The Problematic term “Homestead”
In light of the need for a long-overdue acknowledgment that our nation is built on unceded land stolen from Indigenous peoples, we at Organic Growers School will be changing the name of our Homestead Dreams class. We want to provide an opportunity for community discussion around this topic. This blog post is our first step, and we invite readers to leave comments below.
It is important to note that the term ‘homesteading’ itself provides a problematic reference, as the term was coined during the Homestead Act of 1862, which led to the displacement and murder of thousands of Indigenous peoples. Given our commitment to Social Justice, we no longer feel this is an appropriate name for us to utilize.
The Homestead Act of 1862 and the Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909 accelerated the colonization of the Western part of the U.S. by permitting white families to claim and defend once native-stewarded land, thereby forcing Indigenous peoples from their homeland and reducing access to resources, livelihood and culture. These Acts have had a lasting impact, with 98% of agricultural land held by white farmers today (Agrarian Trust). With these devastating results of the Homestead Act in mind, we want to reimagine the name of this class and acknowledge the problematic history and connotations of the term “homestead.”
At Organic Growers School, our mission since 1993 has been to inspire, educate, and support people to farm, garden, and live organically, and our vision guides us in building a mutually supportive network of thriving home growers through our workshops such as Spring Conference, the Harvest Conference, services such as Sustainability Coaching & Consulting and resources such as our CRAFT Network and the Home Grower’s Library.
Home-growing has long been an act of resistance and resilience, as Fannie Lou Hamer and other early food revolutionaries knew well. The current homegrower movement has been bolstered by a renewed awareness of the need to disentangle ourselves from the industrial food system.
Industrial agriculture requires applying industrial chemicals to our crops (many of which were wartime chemicals that were repurposed from making bombs to making pesticides and synthetic fertilizers) and high carbon footprints. Americans are starting to realize that sourcing our food closer to home — and best of all, from our own backyards! — means having control over how the food was grown and what we are putting into our bodies, as well as how reliably the food gets to us when we’re faced with unexpected shortages.
Growing your own food is empowering and lets you exercise your agency over what you put in your body. We understand that today ‘homesteading’ itself is more of a frame of mind than a scale of endeavor. People across the nation are realizing that the basic principles of “homesteading” — adopting an industrious approach to living with a bent towards a conservative and creative use of resources — can be incorporated into your life at any level. Although some aspects of home growing require land and financial resources, which is only accessible to the privileged few, urban farming and community gardens have long been a stronghold in the fight for food sovereignty.
During the Civil Rights movement, Fannie Lou Hamer argued that access to nutrition and stewardship of the land was the only true path to full citizenship for Black southerners. This led to the concept of cooperative farming and a celebration of subsistence living, and made manifest Malcolm X’s declaration that land is the basis of equality, justice, and independence.
Because home growing and farming are lifelong journeys of experiential learning, at Organic Growers School we offer a wide range of continuing education programs, from topic-specific webinars such as Gardening Series and Holistic Crop Management to year-long trainings such as Farm Beginnings®, one-on-one coaching and consulting, as well as a slew of resources on our website (https://archive.organicgrowersschool.org/farmers/farming-resources/).
We’d love to hear your voice, and your ideas on how we can rename and reframe our Homestead Dreams program. Leave us a comment below!
Author: Nicole DelCogliano
Nicole DelCogliano is Farmer Program Coordinator at OGS. She teaches the year long Farm Beginnings program to new and beginning farmers. She also farms in Yancey County with her husband, at Green Toe Ground farm.
Take back our land movement and getting away from the Home movement might be a more radical approach to take. Back to the land has its transcendency to a time during the Depression Era when the likes of Ralph Borsodi and Mildred J. Loomis began advocating the fact that vacating urbanization for a sustainable land principle. As we think about taking back abandoned farm land using squatters rights, we must also consider the need for greater access to land for Nature herself. Wildlife, both in the animal and plant kingdoms have also been disenfranchised from greater need to land. As we can all see land occupation is a complicated issue and must be shared equally amongst all partners. I would be happy to be part of this more in depth conversation as all are thoughts can be mingled in a better outcome for all involved.
My house on a city lot is homesteaded but it is a legal term now. It means that my house cannot be taken from me through a lawsuit by someone that, say, trips and falls on my property or sues me over a car accident. I can lose it only two ways. Through failure to pay taxes or through eminent domain.
Rather than “homesteading” I am doing urban gardening. I am trying to be as sustainable as I can. I’ve been composting for a decade with worms. My house is comparatively old for the city, 1922, and I’ve planned a Victory Garden for the front yard for years. I finally started a few years after I retired, right before Covid hit, with one raised bed 4×8. I have three more planned, all in the front yard. It is slow going as I am having to do all of the work myself as I don’t want anyone on my property until the pandemic is controlled. I hate grass so I am fine with a front yard vegetable garden. I have already run drip irrigation lines to all four beds connected to a timer so once the remaining three are built and filled I will be able to grow enough for myself and my parents.
I’ve had limited practice with gardening, having only grown tomatoes, lettuce and basil bought as seedlings. Now I am creating and amending my own soil and growing my own seedlings from seeds. I am expanding beyond my comfort zone with both cool and warm season vegetables and fruits. My cool vegetables are mostly lettuce, spinach, carrots, onions, beets and radishes. I am looking forward to trying garlic, beans, corn, cucumber, zucchini, eggplant and melons when the weather warms. I am expanding my herbs as well. I used to only do rosemary, basil and oregano. Now I am adding thyme, savory, marjoram, cilantro, chives, sage and dill. I have a sweet bay laurel tree from which I harvest leaves.
I also have strawberries and fruit trees; Eureka and Meyer lemon, Valencia and Moro Blood orange, Mexican Lime and Katy and Royal apricot. I have two columnal apple trees. I am trying blueberries with two varieties suited for my location.
I have a dehydrator and am hoping to use it more once my garden starts to produce more than my parents and I can consume. I have preserved tomatoes and make jam but would love to start drying the herbs for use.
I prefer the terms sustainable, Victory garden and urban garden for what I do as it is so very small scale and I have no animals. While I am not averse to chickens I have a dog who would object. I’m not brave enough to try bees yet. I am single so couldn’t handle anything larger scale or with many animals. If I did have a plot with chickens, a goat or two and extensive gardens I would say I live a sustainable lifestyle. While I understand the traditional definition of Homesteading I consider it more a legal term.
Thank you for taking the time to share your victory garden ventures with us. Your set up sounds so lovely, I know i’m not the only one at OGS who wishes we could grow citrus fruits in North Carolina!
We appreciate your perspective and breaking down the legal definition of owning a Homestead in your state. I can see the appeal when your assets are at stake, especially since cultivating land and building soil takes a lot of time, energy, and resources.
Urban Farm and Victory Garden are both fitting terms for a small scale garden that has the ability to supply your family with both fresh and preserved foods. Sustainable practices and building healthy soils are the cornerstones of a thriving ecosystem when it comes to growing, it is inspiring to see others implementing these practices!
Good luck in all your garden ventures, and keep in touch!