I have done it. I started out 11 years, working a job and homesteading on the side. It took a lot of work, and I will never forget how hard it was trying to get so much done on 1-1/2 days per weekend (we got to church). Plus the holidays, and vacation days...
After 8 years I was able to work at full-time farming, and that is what I do now.
For me, a lot of it was planning. I spent 10 months developing a Farm Plan back in 2007, and when I pulled the trigger on farming in 2008, I knew where I needed to go. Since then, I have found that I put so much research into my farm plan, that when I deviate from it, even years later, things go bad, but when I stick with it, things go much more smoothly. Even today, I am carrying out aspects of my farm plan, even though it is 11 years later.
Another thing I do is just do one big thing a year. I found one of the biggest mistakes homesteaders make is getting burned out. By doing one big thing per year, my farm rolls along and improves, but I do not get overwelmed thinking I have to do it all. I do plenty of small things per year too, but just focusing on one big thing has really helped, I mean in 11 years, that is 11 big things, that is progress!!
But I admit some of the things that are priority for you, mean little to me. I am not foo-fooing your priority list, I am just different. I just put up with the school that we have here. It gets a 2 on the school scale I guess, but I do not care. I work with the teachers as best as I can for my four daughters, and hope for the best. And we are so rural here, that walkability is something even the Amish do not do. A car is required, but the thing is, you get used to it. We are selling our homestead, and yet one thing we have heard is, "we love your place, but it is so far out". But the thing is, it is only because they have only been here once. Yes, all the roads are backroads, but we are only 18 miles from all the major stores. My wife is an "intwner", and it took her awhile to get used to the distances to get somewhere, but you do get used to it. Again, it is planning. We do not buy groceries every day here, we go to town once a week because we plan for it.
As for getting by, it is a struggle right now. I never planned on getting cancer when I retired as a welder and went to full-time farming. I just went to the Dr and they doubled my cancer medication; so this will be the third winter I have had to deal with that. It is hard, but i do what I can. Like I do custom work, like mowing the sides of the road for the county. It does not pay much, $20 per hour for their
tractor, $55 per hour if I use mine, but it is an easy job and gives my farm income. It is doing things like that that make it work.
Most people would not want to live like my wife and I (and four daughters ages 6, 12,13, and 14), but 85% of American's are broke. Why would I want to live like they do, is the real question?
For good reading, read
Paul Wheaton's article on
Gert. My wife and I are Gert's.