Justin RhodesAbundant Permaculture, LLC · Boss

The real reason I started homesteading

Name: The real reason I started homesteading
Uploaded: 2026-03-12T23:21:13+00:00
Duration: 1 min 5 s
Channel: Justin Rhodes
Description: In this reflective monologue, the speaker explains that his entry into homesteading was not driven by a personal epiphany about food, but rather by his…

12 Mar 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:05

In this reflective monologue, the speaker explains that his entry into homesteading was not driven by a personal epiphany about food, but rather by his wife's concerns about conventional agriculture and her switch to organic foods. Initially, he agreed to help her and tended a garden, but rising food costs soon revealed a practical incentive: growing his own food could be dramatically cheaper. As he spent more time working the land, he developed a genuine love for gardening. Ultimately, he frames his motivation as a higher calling—serving others through food production—suggesting that homesteading is most meaningful when it transcends personal benefit and contributes to the community.

Chapters

I would like to say I got into homesteading from some personal discovery and conviction about food, but that would be a lie. I started because of my wife. She found out the conventional foods are not that great for us. She switched us to organics, and I caught myself in a good moment, and I just said, yes dear. I tended that garden of peace in that moment. But as the bills started skyrocketing for the food, I started thinking, you know what, I could grow that for 99% cheaper. As I started working the land and growing my own food, I came around and I fell in love with it myself. But looking back, it's not the worst thing to be motivated for someone else. Actually, I can't think of a better reason to homestead, because if you're going to last You're going to need a higher calling, bigger and larger than yourself, and I can't think of a better way than to service other people through your food growing.