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Housekeeping Tips from the Plain Folk

I have always been fascinated by the Amish and Mennonites. When I think of the way they keep their land, houses, families, and communities, it always makes me wonder what has gone so horribly wrong with modern life that millennials are taking college courses on “adulting” and most women these days learn to keep house from Pinterest. Obviously, the way the Amish and Mennonites work the land is awesome, using old-school, pre-industrial methods to be totally self-reliant and self-sustainable. A lot of this has to do with their strong, tight-knit communities and iron-clad social orders, which there is certainly something […]

Guerrilla Gardening

Anyone that grew up a Duke Boys fan knows that sometimes making your way the only way you know how can be more than the law allows. This doesn’t just apply to reckless driving and moonshining though, this can apply to growing beans and tomatoes or raising chickens. All over the country and even the world, laws limit or completely outlaw basic human rights involving taking an active role in your personal food production. If you live in an area where this is the case, there might be something you can do, short of an armed revolt, that can […]

Curing Bacon, Step by Step (Video)

Who doesn’t love bacon? One thing I love even more than bacon is seeing processes like curing meat, so this video was fascinating to me. One of my favorite YouTubers, Down South Homestead, wanted to show their viewers how they cure their own bacon. I’ve always wondered what the exact process would look like since I love cured meats of all kinds. They take you through each step of prepping the meat, preparing the cure, how the cure draws the moisture out, drying it, smoking it, etc. If you’re not hungry by the end of this video, there’s probably something […]

Kohlrabi

Kohlrabi is a cold hardy vegetable in the cabbage family. There are both purple and green varieties, both produce edible leaves similar to collard greens that can be eaten raw or cooked and a bulb that can be eaten raw. The bulb grows above the ground and has a skin that should be removed prior to eating. It is a nice addition to salads, some compare its taste to an apple, though I have never grown any that taste as good as an apple myself. Here are some tips on growing kohlrabi in your garden. Plant kohlrabi in the […]

Tips for Homesteading With Small Children

Homesteading with babies or toddlers can certainly seem intimidating, especially if you are off-grid in any way. Having babies and toddlers is intense enough in a house in the suburbs with running water and electricity; throw limited or no electricity and low-tech plumbing and that’s definitely many parent’s nightmares. While homesteading with small children can certainly be challenging, it’s definitely not impossible. Just think of all the pioneers and settlers throughout the ages that have raised their families under rough conditions. Here are a few simple tips to make raising little ones on the homestead slightly less intimidating: 1. Embrace […]

DIY Budget Grow Box

I am personally not a fan of trying to grow plants indoors on in any other artificial and costly setup, but having a grow box doesn’t have to be expensive. You can have a grow box that allows you to get your seeds started safely inside 6 weeks prior to the last frost in your area. This will give you a significant jumpstart and extension on your growing season. And this can be done for about $50 if you have purchased all the material, but you probably have most if it around your house already. Materials 18-gallon plastic bin […]

Mason Jar Aquaponics (Infographic)

I shared an infographic recently on the benefits of aquaponics, and I came across this the other day that I thought was really neat, and super easy to create. It is a very simple DIY mason jar aquaponics set-up. Obviously, you’re not going to be growing tons of your own food this way, but I thought it would make a great experiment for homeschool or even for curious grownups. It could even serve simply as a very cool upgrade to an indoor decorative plant or herb garden! The original post on Desima.co has a photograph of one in real life, it’s […]

No Septic for an Off-Grid Homestead (Video)

Nature happens, and off-grid homesteaders need to deal with it! If you do not have a septic for your off-grid homestead, this is a very cool, low-tech solution. Putting in a septic system can be incredibly pricey, and sanitary waste removal is an important aspect of healthy living. This homesteader has a great alternative if you’d like to save your money and actually reuse your “humanure” to fertilize your plants. Don’t worry, it’s not gross at all! The system is very simple and uses some buckets, pallets, and lots of sawdust. One nice benefit to this system is you can […]

Cold Frames; How and Why

Cold Frames are basically wooden boxes with no bottom and a glass top that you place on top of crops to keep them warm. In this article, I’ll give a few tips on how to get cheap material, maximize the benefits through design, and explain why you should use cold frames if you live in a zone that has harsh winters. The windows are the part of the cold frame that can make construction costly. If you were to purchase them new the cost would likely outweigh the potential gains. You can however, get lucky if you keep […]

Crops I Don’t Recommend and Why

I’m sure that I will get people who disagree, but that’s why the article is titled “crops I don’t recommend” instead of “crops you shouldn’t grow”. Everyone has access to different resources and has different levels of experience and time they are willing and able to put into their garden. If you have a lot of money, and a lot of time, and you don’t mind putting a lot of work into growing a certain crop because you enjoy the satisfaction of overcoming the inherent difficulties in doing so, then great, grow whatever crops you want to. But for the […]

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 […]

Shooting at Homestead Shooting Range in Kananaskis (Video)

I’d love to have a homestead shooting range one day! I loved watching this short video from Kananaskis, Alberta in Canada of a short tour of a wintery homestead shooting range. One of the great things about an outdoor range like this is how much the noise echos and dissipates, which is a great improvement from indoor ranges. It’s really cool to hear the noise of his gunshots in the cold, wintery air. Of course, the other great advantage of a homestead range is distance. And as you can see from this video, he’s able to cover quite a bit […]

Tips for Saving Money When Purchasing Seeds

Seeds are an unavoidable cost of starting a garden. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t show some care when going about getting your seeds. Purchasing seeds for your garden without using some discretion can cost you. Here are a few tips on how to save money when purchasing seeds so that you have more money to invest elsewhere in your garden. Don’t Buy Package “Deals” If you are looking at a seed catalog you are likely to find package “deals” advertised. Sometimes these are salad greens, medicinal herbs, culinary herbs, or starter packages for new gardeners. The premise […]

Food for Healing (Inforgraphics)

I am a huge fan of using food for natural remedies and anything DIY. Not only does it save a bunch of money to use natural remedies made with food, but it’s most often much healthier and with more readily available healing properties than the over-the-counter alternative. I’m often recommending food items for DIY natural remedies, as you’ll know if you follow this blog regularly, and in my personal research I’ve often found Indian bloggers and vloggers are well-versed in using food, herbs, and other plants for natural remedies and beauty treatments. I recently came across this great set of […]

Mason Jar Hacks (Video)

I love life hacks, and I love mason jars, so I especially loved this video of 6 clever mason jar life hacks. There are so many ways to use mason jars. They’re not just for canned green beans and peaches! I brew tea in mine, I freeze food, make jar salads, infuse oils, make oil lamps, store dried herbs, and keep almost all my bulk goods, beans, grains, and flours in them. They’re sturdy, you can measure things in them, you can even use them as regular glasses in the kitchen, and they’ll probably last a lot longer than wine […]

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 […]

DIY Starter Log

Starting a fire, even in a fireplace or a wood burning stove takes time, time and kindling. It’s much more convenient to use a starter log. But starter logs cost about $5 a piece, and that quickly adds up in the winter. This video demonstrates how to make starter logs yourself, from material and tools that you likely have on hand already. So don’t spend your cold mornings in front of a stubborn fire blowing on kindling that doesn’t want to start. Make your own DIY starter logs and get your house warm quickly and easily. If you enjoyed […]

Dollar Store First Aid Supplies

It’s really important to keep a well-stocked first aid kit on the homestead. Scrapes, scratches, and bruises are common, and you also might live far away from a medical clinic or hospital and will need to tend to more serious wounds or illnesses yourself at times. There are a multitude of pre-made first aid kits out there, of course, but sometimes these are value-added products that are not worth your money. It’s better to build one yourself, for a few reasons. It’s more affordable, it’s easier to replace items as they diminish, and you can tailor it for the injuries […]

Easy Mistakes to Avoid in the Garden

When you have a failure in your garden chances are it is not unique to you. You probably made a mistake that plenty of other gardeners have made, a mistake that was easy to make, and probably easy to avoid as well if you know how. Here are a few of the more common easily avoidable mistakes that gardeners make. Bad Stock If you start off with something bad, you can’t really expect to get good results. For this reason you want to buy your seeds or cutting from a good source and not try collecting seeds from […]

The Life Cycle of a Chicken (Infographic)

So I guess it’s a bit of an urban legend that chickens need roosters to lay eggs. Which makes sense, of course, given we humans need a male and a female to “lay” a baby! However, this understandable misconception is due to the fact that eggs are not the exact equivalent of a human baby bump. Chicken eggs are just that, eggs. They need to be fertilized to develop into baby chicks, but they’re perfectly good eggs for food, in fact they’ll be wasted if we don’t eat them! This is why the relationship between humans and chickens is such […]