What is Wholesteading?  Wholesteading is a term that we coined to capture what this blog is all about.  Wholesteading is the marriage of two of our greatest passions:  WHOLE living and homeSTEADING.  For us, our quest to live wholly was naturally followed by a desire to create a homestead.  What does whole living and homesteading mean to us?

Whole Living

Whole living encompasses a lifestyle that strives for wholeness in all areas of the individual – spiritual wholeness, physical wholeness, intellectual wholeness, and emotional wholeness.  We believe that each area in life is closely intertwined with the others and that when one area is out of balance, all of the areas suffer.  Furthermore, we believe that spiritual wholeness is the most significant part of one’s being and that when all is right with one’s soul, then the other areas of ones life will reflect that peace and passion.  For the purpose of this blog, we will be covering topics that pertain to the spiritual, the physical, the intellectual, and the emotional man.  As lofty as that may sound, we will really just be addressing everyday topics and will show how everything in life really does fall into one of  these categories.

•      Spiritual:  God, faith, the Bible, church, doubt, “religion”, hypocrisy, character, integrity, purpose, mysteries of the universe
•      Physical:  health, nutrition, exercise, clean eating, body as a temple, environmental responsibility
•      Intellectual:  homeschooling, personal development, current events, book reviews, commentaries, satires
•      Emotional:  family, marriage, parenting, friendships, relationships,strategies for orderly living, hobbies

Homesteading

Our quest for whole living was naturally followed by a desire to live on a homestead. We wanted to produce our own food as close to the way G-d designed it as possible.  We wanted to eat clean, live organically, breathe purely, and sleep deeply. The dream of homesteading was soon born.

By definition, homesteading is a lifestyle bent toward self-sufficiency.  It is stereotypically thought to include some kind of farmhouse and lots and lots of animals.  Now let me tell you what homesteading looks like in our life… At the time of the creation of this blog, the “stereotypical homestead” is a dream we are building on.  Right now we do not have a farmhouse or lots and lots of animals.  We live in a tiny slice of suburbia with five children, a small garden, some blueberry bushes, and two dogs.  We have made our suburban home as “homesteady”as possible, and we live and eat as organically as possible. We believe that you do not have to live on a typical homestead to benefit from a homesteading lifestyle and principles.

That being said, we have taken the steps to expand our dream of operating a full-blown “real” homestead.  I’m talking about a big white farmhouse, greenhouses, crop fields, chickens, and more.  The real deal.  You can read the journal of “Building our Dream” HERE.  Check in for updates on how our homestead is coming along.  Meanwhile, we will keep you up to date on our homesteading efforts in suburbia HERE.

Thanks for taking the time to learn about wholesteading.  Please come and be a part of our journey by leaving questions and comments.  We would love to hear from you!