I received a review copy of this book in exchange for honest feedback.
I have been following Wranglerstar on youtube for a few years now, so I was pretty excited to see they had decided to put together a book about their homesteading journey thus far. I enjoy the fact that the Wranglerstar family is so genuine about their journey. They share the good, the bad, and the downright ugly that can come with the homesteading lifestyle. They don’t try to be all perfect and polished. They don’t shy away from sharing hardships, poor decisions, or accidents. They are real.
The Wranglerstar family consists of Cody (Wranglerstar), Mrs. Wranglerstar, and their son Jack. Modern Homesteading: Rediscovering the American Dream isn’t a how-to book. Rather, it’s a book about their journey from city life to rural country life. While they weren’t always Christians, they are now, and their faith is woven into their lives. They share their faith in a very organic way throughout the book as it was and is a part of their journey. They don’t shove it down your throat, but they don’t shy away from sharing how their faith plays a role in how they live their lives.
I really like that they are okay with sharing all the mistakes they made while getting to their current homestead. I appreciate the fact that they don’t believe that their way is the only way. In fact, they point out that homesteading will look different for each family. They are quick to point out how important it is to know yourself and your family when making decisions on where to live as living “way out” isn’t right for everyone.
In many ways, the Wranglerstar family isn’t a typical homestead family as they don’t have animals. They knew that at this point in time it wasn’t right for them, so instead of automatically doing the animal thing because that’s what homesteaders are supposed to do, they opted for focusing on what was important to them. They homestead is far from complete as they do things as time and money allows. They share how money has made a big impact on what they can and can not do. They also share some of the money mistakes that they made along the way and how they strove to get out of debt.
While this isn’t a how-to book, there are sections that get into some basic how-to things. The Wisdom from the Journey sections help readers really think about the decision to homestead and some issues they may face. Planning, while critical, doesn’t make everything go right. (Boy do we know this from personal experience with our homestead.) It should be no surprise to anyone who knows Cody from youtube that he shares some things about tools and how to care for and utilize them around the homestead.
Overall, I really enjoyed learning more about the Wranglerstar family. You can follow the Wranglerstar family channel on youtube.
