The Rise of the Nouveau Homesteader
Or, how to exit the matrix
There was a time when we referred to the inhabitants of any town, city, or village as citizens. Today we call them consumers. Dictionary definition: “One who consumes, destroys, wastes, or spends; that which consumes.” And so it is that the three sirens of consumerism — comfort, control, and convenience — have us firmly in their grip.
It is a poignant reflection of a zeitgeist that sees many caught in a work/spend cycle that promises happiness through material goods. Yet we live on a planet of finite resources, so this isn’t the greatest long-term strategy. We seek comfort as a reprieve from these stresses, despite research repeatedly telling us that discomfort is the pathway to personal growth. To top it off, convenience is making us stupid. And I don’t mean metaphorically. Studies have shown that parts of our brains are literally shrinking in tandem with the exponential growth of smart technology that promises to do our thinking for us.
So, life rattles on at technological pace while we evolve ourselves towards redundancy, mentally soft and physically weak, running in circles like lab rats. On the face of it, what hope for our species?
Happily, we may already have the answer. And perhaps ironically, it’s the much-maligned snowflake Gen Zs alongside the millennials who are leading the revolutionary charge. Enter the rise of the nouveau homesteader.
Cue a deep sigh and an eye roll. I know, it tends to conjure images of women in expensive wellies and floral-print dresses filling Mason jars with colourful pickles while rosy-cheeked children play in homely kitchens. But here’s the thing, while this vision may be a stark contrast to many people’s current reality, the quest for a quieter experience of life is not a blissed-out opt-out or a premium version of quiet quitting. This is a considered vote for a different way to live with its roots firmly in a deep scepticism of the governance, companies, and systems (food to pharmacological) that we’ve become accustomed to relying upon.
It’s a deliberate rejection of the status quo, not simply one step up from an obsession with Gardener’s World. It’s also, not a choice exercised only by those able to buy acres of land in the rural backwaters of America. This is happening in the heart of our cities, for people with neither backyard nor allotment.