12 Beginner homesteading skills you need to master now

When looking to homestead, most people subconsciously believe that they need something like 10 acres, a farmhouse and a big barn. Well that’s nice but not at all necessary to get started. Learning a few beginner homesteading skills before you even have that dream trac of land will pay off in the long run!
Many of these skills can be assumed as homemaking skills, however they are necessary in order to balance a fuller plate. When all the produce is coming in and it seems they are coming out your ears, you’ll know what to do with it since you have familiarized yourself with food preservation techniques such as, drying, canning or fermenting.

Learn your basics and when you have own land you are working for, you’ll be more prepared to cultivate it and you will also save time and money since you’ll be more prepared to tackle your homestead projects.

Your land will prosper earlier because you took the time to study about what projects you’ll start AND practice the skills that don’t require land so you will be prepared for the processes, when you have abundant produce out your back door.

Let’s dive in to the list of essential beginner homesteading skills you need to learn.

1. Learn How to start gardening

Learning about gardening is a nice balance between reading, networking and hands on experience. While Gardening is simple, it is also such a vast subject in that not only are there quite a few tasks involved, each one varies depending on the type of plants your are growing. And THAT is why gardening is my #1 on beginner homesteading skills to learn sooner rather than later.

Here are a few categories to start learning about in gardening:

Starting seeds: though quite simple, there are still many things to learn about starting your own seedlings. From the right lighting and appropriate amount of water to what kind of containers and soil you should use, learn now on a small scale and you will be even more successful on a large scale 🥳🌱

Planting times: wether you start your seeds early or direct sow after danger of frost, learn the best practices for planting a garden in your local area. The Farmers Almanac is a tried and true resource for finding reliable date predictions on the first and last frost of the year.

Mulching, watering, tending /weeding : each type of plant can differ in light, water and mulching tolerance so thoroughly read about the plant or seeds before you put them in the ground.

Harvesting produce: from lettuce to melons, each plant has ideal harvest times or a span of time that is ideal to harvest.

Seed saving : learn to save seeds for your next planting season and best seed storage methods.

Container Gardening: container gardening a great way to get started in gardening. You can use pots or planters. The material with which people container garden is almost endless. From store bought pots, galvanized troughs, wooden boxes or 5 gallon buckets there are so many styles to choose from and many can be a cost effective way to get started. Feel free to be creative. Just remember to give your containers plenty of drainage holes and well draining soil so that your plants do not get water logged.

2. Composting for your garden

While composting is very much relating to gardening I felt it needed it’s own line. Learning to compost fresh food scrapings, plant material and livestock droppings will fast forward building and maintaining good garden soil. And good garden soil is essential to a continually bountiful garden.

3. Learning to make homemade bread

Making your own bread is so satisfying and can be so much more wholesome than store bought bread. Sourdough bread is such a wonderful staple and I hope I can courage you to start the sourdough journey if you haven’t already! A few perks to making your own bread is that you know exactly what goes into it, with no preservatives, it’s so much more wholesome and it came straight from your own oven.

I started making sourdough bread over a year ago and after a few months I did take a small break. I then took a beginner sour dough class from chill spice and it bolstered my confidence in sour dough baking. I’m so happy I took her class!

4. Learn how to make your own dairy products

Making dairy products at home is not only a frugal way to consume yogurt, cottage cheese and other cultured dairy products, but it’s so tasty. With no added preservatives and fillers, homemade dairy is so much healthier for you and your family.

5. Food preservation on the homestead

Next up on Beginner homesteading skills is learning to can your produce, and other simple preservation methods.

This category can range from simply storing hartier vegetables and fruit in an appropriate cool, dry place, to actually drying, freezing or canning your produce! 

To get started in canning produce, I recommend water bath canning first. While you can only water bath can acidic or pickled foods, it is a much simpler process to learn than pressure canning in the beginning. Beginner homesteading skills

6. Learn to cook from scratch on the homestead

From scratch cooking doesn’t have to be complicated. Start with simple recipes, then experiment a bit with seasoning as you gain confidence. Just have fun! Before you know it, you’ll be Making sauces from scratch and creating your own recipes.

7. Batch cook to save time

Wether you cook several meals in one day or just cook extra when making dinner, the batch cooking method is helpful because you can loop tasks together and entirely skip cooking dinner for a couple days during the week. 🥳 Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy cooking however minimizing time in the kitchen allows us to spend more time present with our families and accomplish other tasks that can be challenging to get to! This basic idea can be such a helpful beginner homesteading skill to have.

For instance when I make chicken breast in the oven, I’ll make more than we need for one meal. We may eat some of it with our supper but we use the rest in a casserole or chicken salad.

8. Start sourcing your own local beef, pork and poultry

Sourcing meat | learn where to buy your beef, pork and poultry locally !

You don’t already have your own cows or poultry? sourcing your own fresh meat is a great place to start. 

Many Local farmers will be happy to sell their pasture raised beef,  pork or poultry. A great place to find local farms to buy from, is your local farmers markets and Friends and family.

Likely, someone through the grapevine has a really great contact, if you don’t already know, ASK! Its always great to have good  reviews anyway.

9. Preparing meats – using bones to making bone broth

Learning to prepare different types of meat is a key skill in using EVERYTHInG.
do you roast a chicken and throw the bones and skin away? Do you use the beef bones and eat the marrow? I want to explore more into meat preparation and using everything that we can. The bones and marrow are rich in nutrients and passing up the opportunity we miss the deep flavor, and satisfaction of all that we are given.

To get started you can find my Roasted chicken bone broth recipe here.

10. Make your own cleaning products

One of the easiest beginner homesteading skills to hone is to start cleaning with basic house hold ingredients. buy less chemicals and learn how to clean with already available household ingredients such as vinegar and baking soda. Even a simple soap and water solution will sufficiently clean most of the surfaces in your home and on the homestead.

Not only are you contributing to your health by finding cleaner ingredients but you can save so much money by just opting out of all the highly toxic scented cleaners.

11. Learning to sew

It doesn’t have to be extravagant. Learning to stitch patches, sew on a button or mend holes can be so helpful in extending the life of an article of clothing. Life on a farm or homestead can be rough on jeans or shirts so basic sewing skills come in really handy on the farm.

12. Creating a routine or rhythms for your homestead

Everyone needs a balance and to support a smoothly running homestead, find a rhythm or rhythms that help you in accomplishing the tasks you decide to learn and adopt.

Like many assign a day to go grocery shopping or clean their house, you might assign a day to tasks such as baking, batch cooking or making you own homemade dairy products such as cottage cheese and yogurt.
Just like you might wipe down the bathroom mirror and sink when you are getting ready in the morning. Prepping your sour dough starter or bread recipe while you wait for your coffee to brew would be a productive and yet calming rhythm to adopt, the day you plan to make bread.

This post is all about 12 Beginner Homesteading Skills You Need to Master Now

Is there any skill you would add to this list of must have skills for starting a homestead? Let us know in the comments!

Check out my other articles on homesteading, frugal living and recipes on the blog.

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