I have a new “home improvement” reality show obsession and it is Homestead Rescue on Max. In each new episode of the Discovery series, life-long homesteader Marty Raney, his hunting guide son Matt and farmer extraordinaire daughter Misty visit an off-the-grid family flailing to make the dream of ultimate self-sufficiency work. Marty tackles major infrastructure issues like clean well-water and fire safety, Matt works on ethically sourcing food from animals and fighting off local predators, and Misty creates flourishing gardens, greenhouses, and long-term livestock solutions. Homestead Rescue is an addictive watch because it not only teaches the viewer fascinating real life survival skills, but raises the stakes on the home improvement drama. If the Raneys fail to come up with solutions, it’s not going to leave a family with a cramped bathroom or outdated kitchen; the homesteaders might literally die.
In fact, the part of Homestead Rescue that intrigues me, a city gal, the most, is the constant reminder that off-grid fantasies of living wholly on one’s own are kind of fallacies. As the Raneys prove time and time again, you can totally live on a self-sustaining homestead, but only with the help, guidance, and support of a network of hard-working folks. To very loosely paraphrase John Donne, no man is an island and Homestead Rescue freaking rules.
Homestead Rescue launched on Discovery back in 2016 as an hour-long reality show following the Raney family as they reached out to fellow homesteaders in need. Early episodes of the series include a “hobby farmer” who is too soft to kill his own rabbits living in a veritable tinder box in Oregon’s fire country and Virginia couple losing piglets because their moral obsession with “free range” livestock raising precludes them from building a protective pigsty (or outhouse for themselves?). You can find yourself snidely laughing at the newbie homesteaders’ incredulously illogical choices and commiserating with the Raneys’ earnest efforts to offer common sense solutions.
Today, Homestead Rescue is in its eleventh season on Discovery and new episodes run in two hour blocks in the coveted Sunday night slot. More recent episodes feature far more capable homesteaders who simply didn’t have the money to invest in sustainable equipment, like extra water tanks or state-of-the-art solar power grids, or who simply are struggling grow food amid challenging climates. Still, the format remains largely the same. Dad Marty tackles the most pressing safety issues, Misty revamps the farm set up and Matt, well, he sometimes hunts, sometimes fishes, sometimes cans, and often helps out with other projects. (Earlier seasons went harder on the killing of animals, complete with frequent viewer discretion guides. This makes me think Matt’s hunting skills were curtailed to ease suburban audiences’s queasiness?)
I like Homestead Rescue for a variety reasons: the Raneys are charismatic, it’s vicarious “country living” watching for this Upper West Sider, and it’s one of the few shows I can happily watch with my mom. However, what keeps me coming back is how the Raneys ironically prove time and time again that living sustainably off-the-grid does not mean you live alone. We all invariably need help. Our very existence demands community, be that another homesteader you can trade supplies with or a mentor who can teach you a new skill. “Self-sufficient” does not necessarily equal “all by yourself.”
The message that the Raneys — an interdependent family — teach time and time again is that it’s not only okay to ask for help when life’s overwhelming you, but it’s a virtue to reach out to other people. The key to saving each and every homestead they visit is calling upon local friends, relatives, neighbors, and suppliers to pitch in to ensure the dream of off-grid living can continue. Rarely do the Raneys fix everything on their own, and even when they seemingly do, their very presence proves this point yet again. Homesteading is a group effort, despite its reputation.
Even if you put the inspiring message of Homestead Rescue to the side, it remains a gripping addition to the reality show landscape. It’s not about selling a house at a profit or making a home Instagram-ready, but showing how even the worst, most dangerous off-grid nightmares can be salvaged. Homestead Rescue asks what does it take for one person to survive amid the beauty, bounty, and terror of Mother Nature? The shocking answer? Other people.
