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Are Snakes Good for the Garden?

Snakes get a bad reputation, and that’s unfortunate. Too often, people kill them as soon as they see them. Many types of snakes are entirely harmless to humans, but they can be very good for your garden. In fact, garter snakes, rat snakes, and a number of species can be very beneficial. Let’s look at some of the good reasons to keep them in your garden. One of the best things about snakes is that they will eat the vermin from the garden. This means, you won’t have to worry about rats and mice. Some snakes will eat insects as […]

DIY Mint and Vanilla Extracts

Vanilla and mint extracts are great to have on hand for baking and cooking, especially with the holidays coming up. And what might be especially good news to gardeners with lots of mint to spare, you can actually make your own extracts very easily at home! For mint extract, either peppermint or spearmint, all it takes is lots of mint to harvest and some high-quality vodka. Vanilla, on the other hand, is probably not something you have growing in abundance in your backyard, and you might have to look for good-quality vanilla bean at your health food store or even online. But […]

Supports for Vertical Gardens (Infographic)

Adding vertical support to your garden can be a great way to maximize space and allow crawling and vining plants to do what they do best. This handy infographic breaks down the types of vertical support and which plants they are best suited for. It was originally published on FamilyFoodGarden.com, along with some gorgeous photographs of garden support systems in action. When choosing vertical support for your garden, it can be very easy to make your own, if you make sure your support can withstand the weight of the plant that will be climbing it. Make sure it’s secured well […]

How to Make Herb-Infused Oil

Simple, homemade herb-infused oils are a very easy, affordable and healthy way to use herbs in your garden for topical use or to add flavor to your cooking. Whether you simply want a fragrant, herbal oil to use as a moisturizer, or you’d like to harness the healing power of your medicinal herbs, it’s a great thing to know how to infuse them into oil. You can use the oils as a base for simple DIY healing balms. There are a number of home remedies you can make with infused oils as a base. For topical use and to add […]

How to Make Your Own Butter

You don’t have to have your own cow to make butter at home, although of course it helps. There’s nothing like fresh, homemade butter from your own dairy cow to make you feel like the ultimate self-reliant homesteader. But even urban homesteaders can easily whip (literally) up their own batch of delicious homemade butter with raw milk from a farmer or even cream from the store. The ingredients and process are simple: cream + agitation + time = butter. The process of making butter basically involves agitating the cream long enough to separate the fat from what will become buttermilk […]

Are Quail a Good Choice for Your Homestead?

Quail have been growing in popularity in recent years, but they’ve been favorites of north American farmers and hunters alike for centuries. Theses small birds offer delicious meat, but it’s their incredibly nutritious eggs that most people are after. Despite being smaller than chicken eggs, quail eggs have three to five times the amount of essential nutrients and minerals like vitamin b1, iron and potassium. Also, while chicken eggs are 11% protein, quail eggs are 13% protein. Quails may or may not be a good choice for your homestead, depending on a few factors: Feed Quails are much smaller birds […]

DIY Pumpkin Spice-From Your Own Garden!

Everyone goes nuts this time of year for Starbucks’ famous pumpkin spice lattes, and pumpkin spice products in general are very popular. If you’re a homesteader, however, you’re probably more preoccupied with what to do with all your pumpkin! Pumpkin vines can be very productive and you end up with more pumpkin than you know what to do with. One great way to use up spare pumpkin is by making your own pumpkin spice syrup, which is the base for pumpkin spice lattes and other yummy pumpkin spice goodies (here’s the recipe for the latte itself if you’re interested) What […]

Homemade Toothpaste

It’s really fun, wallet-friendly and healthy to make your own personal hygiene products at home. A great place to start is with homemade toothpaste! It’s really easy and cheap, and quite possibly much better for your teeth than conventional toothpaste. This recipe includes coconut oil, which is great for your teeth. The oil naturally attracts the bacteria that contributes to plaque build-up and decay, and leaves a protective layer on your teeth to help prevent more bacteria from settling on your teeth. It also includes an optional essential oil, which can kill bacteria as well, and prevent bad breath. One […]

Tried-and-True Recipe for De-Skunking A Dog

Country dogs are by far the happiest dogs. Dogs take pride in protecting your other animals and maybe even helping to herd them. They will take their status as guard and protector seriously, and if you’ve got small animals that wild prey would very much like to eat, like rabbits or chickens, dogs will surely keep these predators at bay. Unfortunately, sometimes dogs will try to keep a skunk away and get sprayed. We still appreciate their duties as skunks can be predators too, but the skunk’s natural defense system,a putrid-smelling veil of wid-reaching spray, can be very unpleasant and […]

What Breed of Goat Should You Buy? (Infographic)

Goats are such great animals for homesteaders. They can provide milk, meat, weed control, fiber, even company! But of course, not all breeds of goat are the same. Some are better for meat, others for dairy, etc. This very handy infographic from the excellent homesteading site, The Prairie Homesteader, covers what breed of goat is best for what purpose. Before buying goats, a very good first step to make is identifying what you want the goats for. This will help you determine the best breed for you. This infographic can serve as a starting point for you, to give you an […]

Homemade Apple Cider

Fall is right around the corner! And while pumpkin spice has gotten very popular in recent years, a timeless fall classic is apple cider. Hot apple cider has long been a staple of fall and the delicious combination of apples and warm spices couldn’t be more classic for the season. And it’s very easy to make at home for yourself! Not only is it a very simple process, but the smell of apple cider mulling on the stove will fill your house with the delightful aroma of fall. It’s great to prepare a big batch for a gathering or holiday […]

Surviving Life Unplugged

Living off-grid can be a hard transition, and it may include life without internet or cell service, at least for a time. If you are considering at least a temporary transition to unplugged life, here are some tips to stay connected when you’re not…connected. Keep Your Smartphone If you don’t have internet access and/or cell service on your homestead, it’s probably useful to keep your smartphone, even if you can’t always use it at home it will be your lifeline when you do go into cell range and can check in with email and social media. This probably seems like a […]

Natural Relief for Insect Bites

Insect bites or stings can be a very unpleasant experience. It is crazy how much pain and discomfort a tiny creature like a wasp or hornet can cause! Even minuscule mosquitoes can completely ruin a good night’s sleep with just a few bites that will drive you crazy with itchiness. Fortunately, good old mother nature has several very effective remedies for reducing the pain, swelling and itching of standard insect bites. These will help you with most insect bites, however, make sure to keep an eye out for signs of allergy in the case of wasps or bees, it’s always good […]

From Fleece to Yarn (Video Series)

Some homesteading projects are so much better explained visually, when you can see the whole process, start-to-finish. Shearing sheep, processing the wool and spinning it into yarn is such a classic self-sufficiency skill that, even if you don’t have sheep, you’ll love learning how to do. Just seeing how a brilliantly versatile natural fiber is made using traditional methods will take you back to bygone days. Is there anything more idyllic than spinning wool on a homestead? I loved watching this series from the YouTube channel, Keeper of the Homestead, on how to shear, clean, process and spin wool. It’s […]

Making Pemmican At Home

Pemmican is a dehydrated survival superfood that is nutritionally complete and incredibly long-lasting. It is made with nothing else but lean meat, tallow, and berries. It was invented by the North American Plains Indians, as a way to store the meat through the winter. It quickly caught on with early Frontiersmen and even British explorers who prized the high nutritional value and portability of pemmican. It’s effortless to make, and you can do so using ingredients that are easy to find and equipment you already have in your kitchen. The recipe for pemmican is from the book ‘The Lost Ways’, which is […]

3 Ways to Save Money on Your Garden

Growing your own fruits, vegetables, and herbs can save you a lot of money over the long run. When you invest in your garden, you’re basically completely negating the need to buy produce at a grocery store, which can add up to a lot of savings very quickly. Of course, even knowing that your garden is going to save you cash, it’s easy to overspend on that investment if you’re not careful. However, with a few simple tips, you can avoid this problem and save a lot of money from the very beginning. Buy in Bulk and Share Costs Do […]

How to Safely Let Chickens in the Garden

One of the most serious drawbacks to having truly free-range chickens is that they can go anywhere they want to and they tend to want to go to your garden. This makes sense since, hopefully, your garden is a healthfully functional natural environment filled with potential prey (many of which you would be happy to see eaten) for your chickens. Keeping Chickens Out The downside of chickens in the garden when your chickens do what chickens do, and start kicking and scratching until they have unearthed the roots of your plants or even kicked your plants clean of the garden. One […]

Prolonging Your Tomato Harvest Through the Winter

Surely by now you have noticed that your tomatoes are not producing like they were in July, and what they are producing is not ripening as fast. No matter what you do, shorter days and cooler temperatures are going to stop your tomato production almost everywhere but the tropics. But you can still prolong your access to ripe homegrown tomatoes pretty easily by taking advantage of an easy technique that allows you to eat more of the tomatoes you have already grown, which might otherwise never ripen. Step One: Uproot Plants Pull your tomato plants up and shake as much dirt […]

The Simplest, Safest Pesticide On Earth

Long before war profiteering corporations began flooding the civilian market with their chemical products, people had been killing insects without blanketing their homes and gardens with carcinogenic and costly poisons. You don’t have to be a chemist to prepare the age-old insecticide either, and you most likely already have what you need in your home. It’s so simple that if you haven’t tried it already you probably won’t believe it until you do. It’s soap and water. That’s it, soap and water. It kills nearly every insect, and even spiders and centipedes. Some take a little more than others, but […]

How to Breed More Self-Reliant Chickens

Any parent can tell you that taking care of a baby is a full-time job in and of itself. And anyone experienced in animal husbandry will know that raising baby animals can be nearly as difficult. So with everything you have to do in your daily life, taking care of twelve baby chicks, for example, can seem like quite a chore. The Problem Unfortunately, since chickens have been highly domesticated for specialized purposes like egg laying or meat production, they have lost the genetic drive to raise their own young. This means that people who choose to raise these birds are […]