I was trying to figure out the best word for homesteading in Brazilian Portuguese and the best I could come to was the direct translation of "self-sufficiency". It's funny how some words like homesteading have such strong links to specific cultures. I enjoyed your introduction to the word. BTW, I see you are new, welcome!
It's interesting that you say self-sufficiency. Homesteading and self-sufficiency go hand-in-hand here. I never considered the word 'homesteading' to be specific to a culture or a geographical area. Thank you for pointing that out.
I was trying to translate it and I just got blanks! But there's plenty of folks doing just that over in Brazil.