Many factors are involved in homestead efficiency, but perhaps none is as important as experience. Experience is generally accompanied by an increase in proper and useful tools, which further increases efficiency. In brief and in homestead terms, the rich get richer.

And how do we gain experience and useful tools? That takes time.

Experience

Book learning can be valuable. It can keep us from making mistakes which cost time and money, it can give us ideas and show us shortcuts, and it can instill confidence and even show us how to think.

But as anyone who has been to college knows - or who has read a book about butchering a pig - when it comes to practical matters, there is no substitute for hands-on experience.

Some of this hands-on learning can be acquired with a mentor. But this isn't the cure-all some beginners assume it is.

First is the difficulty of even finding someone who is both knowledgeable and willing to teach a beginner. Homestead experts are rare, most are hard to find, and many are isolated. The best hope is of finding an expert in a given field, such as a master gardener or experienced rabbit or goat raiser. These people tend to congregate in clubs, or you might find them when you buy their stock.

But don't forget that many people know a lot that ain't so! You can still learn from them, but be careful. If they tell you the sun comes up in the east, that's fine; but if they tell you the Earth is flat, you might want to check with another authority. You have to have enough knowledge - and common sense - to know the difference.

Others, who claim to have 20 years' experience, really have one year's experience, 20 times. Compare their methods and opinions with those of others, as well as with what you have learned from books and other sources, and mix in your own common sense. . . and experience.

Even then, mentoring is no overnight solution. Remember that the folks who learned self-sufficiency from their parents and grandparents learned over many years, from childhood on, and step-by-step.

Regardless of the project or the learning curve it requires, it's important to recognize that the first time is the hardest. Whatever you do, you'll improve with practice, sometimes dramatically! That's why the expert can make it look easy. . . and can accomplish so much more than the beginner. But the expert has probably also acquired certain tools, including what we might call an investment in capital improvements.

Tools

If you move to a country homestead from a city apartment you might not have as much as a hammer and screwdriver. Because the homestead is a production unit, it requires a wide array of tools, and the knowledge and skill to use them. Both of these take time. But there are other hindrances as well.

Most people moving from an apartment don't have the money to buy every tool they think they'll need. Well-equipped homesteads generally get that way over years, even decades, not because those homesteaders are wealthy, but because instead of eating out or seeing a movie, they invested in provident and productive tools. If one couple dines in a good restaurant once a week, and another invests that money in homestead tools, in a few years the latter will have a well-equipped homestead while the former has nothing to show for that money, even if they have the same income.

However, even if the new homesteader does have money, he can't buy a well-equipped homestead. How does he know what is really useful, or even necessary, until he actually does something?

Most homesteaders learn by making mistakes. That often includes buying the wrong tools and equipment. Only after using it. . . or not using it. . . do they realize that they should have saved their money. Here again, we're talking about time.

A meat cleaver might seem like a handy tool for the novice butcher. After all, isn't that the very symbol of the professional?

But after using one - and getting bone chips and hacked up meat - many homesteaders decide that a meat saw is much easier and more efficient.

But what kind of meat saw? There are saws with narrow blades and saws with wide blades, and even electric bandsaws. All have their uses, and their fans and detractors. We can only make our own choices with experience - and time.

The learning experience itself takes time on two levels then: learning the technique itself, and learning which tool is most efficient for us, personally. So again, the experienced person, with the right tool, is going to do any given job much more quickly and easily than the inexperienced person. The longer you homestead, the easier it gets. . . providing you continue to learn and perfect your skills.

There's another level that's even more time-consuming for those just starting out: the bigger, more expensive, more time-consuming and often (hopefully) once-in-a-lifetime projects. Some call them capital improvement projects.

The greenhorns who start with a plot of wilderness are at the greatest disadvantage here: They need everything! They might have to cut trees, mow brush, root out stumps, move boulders. . . and build a house, dig a well, put in a road, construct outbuildings and fence pastures.

They obviously will be much, much busier, they'll work much harder, and they'll spend more money than homesteaders who already have these capital investments (in time and money) in place.

But even those who move into an existing house, perhaps even with a barn and sheds, will find much to do. There might be repairs and remodeling, planting an orchard, setting out berries and asparagus. These all consume what to the established homesteader is "free time."

To be sure, that free time is prob ably used for new construction or other projects. That's the nature of homesteading. A real homestead is never finished.

But it can be a functioning, productive, well-equipped homestead, and a mighty pleasant place to live, even as the work continues.

And after years of effort and sweat and investment, when we can enjoy the fruits of our labors, and even relax a bit due to our experience and efficiency, we can say "It's about time!"