According to Dictionary.com, a ‘steading’ is a Scottish or North of England word for “a farm, especially its buildings”.
I think ‘stead’ in itself seems to sometimes mean something similar, as in ‘farmstead’ or ‘homestead’, although less physically it seems to be something like position or place – ‘in good stead’ is used to mean something like in a good position, and the word ‘instead’ could be take to mean ‘in place of’.
