Living off the land and even going off-grid is at an all-time high right now, and it’s only going up from here.
For example, take a look at this graph from Google Trends for searches including “find land”.
Here’s another one for “off grid”.
Between the cost of living, inflation, and a falling job market, the world is becoming more unpredictable. But there is good news.
I’m meeting new people every day who are taking daily steps (sometimes strides) to get their self-sufficient lifestyle and grow their own food. Not to mention the perks of better-tasting food and being immersed in nature.
This is why I spent the last 3 years studying and getting my Permaculture Design Certificate.
If you’re like me, you’re itching to at least get a bit more self-sufficient in case times get even weirder. Maybe it’s growing fruit trees, raising chickens, or making sauerkraut (my new favorite thing btw).
But where do we start learning about these skills and others? While there are pieces of information out there, it’s difficult to find a complete place where we can learn directly from the experts and ask them questions.
Abundance+
Abundance+ is an app created by expert homesteaders to inspire, teach, and help its members grow food. It has over 400 videos, masterclasses with names like Joel Salatin, an active community, a marketplace, discounts on homesteading supplies, and much more. New content, courses, and creators are added daily.
After watching Justin Rhodes’ YouTube videos, I tried out his app, Abundance+, in July, 2021.
Long story short, the app is inspiring, entertaining, and extremely helpful, so I’ve been using it daily to get my homesteading fix and ideas.
What you’ll find inside Abundance+:
- Over 400 videos
- Masterclasses (Joel Salatin, Brandon Sheard, The Doughertys, and more)
- Courses
- An Active Community
- Marketplace
- Discounts
- Text Access to Experts (more on this later)
- And More
The newest additions to Abundance+ are experts Shawn and Beth Dougherty who have been farming since the 1980s and grow 90% of their own food.
Pros
Hundreds of Exclusive Videos
Since they managed to gather the top homesteaders out there, Abundance+ has hundreds of exclusive, ad-free videos and courses. With the large backlog and daily videos getting added, you won’t run out of things to watch.
You can also comment under the videos, adding to the conversation and connecting with other homesteaders.
No Censorship
Censorship is something that’s affecting a lot of content creators lately, and homesteaders aren’t excluded.
You may be thinking that censorship may be limited to livestock butchering, but it’s quickly expanding to other videos such as showing a calf’s birth.
Because of this, Abundance+ offers uncensored videos (including livestock harvesting) as resources for homesteaders to learn.
However, if you aren’t interested in the more graphic videos, you can easily avoid them. These videos are usually accompanied by a note with “uncensored” in all caps in the video title.
To see more about Justin’s experience with video censorship, check out the video below.
High-Quality Experience
So much investment is going into this app, in both time and money. You can tell just how much Justin and the homesteading community care about creating a quality place for homesteaders to share their experiences and knowledge.
I believe I heard the app costs $30,000 a year to maintain, so it’s a risky move for them, but one that’s quickly becoming a valuable resource for homesteaders.
The Abundance+ team is also constantly adding new creators, features, and improvements to the app.
For example, they launched a separate community app (included in the membership), which they accurately described as “Facebook, but without Facebook”.
They’ve also started a marketplace for homesteaders to buy and sell their goods.
True story, I found a permaculture farm near me (through the Abundance+ community) and they needed help for part of a day. I drove down there and helped them for a few hours. As a gift, they gave me the best-tasting chicken and pork. I’m going back soon to get my Thanksgiving turkey.
Cons
Occasional Errors (Fixed)
*Update: I haven’t experienced an app error in the past few months.
Sometimes, I’ll try to play a video but get an error instead.
To be fair, this error likely isn’t Abundance Plus’ fault, but likely the service that hosts them—Uscreen.
While this can be slightly annoying, I found that closing the Abundance+ app and reopening the app quickly fixes it. If you’re on an iPhone you can do this by swiping up on the app while in the app menu.
However, these hiccups seem to be happening less often, so it looks like they’re working on fixing it.
Rewinding (Mostly Fixed)
*Update: The app now has a rewind feature when double-tapping the left side of the screen, but it still doesn’t work when the button overlay comes up.
Rewinding is the biggest con for me.
While it’s easy to fast-forward in the Abundance+ video player (you can either drag the dot in the player bar or double-tap anywhere on the screen for a quick 10-second fast-forward), it’s difficult to rewind the video.
A quick fix for this would be to change the double-tap on the left half of the screen to rewind instead of fast-forwarding.
However, this isn’t too big of an inconvenience and doesn’t prevent me in the least from watching the videos or using the app.
Cost
| Membership | Monthly Plan | Yearly Plan |
|---|---|---|
| Inspiration | $6.99 | $59.99 (save $23.89) |
| Basic | $14.99 | $139 (save $40.88) |
| Premium | $29 | $279 (save $69) |
Make sure to use the code TYLER10 for a 10% discount at checkout.
The Inspiration membership is essentially the vlogs, just without ads. Because this tier does not include the learning library (courses, masterclasses, and more), it’s not worth it for me. However, the other memberships are much more appealing.
There are two main memberships, Basic and Premium. While Basic gets you the majority of Abundance+, Premium includes texting access to homesteading mentors and bi-monthly live webinars where you get to ask your homesteading questions to the experts.
Here’s a breakdown of what’s included in the Basic and Premium memberships.
| Basic Membership | Premium Membership |
|---|---|
| Ad-free Vlogs and Documentaries | Ad-free Vlogs and Documentaries |
| Permaculture Pigs Course | Permaculture Pigs Course |
| Permaculture Chickens Film | Permaculture Chickens Film |
| Learning Library of 400+ Videos | Learning Library of 400+ Videos |
| Masterclasses | Masterclasses |
| Private Community and Marketplace | Private Community and Marketplace |
| Discounts to Homesteading Companies | Discounts to Homesteading Companies |
| – | Texting Access to Experts and Mentors |
| – | Bi-Monthly Live Webinars |
As one of the main benefits, Premium and Lifetime members can text any gardening and homesteading questions to experts, including:
- Justin Rhodes (Homesteader of over 15 years and Certified Permaculture Designer)
- Casey Ostwinch (Master Gardener)
- Claire (Sheep and Goat Expert)
- Cliff Davis (Pig Specialist)
- Mike Dickson (Duck Expert)
Depending on your homesteading obstacles, having Justin and other pros a text away could make a decent investment (especially for $29 a month).
However, with a similar price to Netflix, it can seem like the pricing for Abundance+ is a bit of a stretch. So, is Abundance+ worth the cost?
Final Verdict (Is Abundance+ Worth It?)
If you’re an aspiring or current homesteader, Abundance+ is definitely worth it in 2024. Its videos, courses, podcasts, community, marketplace, and more easily pay for themselves.
Even the videos alone have given me so much value that I stopped going on YouTube.
This is because Abundance+ doesn’t have ads and their videos are packed with practical information from people who are actually doing it.
Just by watching what other homesteaders are doing (and not doing), I’ve learned so much. Avoiding these basic mistakes has easily saved me more than the cost of the app.
Every day at lunchtime, I pull my phone out and open Abundance+ to get my daily dose of homesteading tips, laughs, and inspiration, and I don’t see myself stopping anytime soon.
Side note: I met Justin Rhodes in person and he’s the real deal. I spent the day on his homestead helping him with farm chores and learned what to do (and what not to do). You can tell how much care he’s put into the A+ app.
Does Abundance+ Have a Discount or Coupon Code?
I reached out to the Abundance+ team and they were more than happy to provide readers on Couch to Homestead with a 10% discount, even for the Lifetime membership. Save up to $80 by using the code TYLER10 (valid for a limited time).