I get asked, often half-jokingly, maybe sometimes with a little condescending tone, about the homestead movement of the 21st century.
Usually because when people hear homesteading, their minds go straight to the late 1800s and early 1900s. Wagons. Prairies. A time we could never truly understand from where we stand now.
And honestly? I get that.
Our modern world offers resources that those first families never had. To pretend otherwise would feel shallow. Their hardship, isolation, and uncertainty were real in ways we’ll never fully replicate or even understand.
But I couldn’t shake a question that kept growing louder the longer we lived this life:
What actually motivated those early homesteaders and do any of those motivations still exist today?
What surprised me most wasn’t just the grit.
It was the togetherness.
Many families didn’t homestead alone. They moved alongside relatives, neighbors, and friends. Intentionally settling near one another to prove up land side by side.
They understood something we often forget today:
Success wasn’t individual. It was communal.
Their ability to survive, and eventually thrive, was deeply tied to the resilience of the people around them. Shared labor. Shared hardship. Shared hope. Who better to understand the challenges than those living them with you?
That truth hasn’t changed.
Modern homesteading isn’t, or shouldn’t be, about romanticizing the past. It’s about rebuilding what industrial life stripped away:
interdependence, shared skills, mutual aid, and communities strong enough to weather hard seasons together.
We don’t need to do this alone.
We never were meant to.
“Ma the longer I stay here the better I like it. There are but very few old families here. They are mostly young families just starting in life the same as we are and I find them very generous indeed. We will all be poor here together and grow up together and I hope to be happy together.” — A Young Family Homesteads in Nebraska, 1872 by Uriah W. Oblinger
We can romanticize the past, but the part of their story that matters most today isn’t the wagons or the prairie sod, it’s the community. Those early families didn’t just survive because they had land. They survived because they had each other.
They shared skills. They shared labor. They shared hope.
That’s what builds resilience.
That’s what sustains us through hard winters and hard choices.
That’s what makes food on the table more than just survival, it makes it meaningful.
And it’s why I believe the future of homesteading is not about doing everything ourselves, it’s about doing life and work together.
If you feel that pull too, the desire to grow your own food, raise healthy livestock, preserve what you harvest, and build relationships with people who are actually doing the work, then I want to invite you to something special.
North Dakota has not only a rich agriculture history, but also a rich homesteading heritage. And it is why it makes perfect sense to share that western North Dakota, specifically Watford City, is hosting its FIRST Annual Prairie Roots Homesteading Summit at the McKenzie County Ag Expo in May.
📍 The Prairie Roots Homesteading Summit — Watford City, ND (May 15–16, 2026)
This isn’t just another event, it’s an opportunity to connect with people who get it within the context of the beautiful Prairie and what she has to offer. People who want to recover real skills, grow & raise whole foods, and regain ownership over how their families are fed.
Our family can't wait to join you there. And if you are nice and tell people about this event, I may bring you a wheel of homemade cheese 😆 or at least a slice
🎟️ Learn more and save your seat at: mcagexpo.com/homesteading-summit
📸 Cred: Heritage and Homestead Films
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