How the Internet is shaping the Homesteading Experience

Someone asked me recently "what makes this generation of small farmers and homesteaders so different from the 'back to the land movement' of the 70's?" There are many differences and although there may be similarities, that movement existed in a different time with it's own political and societal pressures. What makes me think I can succeed while many have abandoned their attempts so many years ago? The biggest difference, it seems to me, is the Internet.

Generations ago, farming practices were passed on from parent to child but after industrialization, that has all but stopped for most of us, so how is it any of us have the knowledge to even attempt raising livestock, garden or build our own sheds, barns and houses? We look it up, we find diagrams, instructions and video of other people who know how and we follow their lead. We then Blog, make our own videos and share our experiences with cyberspace and the tradition continues. We legitimize our attempts through a wider audience via the Internet. We may have lost the support of a local farming community but we have gained a cyber-farming community that reaches the farthest farms on the planet, and that is a lot of knowledge and support.

As I stood over a dead rabbit trying to decide how to go about processing it for meat and having read in books and looked up on the Internet previously, still wasn't quite confident so I pulled up a You tube video on how to do it and I followed along, step- by-step and managed to finish the gutting and processing. It was the next best thing to having a wise old farmer standing there with me, teaching me the basics. Many of us would not attempt or would attempt, but would lose our way and not want to try again, without this guidance.

The other important part of the Internet is that it doesn't allow one ever to feel completely isolated or alone which one may have felt during my mother's generation. I can share my personal stories and mistakes with others in similar circumstance seeking feedback or a chuckle over the mishaps at the end of a long day. I am just as connected to what is going on with friend's and family as my city counterparts, using Skype to chat, twitter, Facebook and carrying my phone around able to grab a quick snapshot and send it to an amused receiver with an up to the moment text.

Often cottage industry or entrepreneurship goes hand in hand with small farming as well and the Internet provides another avenue for marketing these ideas and products. A person in one small community can only sell so many locally made items to their neighbours and immediate community but can reach niche markets all for the world with the Internet. Sites like Etsy and Pintrest allow high volumes of traffic that would otherwise not exist for the small business and money making side projects that help the farm to be economically viable. A farmer can market her CSA through the Internet reaching a wider audience who would otherwise only find out about her through word of mouth or at her local Farmer's Market.

Some farmers are born into it and some start off moving to the country, raising a flock of chickens and through trial and error, establish businesses and sometimes bigger farms. The Internet is becoming a bigger and bigger part of the experience of today's small farmer. The 2011 Census reported that The Percentage of farms that were using the Internet for farm business increased from 34.9% in 2006 to 55% in 2011.

The Internet is the biggest single difference between small farming today versus small farming of my parent's generation. Some may not have been as quick to abandon small farming and head for security and jobs in the city had they had the Internet. It provides such a huge support system and endless way to use your hands, intellect and business sense. How different things may have been had the Internet been around when city folk had the idea to return back to the land.