Guest post by Anita Ginsburg

You’ve finally made the move away from the city and established an off-grid homestead. You have the house, the water well, septic and the solar system in place, and now, it’s time to expand into growing your own food. To do that, you’ll need a few tools to get started.

A Sub-Compact Tractor

While you could till the soil the old fashion way with hand tools, a compact tractor will make the job easy, especially if you are tilling quite a bit of acreage. A sub-compact tractor can be outfitted with a wide variety of accessories, making it useful for not only tilling soil, but also spraying and aerating crops, as well as digging holes and trenches. It’s an investment you will not regret making.

A Flatbed Trailer

A small, flatbed trailer you can tow behind your pickup truck will come in handy for carrying heavy loads around your property, such as rolls of fencing or tree stumps you’ve removed. An aluminum trailer storage box is also a good idea; it’s a place to safely store the tools you’ll need to do your work around the homestead.

Quality Chainsaw

A good quality, gas-powered chainsaw has quite a few uses around the homestead. You can use it for everything from felling trees to trimming branches to cutting up firewood for the winter. You can even use your chainsaw to craft your tree stumps into unique sculptures.

Set of Walkie-Talkies

If your property has cell-service dead zones, you should have a set of two-way radios, or walkie-talkies, to stay in touch with the folks back at the house. When an accident occurs, and you don’t want to be stuck out in the field, with no way to call for help. A two-way radio is also a good way to call when you need an extra set of hands.

Snow Plow Kit

A snow plow that you can mount on your pickup truck or compact tractor is a necessary tool if your homestead gets snowed in during the winter. You don’t want to be cut-off from the county maintained road for very long. While not designed for very heavy use, a home snow plow will keep your road clear so you can get into town.

There are a lot of tools beyond this list that you’ll need if you’re planning on expanding your homestead. However, the best resource to learn about it all is from other homesteaders. Finding an online community that you can consult with is the greatest tool to anyone looking to homestead effectively.

Anita Ginsburg is a freelance writer from Denver, CO. She studied at Colorado State University, and now writes articles about health, business, family and finance. A mother of two, she enjoys traveling with her family whenever she isn't writing. You can follow her on Twitter @anitaginsburg.

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