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Creative Ways to Freeze Eggs

If you are ever faced with an abundance of eggs and not enough time to make something with all of them, it can be overwhelming! Eggs, especially of the farm-fresh variety, are such awesome, healthy, cheap (or free, if you have your own chickens!), and versatile sources of nutrients that it is imperative to use them efficiently. One really great option for preserving eggs with any of the following freezer methods is not only having eggs through the winter as production slows, but also to make them quick, easy, and relatively mess-free to use! Baking in Muffin Tins A really simple […]

Protecting the Garden From Animals

After you have invested time, physical effort and money into creating a garden from which you plan to enjoy a variety of fresh vegetables, the last thing you want to see is an invasion of wildlife. In a single evening, devastation can occur as a result of unwanted four-legged visitors. A slower method of destruction can occur from casual nibblers and from critters who destroy your plants from underground. Individual species of animals attack your garden in different ways. Animals such as rabbits and deer simply move along throughout your garden nibbling on or possibly entirely consuming some plants. Other […]

4 Reasons Your Seeds Aren’t Starting

Have you spent good money on seeds, soil, and containers for starting, taken time to plant them and water them, only to have nothing to show for it? It can be a real let down to wait for seeds to sprout that never do. To take the mystery out of it and help you take proper steps to prevent it from happening again, let’s look at a few reason why it might have happened in the first place. Old Seeds Let’s assume that you did everything right, and you still didn’t get any seeds to sprout, then it’s probably […]

Woodstove Accessories

Having a wood stove is great, not only for heating your house but also for an alternative cooking method when utilities are down. Woodstoves can save a lot of money on heating bills, even compared to fireplaces. But having a woodstove alone won’t offer you the same benefits that you could have if you also have the right accessories to go along with your woodstove. Here are a few examples that could really help you out. Flu Damper Having a flu damper will allow you to control the flow of the heated gasses coming out of your woodstove. This […]

Tapping a Maple Tree

Maple Syrup is a classic staple of the American breakfast menu. But, like so many food items, I just love seeing how it’s sourced. This video shows a Yukon man tapping a maple tree for sap, and it looks pretty simple and rewarding. If you’ve got maple trees on your property or nearby you, why not give it a try this summer? There’s a separate process for boiling the sap to make the syrup, so I’ll have to find a video on that later this month perhaps. In the meantime, enjoy! Alaskans are some of the most hard-core homesteaders there […]

Simple Steps to Getting Your Homestead Off-Grid

Living on an off-grid homestead is no small matter. It might take years of planning, research and hard work. Hopefully if you do own property you’ve already considered how possible it might be to live off-grid, or if you are shopping around, this is what you’re thinking about long term. “Off-grid” is a catch-all term that largely refers to being off the municipal and/or county energy grids. Having water on your property, either from catchment, a well, or purchased and transported to your property from another private citizen, generating your own electricity, and relying on energy sources such as gas […]

Homesteading on a Budget

Everyone who wants to homestead wants to do so on a budget. In fact, the entire idea of homesteading is about reducing the money you are wasting and reducing your reliance on the modern material world. It doesn’t mean that you are going to live entirely for free and off the grid – although that might be possible for some. It does mean that you can do some things to get started in homesteading without breaking the bank. Here are some tips for you to get started. Sustainability is the key to working with a budget. You want to learn […]

3 Amazing Benefits to Growing Fruit Trees in Containers

I’m normally not a fan of growing food in containers, other than wooden raised beds which I guess are a form of containers. But fruit trees are an exception and one that most people don’t ever consider, probably because they don’t think it’s possible. But it is possible; lemons, oranges, and avocados are three examples of commonly purchased fruit that you can grow at home, and in containers. Here are a few reasons why you might want to consider containers a strategy for growing fruit. Space Space is a factor for a lot of gardeners. And trees are not […]

Clove and Orange Christmas Decorations

As a kid I used to make clove and orange Christmas decorations but I hadn’t thought about them in years. I saw this video the other day and it reminded me of how sweet-smelling these decorations can be, and what a fun and simple craft for kids they are. In the winter time, indoor air can become stale really easily, especially since colder temperatures make it uninviting to open windows, but these cute and festive decorations also double as natural air fresheners. Chemical candles or Glade plug-in style air fresheners can pollute your home with toxic fumes and overwhelming, artificial […]

Farm Chores for Children By Age

It’s so wonderful for children to grow up on a homestead. Fresh air, animals, learning about nature and plants, and also, work ethic! Children are never too young to participate in homestead duties. Here’s a list of ideas for children, by age group, to get involved in farm chores. Hey, they’re another mouth to feed, why not put them to work? Toddlers Toddlers will most likely need to be closely supervised, but they’re often eager to help out and get involved. Some tasks they can do and be involved in are filling up feed buckets or water troughs, throwing scratch […]

Act Now to Garden in the Spring

If you don’t already have a garden, then waiting until the spring isn’t going to help you at all. Even if you pour your time and resources into gardening starting in the spring you won’t be seeing the result until summer, and then it will still be limited. But, if you act now and prepare, you can hit the ground running as spring comes around. Here are some steps that you can take now to get starting growing food next year. Building Beds Especially for those of us that aren’t carpenters and use salvaged material, getting your raised beds […]

How to Make a Horseshoe (Video)

Horseshoes have been around for centuries, and play an integral role in man’s relationship with horses. We still use horses for transportation, herding cattle and other livestock, farm labor, and even companionship, and our relationship with these incredible creatures has played a huge role in modern civilization. Blacksmithing is the ancient technology that has also played a huge role in civilization, and I think it’s very cool that a lot of horseshoes are still made using the very basic, age-old method. Here’s a very cool video of a blacksmith making a horseshoe which gives you an appreciation for the level […]

Building a Natural First Aid Kit

On the homestead, one is subject to bumps, bruises, rashes, and other maladies and injuries. It’s very important to have a well-stocked first aid kit. But what about the homesteader who wants more natural, holistic options for home remedies, rather than simply OTC medicine that might be expensive and hard to stock up on for people who live in the country? Here is a simple list on how to get started restocking your first aid kit. There are so many wonderful DIY natural remedies available these days (thank you, Pinterest!) it can be almost overwhelming to know which natural remedies […]

DIY Clones

Downtime in the garden can really kill your productivity and efficiency. Cloning plants, such as tomatoes, will greatly reduce the time, space, and resources like potting soil. It will also give you a more predictable result, since you are not starting seeds with unknown traits, but cloning only the best plants in your garden. Here’s how to get started cloning your own plants. First, you will need a few supplies: Razor blade Clone plugs Clone tray with plastic cover Root tone Directions Most important is the selection of mother plants. You want to not only look for […]

Harvesting Sugar Cane (Video)

Sugar is a huge part of the American diet, and yet a lot of people don’t even think about how it grows or how it’s harvested. Entire nations and states have had their entire economies centered around sugar, a very valuable commodity that is pretty labor-intensive. These days, big agro sugar cane fields have plenty of industrial equipment to make this labor-intensive crop easier to plant, tend and harvest. I thought this video of harvesting sugar cane on a homestead was pretty cool. I love seeing how things are/were done without big industrial equipment, especially by small homesteaders. Check it […]

Best Animals to Raise for a Homesteader

You want to become truly self-sufficient. Even though you might have a beautiful garden with all the vegetables you need, if you are still buying meat and dairy from the grocery store, you aren’t very self-sufficient at all. In this post, we’ll be looking at some of the best animals for a small homesteader to raise that can do more than just provide meat. Goats Having goats on the property is always a good idea, as even just a single goat can provide you with between two and four quarts of milk each day. The milk can be used to […]

How to Grow Blueberries

Blueberries are a delicious “superfood”. They are full in antioxidants like anthocyanin and offer numerous health benefits. They can get quite costly at the store, especially when they are out of season. But since blueberries are a perennial shrub, there is no reason for you to be spending money over and over again at the store one these “super” fruits. Here’s how to get started. Since blueberries have specific growing requirements, and people often have trouble getting conditions just right for them, they are one of the few crops that I would suggest growing them in containers. They will […]

DIY Starter Containers

Whether or not you grow in containers, it’s nice to start some crops on tables, or even indoors. But for every plant that you end up transplanting into the ground, you could have started 10 or more that never made the cut. That means that if you are going to start crops in containers, you are going to need a lot of starter pots, and can add up quickly. Here are some ways that you can make starter pots from material that you already have and might even be throwing away. Egg Cartons An egg carton can provide a […]

How to Build a Bonfire Pit (Video)

If you live somewhere that doesn’t get too cold in the winter, a bonfire pit is a great winter project. You can enjoy some hot cocoa, marshmallows and starry skies at night. This is a pretty cool video of a very simple and basic fire pit model you could make using supplies from your local home improvement store. Just make sure to check your local laws on burning a fire outside, and if it’s cool, try it out! If you liked this, you might also enjoy… Become a Master Healer at Home… Anaerobic Weight Loss Fitness… The Ultimate Woodworking Course..

Don’t Be Without These Homemade Cough Drops

I never tire of homemade cold remedies. I got a pretty bad cold this week and really wished I had made some of these delicious homemade cough drops. A nasty cold is particularly awful to have during cold winter months. I will definitely be making more of these to have on hand the next time a cold hits. It’s simple, easy, and way better than your average chemical-filled cough drops. Regular store-bought cough drops often have artificial colorings and flavorings in them. They might be able to soothe your cough but they sure won’t help prevent cancer! Try this simple […]