The Michigan Land Trust Homestead Farm offers a unique living-learning experience in small-scale farming and homesteading. Students learn skills of self-sufficiency as well as organic methods of crop production and livestock care, the operation and maintenance of farm equipment, and woodlot management. Students can hope to gain an appreciation for the rigors and rewards of farm life and learn to work with nature, enjoy physical labor, and find satisfaction in frugality.
The length of the term is flexible to accommodate students' schedules. The 1983 term begins June 15th. A fee of $150.00 per month includes room, board, and tuition. All students and instructors live together and share in the planning and eating of all meals. Students are expected to fully participate in the chores and daily activities on the 36 acre farm and contribute to its productivity.
For more information send a SASE
to MLT Homestead Farm, Rt.2 Box 311, Bangor, MI 49013, call (616) 427·8791,
or visit. The farm is located approx. one mile north of M43 on Center
St. (CR 681).
The purpose of The Homestead Farm
is to provide a place where people who are serious about learning the arts
and skills of low-technology subsistence farming can participate in the
life and work of a diversified farm. The Homestead Farm is a place where
theory and practice can come together. This kind of integration is
characteristic of a life lived close to the land, for in it production
and consumption, way of life and livelihood, similarly come together.
As a mode of small-scale farming, homesteading can provide an ecological
alternative to current energy intensive agricultural practices. As a way
of life which rejects artificial needs and wasteful consumption it is an
alternative to urban life and the strains and tensions it imposes on persons,
society, and on the ecosystem. On a more general level, homesteading is
a way of enlarging one's ecological awareness as it facilitates the integration
of human beings into their natural environment.
The Homestead is a 38-acre diversified
farm located just outside the city of Bangor in Southwest Michigan. About
23 acres of the land is tillable, 8 acres are used for Woodlot, and the
rest is occupied by the farmhouse, barns, roadways, and a small pond.
Field crops such as oats, corn, wheat, rye, and soybeans are grown and
fed to cattle, pigs and poultry which are then sold for cash or butchered
for home consumption. Hayland and pasture also provide forage for
the livestock. A large garden provides fresh produce for the farm
residents as well as farm income through market sales.
Participants in the program gain
experience in small farm management which includes the operation and maintenance
of farm machinery and equipment; organic methods of raising crops, produce,
and livestock; Woodlot management; and building repair and construction.
Other experiences include the butchering of livestock; the preparation
and preservation of home-grown food; making cheese, butter, ice cream,
and yogurt from milk; making home-brewed beer and wine; and marketing vegetable
produce. Students also gain an understanding of cooperative living.
They live and eat together in the same house and also share the work and
responsibilities of the farm. Reflections take place regularly through
group discussions of farm activities and reading materials.. The experience
of rural life is augmented by attendance at area cultural events, Organic
Growers meetings, auctions, and potlucks; and knowledgeable guests from
throughout the area are invited to informal gatherings to share their ideas.
Emphasis is placed on efficient use and recycling of materials, working
with nature rather than against it, and finding satisfaction in frugality
rather than consumption. In general participants become familiar
with the realities of rural self-sufficiency.
The day starts early with the chore
people milking, feeding, and watering the livestock while the kitchen crew
prepares breakfast. The routine jobs, cooking, cleaning, chores,
and garden management, are alternated throughout the week on a rotating
schedule. Each person is encouraged to do all kinds of work, including
those activities traditionally done by the opposite sex. Meals are prepared
from foods grown and preserved on the farm and everyone eats together.
The work to be done on any particular day depends on the time of season,
the weather, and other circumstances. The appropriate farm activities
are performed such as tending the garden, bringing in the hay, or fixing
equipment, with time out for lunch. After dinner, the day winds down
and students can reflect and discuss farm matters or pursue personal concerns.
The program is flexible to accommodate individual interests and desires
and the weekends are generally free for other kinds of activities.
The farm is organized for maximum
diversity in order to facilitate learning experiences rather than to show
a profit. A fee totaling $150.00 per month includes room, board,
and tuition. The fee helps cover the expenses of supporting the students
on the farm. Personal expenses are not included in the fee and the
students will receive no "profits" in cash or produce during the term.
Therefore it is recommended that students have resources to provide for
their own clothing, spending money, and medical needs. It is not
practical for a student to have a job off the farm during the term since
it would create a time conflict.
Evaluations of The Homestead program by past participants have been consistently favorable; several students have regarded it as a turning point in their life. The Homestead offers opportunities for both the beginner and the experienced "caretaker of the land". Experimentation is encouraged and incorporated into the program. The farm provides a place to try out new techniques in energy conservation, gardening methods, and living habits. Prospective homesteaders should do as much advance reading as possible. Of the many recently-published books on homesteading, two are especially recommended. Both contain lists of books, pamphlets, and periodicals for further reading and list sources for obtaining tools and materials.
Richard W. Langer, Grow It! The Beginner's Complete In Harmony With-Nature Small Farm Guide. (New York: Avon Fare Books, 1973.365 pp., $4.95). This is probably the most comprehensive book on how to do it.
David Robinson, The Complete Homesteading
Book, (Charlotte, Vermont: Garden Way Publishing Co., 1974. 248 pp.,
$5.95) The special strength of this one is its ability to communicate a
sense of homesteading as a satisfying way of life.
Thom Phillips, Jan Filonowizc (Homestead Farm Instructors) 1983