The Power of Mentors for the Rural Living Newbie

Reader Contribution by Victoria Gazeley
Published on March 15, 2011
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As an urbanite, I had this long-held dream of homesteading, of living off our own rural property, collecting eggs from our free ranging chickens, picking and putting up our own organic vegetables and fruit, and working from home. I think I even romanticized it a bit (ahem…). The reality of rural living, of course, was a little different.

I’ll start by telling you that I’m an individualist at heart. Only recently have I learned to ask for help when I can’t figure something out. My usual modus operandi is to just hunker down in front of the computer (I design websites for a living, so there’s LOTS of ‘hunkering’ going on) and sift through blog posts and tutorials til I figure it out. Now, that works for website building, but for homesteading and rural living skills? Not so much.

Back in early 2009 when we moved into our little homestead (and for years before), I spent a LOT of time studying, reading, and taking courses and workshops on a zillion different topics related to modern homesteading, rural living, and self-sufficiency. Books, blogs, website forums, you name it… I visited and studied so many I lost track of who said what.

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