I'm a full time Iowa farmer. And not an "alternative" farmer, a John Deere & rows of corn type. Unless you have: A) an existing land base big enough to suppor

I'm a full time Iowa farmer. And not an "alternative" farmer, a John Deere & rows of corn type. Unless you have: A) an existing land base big enough to support you (in my area, that might be 500+ acres) and the knowledge and equipment to farm it, B) a niche market for a rare farm product that you can charge exorbitant prices for, or C) preexisting wealth (which can maybe get you item A), you're not going to get ahead financially by homesteading. The business model just doesn't pencil out. Doubly so for any sort of animal agriculture. The market (both inputs and outputs) is driven by commercial farms, and you're trying to compete with that market from a wildly disadvantaged starting position. Homesteaders I know also tend to be rather unfocused in their plans. They want to grow 15 different kinds of food, build everything they need from scratch, learn how to do a dozen different jobs, and take care of all the various maintenance around it all. That's fun when it's a hobby, but exhausting when you're trying to make a living off of it. And ultimately the work you're doing for yourself and the money your saving are usually the equivalent of minimum-wage-type jobs; having a basement full of home-canned garden produce is a point of pride, but it's not like the price of grocery store frozen peas was making up a significant fraction of your monthly spending beforehand.