When I was a teen, I spent much of my time fantasizing about and designing my ultimate homestead. I got the Scott and Helen Nearing books, the Foxfire books, the Whole Earth Catalogs, and a book called One Acre and Security. I studied them like DIY bibles. I had an organic garden in our backyard. I raised rabbits. My best friend raised chickens. We fancied ourselves semi-rural homesteaders.
I never built my dream homestead, although I did live on a farming commune for 6 1/2 years and got an opportunity to learn and live all of the homesteading skills. Even in my middle age, I still think about what my hand-built dream house might be like and what I might be able to do with one acre and a mule.
Given this history, I love living vicariously through a friend, Make: contributor, Andrew Lewis, and his Shedlandia project. For the past few years, Andrew and his wife Caroline have been building their own little dream homestead. Andrew has been documenting the process on a website and a YouTube channel.
Here is a sampling of the Shedlandia video content. Andrew also does a live-streamed MakerHour where he chats with fellow makers, discusses the projects he’s working on, and opines on various aspects of homesteading and DIY.