I know someone who owns a farm in northern Vermont. It came to him through his great great grandfather and he grew up on it. He worked there until his late teens but had to find additional work as a handyman in order to support himself and not be a burden to his family. Over the years, he made his way down to Massachusetts and worked there for over 25 years as a handyman, jack of all trades, for one of the small towns outside Boston. He did well there. He is resourceful and physically fit. Over the years he learned carpentry, plumbing, electrical work and general contracting. He has remained a devoted reader and long-tern learner.
He was then called back to his farm. It had deteriorated quite a bit after years in the hands of others in his family. With the skills that he had acquired over the years, he was able to farm, rebuild and maintain the homestead.
I take this as a small scale stewardship. He appreciated its value, he planned well and worked hard to improve its value. He was lucky to have such a piece of property in the first place but he was additionally fortunate to acquire the skills to maintain it. With his limited resources and his attitude of taking responsibility, he maintained his property well and with limited resources. His approach, as I saw it, was methodical, he never got ahead of himself. He didn’t leverage anything.
This is one model of stewardship. It takes a lot of work and a lot of forethought to keep a piece of property like this producing. Sustainability and stewardship can take place with hard-working people such as he. It's where the fullest expression of stewardship gets played out.