Self Sufficient Living and Homesteading : A South African Perspective

The internet age in which we live makes sharing experiences and our life journeys a relatively easy exercise. Self-sufficient living and homesteading is a passion of mine and, I guess, I have been practicing that way of life to some degree all my life! Even before it became a buzzword!

 

Self Sufficient Living and Homesteading: A South African Perspective

 

Frank

Before I go any further, let me introduce myself. My name is Frank and I live in South Africa. My wife Nikki and I are on a journey to a self-sufficient lifestyle. Currently, we are both employed in the corporate sector but are working towards a lifestyle where we can support ourselves with food, water, and power. Eventually being able to give up our “day jobs” so to speak and have our land provide for us.

I maintain a blog called MyGreenTerra.com where I write about things I have learned, products I find useful and bushcraft skills which every aspiring homesteader should master. I have an advantage in this regard as I grew up in the African bush in Zimbabwe where I learned much of my bushcraft. Living and working as a safari guide in South Africa for a time, allowed me to enhance my knowledge and bush skills. I aspire to live a “Lifestyle that heals the planet!”

 

 

The Challenges All Homesteaders Face

 

A question that has intrigued me is do we face the same challenges in our homesteading endeavors around the world? Are the challenges I face the same, or similar, as someone in the USA, UK, Australia, or anywhere else in the world?

From reading about the experiences of others around the globe, the bigger issues seem to be the same for all of us.

 

By these I mean the following to name a few:

  • The acquisition of land
  • Dealing with legislation that restricts the way we want to live
  • Political uncertainty or unrest in our respective countries (in some cases this should be a motivation to live a self-sufficient lifestyle!)
  • How to make a living from our homesteads to leave the 9 to 5 grind
  • The challenge of changing climate patterns
  • Alternative energy power generation 
  • Water storage solutions
  • Homestead security

south african perspective

Homesteading Challenges From A South African Perspective

Living in Africa is challenging in certain aspects, but I am proudly African and would find it difficult to live in any other part of the world. If Africa is in your blood, it calls to you and it is a call that cannot be ignored!

The wildness of the continent from a fauna and flora point of view is unrivaled anywhere else in the world. The climate, in most areas, is warm most of the year, and the winters are short which gives us a relatively long growing season!

 

We do, however, have our own challenges while trying to homestead on this continent. And here are a few that I feel may be different from other places around the world.

  • Political unrest – this is always a challenge in Africa, with constant political maneuverings that often make security and peace of mind a challenge.
  • Water – Africa, particularly South Africa is a relatively dry area. Our rain season is summer time and falls in the form of thunderstorms. Our winters are dry. The low rainfall means that we need to be water wise with our vegetable gardens. From a self-sufficiency point of view, we also need to store some of the summer rainfall to get us through the dry winter. Over recent years our summer rains have not been good due to drought conditions. This makes water storage even more important, even to cater for poor summer rains.
  • Vandalism and theft – this is a significant problem here. As an example, I am a beekeeper, and I have to take measures to protect my beehives from vandalism and thievery in order to secure my harvest of honey.
  • Scarce resources – Being at the bottom end of Africa, buying equipment, tools and supplies is often difficult and in most cases expensive. This is particularly true of imported products! We are so far away from the rest of the developed world that transport costs drive up the prices of imported goods! Buying goods online and expecting deliveries in the short term, if at all, is a big challenge. An example of this is, most alternative energy equipment is manufactured abroad. To get solar power equipment such as solar panels is an expensive undertaking.
  • As a developing country, cultural differences and mindset differences can be a challenge. Most of the population is centered about cities or want to move from rural areas to the cities. The mindset of protecting land, nature and the environment is not prevalent or seen as a priority.

 

Despite the challenges, we love living here. Most of our ancestors were pioneers and as such were resourceful, resilient people. They managed to rise to the challenges and find ways to succeed in spite of them. We face our current challenges, the same way our ancestors did – with a pioneering spirit. The challenges make us more resourceful and innovative to use what we have and make it work!

south african perspective

Our Goals and Resources

Our goal in homesteading here in Africa is much the same as those of homesteaders around the world. We strive to be self-sufficient which is a journey in itself. At the same time reduce our negative impact on the environment.

The internet is a fantastic resource for us, as we can be part of a global community of homesteaders. We can learn from each other as we progress on our journey towards independence and self-sufficiency. We love reading the blogs of other homesteaders and hope our website can similarly add value to others in the community!  

south african perspective

A Final Word

We hope that we can motivate others towards a healthier, self-sufficient more independent lifestyle through sharing our experiences. So to all you other homesteaders out there, keep sharing your ideas and the lessons learned on your journey. You never know who it may help along the way!

So keep homesteading, keep sharing and most of all continue living a lifestyle that will heal the planet!

 

Have a look at homesteading from a South African perspective.

The following post is a guest post from a friend of mine, Frank,  in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has written a wonderful post about homesteading from a South African perspective. I hope you enjoy it! Frank can be found at his website: MyGreenTerra, or on Facebook, on Pinterest, on Instagram, and on Twitter.  Frank is also a part of the current Self-Reliance Challenge that 15 Acre Homestead is a part of. Make sure you check out his link in our weekly blog post.

 

 

10 Comments

  1. Hey Annie, Thanks for sharing my post with your readers! I love being able to interact, share and learn from like minded people that are on the other side of the planet! It makes our learning on the homesteading journey that much richer!

    1. Author

      Hey Frank! You are so welcome. I think you share a whole new perspective on homesteading that my readers will love! Thanks for allowing me to share such a great piece of knowledge!

  2. That’s awesome. I’ve heard stories about the challenges of white homesteaders in South Africa. I’m not sure how much of it has been blown out of proportion, but you certainly have my respect for committing to the lifestyle despite your challenges.

    Thank you for sharing on the Homestead Blog Hop.

    1. I am South African. My partner and I are in our tos. We too want to become self sufficient homes readers and get out of the city. The first thing my son said was “do you want to paint a target on your backs”. The deaths of white farmers is not blown out of the water. It is 1 of the first things we have to consider. We both grew up on farms, so have been taught the basics of living off grid as children. We both did army training, but as a 50 year old, would we still be able to keep looters and killers away. That is the big question we face before we are able to move away from the city. It is a huge reality here in South Africa.


  3. I am South African. My partner and I are in our 50s. We too want to become self sufficient homesteaders and get out of the city. The first thing my son said was “do you want to paint a target on your backs”. The deaths of white farmers is not blown out of the water. It is 1 of the first things we have to consider. We both grew up on farms, so have been taught the basics of living off grid as children. We both did army training, but as a 50 year old, would we still be able to keep looters and killers away. That is the big question we face before we are able to move away from the city. It is a huge reality here in South Africa.

  4. Tnx for this great blog.my fiancee and i see ourselves as free spirits and hve lived on smallholdings,grown veggies,had some farmanimals etc.then moved and he worked on farms and i was “artist”.again moved but now we’re at the coast.how we miss that life!being between narrow minded people and jobs as scares as chicken teeth,we wish and search constantly for a chance to be free again.is there nowhere in sa where one can live in a small group,grow your crops and get a chance to maybe build atreehouse or something?where again you can work on a farm ?this isnt an easy way to live and not meant for just anyone but surely there must be more people like us?

    1. Author

      I hope that you can find what you are looking for!

  5. Good day! How do we go about finding people who wants to start a homestead/ small community? I’m planning on buying land and start living off grid. Is it possible for me to leave my email address? Kind regards

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