Homesteading

Broadly defined, homesteading is a lifestyle of self-sufficiency. It is characterized by subsistence agriculture, home preservation of foodstuffs, and may or may not also include production of textiles, clothing, and craftwork for household use or sale. Conducted in different manners across the world in different historical eras, homesteading is generally differentiated from rural village or commune living by isolation of the homestead, either social or physical. US use of the term dates from the Homestead Act and earlier. In sub-Sahara Africa, particularly in nations formerly controlled by the British Empire, a homestead is the household compound for a single extended family. In the UK, the term 'smallholder' is the rough equivalent of 'homesteader'.