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How to Make Healthy Gummy Candy

Gummy candy is a great treat, but unfortunately, it’s usually loaded with dyes, preservatives and chemicals. Like many junk foods, there are healthy versions you can make at home, but DIY gummy candy has a unique quality among healthy alternatives to candy: it’s actually really good for you. The base of homemade gummy candy is gelatin, which is an excellent source of protein, minerals, and vitamins that help improve skin, hair, nail, dental, and bone heath, ease the symptoms of arthritis, relieve tendonitis and other muscle and joint-related health issues. It’s amazingly good for you, but make sure you buy gelatin from grass-fed […]

3 Reasons to Keep Raw Honey Around

Honey is a staple of any well-stocked pantry, but most people just think of it as a condiment to be added to tea or perhaps to top sweets or desert. The majority of conventional, store-bought honey, however, is actually pasteurized. Pasteurized honey sounds like a good idea, like any pasteurizing process, as it supposedly eliminates the possibilities of harmful bacteria growing in the honey. However, when you pasteurize honey, it actually eliminates the vast majority of beneficial qualities of the honey, and it is also largely unnecessary, as honey rarely contains any harmful bacteria. Here are three reasons you should […]

Easiest Indoor Herbs to Grow

Herbs are a wonderful way to start gardening, either in a starter garden, on your patio, or even your windowsill. They don’t usually require a whole lot of work, are fine in containers, and are wonderful for adding fresh, healthy flavor to all kinds of dishes! Of course, if you want to use herbs primarily for cooking, or simply want a house plant that provides more than just decor, indoor herbs are perfect. Here is a list of some of the easiest herbs to grow indoor: Basil Basil is so easy to grow anywhere, and that includes indoors. You can […]

Genius Ways to Use Lard

Lard is something many of us have considered unhealthy for years, but it’s making a comeback as nutritionists reveal the healthy, complex fats in lard are actually pretty good for you! It’s way better for you than vegetable or seed oils, and definitely better than margarine or imitation butter. If you fry bacon at all, you definitely want to collect the fat that builds up in the pan and keep it for cooking! I keep a small jar in my fridge and use it as I would oil or butter all the time. But did you know you can render […]

Five Must-Have Cast Iron Pieces

When first making the switch from toxic nonstick cookware to cast iron, you may have a few reservations about the care or cost, especially if you run your homestead on a tight budget. The good news is that cast iron cookware outlasts its nonstick and other counterparts by decades, even centuries; you won’t be replacing cheap pots and pans every few years. This coupled with a good grasp of the simple process of caring for your cookware, leaves no reason not to take the plunge! If you’re ready to start your cast iron collection, check out these essentials first! […]

How to Make Homemade Almond Extract

I love DIY everything, and extracts are surprisingly easy. At the store, extracts for baking and flavoring foods can be surprisingly expensive, especially if you’d like organic or natural extracts of any kind. Almond extract is great to have for baking of all kind as the subtly sweet flavor of almonds makes for delicious cakes and cookies. The process for making your own is very simple. Since it only requires 15 raw almonds, it shouldn’t be too expensive to make this organic and natural, with some decent-quality vodka as well. You could make this large batch and put into smaller bottles for gifts […]

How to Cook Bone Broth in Your Slow Cooker

Bone broth is a total foodie fad, and for good reason. The vitamins and minerals from bones are great for you, for many reasons. Regularly consuming bone broth can help prevent osteoporosis, keep skin youthful and healthy, strengthen your immune system, help repair muscles and help you grow strong hair and nails. For a homesteader, bone broth is very appealing if you are regularly butchering animals, as you can freeze the bones from virtually any animal and use for bone broth later. It’s a great way to use up every part of the animal and harness the healthy nutrients hidden […]

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 […]

How to Clean Cast Iron

Cast iron cookware is fantastic. It is durable, lasts forever, can be used over an open flame and is often called “the original non-stick”. A cast-iron skillet is an essential to any homestead kitchen. However, they have to be cared for properly. There are differing opinions on how to properly clean cast iron, so this is just one way that I have found works best for me. Based on what kind of cleaning supplies and fat you regularly have available to season with, you might find a different method works for you. But I’ve been cleaning my cast iron skillets […]

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 […]

Benefits to Cooking with Cast Iron

Cast Iron pans may seem like a relic of the past, but they are still in use today in modern kitchens across the world because these pans have stood the test of time. So with more options than ever, why should you choose cast iron over alternatives like aluminum, stainless steel, or non-stick cookware? Here are just a few of the benefits to be had from cooking on cast iron. Avoid The “Teflon Flu” Non-stick cookware is coated with a synthetic polymer called polytetrafluorethylene, or PTFE. This coating can degrade in high temperatures (something kinda common in cooking) and […]

Skills to Build While You Wish You Could Homestead

Whether you’re stuck in a cramped apartment in the city or living in a suburban starter home while you save up to buy land, there’s no reason you can’t start building your homesteader skills now, as you dream of more self-reliant times ahead. You can check out our guide to how to homestead in a city if you can’t wait to free yourself from the grid, and also start developing the following skills to be ready when the time comes to fully escape the plugged in life: Bake your own bread: We tend to take our packaged, fluffy white supermarket loaves for […]

DIY Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple cider vinegar is one of the most popular and useful natural health food items you can find. It’s incredibly versatile, and can be used internally for a plethora of maladies, as a cosmetic and topical remedy and also to preserve food and sanitize the home. But did you know you can make your own right on your countertop? Homemade apple cider vinegar is not only incredibly economical, it is delicious and requires nothing special to make. Odds are if you’re already an experienced homesteader or canner, you have what you need to make delicious apple cider vinegar right at […]

Memorize These Kitchen Substitutes

When you’re aiming for total or near self-reliance, and you want to cook mostly from your own garden or locally available organic produce, you’re probably going to run into an ingredient that you don’t have. You don’t have to give up gourmet cooking just because you can’t get a specific type of ingredient. In most cases, there are some easy kitchen substitutes that can result in a lovely meal. While the list of substitutes that could be helpful is endless, here are a few common substitutions that would be handy to have memorized (or at least stuck to the fridge!) […]

The Quest For The Perfect Steak

In this video, Adam Savage (the mythbusters guy), is on the search for the perfect way to sear and finish a steak. As a huge fan of grilling and steak myself, I couldn’t resist watching him scientifically trying to determine how to cook the best possible steak. Now, in the video they prep all of the steaks using a sous vide method. Which I happen to think is a little over the top and unnecessary. I think you can accomplish the same thing by letting your steaks get to room temperature and then popping them in the oven @ 400 […]