For years I have been an advocate for living a more sustainable lifestyle. I’ve written books and blogs explaining why living more simply and sustainably in today’s unstable and uncertain world is a smart idea.  My message hasn’t been one of prepping or stockpiling but of living in greater harmony with God and His creation. There’s no question, a life of sustainability isn’t for everyone as it is a life demanding hard work and sacrifice. It is a deliberate life of vision and purpose. Twenty years ago, I preached a series I called “Small Footprint / Big Handprint – How to live simply and love extravagantly”. Later it was turned into a book with the same name. It’s thesis exhorted people to downsize their lives so that they might increase their effectiveness in the world. Reducing your footprint speaks of living a lifestyle that makes a smaller carbon footprint, one that might leave the world a better place physically. A large handprint speaks of spiritual and emotional impact on humanity. For the better part of our married life Nancy and I have tried not only to share these principles but model them. As the world unravels, as it seems to be doing at an accelerated rate, living with less dependence on outside food, water and energy sources only seems smart to me. As many of you may know, our story began in the late 60’s.

The Timber Butte Homestead vision has been in the making for fifty-five years. When Nancy and I first met in 1969 one of our first conversations focused on the kind of life we desired to pursue if we were to pursue it together. It was a fussy vision, an idealistic one for sure, but it was clear we wanted to build our life on adventure which included living on the land. That vision clarified itself over the years but never changed. We started our life living in a small rural home in Caldwell, Idaho. Our rent was eighty dollars and included the use of a chest freezer. Together we hunted deer, ducks and pheasants for the

We butchered all of our own meat…

locker. We gleaned farmers’ fields after their harvests were complete. We butchered our own meat, learned to cook simple nutritious meals and preserve fruits and vegetables for the winter months. It was a meager life, but a rich and fulfilling one.

When I completed my graduate work at the College of Idaho we moved onto an uninhabited family homestead in California. We lived for many years there without electricity, with spring fed water and only wood as a source of heat. We were five years without a telephone. I had landed a job as a secondary school teacher in a town an hour away and Nancy kept the small homestead and raised our two small children in my absence. We learned the basics of agriculture with a large vegetable garden, an orchard, and a nursery where we raised pine trees which we sold to landscapers for extra money. We raised a cow, pigs and chickens for eggs and meat sources. Living on the old family ranch was a season of education. It was there that we developed the skills which would become necessary for our later life.

In the late 1980’s we left the old ranch and moved back to Idaho where we started a new church called the Boise Vineyard. Planting a church took everything we had for the next ten years, but our longing to return to the land never faded. As the church grew and could afford multiple staff we felt the call to our previous rural life. We discovered an eighty-acre parcel of land which was again and hour from the city. It became known as Timber Butte Homestead and became our final home.

Our life took determination and sacrifice. Professionally we never made a large salary either in public education or ministry. Most of our extra income came through hard work developing and selling properties and used houses. We took few vacations and purchased inexpensive vehicles, yet the Lord had given us amazing opportunities to see much of the world through the work of ministry. We also experienced the wilderness summer after summer working on a trail crew building long stretches of the Pacific Crest Trail. We packed our horses into remote camps where our children learned to love the wilderness and appreciate the purity of nature. We took whatever inheritance we received from our parents using the money only to further our vision together.

Timber Butte Homestead is not fully sustainable, but because of our persistent pursuit of the dream and hard work it has grown more productive over the years.  Now after fifty-five years we are not only living with the land but have dedicated ourselves to helping others who desire a similar lifestyle, a lifestyle which can only be achieved through shared vision, dedication and years of hard work.

The question is, can the vision for sustainability still be achieved in today’s world? Is it still possible to live, receiving the substance of life on a plot of suitable land when property values are increasingly high, harder to find and in greater demand? Is it still possible with the rapid growth of population on the planet, with more ridged restrictions on water rights, building codes, the threat of tariff wars and another surge of inflation?

Year by year the dream of living a sustainable life becomes harder to achieve; that’s for sure. But even on a small plot of land many things can be achieved. To answer these questions, I will share seven principles which I believe are worth consideration for those interested in such an endeavor.

A few essential things to consider:

  1. Land and water – Especially in the Western United States there are still vast pieces of open real estate, yet much of this land is not suitable for the sustainable life. Finding the right place in today’s world is becoming increasingly more challenging. In the state of Idaho for example large commercial developers have snatched up huge portions of tillable, fertile land and continue to place vast expanse of housing tracks upon them. Water rights have been swept up and sold back to the multitudes of people who inhabit these subdivisions causing total dependence on the public services. For someone who desires a sustainable life there must be an independent source of clean water with infrastructure to efficiently transport it. Onsite nonpolluted streams or wells with legal water rights are essential. It is wise to be assured those water sources will not soon be easily effected by the changing climate. There must be enough level, workable, fertile soil to grow small crops of fruits and vegetables as well to provide quality grazing for livestock. Acreage is dependent upon the extent of anticipated production. True sustainable homesteading often requires the ability to raise a means of income such as a cash crop or other organic commodities such as beef or poultry sales. The amount of land needed depends on the quality of that land. Five acres may be more productive than much larger plots if the land is 100% usable.

 

  1. Climate – Climate is key for the success of any homesteading endeavor. In my opinion it is best to find a location where there are four seasons. Success is often dependent on the number of growing days. It is tricky with today’s changing climate. More and more people seeking this lifestyle are moving further and further north in hopes of avoiding drought, the threat of extreme fire danger, flooding and damaging tornadoes and hurricanes which seem to be more prevalent year by year.

 

  1. Independent power source – Like water, most of the population is at the mercy of public water and power sources. Without being a conspiracy theorist, I believe it is common knowledge that if there was a threat of foreign adversaries disabling the United States, both water systems and power grids are vulnerable targets not to mention the increase of extreme weather crisis issues. Although we stay connected to the power grid here at Timber Butte, we net meter with solar cells. We also maintain a backup generation which is powered by an underground propane tank capable of providing power for long periods of time. Most critical is that our backup power supplies energy to our water source providing the ability to fight fire, water livestock and keep agriculture projects alive.

 

  1. Machinery, vehicles & fuel sources – To become sustainable it is a necessity to keep the farm running without too much outside expertise. Here on Timber Butte, we use early model tractors which are easy to both maintain and repair. Like most successful farms we have a complete shop equipped with welding supplies, tools and extra parts. We also have two ranch vehicles that predate the computer era. We keep fuel tanks, both diesel and gasoline full, especially before the winter season hits. As for heating and cooking without outside power sources we cut and stack firewood before the first snow.

 

  1. Fire danger – Country living, no matter where you live has always been vulnerable to wildfire. Here at Timber Butte Nancy and I have personally fought four different fires which threatened our homestead. In every case we fought fire for thirty minutes to an hour before any outside help showed up. We keep fire extinguishers everywhere close at hand, we have a 500-gallon water trailer with a pump we can pull behind a pickup or tractor and a backup 500-gallon water tank to quickly refill the fire trailer. In addition, I spend several days every year discing a wide swath around all of our structures as a functional fire break. Being a country liver requires not only thought, but the physical ability and ingenuity to handle crises of many kinds.

 

  1. Fortitude and faith – Sustainable living isn’t for everyone for sure. A desire to live with the land is, I believe, a lifestyle choice and a lifelong commitment. It’s not a short-term romantic choice. For us it has been a fifty-five-year endeavor. It is who we are – who we have become. Living on the land is a solitary life and, in our minds, a spiritual life. Living in solitude away from the noise of the world is for us a great gift we don’t take for granted. It provides us with the opportunity to blend into the harmony of nature. We do not consider ourselves as people who “live off the land” but with it. It serves us as we try to steward it, not feeding it with artificial fertilizers or unnecessary chemicals. We try to give back as much as we take – it’s a partnership. As much as possible we try to use closed systems using the fertilizers from aged cows, chicken and horse manure to raise fruit and vegetables and grapes putting organic materials back into the earth. On the hill above the ranch, we have constructed a granite rock chapel which can be seen from any location reminding us of the miracle God provides day by day, season by season.
  2. Being a constant learner – Living remotely means a lot of hands-on ability. Living sustainably generally means not having the income to hire too much outside expertise. The more one learns to do skilled tasks, the less they will pay vet bills, mechanical bills, or for other expertise skills. The country liver has to overcome insecurities and be willing to learn many new skills and trades to survive. Through the years I have learned to be a carpenter, a plumber, an electrician, an equipment operator, a shade tree mechanic, a vet, a farrier, a harness and saddle repair person and a plethora of other things I never dreamed possible. In our earlier days there was no such thing as the internet or Google; we had to be willing to attempt things we had no idea how to do. We saw it as just another part of the adventure. We had to be willing to be mentored by a helpful neighbor or be self-taught through a lot of trial and error. We became Jacks of all trades, but masters of nothing.

Back to the original question, is it possible to live a sustainable life in today’s world? My answer would be, maybe not, but in my mind, it is still an endeavor worthy of a life’s pursuit at some level.