Who's Actually Homesteading in 2026?

42% of American homesteaders came from zero farming background. No grandparent with a garden, no summer on somebody's farm. Nothing. And 28% of them are doing this on less than one acre.

Homesteaders of America just released their 2026 survey — over 4,000 homesteaders, compared against the survey they ran in 2022. So for the first time, we can see what actually changed in four years. Retirement nearly doubled. Full-time employment dropped. Land got smaller, not bigger. And every single reason people gave for homesteading got strongerbetween the day they started and today.

I read the whole thing twice, because apparently I'm that person now. But here's why I cared: I have people sitting across from me trying to decide whether to buy a piece of land, and almost all of them say some version of the same sentence — "I feel like I'm the only one." This report says: no, honey. You're the majority.

I'm Wendi Bergin — homesteader, realtor, and the host of Homesteading Made Simple. Preparedness brings peace, not fear. This one's a foundation episode; I'll be pulling threads out of it for weeks.

We talk about:

• Why 42% of homesteaders have no farming or homesteading background
• The surprising number homesteading on less than one acre
• Why homesteaders are getting older, and why that's actually encouraging
• The biggest financial challenges facing today's homesteaders
• Why people's reasons for homesteading seem to get stronger over time
• The skills homesteaders most want to learn next, including herbalism, food preservation, gardening and water
• Why you don't need 20 acres, a barn or generations of farming experience to begin

If you've ever wondered whether you're too late, don't have enough land, or don't know enough to call yourself a homesteader, this episode is for you.

The land is the container. What matters is whether that container fits the life you actually want to live.

Start where you are. Learn one skill. Then another.

Preparedness brings peace, not fear.

The report itself

• 2026 Homesteading Statistics & Demographics Survey Results — Homesteaders of America, published August 2026
• Homesteaders of America

• 2026 Homesteaders of America Conference — Front Royal, Virginia. Wendi's going. Come say hi.

  Food preservation resources (for the 60% who said preservation is what they want to learn next)

• National Center for Home Food Preservation — the free, tested-recipe standard
• USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning
• Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving

 

Come find me

• If you've got questions about buying homestead property — including the "can I really do this on a postage stamp?"question — reach out. I'm a licensed realtor here in Florida, and if you're somewhere else, I can help you find an agent in your state who actually understands homesteading properties. We've got to band together and be a community.
• And there's a whole run of episodes coming out of this report — the retirement number, the under-one-acre number, the faith number, why herbalism is beating gardening. Tell me which one you want first. Leave a comment or send me a message, and I will genuinely reorder my schedule for you.
• Share this one with the friend who keeps saying she'll start homesteading "when we finally get some land."
  
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