You raise a lot of good point so I'm not going to accuse you of being a "debbie downer" but I have learned in my 40 years of life that attitude is everything. Life will give you lemons...will you make lemonade or not? Most people romanticize homesteading to be all peaches and little house on the prairie. It's hard work. We bust our forth points of contact on a daily basis. We hauled water by hand for the first 3 years and sucked it up.

You're right, some people would be better off keeping their day jobs and 401k. We have seen lots of people try this and fall aside only to go back poorer and in poor spirits feeling defeated. We will never leave this land we have built. Very soon we will begin clearing home sites for my 2 sons on our 56 acres. I'm working this week on getting a track loader running for that task. We've also looked into the hoops to jump thru so my inlaws (who live with us) can be buried on the property on day. Life doesn't last forever. If ours ends because we don't have immediate access to close medical care down the street, then that is what's written.

An old timer who has seen the Homestead mania just like you, once told me, if you can make it 5 years, then you can make it. Everyone he has seen has quit before that. We are coming up on our 5 year mark this November. We'll still be here in 10 years, I promise you. :) Thanks for watching! You are appreciated!

Oh, and I LOVE the animal manures. They make we want to get up every morning! :)