I agree, I think I found my way to the prepper community through my homesteading/small farm journey. What I personally have found is that homesteading and farming can be very capital intensive to startup. Sure You can bootstrap any venture but I feel to enable the best chances of success does require cash flow and the more You put in at the start the sooner You can take profits.
EG: My first profitable venture on my homestead was laying hens, I built my own coop and converted an existing dilapidated green house into a run. The materials required to construct and convert cost me ~ $1500 and then the purchase of brooding equipment, waterers, feeders, and chicks ran me another $1000 or so. All in I would say it cost $3500 Dollars and 6 months before I saw my 1st egg and another two years before my hens were hatching out new chicks. I currently make around $100/month profit through farm gate egg sales at $5 a dozen and have a never ending supply of fresh eggs for myself...but that took almost 4 years from my initial investment plus the daily work of egg collection and watering. I am still looking at another two or three years before I break even not including labor, barring any unexpected expenses.
Don't even get me started with my Honeybee operation!!!
My point is yes self sufficient homesteading is my goal but without the investments I made into the markets, the money wouldn't have been available. In my case I was able to grow my "off farm" investments while drawing on their profits to finance my "on farm ventures" which required time to turn profitable. Unfortunately I think those times are over and it is time to reevaluate my holdings before I find myself draining their principal value to fund my living.
EG: My first profitable venture on my homestead was laying hens, I built my own coop and converted an existing dilapidated green house into a run. The materials required to construct and convert cost me ~ $1500 and then the purchase of brooding equipment, waterers, feeders, and chicks ran me another $1000 or so. All in I would say it cost $3500 Dollars and 6 months before I saw my 1st egg and another two years before my hens were hatching out new chicks. I currently make around $100/month profit through farm gate egg sales at $5 a dozen and have a never ending supply of fresh eggs for myself...but that took almost 4 years from my initial investment plus the daily work of egg collection and watering. I am still looking at another two or three years before I break even not including labor, barring any unexpected expenses.
Don't even get me started with my Honeybee operation!!!
My point is yes self sufficient homesteading is my goal but without the investments I made into the markets, the money wouldn't have been available. In my case I was able to grow my "off farm" investments while drawing on their profits to finance my "on farm ventures" which required time to turn profitable. Unfortunately I think those times are over and it is time to reevaluate my holdings before I find myself draining their principal value to fund my living.