Warmth is the key to a successful and sustainable homestead, and this post will show you how to create just that. While homesteading isn’t quite the same as camping, you still often get the sense that it’s you against the elements.
Keeping warm is often a problem, especially in the winter and if you live in northern climes. The cold can seep into your bones and adversely affect your health and well-being.
That’s why warmth should be at the center of your homesteading strategy. Generally, it is more important than keeping cool because you’re not just looking after yourself, but also animals and children.
Warmth And Connection
One of the main benefits of warmth in your homestead is the connection it offers. People tend to frequent warm spaces more often than cool ones, bringing individuals in your home together for shared quality time.
This is one of the reasons why living rooms have a fireplace. Partly, it is to keep people comfortable while they sit down, but it’s also about ensuring everyone wants to be in the same space.
Warmth And Emotional Wellbeing
Another reason why warmth is essential for a successful and sustainable homestead is that it offers emotional well-being. Being around a cozy fire from a fireplace store fosters a sense of coziness and belonging that would be impossible in the cold. People feel good being at home and stop dreaming about a better life somewhere else, in another place.
Warmth also helps to make exposure to nature more bearable. Even if it is snowing outside, it’s okay because there is a warm fire right next to you.
Warmth Can Reduce Your Bills And Increase Independence
Warmth can also improve your independence and make your family less reliant on fossil fuels. Instead of piping gas to your home to power the burner or boiler, you can simply burn wood collected on your land. Many homesteaders love to go out in the morning and collect a large quantity of logs, chop them, and then store them in a wood shelter. Over time, the wood dries out, making it suitable for indoor burning.
Burning wood from trees is carbon neutral. Eventually, that CO2 will find its way back into forests elsewhere in the world, and the cycle will repeat. It’s much more environmentally friendly than burning coal, which adds new carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
Warmth Is Easy To Achieve
You can also achieve warmth in various ways, depending on your existing systems and the nature of your homestead. For example, some homesteaders use solar panels to heat their homes, while others use composting and wood stoves. Ultimately, the method you choose is your decision. Pick the one that fits your time preferences and budget.
Warmth And Plants
A final benefit of warmth in a homestead is how it improves the well-being of plants and animals. Crops can fail and livestock can die without sufficient warmth, which is why it is essential to have systems in place to protect against the elements. Putting blankets on fields and having somewhere you can bring cattle and pigs inside may help a great deal.