for our own sake, nor do we want to compromise yours. If we have to scale back and reduce availability to maintain food integrity, nutrient density, and Creator honoring products, then that is what we will do.

We will still honor our part of our agreement, to make products available (if they are available). Our desire is to grow, but at what cost? We have chosen to be inter-dependent at this stage. That inherently means both parties in the relationship must participate. Our role is to provide the product and or service, yours is to contribute by taking advantage of the products and or services made available.

Part of my vision is to aid in equipping others to do more for themselves. To steward the resources that God has given you. To create a community of like minded individuals, with like convictions, and like goals. Those goals are to steward our resources and skills in an environment and relationship that is mutually beneficial. Whether it be helping another member replace a roof or providing some nutrient dense product. I want to create an environment or platform where we can help each other impact and be impacted by the community at Embrace Farm.

Please contact me if you have interest in any of our pastured, organically fed, rotationally grazed, ethically raised products. We have turkeys available for your Thanksgiving holiday.

Humbly and Transparently your local farmer or homesteader,

Gordon