Homesteading can be a fickle lifestyle. A late frost can kill your tomato starts, deer come by and eat all of your strawberry plants. Some years, no matter how hard you try, your beehive swarms and your incubator fritzes out and kills your turkey eggs, and yet somehow you still need to fill your freezer and pantry by winter.  So how do you do this when things are just not going according to plan?  Or what if you are just starting out homesteading and don’t have your own garden or animals? How do you fill your freezer’?

Now in Alaska you can get on a list to receive road kill moose. Yes, I definitely said road kill moose.  Currently, there are 27 states that allow residents to harvest road kill for consumption with the species and laws regulating roadkill harvest varying state to state. Annually, 1.3 million deer are hit by cars and usually the deer just sit on the side of the road bloating and going to waste.  But aside from the time investment required to pick up and butcher the animal the meat is essentially free, and at least with moose, most of the meat is still good.  You don’t have to raise the animal, breed it, house it, fence it or anything else. Free! Obtaining our road kill moose this year made me wonder if there are other options for free meat or vegetables to fill your freezer, that are not the usual on-site DIY method of homesteading.

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So after some brainstorming and internet searching here are my ideas for obtaining ‘free’ food for your homestead.

1. Roadkill list: Think of all the things you see dead on the road; deer, moose, squirrel, birds, coyote, elk. And they’re all just going to waste. I’m pretty sure one time I when I was a kid we ate an owl that we had hit with the car.
2. Hunting: Lots of people do this. Depending upon the animal it might take some very specialized equipment and loads of time and money (Bighorn Sheep or bear) or it could take something easy like a shotgun or a well-aimed rock (grouse).
3. Wild Foraging:  This, of course, should be done with extreme caution and knowledge but there is a ton of free food out there. I love foraging for food.  Here are some wild foods I have personally harvested at some point; oyster mushrooms, shaggy manes, morels, blackberries, huckleberries, salmonberries, raspberries, blueberries, cranberries, crowberries, strawberries, nagoonberries, cloudberries, fiddleheads (edible parts of young ferns), sheep sorrel, licorice root, birch sap, wild chamomile, and rosehips and petals.
4. Barter or Trade: Do you happen to have an excess or chicken eggs or zucchini? Are you a crazy good knitter? Then trade with your neighbors, friends, or someone at your local farmer’s market. Swapping for things is really fun. I’ve traded rabbits for turkeys, turkeys for rabbits, rhubarb for blueberries, raspberry plants for goat cheese, and pickles for honey. And the best thing is everyone feels like they’re getting a good deal. I really love trading.
5. Food Swap: This is similar to bartering with individual people except it is a recurring event with a group of people from your community where you swap food. Here’s a cool website I found where you can look up already established Food Swap groups in your area.
   

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6. Help with Butchering:  Butchering animals is just more fun and faster with more people. See if a friend or a like-minded person in your community is willing to trade some butchering help for some free meat. It is also a good way to learn new techniques and skills from someone.
7. Help with Gardening or Preserving: Do you have a neighbor or friend that needs help planting, thinning, weeding, harvesting or storing their garden? Chances are if you help out they’ll hand you some wonderful produce for your effort.
8. House Sit:  Trade your garden and animal caretaking skills for somebody on vacation in exchange for some free food. I guarantee you there are lots of folks that would take you up on this offer because finding good help for your homestead and taking a vacation is invaluable.
9. Gleaning: I have lived in a wide variety of places and whether it is a rural setting or urban there is always food going to waste somewhere. I often have seen fruit trees with the fruit dropping on the ground or an unharvested garden. Stop by and ask if you can pick it. I’ve never been told no. Last year I took home 60lbs of potatoes because I asked.  You can always feed your animals with this food as well.
   

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10. Co-raise animals or co-garden: You might not have the correct infrastructure for raising animals or maybe you don’t have the time or the knowledge base yet.  So share the responsibility with a friend. Together you can raise food for your homestead and possibly be more productive together than you would be by yourself.

Although I was specifically speaking about food, I think these are also good ways to also find materials and equipment for your homestead as well. I know there are more ways out there to help supplement your homestead so please share your ideas with me.