What is Homesteading?
Homesteading is most commonly perceived as building a home and growing your own food.
At Lodestar, the definition of homesteading consists of 8 components: Creating a Sustainable Lifestyle through responsible food and energy production, conserving water, efficient shelter construction, diligent animal husbandry, a commitment to recycling waste, a philosophy of respectful land stewardship and community networking.
Homesteading Apprenticeship Program Principles
Our Motto:
Living things first. Joy in all things.
Our Over-Arching Learning Objective:
Through a variety of perspectives students will optimize their ability to create their own self-reliant lifestyles.
Our Goal:
To assist in uplifting and transforming our world by providing a template for personal sovereignty.
Certification Qualifications
Lodestar Homesteading Certification is awarded to those students who:
Attend a full year-long program (required).
1. Fulfill the requirements in the eight homesteading disciplines: Art & Philosophy, Agriculture, Energy Generating Systems, Water Systems, Food Preparation and Preservation, Herbal Studies, Shelter Building Alternatives, and Community Building (80% of certification points).
2. Complete a final project that reflects their greatest homesteading interest (10% cert points).
3. Participate in a local community organization, project, or event(s) over the course of the year (farmers markets qualify) (10% cert points).
Who is the HAP
Program Designed For?
The optimal candidate for the HAP program is 18 years of age or older, physically fit, enjoys solitude as much as teamwork, enjoys a variety of activities as much as rigid routine, delights in innovation, problem solving, and building community, has a passion to expand consciousness (mind-spirit-body) and learn from others and Nature.
Lodestar Gardens is a FREE ZONE: smoke-free, cannabis-free, drug-free, hate-free. As much as possible, we eat what we grow and cook healthy recipes according to participants’ diets.
Amenities
Everything You Need
At Lodestar's HAP school we offer a wide range of courses and an all inclusive experience to get you started. Tuition includes:
-
Daily Classes
-
Peer to Peer Support
-
Comfortable Accommodations
-
Three Meals Per Day
-
24 Hour Wi-Fi Access
The Road to
Self-Sufficiency
Starts with Hands-on Education
Tuition costs starting
at just $38/day!
Sign up today and to begin your journey to independence. Space is limited, so act now.
Our Students Say it Best
"Staying and working on your property
has been an experience I will never forget.
I swear I haven't felt
this good in years.
Can't wait to come back"
- Handwritten Note, Aria, Student 2018
"The year I spent as farm manager
at Lodestar Gardens Learning
Center was easily one of the
more enlightening and worthwhile
challenges that I have undertaken."
-Mark Nelson, LCLC Farm Manager, 2016
