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How to Freeze Kale

Kale is an awesome source of vitamins and iron, but if you like to buy in season and locally, you can’t always find it fresh. If you shop at the farmer’s market or grow kale yourself, you might find yourself faced with the task of having to preserve a large amount of kale. It’s popular to dehydrate kale, but a lot of people don’t have a dehydrator. Fortunately, it’s very easy and convenient to freeze kale in large batches for use in soups, smoothies, and even stir-frys. Here’s what you do: How to freeze kale: 1. Take your bunches of […]

How to Warm Up Garden Soil for Early Planting

If you’re an avid gardening, you’re probably counting down the days until you can get started gardening again. And, if you’ve started your seeds indoors, you’ll need to make sure your soil is warm and thawed out by the time your seedlings are ready to be transplanted, as you will have a small window of time in which you’ll need to get them in the ground fast. Obviously, you can’t control the weather, and you may find yourself in a position where you’ve started seeds indoors, counting on the weather to warm up enough to thaw the ground out in […]

10 Best Chicken Breeds (Infographic)

If you are planning to start raising chickens, you might be faced with the decision of what breeds to buy, especially if you are ordering your chicks from a catalog or online. There are a lot of different breeds out there, that have all been selectively bred for different purposes and to suit different needs. Some chickens are excellent producers, some lay more in winter, some lay big eggs, some are more self-sufficient when free range, etc. This infographic from Commonsensehome.com is a great cheat-sheet for comparing the top 10 best chicken breeds, their class, size, size of egg, winter […]

What to Do When You Can’t Raise Animals for Meat

I posted earlier about a great video showing the complete process of butchering a cow. This is one of the big draws of homesteading-raising and butchering your own meat. Having a reliable source of high-calorie sustenance like animal protein is one of the cornerstones of self-reliance and sustainability. However, getting yourself in the position to raise animals for meat is no easy feat. It requires a lot of resources, resources you might not yet have access to, like pasture, shelter, feed, proper equipment, etc. Whether you are an urban homesteader, aspiring homesteader, or just getting started and aren’t yet in […]

Never Pay a Butcher Again! (Video)

Now, this is what homesteading is all about. Take warning: this video is NOT for everyone, and you’ll have to have a strong stomach. But if you’re weird like me and greatly enjoy learning all about cleaning and butchering an animal, you’ll love this video as much as I did. You get to see the entire process of a cow being butchered, from the moment it’s slaughtered, to packing it up for the freezer. Butchering a cow is definitely no easy process, but the reward is a full freezer and many healthy, nutritious meals to come. One of my biggest […]

It’s OK to Make Mistakes Homesteading

Starting out with gardening, raising animals, or full-on homesteading can be very intimidating. There’s a lot of pressure to get it right, to come up with a good plan, choose the right crops, the right tools, the right animals, etc. And while we are very fortunate to live in a period of time in which we have a plethora of information at our fingertips, it also can set our sights pretty high, or make us feel like failures when we aren’t living off our own food and meat and still buying most of our groceries at Costco after the first […]

How Much Land Should You Get for Homesteading

If you want to live as a homesteader, you will probably be searching for some land that you can call your own. Of course, it is certainly possible to develop self-sufficient skills that do not require you to have a large homestead, or any land at all for that matter. Once you are ready to get some property though, you need to make sure you are getting the right land for how you plan to live as a homesteader. Many people have big plans and little knowledge when they decide that they want to homestead. They end up buying too […]

Tips for Growing Herbs Indoors

Herbs can be a helpful addition for any homesteader. They can be used for flavoring food, and in some cases, the herbs will even have medicinal purposes. Depending on where you live, you will not be able to have a garden all year long, and this would normally mean an end to your herb production until things warm up again. However, if you still want to grow your herbs throughout the year, it is possible. You just need to grow them indoors. Types of Herbs to Grow When you are growing herbs, think about the best types for your needs. […]

Herbs for Hens

There are so many great medicinal herbs out there, and humans don’t have to be the only ones who benefit. Your hens can greatly benefit from herbs as well! One of the big reasons commercial eggs are so unappealing these days is that the chickens that produce them are usually pumped full of antibiotics, as they typically live in close quarters, to protect them from illness and disease. This of course means there are antibiotics in the eggs, and it’s far from healthy to consume antibiotics you don’t actually need. It messes with your immune system and gut flora, which is […]

The Coin in the Freezer Trick

Have you ever suffered from a long-term power outage or been evacuated from your home due to a natural disaster? In the event that nothing catastrophic ends up happening to your family, you will probably end up in a frustrating situation that many find themselves in after power has been out for a prolonged or unknown period of time: You don’t know how long the food in your freezer has been sitting in a freezer without power. So, the reason this might be relevant to homesteaders is if you are working on getting off-grid or already living this way, live […]

How to Can Beef Soup (Video)

I recently discovered that a really great homestead blog, Homestead Acres, has a YouTube channel that is packed with great videos on this homeschooling, homesteading family sharing their experiences on their thriving homestead. This is one video on a series on homesteading, and I think it’s a really useful recipe for one who is trying to build up a good stockpile for your home or homestead. What’s cool about this recipe is that you start baking broth out of beef bones, which is not only a really economical way to store calories, it’s also insanely nutritious. The beef soup is canned […]

Outdoor Games for the Kids on the Homestead

In today’s world, most kids spend far too much time inside. Many youngsters prefer sitting in front of the television watching shows or playing games, or zoning out on the Internet instead of getting outside. While it is smart to understand and to keep up with technology, it is just as important to make sure the kids get outside and learn to enjoy everything that the outdoors can offer. It’s Not All Work Yes, kids that live in a homesteading environment will have chores that help the rest of the house and farm. They will be expected to do these […]

DIY Lamp Oil

Ok, this is really cool. I had no idea it was so easy to make your own lamp oil, but as it’s basically comprised of rubbing, or isopropyl, alcohol, and distilled water, apparently it’s quite simple to mix up your own batch that’s guaranteed to be a lot cheaper than the kind you’ll buy pre-made at Walmart for tiki torches or old-fashioned oil lamps. Lamp for oils is a really important item to keep on a homestead. If you live off-grid or with limited electricity, it can easily light up a room in the evening and save on electricity. I […]

Realistic First-Year Homesteading Goals

If you are just starting out homesteading, planning for someday homestead, or trying your hand at urban homesteading, it’s it important to understand what is realistic to accomplish in your first year. Setting goals is a great way to plan for the long-term and motivate yourself towards completing a task, and knowing what’s possible in the first year of homesteading can help you set these goals. This isn’t by any means a list of everything you should do in a year, but rather, everything on this list is something you can feasibly get done in one year. Let’s begin! Grow herbs This […]

How to Conquer Winter on the Homestead

When the winter comes, it can start to feel lonely and overwhelming on the homestead. You have plenty of extra things to think about, worry about, and do to keep the house running properly and to make sure that you and the family stay warm, healthy, and happy through those long winter months. Whether this is your first winter in the home or you have been doing this for years, it can feel oppressive at times, especially when things seem to go wrong. You are a homesteader though, and you can handle anything. Let’s look at some tips that can […]

Are Fish Antibiotics Safe for Humans? (Video)

Fish antibiotics are a really popular item for preppers who want to stock up on crucial, life-saving medical supplies. Antibiotics can be incredibly crucial when disaster strikes, and might be particularly appealing for homesteaders, especially those that live in rural areas who might get caught with an infection, miles away from the nearest hospital. For this reason, it’s worth looking into whether or not fish antibiotics are a viable option for you. Being concerned as to whether or not fish antibiotics are safe for human consumption is a reasonable concern, so this video from one of my favorite YouTubers, Patriot […]

Tips for Gardening on a Slope

For most gardeners, space is a major limiting factor, these means that you have to make the most out of every square foot you have, whether it’s ideal or not. One less than ideal situation you might have is a slope, which many would leave unplanted and unproductive. While slopes do pose some real difficulties, there are steps that can be taken to mitigate the natural difficulties and take advantage of potential benefits from growing on a slope. If the slope is orientated so that it faces the sun you are in luck, your slope will maximize the […]

Cheap Bio Ethanol Fuel at Home (Video)

This is something I’ve always heard about and wanted to try. It’s pretty amazing how cheap the ingredients are to do it, and any homesteader might find the idea appealing, if you’ve got equipment that could be modified to be fueled with bio-ethanol fuel. Check it out! I’m pretty impressed. If you liked this, you might also enjoy… What Are the Signs of the End Times? Learn Natural Healing Secrets From the Masters Preparing for the Bubble to Burst

Understanding Garden Zones (Infographic)

Understanding garden zones is so important if you want to have a hearty garden. Some plants will thrive in one area and completely fail in others! Also, when you are buying seeds, they will usually come with indications as to what zone they will work in. When you get started gardening, figuring out your first zone is the first step you should take. That will dictate the research you do, the kind of seeds you can buy, when your growing season is, when you should start your seeds, and so on. You can find online forums specifically for your zone […]

Are Grow Lights Worth it?

For those that have outdoor gardens, the thought of growing food indoors with artificial lights can seem like a ludicrous concept. Providing your plants with access to the maximum amount of possible sunlight is a basic strategy for increasing growth, and the sun is free. Purchasing and the operation of grow lights costs money, and gardening should save you money and provide you with resources, not cost money and use resources. So, are grow lights worth their cost and the cost of their operation? Not to try to skirt the question, but it depends. If you live in an […]