Archive 1

Anyone?

Was "ANYONE" allowed to claim land? I would be surprised if black Americans were allowed to participate in this land grab at that time. Someone with some knowledge of this please look into this.

Yes, particularly after the passing of the 14th amendment in 1868 granting citizenship to black American's. By 1890, more than 130,000 people of African descent had moved to Oklahoma alone for the opportunity to homestead.
I would point out that the Homestead Act of 1862 was passed during the Civil War, therefore any US law would have had no effect upon the seceeded states. Also, the term "anyone" would be incorrect. Only a family head or person that was at least 21 years of age could claim the land. Heritage Farmer 00:15, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

Smallholding?

Is this equivalent to the British term- smallholding? Perhaps there should be a link or cross reference, as many British wouldn't know this term.

Yes, I believe homesteading is basically the same as [Smallholding].

Removal of Comments

I removed these comments under "Current Practice" I don't think it was appropriate & is spamming.

[Okay, let's stop bashing the 'White Man'. Contrary to Revionist History, it is not true that the first Transcontinental Railroad opened to West to primarily "White Homesteading". All races of peoples and Americans, including Negroes, Spanish, Mexican, and numerous Eastern European races migrated West during the period of 1870 to 1885, not just "whites". Similarly, all of these various races unfortunately participated, to a greater or lesser extent, in the forceable relocation and often extermination of the American Indians. Now the same Indian tribes are making hundreds of millions of dollars with their casinos...not a bad trade off... ] Bill- May 01, 2007

Link

I'd like to add a link to www.aikihomestead.ca - It's not a spam link that I can see, but it was removed in short order with no indication why... Is that okay with everyone here? IvarForkbeard (talk) 19:27, 8 August 2009 (UTC)

Merger proposal

All four reasons for merger apply here: duplicate, context, text, and overlap. Right now, articles that link to the simple "Homesteading" article are all over the board; for instance, historical articles referring to the Copus massacre or the Oklahoma land rush are being directed to "Homesteading" instead of to Homestead act —a complete difference in meanings; while articles links such as Downshifting or simple living refer to a more modern —and differing— meaning, more akin with the idea of "Urban homesteading". There are many many more examples of this tangled mess.

I propose that "Homesteading" as it is currently worded (10/28/2012) be merged into "Urban homesteading", and that the resultant "Homesteading" page then become a REDIR to the Homestead DISAM page. Even though the Homesteading page is older, Urban homesteading seems to be better written and more all-encompassing, as well as more informative, and the intent of the article is clear and distinct from simple Homesteading. GenQuest (talk) 17:56, 23 October 2012 (UTC)


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More research needs be done on economic viability.

This is concerning the following sentence:

Economies of scale in modern agriculture and opportunity cost of manual labor prevent home-raised food from being an economical choice.

This greatly depends on what percentage of food is being produced. Many homesteads will never be exactly 100%. If permaculture principles are followed, the cost of food production goes way down. Fertilizer is gained from compost and livestock. Rain/pond/grey water is utilized. This makes home raised food a very viable alternative. The price of canned goods in the past 2 years has gone up 35%. If seeds are saved at the end of each growing season, your increased costs are non-existent. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.40.248.18 (talk) 20:35, 3 February 2014 (UTC)

You're missing the primary reasoning. If I buy my food from the grocery store, it's tends to cost 2-300 dollars per month. At my hourly wage, which is not exceptional, it takes me 12-18 hours to earn that money. Any costs whatsoever incurred in the process of home raising food would work against home raising's economic value. If it costs, number out of a hat, 20 dollars per month to raise my own food, then I have 1.2 hours spent earning that money via my wages, and that leaves just 10.8-16.8 hours to spend on raising my own food before home raising becomes more costly than buying. I'd guess that it would generally be far greater than 20 dollars per month. There is also the up front capital costs for much of what you mention. You not only have to look at cash flows, you also should expect to have a required return on that investment that's factored into the economic viability of home raising to offset any investment income you could have made on that money through other means. I'm not saying it's not economical, I'm just saying I doubt it. 50.77.156.102 (talk) 16:28, 30 April 2015 (UTC)
I have removed these sentences:
Economies of scale in modern agriculture and opportunity cost of manual labor do not prevent home-raised food from being an economical choice. It is less costly to purchase a handful of seeds, dig a trench in the earth or fill a few pots with soil, plant those seeds, water them, pull weeds near your crops, and harvest that food than it is to drive to a store, buy food that was grown using a half million dollars worth of equipment, shipped from 1,000 miles away using gas and more very expensive machinery, and all at great expense to the environment meaning the air we breath and water we drink.[citation needed] The homesteader does not need to hire labour, they are the work force, growing the food that will sustain them as they harvest sunlight borrow water and air, and help the soil to thrive.[citation needed]
because these statements seem to be original research. The principle of comparative advantage suggests that [from a purely economic standpoint] trade is always more economical than isolationism. Though homesteading probably isn't just motivated by economic reasons.
Please don't reinstate the text without tagging it with {{Section OR}} or providing sources. --Hirsutism (talk) 15:47, 2 July 2015 (UTC)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

  This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 21 August 2018 and 11 December 2018. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Mudbloodrevolutionary97.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 23:48, 16 January 2022 (UTC)