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Ethan Archer – Page 67 – Homesteader Depot

Homesteader Depot

Author: Ethan Archer

  • The Benefits of Having a Rooster

    The Benefits of Having a Rooster

    Roosters have a bad reputation.  Many people who want to raise hens for eggs choose not to have a rooster in the flock.  Some have heard that roosters are aggressive, or they don’t want to noise, or they just so the reason to have one.  But the reality is that hens can be just as aggressive; if there is no rooster around the dominant hen will take on the role of rooster.  If noise is keeping you from having a rooster around then you shouldn’t have chickens at all because hens make plenty of noise.  There are benefits to having a rooster in your flock, here are 3 of them.

     

    Chicks

    Hens won’t fertilize their own eggs.  If you want to raise chickens as a source of food then having subsequent generations of chickens is important.  One rooster can keep 12 hen’s eggs fertilized.

    Protection

    One of the reasons that roosters get a bad reputation for being aggressive is that they are protective of their flock.  The less domesticated breeds have more protective, and sometimes more aggressive roosters.  While the hens are doing their thing, the rooster will take up a high position and watch out for threats from predators high and low.  They will scan the skies for birds of prey, watch out for dogs or weasels, and sound an alarm that is specific to the threat letting the hens know how to best react.

    Social Order

    Flocks with roosters simply function better and seem to offer a better quality of life for the hens.  Roosters keep order in the flock, help find food for the hens (sometimes they trick them), and even help the hens by scouting out potential nesting sites, though the hen ultimately chooses to approve or reject the site.

     

    While roosters are not without their potential annoying drawbacks, namely the crowing, they can offer benefits that greatly outweigh their annoyances.  Try adding a rooster to your flock if you don’t already have one. If it doesn’t go the way you want it to, you can always eat him.

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  • Nutritional Supplements for Off-Grid Homesteaders

    Nutritional Supplements for Off-Grid Homesteaders

    Most people associate homesteading with healthy living.  This isn’t without cause, most homesteaders have a higher level of physical activity than those living a typical modern sedentary life, fresh and air and sun, and a more direct relationship to their food.  But homesteaders, especially off-grid homesteaders, will be functioning off of limited resources, and this will sometimes include their access to nutrient-rich foods.  When your homestead is not able to supply your nutritional needs your body is going to suffer, if your body suffers, your output suffers, and if your output suffers it will inevitably follow that your homestead will suffer.  This is a list of a few supplements to consider for your nutritional needs to keep you healthy and your output high, so you can keep your homestead growing.

     

    Daily Multivitamin

    It wouldn’t be a homestead if it didn’t have a garden, but your garden might not be supplying all your nutritional needs.  Even a well-established garden with a well-rounded crop selection will still slow it’s production in the winter.  And even those who preserve a lot of their garden’s produce will still not be eating the same amount of vegetables in the winter that they did in the summer.  A simple daily multivitamin can fill in the gaps for you, and when stored properly will last.

    Green Powder

    For all the reasons discussed above, you might not be able to get your body’s required level of fresh greens.  And while daily multivitamins can supply you with vitamins and minerals, there is more to food than its sum of FDA daily recommended nutrients.  Powdered greens can last you throughout the year, because your body doesn’t need less greens during the winter.

    Protein Powder

    Protein powders are not just for weight lifters; everyone needs protein in their diet.  If you are not getting enough protein your muscles will waste, you will lack energy you need to work, and you will have an increased risk for infection.  For times when your protein needs are not being met by your homesteads food supply, a protein powder is a quick solution that lasts without refrigeration.

     

    Your homestead will only be as productive as the work you put into it.  Likewise, the amount of and quality of work you are able to put into your homestead will only be as much your body can handle.  Keep your body functioning at its optimal level so that you can get the most out of your homestead and the most out of life.

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  • All About Feverfew

    All About Feverfew

    Feverfew is a great resource to have on your homestead.  With so much work to get done, you can’t just take a sick day every time you don’t feel good.  You need to have a medicine on hand to get you back on your feet.  Feverfew can help with that.

     

    Uses

    Feverfew can be used to treat headaches, reduce fever, and help with inflammation.  It works by opening up your vascular system and allowing the blood to flow smoothly as it should.  Feverfew is said to be safe for pregnant women and children.

    Cultivation

    Feverfew is grown from seed.  Once established it is a hardy herb, tolerating low to full sun, drought resistant, and frost resistant.  You may even need to weed out seedlings in the spring to prevent it from spreading.

    Harvest

    All above-ground portions of the plant can be used medicinally.  When harvesting plants that you want to continue to grow, find the stems that green and bendable, avoiding the hard woody stems towards the bottom.

    Methods

    Most people who treat migraines with Feverfew eat the leaves daily, as little as 1 leaf a day can be effective, some eat as much as 3 leaves a day.  Others make tea from fresh or dried leaves.  Because of the bitter taste, you may want to add some honey, or just hold your nose and hurry up and swallow it.  Alcohol tinctures are a great option since they make the medicinal components more bioavailable, and can be used in the winter when your plants have stopped producing leaves.

     

    Growing medicinal herbs will allow you to stay healthy and working to your best potential on your homestead, while also reducing your need to spend your hard earned money on store bought remedies or pharmaceutical drugs.

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  • Tips for Stretching Wire Fence

    Tips for Stretching Wire Fence

    Whether you are trying to keep your animals in, or wild animals out, a good fence is going to be an essential part of nearly all homesteads.  Simply putting up some wire between posts will not get you much.  Even if you are able to contain your animals, it could be because there is a steady supply of food and water available, rather than their inability to escape.  But potential predators will not be deterred so easily.  The following is a few tips on getting your wire fence stretched out tight and started right.

     

    Determine the Grade

    After getting your corner posts in, the next step to hanging your wire fence is to determine if the ground is flat, or sloping.  This will not be as much of an issue for shorter fences, but even a very gradual slope can make a huge difference in a longer fence.  To determine if the ground at your location has too much of a slope, loosely hang the fence on the corner posts and pull it tight by hand.  This will allow you to determine if the angel the fence is hung at needs to be adjusted.

    High or Low Spots

    If there are high spots in an otherwise flat area this can be addressed by digging out the high area if possible.  If the ground is too rocky, the fence can be carefully cut to the size and shape of the obstruction so that it fits snuggly to the ground.  If there is a low spot in your fence line you can fill the depression with a heavy log, and then nail or staple the fence to the log to keep it tight.  Pile on rocks afterward to keep predators from digging in around the log.

    Anchor Point

    To stretch the fence out to the proper tension prior to securely attaching it to the corner posts, you need to first find an anchor point.  If a suitable anchor point is not available, you can use a truck or a tractor.  If the location will not allow you to get a truck or tractor in position, then as a last resort you can use the corner post itself.  Once you have a suitable anchor point, attach a come-along to the anchor, and to the fence.  If you attach directly to the fence it will stretch unevenly can damage the fence.  For this reason, use a tension bar, or a piece of rebar if a tension bar is not available.

    Still Not Tight Enough

    If you have secured your fence between your posts and found that there is still a little more slack than you would like you can still fix this.  Get a pair of pliers and grasp the top horizontal wire between two vertical wires, then twist the wire until it looks like a “Z” instead of a straight horizontal line.  While remaining in between the same two vertical wires, make your way down the fence, twisting each horizontal wire in the same manner.  This might need to be done at multiple spots along your fence line to achieve the proper tension.

     

    To avoid losing your animals to predators or escape, put in the effort beforehand to get their area secure.  This initial investment of time and energy will pay off in the long run.

     

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  • Household Uses for Hydrogen Peroxide

    Household Uses for Hydrogen Peroxide

    Every knows that hydrogen peroxide can be used as an antiseptic to treat wounds, but hydrogen peroxide can be used for more than just wound care.  Here is a brief list of other ways you can use this cheap, versatile, and safe product.

     

    Oral Care

    H202 (hydrogen peroxide) can be diluted with an equal amount of water and be used as a mouthwash to kill gingivitis and help with toothaches.  A bonus is that it will help whiten your teeth.  Don’t go overboard with this, though, using it too regularly can damage tooth enamel.

    Laundry Boost

    Do you remember the infomercials that sold cleaning products that used oxygen to lift stains?  H2O2 works similarly.  Just treat tough stains with it directly and wash them as usual, or add it to your load with the regular detergent for an added boost.

    Antifungal

    If you are living off grid then you are probably going to be wearing clothing more than once, maybe more than twice.  This could lead to fungal infections in your skin such as athlete’s feet, ring worm, and dandruff.  Along with changing out your clothing more frequently, as your resources allow, H2O2 can be diluted with equal parts water and rubbed on affected areas to kill the fungus.

    Sprouting

    Keeping your beans, grains, or seeds from molding while sprouting them can be difficult.  One way is to add an ounce of H2O2 to the water every day when you change it out.

    Shower Cleaner

    When less diluted, or even straight out of the bottle if necessary, H2O2 can help kill mold in the shower than lead to health issues.  It is much easier on the lungs of the person doing the cleaning, or those in the area, than bleach.  If you plan on using it in a spray bottle, make sure you use one that blocks out light, or that you put in the bottle just before use, as light will break down H2O2 and decrease its effectiveness.

     

    Hydrogen peroxide has been around for a long time, and has proven itself.  Keep yourself stocked up, since with so many uses you will be going through it quickly.

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  • What Is Hugelkultur?

    What Is Hugelkultur?

    The name is funny, but for those seeking to have a garden that requires less water and fertilizing, hugelkultur is something to take seriously.  The basic idea is to create raised beds on top of buried wood.  It may take a little more effort to get in place, but in the years to come, it will require less attention and resources than conventional beds.

     

    Why Use Hugelkultur

    As with any other aspect of homesteading, resource conservation is critical in gardening.  Hugelkultur allows you to make use of wood that is not suitable for fuel or building since you can use wood that is already rotten.  While in the ground the wood will soak up water when the soil is wet, and release it slowly when the soil dries out, greatly reducing or eliminating the need to irrigate.  Wood is a great source of minerals and nutrients for your soil.  As the wood breaks down it will feed your garden from the inside out, providing the nutrients in the plants’ root zone is more efficient.  This will reduce or eliminate your need to continue to fertilize your bed.

    How Do You Build a Hugelkultur

    The basic concept of building your hugelkultur bed is simple enough.  You just want to bury some wood, and grow on top of it.  The more rotten, and otherwise useless the wood is, the better it is for hugelkultur.  Fresh wood will lock up nitrogen as it begins to decompose.  Wood that already has mushrooms growing on it is perfect.  You can make it level, but a raised bed is better, for one, the wood will shrink while it further decomposes, if your bed begins level you might end up with a depression.  If you need to, you can add more wood and another layer of soil as time goes on.

     

    To make use of otherwise worthless resources on your homestead is something that you don’t want to overlook.  Hugelkultur could save you a lot of work and resources in the long run, and considering it just takes some rotten wood and dirt, you don’t have much to lose if you give it a try.

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  • Why Baking Soda is Awesome

    Why Baking Soda is Awesome

    Two of the most constant themes in homesteading are resource conservation and improvisation.  Having items that can be used in a variety of ways will help make both of these possible.  One such item is baking soda.  Baking soda can be used in virtually every aspect of homesteading life.  It is cheap, natural, and safe.  With a nearly limitless amount of uses this will probably not be the last time we talk about baking soda, but for now here is just a short list of a few ways that it can help you save money and improve your quality of life while homesteading.

     

    Personal Hygiene

    The two most common ways to use baking soda for personal hygiene are for toothpaste and deodorant.  Baking soda can be used alone for toothpaste, but will be for effective if it is added to coconut oil, salt, and mint essential oil (yit is controversial whether or not you are supposed to ingest essential oils, but most commercial toothpaste has a poison control warning on it, while essential oils don’t, so just be careful not to swallow).  Baking soda can be applied by itself for use as deodorant.

    Safety

    While it’s always a good idea to have a fire extinguisher in the house, you don’t always want to use something that has a single use and costs $30 or more if you don’t have to.  If you have a small grease fire in the kitchen spraying it with a chemical fire extinguisher may be a bit of an overkill, and leave you will quite a mess.  If the situation isn’t severe enough to call for a fire extinguisher, then throw handfuls of baking soda on the fire.  When baking soda is heated it releases carbon dioxide, this helps to smother the fire.

    Battery Maintenance

    Baking soda can help fight battery corrosion since it is slightly alkaline.  Make a paste of 3 parts baking soda and 1 part water, disconnect your battery terminals, use a brush to scrub the corrosion off with the paste, apply a thin layer of petroleum jelly after cleaning to help keep moisture off.

     

    These are just a few of the many ways to use baking soda!

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  • Super Simple Tips for Splitting Wood

    Super Simple Tips for Splitting Wood

    Having a good supply of wood for fuel is crucial for your homestead.  While using the proper technique is important for efficiency and safety, using the right tool for the job can be just as important.  Here are a few items that will help save you time and energy as you get ready for the winter.

    Maul

    A splitting maul has several benefits over a chopping axe.  Its wider angel will spread the wood easier, while a thin chopping axe can get stuck in the wood.  It is less likely to bounce off hard wood because of its weight and the momentum that it generates.  And it is usually going to require fewer swings to accomplish the job.

    Chopping Block

    Trying to spilt wood on the bare ground versus using a chopping block will be much more difficult because the ground will absorb and diffuse much of the energy you are swinging into the wood.  To prevent this from happening, get a large cut of wood with one end flat, and one end with slight irregular angles.  You want the flat end to the bottom and the end with angles to be the top where you place the wood you are splitting.  The reason for this is that the wood you are splitting is never going to be perfectly flat and the angles on your chopping block can be used to counter the angles in the wood you are chopping.

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    Bungee and Chain

    When splitting large cuts of wood, splitting into two pieces will not be enough.  This will leave you bending down repeatedly to retrieve the fallen pieces and trying to balance them again, over and over.  One way around this, and a way to help focus the energy of your swing, is to use a bungee and a chain.  Get a 12” black rubber bungee cord and a chain about 3’ in length.  Hook one end of the bungee to the chain and then wrap it around the wood you are going to split, pull it tight, and hook the other end of the bungee through a link that will keep it tight around the wood.  As you split the wood it will remain together and upright.  This will not only keep you from bending over again and again, but it will also keep your maul or axe from being deflected, and focus its energy downward.

    Splitting wood is never going to be a breeze, but you can make things much easier on yourself by being prepared and using these simple tools to optimise your output.

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