The Christian Homesteading Movement with Josh Thomas

Today there is a movement of Christians being called back to the land who are starting homesteads, but with a desire to shine for Jesus. In this episode I am joined by Josh Thomas from The Homestead Family to talk about homesteading, why God cares about it, the modern Christian homesteading movement, and tips for people getting started. Josh and his family homestead in Idaho and serve countless people with their super helpful educational resources. He attended the 2018 Redeeming the Dirt Conference and we have been friends since then. You will find links to his sites below. 

Josh has also created a new resource capturing training on traditional skills that will be available at The School of Traditional Skills. On September 12-15th, 2022 he is hosting a free summit where you will be able to hear from all the teachers at the school. If you want to support Redeeming the Dirt through our affiliate link you can go to www.redeemingthedirt.com/summit 
Otherwise feel free to go directly to
https://www.schooloftraditionalskills.com/

Josh's Homesteading Resources:
https://homesteadingfamily.com/
https://www.schooloftraditionalskills.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu99W5TTPAucVN83TYQtCqQ

Support the Show: www.redeemingthedirt.com/support

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Welcome to the Redeeming the Dirt Podcast. This is Noah Sanders. Glad you're joining us today. Today we're going to be talking about homesteading.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

And the way that I typically define homesteading when we're talking about agriculture and tending the land, I kind of think about it in terms of three different kinds of levels of skill or participation. The first one being growing some of your own food. And that's a great hobby and a great money saver that I think a lot of people should do in their backyards and such. Home settings kind of the next level up where you're growing a lot of your own food and it's more diversified. It's a lot more of a lifestyle commitment. And then the third level is where other people are paying you to grow food for them. And that's more commercial or market farming, and you're doing it as a business for an income. So even though when we think we think about farming in agriculture, we tend to go kind of towards the commercial side and how can you make a business selling things to people and make a living doing that? I think that homesteading is really valuable because it's really something that can that more people I feel like should be doing. A lot of the reasons that we're attracted to agriculture are really more of the lifestyle benefits that something like homesteading can provide for us. And it also for those that are getting uh even, you know, might want to uh eventually go into you know having a business, growing it for yourself first really helps you to learn what you're good at, what you're not good at, um, and what uh what people might be interested in your area. So uh homesteading is something that this year we've started focusing on more as a family as our business, we've swapped a little more to the training side of things and uh having that be our main focus as far as serving others. And so we've uh focused a bit more on um swift swapping from you know market gardening and stuff to home productions. That's been uh really fun to work on and um and and also humbling and realizing it's it's a whole different ballgame and and very challenging in and of itself if you want to kind of go to that next level of really upping how much you're um producing in terms of uh different items and things. We've got bees now, and we have a milk cow, and you know, you start realizing it it does take a lot of skill to learn how to juggle all these things and realize what's possible. But, you know, as Christians, I think um being productive, learning to produce things for ourselves is really important to God's heart. He um, you know, our culture really pushes on us this idea of you're happier the more you consume. And God really has called us to be producers. And if we look at 1 Thessalonians 4, 11 and 12, that's like my favorite verse. Um, if you ask me what my favorite Bible verses are, it would be that 1 Thessalonians 4, 11 and 12, make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders, and so you won't be dependent on anyone. And also in Titus 3, 14, um, Paul is talking and encouraging uh Titus about the church. He says, Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good in order that they may provide for the daily necessities and not live unproductive lives. So many of us in our culture today were used to going to a job, getting money, and then buying everything that we need, but historically that's not always been the way that God has um, you know, designed to be the primary way that our needs are met. And um, in the day and age that we live today, some of these um traditional and um, well, let's say more modern and really incredible um systems of production uh and supply um, as we've seen, are not as resilient as and as trustworthy as maybe they were a few years ago. And there are more people now interested in how can I grow some of my own food? How can I produce things more directly for myself? And uh and yet most of us having grown up in a completely different context from that, have very little idea what we're doing and have a lot of uh a lot of a learning curve in order to try to do that. And so I'm really grateful today to have as uh my guest um a friend Josh with the homesteading family. And they have really um done a great job and have blessed a lot of people um in the last few years with uh taking what they've learned on their homesteading journey and providing resources for those of us just getting started and getting into it. So I'm really grateful to have him on today to talk about their journey and experiences and some of the resources that they have to offer. So, Josh, welcome to the Redeeming the Dirt podcast.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

Thank you, Noah. It is great to be here. Thanks for uh taking the time and it's great to hang out with you and your audience for a bit.

SPEAKER_01 5:05

So we first met when you came to a conference of ours, right? I don't remember what year it was. 18.

SPEAKER_02 5:14

Yeah, 2018. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

2018, you came um across the country to come visit us and uh hung out for a few days, and it was a really great time of fellowship. And I just appreciate it, even though you had so much knowledge and experience at that point in time already. You just came and humbly learned and served and and plugged in and and uh and encouraged. And uh we just really felt uh blessed by by you being there. And it's been I we haven't stayed in touch tons over the years, but enough that we uh could say that we haven't totally lost lost connection. And uh then recently I remember uh on our Redeemed the Dirt Academy, actually, somebody was sharing a video um about uh water bathing um eggs, and I was looking at it, and then lo and behold, I was like, ah, that's that's Justin Stanley there.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 6:04

So yeah, well that was that was a great time. And you know, I'm I'm I just want to be a lifelong learner, and you know, everybody has something to share. And you know, you've got a platform, we have a platform, but um, everybody has something to share, and and it it's really exciting to me to see the Christian voice in this movement and to see more and more of our brothers and sisters in Christ engaging in this life. And I know we're gonna talk about some of this here in a little bit. Um, and so it just I'm I'm I'm well, we're here sharing what we know. We're also here to learn. It was fun to come and learn with you and and see what you guys were doing out there and um and just be an encouragement to one another.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

Yeah. And just, you know, for our audience, especially and those of you starting out, you know, like the real if you if you meet people who have been doing things for a long time that are really successful at it, if you're around them for any period of time, they they really um meet the criteria of a wise person. Josh meets that criteria from the book of Proverbs where they listen, they learn. And all of us, you know, we think sometimes if we arrive at a particular area that um, you know, we we shouldn't admit that we don't know things, but it's actually um the sign of wisdom when we're eager to learn and we're a good listener and we're willing to. Um, I I always tell young men, I'm like, it's so tempting if somebody says, Do you know something? You know, do you know anything about sawmills? And if you know a little bit, it's tempting to want to say, Yeah, yeah, yeah, I do. Whereas you need to say, uh, maybe a little bit, but tell me what you, you know, like tell me something about it. Like always be willing to hear and learn some more. And and the people that are willing to do that will um really master their craft of whatever God's called them to. So, Josh, I would love if you would just uh start us off by giving us a little introduction of yourself and your family, and kind of um for those of us uh in the audience that uh don't know much about you, kind of give us a snapshot of what that looks like, you and your context there.

SPEAKER_02 8:02

Sure. Uh well I'm Josh. My wife is Carolyn. For those that aren't familiar with us, yeah, we have 10 kids and um we homestead, but before that we're disciples of Christ. And um, you know, we're just endeavoring to uh raise up a family. Uh we're we're, you know, we're looking to lay a new generation. I'm sorry, a new generation. Uh, we are looking to lay a new foundation for our family from some of the past that we experienced um to root our family in the Lord. And uh with that, we feel he's called us, besides having a large family and homeschooling, to be getting rooted in the land. And that's been a near 20-year journey now, and uh that he's taken us along. And and we weren't always, you know, here sharing it with with folks. We were just living, I was a contractor by trade and building homes and property management, and and we were building this lifestyle as our family was growing. And and uh there just there came a point in time where um we had a heart to share, and that that really originated out of Carolyn wanting to share with some moms because so much of the information was hard to find. And back then there wasn't much YouTube, you know, there just wasn't what's going on on the internet now. And even now there's so much, you have the opposite problem. You have a flooding of information. So now we're trying to help solve that a little bit. But so many people were coming to us and asking questions, and she had a real heart to help the other mothers um, you know, accelerate their learning curve in what she really struggled and and to do as a good researcher. And and the short story of it is homesteading family was born out of that heart uh to share with those around us uh on our journey. And so, you know, here we are now, we're on 40 acres in Idaho. And um I'm I'm real wary of the word self-sufficiency. We all use it because it's just what people relate to. Um, so we do a lot, we provide a lot for ourselves on our land. And so, in some ways, people would say we're self-sufficient. Um, I'd say uh we're doing a lot of good things. We're growing, we're learning, and um and just uh also learning to be a part of the local community, you know, from that aspect and support other people doing what they're doing. And that's our mission, even though it's online. Always want to point people back to local resources, local people. If you can't grow it, if you can't raise it, um look local first, you know, support somebody else that can. So yeah, that's that's kind of a whirlwind introduction.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

Yeah, that's great. I know um there's uh it seems to be a growing group of people that are that you know that I'm hearing from that are just getting started in some of this. And you know, it's I'm sure it's tempting to see videos of your farm or when people come to our farm and and it's just it seems so um kind of you know, like you see 20 years of investment and uh it's hard to picture how you know, like the the getting started or or or you know, making it there. And you know, uh there is there is a lot of work in between. Um, but for people to be able to, I think it's also encouraging sometimes for people to hear, you know, what that starting point looks like that that helps them relate a bit, you know, to where they are. And so I know there was sure a point at which you um you probably was there was there a time at which God you felt like God really started to speak to you and your wife about, you know, I mean it's not it's not a it's not just a side hobby when you uproot your family to like buy a piece of property and you move to it and you develop it and everything. I mean, if you're not all on board or if you don't really feel called to that, you know, it's uh it's not just a minor thing. So what was that like as far as y'all getting to that point? Um, what was it that really drove and motivated um you to make that drastic shift?

SPEAKER_02 11:56

Well, it was it was definitely a journey, one step at a time. And you know, we were we got married and we were fairly health conscious living in the city. We we, you know, we like nature. I don't know how to be a Christian and not appreciate the natural world around us and want to be connected to it. And so, you know, we were growing little plants and pots on the balcony and had parakeets because that's all we could have. And so we had this bent to have something, to be connected, even though we were in the city, the finishing college and starting a business. And and um, you know, and then family started, we moved to a little piece of property and and it kind of grew. And one of the first bumps we had was a vaccination issue with our first son, where um he they they gave him more than they told us they were giving him. And uh and then when we called to try to understand, because he had what seemed like a mild reaction, they told us they hadn't. And we had both watched them give him four shots, and they said they only gave him three. And, you know, when we were reading the paperwork, we realized, wait, there's only three listed here, but they gave him four. We physically physically watched it, and uh, he didn't have any kind of bad reaction or permanent damage, but um, but it was enough that it it opened our eyes. God opened our eyes with that. And I was working, Carolyn as a as a new mom proceeded to dig in and research. And she's just a phenomenal researcher and learner. And that started opening some of the doors to understanding the medical, the state of the medical system and the state of the food system. And so we're now on high alert and and we're we're already got a bend to be tied to nature and and want to eat decently well. We were both were taught that. Um, and that kind of started the journey of um getting serious about a garden in the backyard, raising some chickens in the backyard, planting a you know, a few fruit trees 17 and a half years ago. And um, and then you know, you just it it just starts growing and you become aware of other things and start thinking as Christians and the times we're in. And um, you know, you you I I love Thessalonians that you were talking about. I I also like Proverbs, I think it's 27 at the end, where it tells us to be uh, you know, aware of the state of our flocks and um basically connected to the land and producing because a crown doesn't endure forever. And what that's telling us is that that both uh governmental and economic systems change. And where we're grounded, where we're rooted is in the land. And there is a historical reality that backs that up if you if you study history throughout, you can go back to Mesopotamia. And I did some research on this when we were um launching School of Traditional Skills. There have been backed land movements ever since then. When a culture is doing good, people tend to go to the city, they tend to go to where all the services are. When people start to see things deteriorating, they go back to their roots, they go back to their land. And I believe that's because that's the root of where we started, that's where God intended us to be. We started in the garden, working with what he made, fellowshipping with him and each other. And so I think all of humanity has a natural tendency to do that. History bears that out. And scripture gives us testimony that says, hey, this is where you've got some safety. This is where you can stay connected and grounded and take care of yourself. And history has also shown that people that have access to land and know how to work it, rich or poor, fare better through um, you know, shifting economic times and and you know, government shifts and stuff. So um, some of that awareness and study in scripture, all that just started to build momentum for us um in a life that we hadn't really defined as homesteading yet, but we were gardening and realizing uh one of the other practical things was just we we we learned, you know, after about the second child, God was really speaking to us. I came into marriage wanting four kids, Max. No way. I we our counselor had us write out some non-negotiables. That was a non-negotiable for me. Don't tell God what you're not gonna do now, is what I say, because uh he he turned my heart and he opened us up not to having a lot of kids per se, but to giving that to him, to yielding to him. We were trying to yield in our finances, we were trying to yield in our conduct and our spiritual life. And um, this was an area who said, You need he said, you need to give this to me. Um, and I'm the author of life, I'm the creator of life. So it it's it's not about how many, it was about serving him and giving him our life. And so as we did that, we also realized that um our food bill was going to get really big. We wanted our kids to be connected to the land, we wanted to eat well, we wanted to avoid a lot of the medical problems, and that all pointed to a homesteading life. And it also um just in raising a family in this current world uh and in situation where our culture is really deteriorating, there's just a lot of benefits to that lifestyle and to raising uh our kids uh living this way and working this way. And when we started, that was a big risk. It was a big unknown. You know, how's this gonna work out? Um, now that our oldest is 17 and a half and we've matured in this, we're starting to see fruit from that and are very thankful that God's you know brought us on this journey.

SPEAKER_01 17:08

I think the rewards that God offers through a lot of these things, they're not necessarily stuff that the there's stuff that the world somewhat says that they want, like family and all that kind of stuff. But at the end of the day, you know, to be able to benefit from good relationships with your family or health or all that really requires um kind of a dying to yourself up front, um, you know, a sacrificial lifestyle of laying down your life, whether it's for your wife andor for your marriage or for your kids, or even homesteading. I mean, I I have to tell a lot of people, I mean, it's you know, it sounds cool like living off grid. Well, a lot of it's very unglorious and you know, pretty uh humbling, really, you know. And so, you know, when you have company come over, you know, and and and uh your your your uh the power goes out because your batteries died, you got to go crank out the generator. It's it's a little, you know, it's just not the most like glamorous thing, or you know, just just uh those kind of things. But it's that isn't that it's so true of like the rewards though, like when you're willing to invest up front and say these are the things that God says are matter most in life, and we invest in those, then um, it really does root us. And I'm so grateful, you know, that God's given, even though not everybody always has to be tied to the land, especially like you were saying, in times of you know, the rise and fall of governments and economies is historical. I mean, it's there's it's never not happened. It's just been the rhythm of history. And God in his graciousness has allowed there to be always that kind of fallback, that for that forgiveness built into the system where even though man's amazing systems that allow them to specialize and develop collapse eventually, there's always still the land. There's always still that connection where people can provide for their daily necessities through work and through, you know, and and like you said, it there is always there's always been this rediscovering. I think we talk about, we think that we're it's it's new to us, or it was, you know, it's just a recent phenomenon. But I was, you know, even reading about the Revolutionary War. Once they got, uh they they no longer had um, like prior to that, when the they began to lose access to some of the uh imports that they were getting from Great Britain, you know, they people had to set up schools to teach people how to grow and make flax and linen, you know, like it wasn't nobody knew how to do it. So or the same thing, like in the South here, we have a lot of people that are quilt making and you know, a lot of home, like a lot of real good production. Well, a lot of that had to be learned and taught, you know, after the Civil War, um, because we weren't really that kind of not all country people were that kind of thing. And so um just that recognizing that helps to helps us to to realize well, not to play the victim. Sometimes it's so easy to be like, oh, well, you know, if I had grown up doing it, I could do it, you know. Well, yeah, and so many generations before that have not had the luxury, and we are so blessed in, like you said, the amount of information that's available to us. Um, we really don't have any excuse.

SPEAKER_02 20:11

We really don't, other than it, other than information overwhelm and so much and finding reliable information that's um truthful and actionable, and that's something we're trying to do in homesteading family and expand in the school traditional skills. But I want to I want to clarify something as we're talking about this because you you touched on something. Not talking about a homesteading life, talking about being connected to the land, does not mean to me, and I don't think it properly means that everybody needs to go be on a farm on an acre, 10 or 40 acres. Um, you know, I I'm I'm pointed toward the thoughts of an agrarian economy, and that is rooted in our understanding and our connection to the land and what it does for us, and that everything we have, these computers, everything we have ultimately comes from the land. And but it doesn't mean that every job, every career, every focus is a farmer, is growing your own food. There are a lot of roles. We still need doctors, we still need uh, you know, accountants, we still need shopkeepers, we there's all kinds of things. And so I think it's important when we have this discussion because some people go, well, you know, how's everybody gonna let we all go back and are farmers? And and no, that that's not the point. Um, I think it feels that way because we there's a value in getting more people connected and thinking about more of an agrarian life, or or I think better said, an agrarian economy, which is really what you have focused on in the Bible. There were huge cities in biblical times, all throughout biblical history, huge cities and metropolises, but that's not where the discussion takes place in scripture. It almost all takes place, you know, from an agrarian mindset, because that that is, I think, the solid foundation. And so it's important for people listening to understand that we're not calling every single person to come out and be a farmer or a homesteader. And in fact, um, you were talking about what homesteading is to you, and and we have worked. With the way we discuss things to shape homesteading to be a little bit more of a mindset, this agrarian mindset, because you can do a lot right where you're at. You don't have to stop being an accountant and a bookkeeper to grow some vegetables or to do, you know, or to go to the farmer's market and support a more local grower and then preserve some of that food for easy meals or backup food and cook well. I mean, there's we, you know, we there's so many different intersections that we could create. That's what's important to me to get people thinking about um what you can do where you're at right now that is a homesteading mindset that is resourceful and is building, you know, personal and local resources that creates less dependence on what I call these modern grids. And there's a lot more grids than just the electrical grid. Um and that that's what we want to encourage people to do. Um, because you can start now. You don't you don't have to wait and go to an acre or 40 acres to start this journey.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

Yeah. So for you know, there's um some people I've talked to before in the church that uh obviously there's a lot of Christians in the homesteading movement and that are interested in that, but there's also, you know, um an element where I've I've been challenged before where somebody asked me, you know, when there are so many people around the world that have not heard the gospel or that are hurting and and and there's so much ministry work that that needs to do to build God's kingdom, how can you justify spending hours out there weeding your garlic, you know, when there's so much work to do? So how you know and and and then there's kind of that aspect of well, you know, you're trying to go and like be self-sufficient and grow all your own stuff, but are you know, aren't you just supposed to go do what God tells you to do and He'll take care of you, you know, whether that's in a war zone or or wherever it is kind of thing, you know, how how is that not a retreating kind of deal? And so for those who do feel called to homesteading but are trying to trying to communicate, you know, like their approach from a Christian perspective, if you try to communicate to people how your faith or how your homesteading is an expression of your faith, how do you like communicate that? How do you articulate that?

SPEAKER_02 24:23

Wow. Well, I think I've I've got to back up and and tie in a little bit of my experience and perspective. And part of that is I was raised kind of in the tradition in this idea of um just go get everybody saved, and it doesn't really matter what we do. We just need to get everybody saved because Christ is gonna return uh pre-trip, take us all away before we really experience any of the you know prophecy and stuff that we're expecting. And I think that lends to the questions and the concerns that you're referring to, that mentality. And um ultimately, yes, making disciples is first. Um, as Christians, we need to be spreading the word. Um, God that has manifested in individuals and in the church in different ways throughout different times in history. And there are people that need to be in the city spreading the gospel and living in the city. There are people that are called to go out to wherever it is in the world and minister. Um, but the majority of Christians in history, we we don't tend to focus on them that are making disciples, they're making disciples right where they were planted. That that's the vast majority of people. So I think we have to come to what are we called to? What what are you and I and each individual, what is God calling to us? We need to have an open heart and to be receptive to that, not just some bigger um denominational or almost structural mandate that sometimes takes us over and runs us over. Um, you gotta we gotta find out where we fit in that. And I believe that God has stirred a movement in people's hearts. Uh, I saw it uh before we were in homesteading uh when we knew we were gonna homeschool and becoming part of the homeschooling community and watching you know, people pull away from the educational grid. And I like to use those terms crib because that was taking it has stolen our children and their hearts. And that's a whole nother discussion, but it's been done intentionally uh from one angle. And and it's it's reaped a lot of disrupt destruction in our culture. And so I've seen a movement, God working in people and individuals, uh, pulling out of that. I've also seen in the midst of that people staying in the school system, devout Christians saying we're here to minister. And God bless them. That's that's what they're called to do. They're following God's calling. And so this homesteading life, I think, is very similar. Personally, I mean, you know, as far as eschatology and when is Christ coming back, you know, that that's its own discussion. But I think the Bible's real clear to be wise about the times and to be prepared. And so it's it's been our mission as a family, even before, you know, having a heart to share our homesteading skills, that we felt like God was calling us to learn how to be a light and a blessing to people in coming darkness. Whatever that is. And I don't know, that apocalyptic, is that just economic shifts? I don't know. But we feel called to be uh able to be a witness and a light in darkness, in a darkening time. And so a lot of our journey has been living that and preparing for that and preparing the next generation and laying a generational foundation that says, I don't know when Christ is coming. We we pray for his return daily. And we see a lot of things that a lot of us in the church say, yeah, it's coming, it's coming soon. Maybe it is, but lots of cultures, lots of people have thought that throughout history. And to just say we're just gonna sit and wait and, you know, maybe let the oil burn out, I don't think is the right thing to do, at least not for me and my family. Um, it it may be in my lifetime, it may be in several generations. So I'm trying to lay a generational foundation that's prepared to be a light in a shifting culture where I think things are gonna get tougher economically, um, where clearly, you know, Christianity is under more and more attack in our culture, and it takes uh better biblical knowledge, better uh personal development to stand up for your faith in this world. Um, and so that's what he's called us to do. And all this is wrapped up together in this homesteading life. It's all part of one picture that ultimately is coming back around to that question. Um, we're still shining light. We're still here to put light in this world and to put Christ forward. Is our call to be out on the front lines of the mission field in that way, providing aid, or you know, just proclaiming the gospel in the slums? No. But are we proclaiming the gospel and are we laying something down and being a light? Yes, we are in the way that God's called us to. And I and I think, again, there's a movement that many people are understanding that and coming to that. Uh, you know, in right now, a lot of it's just the political change, the economic change. That's what's driving them. But um ultimately, hopefully, um, they're coming to Christ in that as they're doing that or growing closer to Him and uh being a light as well.

SPEAKER_01 29:11

Yeah, I think that that perspective of calling is so important because it really is that we can't really build God's kingdom or impact people except as God uses us.

SPEAKER_02 29:22

Except the Lord build the house, right? Except the Lord build the house. They the labor, labor in vain.

SPEAKER_01 29:28

Exactly. And and then so this this idea of it's not everyone who says Lord, Lord, that'll enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of the Father, you know, because a lot of them says many will come to me saying, No, we prophesy and in your name drive out demons, perform any miracles. And he's like, Well, I didn't know you. Basically, you weren't listening and obeying what I told you to do. You were going off and doing what you thought were good ideas to do, and you didn't need that relationship with the father. And so I think what excites me the most right now about um the area of agriculture and homesteading is from my perspective and the people that I talk to, um, it seems like an area that God is moving in. He's here. I want to be wherever God is, you know, and like you said, he moves and he works in different areas in different ways at different times. But right now, he really seems to be moving in the hearts of people in agriculture and uh and using that as a way to draw people to him, to allow the church to be a light. And I believe uh to equip the church to be a light in the future with answers to point back to Jesus and to show, you know, I think a lot of people um have been turned off to Christianity because we have not showed them what it looks like to live for Jesus. We've told them about Jesus, but we haven't showed them what it looks like to live. And that whole idea of um, you know, make it your ambition to lead a quiet life. It's it's you know, it's like, what? A quiet life, you know, but but we're supposed to go do things for God, right? It's like, but it's no, it said your daily life will run this win with the respect of outsiders. You know, that's a big idea. Not only that, but that you won't be dependent on anyone, that you can have, God wants us to have the freedom to obey him without being unnecessarily in bondage to other people. You know, it's like says in 1 Corinthians, if you can be free, be free. You know, you're if you're a slave, then you know, you can make the best of it, you can still serve the Lord there, but he does desire for us to to be free and food and economic like um the production of essentials for life, which is what homesteading is is a lot about, and building that resiliency of relationships and community and everything else that makes life resilient is something that I believe that God cares about. And what you shared about that, what encourages me the most, I think, is there is I hear you know many, many people talking about having bought some land and starting a homestead or starting a garden and all these kind of things. Um, when I ask their motivation, um a lot of times they won't tell you up front, but really their vision is they believe that there are going to be dark times ahead and they want to be in a position to help other people.

SPEAKER_02 32:03

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 32:04

It's not this selfish, fearful. There are people out there like that, but the people that are in the church coming, they want to help people, they want to sh to love people, to be a place for people to come of refuge if they even need to, you know, to be able to share. And and and and a lot of people, I I've started now just being like, it's okay, you can say it. Everybody else is thinking it too. They're just not saying it, you know. It's it's everybody has this vision, but it's not because there's one vocal person proclaiming it that they're all assenting to. It's something that God's just put on their heart, which is, you know, the way that it really is that God's getting the credit for this. And um, but I think that's you know, we want to be where God is. And and that's why why I'm I'm on this podcast with you now with with homesteading, is because I want to serve into that. I want to be a part of of what's going on. I don't know if you see that as well, but uh, but it definitely is is something I more and more, especially in the last couple of years and and even now accelerating, it seems like.

SPEAKER_02 33:00

I I think I think that's just the heart of it. That is being a light in a coming darkness. And it's not just about preserving yourself. Uh, people understand that we're likely to be facing challenging times. And, you know, when we started on this journey and God gave us the idea of laying a new foundation and realizing that, you know, I thought our kids are probably going to experience a radical culture shift, if not them, definitely their kids. Um we we maybe in our lifetime, probably not our parents. Now we're all going, whoa, we're experiencing it. I don't even know what we're gonna see in our lifetime. I'm so thankful that we're preparing our kids and laying this foundation, whatever may come, because yes, we're our culture is shifting. We've had a very blessed, easy culture. And uh it's, you know, with the modern conveniences and the economic success uh, you know, of the last since really since World War II, um, our culture is pretty soft. We're soft as people. Even as people that are out homesteading right now and working hard are pretty soft. Carolyn's reading a book about the Victorian age right now, and it just blows our minds. You know, we think we're out here working hard. We we don't know anything. And God is building resiliency within his people and doing something that's gonna help his people be that light in this, in this darkness, in this shift, and and still be able to be gospel-oriented, be able to help people. Like, we don't just go tell people about the gospel. You don't have somebody come to you and ask you for bread, as scripture says, and say, God bless you, and send them away. We we we need to be doing things. And this is something in our culture that we're doing that, yes, we're prepared to be light, to share what we have, to teach other people. Um, I think that's gonna be a big part of the future. And um so to me, it's important to get that message out and to get Christians thinking about it. The other side that's exciting, if I can go into this for a second about homesteading, is homesteading is waking up the Christian community to its need to better steward the environment. And the environment has become a thing that's become politicized. And if you're for the environment and you're worried about destruction of the environment, you must be left and politically liberal and all this stuff. And that drives me nuts. And I want my brothers and sisters to understand that what was the first thing God gave humanity to do? You know, it's to take care of, to, to, to, you know, there's the word dominion, which actually we we tend to kind of use is like we can do whatever we want. And that's actually not the implication of it. We have full authority, but it's in stewardship to somebody that we're under authority of. And um, we're very responsible to take care of this earth. And one thing I see through the homesteading movement that Christians are coming to it, and it's it's opening their eyes that like we can't just go work on the land. We need to take care of it. It's something God gave us. And that's a discussion that I think the church needs to have, that we need to learn to embrace in the proper way, stewardship and what that also does and would do if we would stop looking at all these, you know, what we call liberals. They're calling out real problems. Their solutions may not be what we know to be right, but they're calling out real problems, and we're calling them wax and and all kinds of things and politically divided. And you wonder why they don't want anything to do with us. God put it in their heart, they put it in our hearts as humans to be connected to the earth. There is real destruction. We are, of course we are. We're sinful. We're we're we're tearing apart what God made. We should be looking at that and going, wow, yeah, you have a proper voice. Let's talk about the proper way to handle that. It's not worshiping nature, it's not all these other things. Let's bring this under God's stewardship and said, yes, we've messed up. We've not taken what you get care of what you gave us, Lord. And there's a proper voice here, and we could we could have a ministry to go speak to those people about what real stewardship looks like and why you feel responsible as a human being to take care of this earth, because that's biblically sound, why any human would feel that way or should feel that way, because God made us that way. So you want to talk about the opportunity to share the gospel. We've blown that conversation where that's a wide open door that we could be ministering to people instead of having them shoved out here and them shoving us out because of political divisiveness on an issue that I believe is real. You know, without getting into the technicals of climate change and all some of that stuff, we we are destroying topsoil. We're destroying forests, we're doing so much damage. That's a real conversation. And homesteading, I'm seeing is opening the door to that discussion within the Christian community, which I'm very thankful for.

SPEAKER_01 37:38

Yes, it allows you to talk to a lot of different people from a lot of different places in a way that uh that connects you. And um, I've definitely found that to be true over the years. You know, I think at the beginning, we see in the Garden of Eden, God created man to with all these relationships that we function in, our relationship with God, with ourselves and our who we are with others and with his creation. And when we broke that relationship with God through just rejecting him and wanting to do it our own way, it broke all those other relationships. You know, we had shame in our relationship with ourselves, blame and relationships with others, and pain and all that with relationship with creation. And the beauty is when Jesus came, he not only provided a way to restore our relationship with God, but as a result, then uh provided ways and truths and a heart of love that then helps to address the brokenness in all those other areas of relationships as well, you know, our broken relationship with ourselves. And we've look at the world around us, it's just manifestations of our broken relationship with who we are, our identity, you know, and all sorts of sexual identity or your purpose in life or whatever it is, our relationship with others, you know, and then our relationship with creation. It's all broken. And we should acknowledge that as Christians, we've done a pretty good, you know, job of trying to address, you know, identity and relationships. But as the church, we've sort of not addressed that area of creation and how the gospel comes to bear to help fix a lot of those problems that come as a result of sin. We've left that to other people. And uh, and and unfortunately, if Jesus is not king of an area, then Satan is going to rule that area. And he came to kill, steal, and destroy. And we see that, and we don't want that in the area of food, and you know, because it affects so many people, and I think there's a huge opportunity for us to step up to uh provide, you know, uh not only to acknowledge the problem, but to, like you said, bring Christ-like solutions um to that problem that reflect who God is and his and everything like that. So I really appreciate what y'all are doing in that. So I'm um y'all have some um some resources that I'd like to talk about in the in an event that you have coming up. But before we do that, if if somebody's resonated somewhat with what we've been talking about, maybe it's been they haven't even started, it's just some seeds and thoughts that they've been thinking through. And this just kind of helps them be like, wow, you know, maybe this is something God wants me to do. For a, you know, you do a lot of education, all that kind of stuff. So what would be, what would you say to a you know, person who's they're still in the city, they haven't even started doing anything yet. Um and they they want to take steps towards this vision that God may be calling them to. Um, what would you say to them? What should they do? What should they not do?

SPEAKER_02 40:26

Well, because everybody's situation is different, what I would say is is start right where you're at and learn what you can do right where you're at. You know, if you have an apartment with a small yard, turn it into a garden. You know, figure out there's a little bit to learn. You know, what kind of sun exposure do you have? What will grow with the environment that you have, turn it into a garden. Um, there are farmers markets everywhere pretty much at this point. So most places you can go and go find, besides, you know, besides, let me back up, besides what can you do with your little plot one and one step at a time, people get in a hurry. They want to do it all. And I get it. Uh, you get motivated, um, you know, you're you're concerned about different things, and so people want to dive in. And and I want to say, start where you're at one step at a time. You do not need to bail on everything and go buy 40 acres or even five. And in and and the reality is that most people, you're gonna wreck yourself if you do that. Don't go too fast. Start where you are. What can you do? Look at your resources. And if you have a little bit of land, how can you make that productive? How can you turn that into a well-watered garden, so to speak? And um, you know, get some knowledge on that. If you don't have that or you don't have that ability, then um what can you can you start making more food from scratch? Cooking from scratch is is one thing that people do to enter in. They just they need to get some people come to this from health, but they they don't have the time to dive into a garden yet and raising their own, even if they have space. Okay, start buying more fresh food. Uh, if you really want to dig in, please go to farmers markets and try to buy local food and support those local systems because that builds resiliency. And you're also going to learn a lot as you engage in that community. Start cooking from scratch. If if if you've got a city apartment with no, no, you know, not much windows or somewhere to put a little planter or something, then then you know, cook from scratch. Learn about herbs a little bit, you know. Um, a lot of people love getting in into herbs and just learning. And by herbs, I you I can culinary, but I mean a little more medicinal herbs and learning about God's creation and how He made natural things to heal us. And you don't have to get super deep or complicated to learn some basic things and get engaged. And so start where you're at with the resources that you have, look around you and get a little garden going. If you've got a little space, get a little garden and a few chickens going. Um, go to your local farmer's market, find out who's doing other things around you and get involved in the conversation and take steps, one step at a time. That that's the starting place, and that will grow. And you'll find that there is an intersection of um your available resources and your passion, your interest. That's a great place, you know. There somewhere there's an intersection of that. I mean, we do a lot of things homesteading. I I love being out in pasture with the animals, um, but you know, I do a million other things. But we started with animals because that was just natural to us. And so I would encourage you to find that as you're looking into it. What's your interest? What do you gravitate to? What's God speaking to you? And then what resources do you have to apply that? That what that's gonna do is you're gonna be more excited, you're gonna learn faster, you're gonna have greater successes, and then you can build onto that into other areas that maybe become important to you or that you know you have resources for. Um, then you can start to grow into those and and slowly expand your activities.

SPEAKER_01 43:56

That's great advice. I think uh Being faithful with little God will add to you, won't He? If you uh you divide off more than you can chew and then you can't be faithful with it, then you'll you'll have it taken away from you pretty quick or have your your joy level decrease and all that. And so I know it's hard, it's hard at the beginning to try to do that, but it really is is uh important. I think you know, for those of you who are like, well, you know, we see food shortages coming and we really want to get food going quickly and all that. I think um one of the one of the reasons I wanted to have Josh on today was because he's done a really uh an amazing um job putting together a resource talking to a lot of different people that are experts in their field and a lot of the different disciplines and homesteading and traditional skills that can um really help jumpstart you um if you're wanting to kind of skip past all the uh, you know, uh learning all the hard lessons yourself. I think mentorship and um really, you know, finding people that you trust that you can learn from, not rather than just, you know, the the you know, I've I one of the problems and the challenges of our overabundance of information is um it's not just uh what really brings success is when somebody, when you uh develop a system that works in your context or within with with certain parameters and with certain um um you know techniques. And when you take a little bit from this and a little bit from that, and a little bit from this and a little bit from that, and you kind of make your own hodgepodge, um, then you've got to spend decades developing your own system sometimes. Um whereas if you really want to jumpstart it, find a system somebody's already developed and do that one. It may not be the best system or the you know, or or perfect for your situation, but don't try to reinvent the wheel. Just find somebody that knows what they're doing, that spend a lot of years doing it, and just try to copy them exactly the way they've done it. Then once you've done that, then you can, you know, tweak the things that don't aren't super applicable or that you need to adjust. And uh, and so that's what a lot, a lot of what Josh has been offering through their education stuff. Um, and and uh recently, I want you to tell us now about your new school of traditional skills that you're getting started in the summit that you have coming up that people can take advantage of if they want to start, you know, um getting in some of that mentorship that can help speed them down that road faster than they'd be able to by themselves.

SPEAKER_02 46:22

Sure. So our our whole passion and goal uh from that side of things is to help people bring people good education, just what you're talking about, you know, skip through and get to taking good steps, solid steps. And we knew, you know, for a lot of years, we're limited in how much we can do and share with people. You know, we may have the knowledge, but we're limited in how much knowledge we can share. And we saw, we really felt there there's a lack out there, you know, there's so much information, you got to sift through stuff and a lot of stuff, the education's marginal. And um, we wanted to put something together with, and this is gonna be growing with a multitude of creators that can really hone in on a skill or a subject and teach it in a concise way uh in a in a relatively short amount of time. So um, out of that is born the School of Traditional Skills, uh, where it is gonna be a school with many teachers. We're we're launching it in September with 12 instructors uh on subjects around growing, raising, cooking, and preserving your own food. A few classes on each. And um, those classes are designed and created to take you through something, help you learn it, and go out and apply it. Uh, you can go to YouTube to watch the lifestyle stuff and all that, and that's great. There's a place for that. But but these are designed. So you want to go find a subject, you dive in, you learn about it, and you go do it. And we're launching that with what's called the School of or the Traditional Skills Summit, September 12th through 15th. Um, all of those educators are gonna be there uh uh for four days. We're gonna have some sessions of teaching, taking a little bit out of the full classes that they taught and teaching them and talking and helping people get going right there, and then uh inviting you to come in and you know be a part of the full school if that's something that makes sense for you. Uh, a few examples. Um, just thinking about one of the things you were saying and what we're talking about, but getting started. Uh Brian Lowell from Next Level Gardening is teaching a class on raised beds. And he has a great system. I love it because it's it's a little simpler than most of the raised beds you see. It's easy to put in just about anywhere. He's going to teach you how to deal with the soil or whatever you're working on without tilling and a bunch of work. Simple bed, how to manage the soil, a nice little irrigation system, how to plant vertically, how to create kind of a hoop house out of it or shave cloth out of it for different environments. And yet you can do this on um, you know, he does it on, we do it on a four by eight demonstration there, but you could even do it a little bit smaller. And so it has a system that you can just put to work in a very small space to get you going. Or if you got a larger space, you can do, you know, multiple of them. So that's just one of the classes of the 12 that we're gonna talk about that I think addresses right what you're saying about people getting going, finding the system and moving ahead. Um we're also gonna be Carolyn is teaching a class on canning, on pressure canning, getting people going canning. That's something that people are very afraid of. And it's just some step-by-step details that you need to know and get some confidence in. And um let's see, what there's a there's a couple advanced things. Joel Salatin is doing a class on rehabilitating pasture. A lot of people that are moving onto land, anybody that's buying property, if you have pasture or you know, young woods, it's degraded land. And so Joel's gonna show us how to take that with low resource input and turn that into you know, better pasture to use so that we can raise our animals and our livestock on it. Um, Paul Gauchi from Back to Eden Gardening, I'm so excited, you know, and and and Noah, you're very familiar with this method. Um, and he's bringing a biblical perspective to gardening and working with nature, and yet it's so simple. But he's never that I've ever seen like taught it out step by step. It's usually been documentary style, and so we're actually working through step by step uh and answering a lot of the questions that are out there on just you know, making it real, what what he teaches and just building up the no-till system in harmony with nature. So that's just a few examples of uh what we're gonna be touching on in the summit and what the school is all about to start. And then that school is gonna grow. We're gonna add classes, you know, uh hopefully about 12 a year each year to help build people's skill sets and go deeper and and broader as as um you know God allows us to.

SPEAKER_01 50:41

That's awesome. That is uh I'm I'm I'm ready ready to uh ready to start. Man, I want to learn all from all these people. This is exciting.

SPEAKER_02 50:52

Oh yeah, yeah. I'm I'm blessed. I'm honored just to be able to host it and and to get this to spend some time. And and they're while there's gonna be solid teaching, of course, we'll get a little bit of their story, a little bit of their backdrop at the summit, um, they're also gonna be available for live Q ⁇ A. So we're gonna be taking questions as many as we can. I'm gonna try to be concise and um get as many questions from the audience there. So if you're wanting to ask something, there are very few times when these folks are available to be a part of a discussion, unless it's live in a smaller crowd, uh, where you can get a question in. So we're gonna do our best each session to answer uh the attendees' questions live, as many as we can uh during the time. And so I'm I'm real excited about that because that just that makes it a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01 51:38

That is that is great. So it's September 12th through 15th. Yep. And um, we'll have a link on our website if you go to uh redeemthhedirt.com/slash summit. I'm sure you can also find that at uh at uh Josh's um websites as well. Could you tell us just uh where your the your normal outlets are for all the different things that you share on a regular basis um for those who might not already be um kind of signed up for your different uh media outlets?

SPEAKER_02 52:05

You bet. Well, homesteading family will we'll always be here encouraging you, sharing our story and uh most of our videos. We're trying to provide some good educational content in them around the homesteading life. And you can just go to homesteadingfamily.com or look us up on any social media. And then the same with the School of Traditional Skills. Um you can look that up, school of traditional skills.com. Right now, we're just getting off the ground, so it's gonna be primarily about getting signed up for the summit and attending that summit, and that's gonna get all of us familiar, and that that is the launch of the school. Um, so if you want to go there, or I would go through Noah's link and um and click that, and that'll take you there, and you'll have that in this, you know, in the notes here, and that'll get you right there. And just sign up, and then we'll stay in touch with you with email and fill in all the details as we get closer to the dates.

SPEAKER_01 52:55

Awesome. Well, I really appreciate all the the advice and your story and your heart today. Um I in since you know, you have like with our podcast here, we kind of have like the Christian homesteading, you know, uh farming audience. If there was uh something that you wanted to say to them, you know, a charge or a word of encouragement or or caution, or if there's anything on your heart that you want to say specifically to that audience, what what would is there I just wanted to make this time available if you had something you wanted to share?

SPEAKER_02 53:28

I think it would be to just keep the faith and the hope in all that you are doing. A lot of us are very motivated, we're nervous about what's happening, what's coming. There's a lot of, you know, the real challenges and costs are going up. You know, things are getting expensive. There's just so much happening, and there is a fear out there and a passion. And um, I want to see you take the steps. I want to see you move forward, but I don't want to see anybody move forward in fear. As as disciples of Christ, as followers of Christ, we are not to have a spirit of fear. And so take confidence if the Lord has called you onto this path and taking the steps that he allows you to take. And, you know, sometimes you're going to be taking a lot and doing a lot and working hard and feel overwhelmed. And sometimes that's good and that's okay. Um, but stay in balance with him and don't act out of fear. Act out of trust, out of hope, and and um he will get you and he'll get all of us where he wants us to be, and he will take care of you. So that's that would be my my encouragement and my warning because I see so many people fearful. And fear is a good motivator. It should wake us up, it should grab our attention. But um we are secure in Christ. If he's moving you in this direction, great. Go forward in hope, dive in, learn, do, and just see where he takes you.

SPEAKER_01 54:50

Awesome. Would you uh I would love as we close now, would you just mind praying for everyone that's listening in their particular journeys? And uh yeah, just do that and then uh I'll wrap us up.

SPEAKER_02 55:02

Uh Lord God, I just I thank you. We thank you first for just that hope that you give that no matter what is happening to us here, and now there's nothing that man can do to us, there's nothing that Satan can do to us. If we are in you and your son Jesus Christ, then we are secure and we we know the end of things. And praise you for that. And I just pray your blessing on everybody listening here, that you would guide them in the steps and how to engage in this journey. I do think that you are moving among your people, that you are uh creating a remnant and uh people to be a light in dark times. And so show them the way. Each person listening right now, show them what you have for them. Show us all, help us to walk your path, your road, uh, and to glorify you while we're doing it, to shine light in the world and make Jesus' name known. And uh remove any spirit of fear that your people would have. Help us to trust in you, to work with what we have, that you would be glorified and lifted up. I praise you. I thank you for Noah and all that he's doing, he and his family and leading and example and uh the well-watered gardens. It just blessed their ministry and their voice and their family. And uh again, just be glorified in Jesus' name.

SPEAKER_01 56:12

Amen. Amen. Thank you so much for taking the time today, Josh, to talk with us. May God bless you and your family and all that y'all are doing. And uh, we just look forward to to being connected and uh maybe seeing you um, yeah, some more as we look forward to the summit that you're gonna have. And uh, we're just so grateful for for y'all's service and all the work that y'all put into everything that you're doing and and just the joy that you've brought to it today. So thanks so much. Awesome. Thanks, Noah. Good to be here. Awesome. Well, everybody, thanks so much for listening today. This is Noah Sanders. I just encourage you to uh be faithful, be humble, and to keep redeeming the dirt. God bless. Hello, everyone. This is Noah Sanders again. I hope you enjoyed the show. A couple of quick announcements. If you wanted to uh join the Traditional Skills Summit that Josh is putting on, you can do so at school of traditional skills.com. Sign up for the free summit there. If you want to do so in a way that supports the show, Josh has shared an affiliate link with us and you can click through that at redeemingthedirt.com slash summit, and that would help uh go to support the work that we're doing. Um, we also have a couple of live training events coming up here on our farm in Alabama. One is a two-day conference in October that uh will be a gathering of people interested in Jesus and farming. We're gonna talk about uh just the eternal impact of what we do, encourage each other in living for Jesus. We're gonna get hands-on dirty in the garden making compost and putting in some uh no-till gardens and just talking about alternative energy and looking at our homestead and all sorts of fun stuff. It's uh always a great event. Uh, we've had this many years now and uh had one in March. And then we also, uh one of the things that we are now offering for people that are interested in training others in their communities is we're doing five-day trainers for training courses, uh, specifically uh kind of catered around how to make disciples in your community through agriculture. Uh, we talk about the Wellwater Garden Project tool where you can use a simple model garden to be able to teach other people about the heart of Jesus. And we're going to be having one of those five-day classes of the week following the weekend um conference in October. And you can go and check out the find the dates and uh all the information regarding that at redeemingthedirt.com. Just slash uh just um scroll down, and there will be an events uh section there where you can click through to get more information. Thanks again, and we will talk to you next time.