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How to Find Deals on Gardening Supplies

Whether you garden on a large-scale or simply have a patio garden, you’re probably always looking for good deals on gardening tools and supplies. The following suggestions will provide you with some of the best places to find those money-saving deals. Garage sales and estate sales As soon as the weather begins to get warm, people tend to get a case of spring fever and begin cleaning out their basement, garage, and storage building. They typically have a garage sale in hopes of making a little money on items they no longer want. Garden tools and equipment often end up […]

DIY Flow Through Worm Bin

Worm castings are a great natural fertilizer that not only add plant-available nutrients, but also increase long-term soil structure and health. But at over $20 a cubic foot, worm castings can be expensive to add to your garden. So don’t buy them, make your own flow through worm bin and easily harvest your own worm castings. This video shows the materials and tools necessary and gives simple-to-follow instructions on how to go about building your own flow through worm bin. It even shows some examples of bins of different sizes made from different materials to give you an idea of what […]

Slow Cooker Coq Au Vin (How to Cook a Rooster)

When it comes time to butcher some roosters to reduce their numbers in your flock, you might find them quite tough and difficult to butcher. Roosters make for particularly tough meat, and need to be cooked properly in order to enjoy them, but when you do, they can provide a delicious and rich flavor that will make you glad you ever had roosters. This recipe is loosely based on Julia Child’s Coq au Vin recipe, which you can check out and follow more closely if you like, but of course most Coq au Vin recipes you will find use store-bought chicken […]

Simple Shortcuts to Living Off-Grid

The ideal situation for living off grid would be to own your own land with acerage, good soil, a well or spring, and the resources to raise animals and grow and process lots of food. This is obviously something that most people will have to work up to, homesteading definitely takes time, patience and resources. If you’d like to start living off-grid in your daily life now, however, whether you’re beginning to homestead or still living “on-grid”, there are some simple steps you can take to remove yourself from the grid. “Off-grid” technically means off the municipal electric grid, but […]

No Thin Method for Planting Carrots

Anyone who has grown carrots knows that many of the carrots are lost to thinning. With seeds as tiny as carrot seeds are, it is difficult to handle them and space them out when planting. Even if great care is taken not to plant too many in one area, you might wait only to find large spaces in your row with no carrot sprouts at all. If they do sprout close together they are difficult to thin out without removing and killing more than you need to in order to thin. But, there is a method to plant carrots that, […]

10 Household Uses for Borax

Borax, or sodium borate, is a very cool old-school natural cleaning agent that has many uses around the home. It is most commonly used as a laundry booster or as a base for DIY laundry detergent, and it’s great for this. But there are actually many household uses for borax! A box of borax is easy to find, typically sold in four-pound boxes at your hardware store or Walmart (in the laundry section) and will last a long time. You can use it for all kinds of DIY cleaning agents, many of which will replace toxic, expensive cleaning products that […]

First-Time Permaculture (Infographic)

I have always been fascinated by permaculture. It seems like such a cool method of gardening, but also complicated and confusing. I’ve always wanted to study it more, but it’s hard to know where to start. I recently came across this great infograhic that breaks down a lot of the principal components of permaculture for beginners. It’s really detailed and extensive and was originally published on Fix.com with an accompanying article detailing the informatic contained in the graphic. Since we’re heading into winter, why not start to consider trying out some new permaculture methods for spring? This graphic has honestly […]

Making Your Own Potting Soil

Whether you are growing in raised beds, containers, or even in rows, you can benefit from starting your crops on tables and even under cover. But starting your crops outside of their final location, or growing in containers will mean that you need potting soil, which is expensive. Reducing this cost is a crucial step in lowering the overall cost of your garden. Here are some tips on making your own potting soil to cut costs. Peat It’s unlikely that you will be able to build your potting soil without purchasing anything, but purchasing individual ingredients in bulk, and […]

Three Important Homestead Firearms (Video)

If there is one incredibly appropriate place for firearms, it is on a homestead. There, they are important tools. They provide security of your home, belonings and animals. They can scare off, injure or kill dangerous predators. You can use them to kill animals you raise quickly and painlessly, as well as wild animals you’d like to hunt for food. You can even use them as pest repellant if you’ve got critters trying to steal your food or plants! If you are new to firearms it can be hard to know where to start, so I thought this video would […]

5 Pre-Industrial Skills Everyone Should Have

The modern era has many advantages. Modern technological advancements have made daily life much simpler and less labor-intensive. No longer do we need to spend hours hand-washing our laundry, hauling water from streams and creeks or pumping it from a well, harvesting and grinding grain. etc. However, modern life has also made us very reliant on a complex industrial grid that could go down at any time, or of course, that many are trying to escape. There are many skills of yore that we grow up simply not doing or experiencing, that might quickly become a way of life if […]

Seed Saving Tips

It’s getting to the point that fruiting vegetables will no longer be producing this year, and time to starting thinking about next year’s crop. Purchasing seeds every year will quickly add up, and many of the crops that are commonly grown produce seeds that can be collected and saved for next year. Here are some tips for saving money on next year’s garden by collecting seeds this year. Bolting Vegetables Allow some of your greens to bolt this time of year so that you can get their seeds. Don’t harvest the seeds to early, wait for the leaves to […]

DIY Homebirth Kit (Video)

If you are a homesteader, you are probably more interested in the natural way of life. Organic food, natural homebrewed remedies, grassfed meat, etc. So you are probably already sold on the idea of homebirth, if you are planning your family. Homebirth is a wonderful way to give birth to a child. You are comfortable, in your own, familiar space, surrounded by your family and friends and in the quiet and calm of your own home rather than the loud bustle of a hospital labor and delivery room. However, even if you are not planning on a homebirth, if you […]

Stock Your Fishing Pond

If you have a pond on your property, or you are considering building a man-made pond for the property, you might want to stock it with fish. First, you need to make sure that it is capable of sustaining fish though. You must create a pond that is as natural as possible, so it has the right level of oxygen to sustain fish. Keep in mind that ponds that are too shallow will not have enough oxygen in them over the winter, and the fish will die. When stocking a pond, you need to make sure that you are using […]

Oil Pulling and Tongue Scraping (Infographic)

Dental pain or troubling issues can sometimes be worse than anything else. And getting to the dentist, especially if you live out in the country, can be a pain, and expensive. Taking good care of your teeth and dental health is of the utmost importance, but you don’t need fancy electric toothbrushes and flouride mouthwash to do so. Oil pulling is an increasingly popular dental hygiene habit that may be good for you to consider, especially if you are having any dental issues like bleeding gums, cavities, or bad breath. And it can help with much more, too! It sounds pretty […]

DIY Beeswax Candles (Video)

Beeswax candles are a really fun indoor activity for wintertime, and a great skill for homesteading. Beeswax is one principal motivation for keeping bees, and you can use the wax to make crafts like homemade candles that will do very well at farmer’s markets or perhaps an Etsy shop. You can add essential oils or even herbs for a lovely, all-natural aroma that is far better than a toxic parafin candle with perfumes and dyes. But even if you don’t keep bees, you can find organic beeswax at your local health food store or online and make lovely homemade candles to […]

Stay Safe on the Homestead

People eventually get into a routine. They do things without thinking about it because they’ve done them so many times in the past. This happens in every aspect of life, and the homestead is certainly not immune. However, this has the potential to be quite problematic, as it doesn’t exactly promote safety. If you aren’t careful, you could make some dangerous or costly mistakes. The following are a couple of simple tips you will want to employ to help reduce the risks. First, you always need to understand the dangers of any equipment used on the homestead. This includes mowers, […]

Indoor Pets for Your Outdoor Garden

Unfortunately, some people just can’t see the benefit of backyard chickens, and they can’t let others be. You may live in an area that doesn’t allow for livestock such as chickens and have neighbors that have a lack of appreciation for self-reliance and fresh food. But does that mean that you have to buy manure? Or that you can’t raise animals for meat? Not necessarily. You could raise animals indoors or in discreet cages, animals such as guinea pigs or rabbits. If you are wanting meat, rabbits are the obvious choice because of their superior ability to […]

8 Simple Ways to Earn Money From Homesteading

Homesteading is sustainable, self-sufficient and rewarding. But it’s also not free! Unfortunately, in our modern economy, there’s so much more involved in running a homestead than simply working the land and feeding your family. Especially if you are a new homesteader, costs can pile up and it can really help to find a way to not just save money by homesteading, but earn money back on your hard work and labor. Even if you are an urban homesteader, there are still many creative ways you can earn money from homesteading! Here is a list of some of the easiest ways […]

How to Build a Potato Tower

Potato towers are a way to grow more potatoes in a smaller area by growing vertical. There are a variety of techniques to build potato towers using different materials but the basic principles are the same. This article will describe how to build a potato tower using fencing or hardware cloth. You will need some hog wire, no climb fence, or hardware cloth that is 4 feet tall and at least 6 feet long, at least 2 stakes to support the fencing but preferably 4, wire or zip ties to secure the fencing to the stakes, compost, straw, […]

Harvesting Rainwater (Video)

I love to see how real-life homesteads operate, and of course YouTube is great for this. Seeing different rainwater collection setups is particularly appealing, and I really enjoyed this short little video on this guy’s simple rainwater catchment system. Catchment is something that doesn’t have to be too complicated and that can benefit your homestead or garden greatly, once you start to collect rainwater you’ll see every drop of rain on the ground as a wasted resource! Enjoy this short, informative video on a basic rainwater catchment system that anyone can enjoy! If you enjoyed this, you might also like…. […]