Homesteading Archives - Page 11 of 36 - Homesteader DepotHomesteader Depot

4 Reasons to Keep Weeds

Any serious gardener puts one thing at the top of their list when it comes to gardening headaches: weeds! What if I told you that it doesn’t have to be this way? The first step in conquering your weed problem is to change your mindset! Here are four compelling reasons to rethink the role of weeds in your homestead: Reason #1, They’re The Easiest “Superfood” You Can Grow! Have you ever heard of a variety of “super spinach” that didn’t bolt at the first sign of heat, had 4% of your recommended protein requirements and blew the calcium […]

How to Use Calendula Oil

Calendula is a wonderful herb, that you can usually find in the natural medicine section of any health food store in the form of creams, but it’s actually much easier and cheaper to make your own calendula infused oil to use at home. Calendula is ideal for skin conditions like rashes, eczema, dry skin, burns, scrapes, sunburn, and bug bites. It is incredibly soothing and conditioning, and perfectly safe to use as well. It’s a great addition to any medicinal herb garden, but you can usually find the dried flowers very easily at health food stores or online. Making calendula-infused oil is […]

How to Care for Wood Cutting Boards and Utensils (Video)

Wooden spoons and cutting boards are great to use in the kitchen, but, like cast-iron, they require the right kind of care. A popular way to keep wooden kitchen ware conditioned is to use mineral oil and beeswax, but is this the healthiest option for your family? Wardee from TradtionalCookingSchool.com shares her thoughts on the healthiest ways to care for wooden spoons and cutting boards in one of her recent podcast episodes, #AskWardee. Enjoy! If you enjoyed this, you might also like…. Do You Have What You Need to Hold Down the Fort? Natural Healing Secrets You Need to Know… […]

Best Clothing for Gardening

If you spend a lot of time out in the garden, you’ll know how important good quality, functional clothing is. You don’t need just any old pair of jeans and t-shirt that you don’t mind getting dirty, although that might be your outfit of choice. Your gardening clothes will need to not only be able to withstand dirt stains, sun, sweat, and rain. Here are some pointers for choosing functional, comfortable, and sturdy gardening clothes. Covering Most seasoned gardeners opt for long sleeves and pants when spending time in the garden. This provides a nice barrier against the sun, as […]

How to Make Whey Ricotta (Video)

I mentioned whey, recently in my article on healthy homemade probiotic lemonade, so if you’ve read that already you’ll be familiar with it. Whey is what separates from curds when milk curdles, or what comes off of cheese or yogurt during the straining process. One of the coolest ways you can use up extra whey (and if you’ve ever made cheese, you’ll know how much you get) is to make homemade ricotta cheese. When whey first forms, it is full of protein strands, and you can essentially “harvest” these through a simple process to make delicious ricottta cheese. It’s a great way to make […]

Seed Starter Chart By Temperature (Infographic)

It’s been officially spring for a few weeks now, but depending on where you live in the country, you could be already wearing your summer clothes, or still shoveling your driveway. Temperature is a far better indication of official spring weather than the calendar, and I thought these handy infographics from Cultivatorcorner.com were a great resource to determine what you can plant and when. If you’re already ordering seeds and planning out your garden, this is a great quick-glance guide for when you can get them started. Enjoy, and happy planting! If you enjoyed this, you might also like…. How […]

Easy Composting Tips to Start Using Now

If you are not composting already, it is something you should start doing sooner rather than later. The following are some simple tips that can help you to get started so you can enjoy the benefits of compost. Tip #1 – The Compost Material Should Be Cut into Small Pieces One of the mistakes that many people make when they are starting with composting is to throw in large chunks of material into the pile, thinking that it will just break down easily. By cutting everything into smaller pieces, it will help the compost to break down faster and easier. […]

How to Choose What to Plant This Year

It’s spring time, and if you’re an experienced gardener, you’ve probably been planning out your spring garden and what to plant for months now. But if you’re just getting started, either on your very first garden or second or third, you might be overwhelmed with the amount of choices for what to grow in your food garden this year. Here are a few tips for how to narrow down your options and choose what to plant: History Obviously, if you’ve gardened already, you’ll want to think about what you’ve successfully grown in the past, and go with what worked. But […]

How to Harvest Sunflower Seeds (Video)

As you’re considering what to plant in your garden this year, you might have thought about sunflowers. Sunflowers are a wonderful and fun plant to grow; they are gorgeous in the garden, easy to plant and propagate, and their seeds are also an amazing source of fat, protein and nutrients. Growing the same amount of calories and nutrients from other sources isn’t always so simple, so sunflowers are a great option for the beginner food garden. If you’re trying to get your kids more involved in gardening, sunflower is a really fun way to do that. They can easily plant and tend […]

Simple and Natural Homemade Pest Control Tips

Most homesteaders have gardens. In fact, they have large gardens and they rely on the food they grow to feed their family throughout the year. If that sounds like you, then you know just how problematic it can be when you have pests that try to take hold and destroy your crops. Fortunately, there are some natural methods you can use to combat those pests. Here are some of the ways to get control of your garden once more so you do not have to worry about bugs and slugs ruining your harvest. Slugs can be a real pain, and […]

Clipping Chicken’s Wings, The Easy, Painless Way (Video)

It’s a common myth that chickens can’t fly, in reality, they certainly can. In the wild, chickens are able to fly short distances, enough to get them over fences or up into trees. If you’ve got free range chickens or chickens contained by a fence, you probably don’t want them to be practicing their hereditary skill of flying. So how can you keep them grounded, without hurting them or causing you both stress? This video from Raising Happy Chickens shares a simple, painless way to clip chickens wings to keep them around. Enjoy! If you enjoyed this, you might also […]

How to Make Pickles at Home

Pickles are one of the most classic and widely recognized forms of brine preservation. While the term “pickled” can apply to various forms of preserving various kinds of vegetables, what most of us think of when we think of “pickles” is the classic, brine-preserved cucumber that has become a staple of delis and diners across America. It most famously made its way into the American diet through Jewish delis in New York City, and, like any classic food, it can be made easily at home. While the formula is simple, however, there can be a bit of trial and error involved, […]

Essential Elements Your Homestead Property Needs

Those who are considering buying a homestead property are often very excited about starting this new lifestyle. They are looking for the “perfect” piece of property, and this is not always easy to find, as they do not know exactly what it is they should seek in a homestead. This is especially a problem for those who are just getting started with homesteading. The following tips will help you to remember some of the essentials. First, you need to have a good source of water on the property. This will typically mean a well and pump. You will want to […]

Growing Strawberries In Gutters (Video)

Spring is here, and I’ve definitely got gardening on my mind! I’m starting to see fresh, delicious, American-grown strawberries in the grocery store again, but as with anything else, I’d love to grow my own. Strawberries can be tricky, depending on where you live, but these clever off-grid gardeners figured out a pretty cool hack: using gutters! It’s just the right time to give this a shot if you’ve got the right space and equipment, and I’m definitely considering trying a scaled-down version myself to see if it works out. What could be better than fresh strawberries picked from your […]

6 Things You Should Do Before Getting Piglets

I’ve raved quite a bit in the past about how great pigs are. You can buy them as piglets for a very affordable price, and within a season have a hog big enough to fill your freezer with meat. For the initial start-up cost, space they need, food they eat, and meat they yield, they’re incredibly efficient animals to raise for meat. And, as someone who hates waste, I just love how much you can feed them! It’s also relatively easy to feed them virtually for free, which is another big plus. When you buy pork at the supermarket, you […]

Composting: Good Materials, Bad Materials, and Special Materials (Infographic)

Composting. So simple, at yet so complicated. On the one hand, I feel like it’s really easy to just throw together some biodegradable, nutrient-rich material, wet it, and let nature do it’s thing. On the other hand, there are a lot of important considerations to keep in mind when adding to compost piles, and there are items that are not great to have in your compost pile, for many reasons. While for the most part, it’s not too complicated to start your own compost pile, there are are few “what not to do” considerations to keep in mind, and I thought this […]

Stump Removal Hack: Epsom Salt

If you have any experience with removing a stump, you know what a headache it can be. It will either cost you hours, possibly days, of backbreaking, arduous labor, or way too much money to pay someone to do it for you. No matter how successful you are at cutting down a tree, the truck is a whole different story. Part of what makes stump removal so difficult is that a well-established root network will keep that stump alive, and, if not dealt with, will continue to grow and even sprout off new shoots. There are chemicals that can kill a […]

5 Mistakes First-Time Chicken Farmers Make

When it comes to homesteading of all kinds, trial and error is a great way to learn. However, when you’re raising animals like chickens, you probably want to reduce the possible mistakes you can make. If you’re considering starting your own chicken flock, you’ll want to do it right. We’ve got a list of five common mistakes people make when they first start keeping chickens to help you avoid making them yourself. 1. Not protecting against predators Like a fox in a hen house, many predators out there, depending on your region, will see your chickens as a delicious, juicy, […]

North American Butterflies and the Flowers They Love (Infographic)

When you think of pollination, you probably think of bees, and we’ve posted infographics in the past about how to attract bees to your garden by planting the flowers they love. Well, bees aren’t the only insects that help with pollination in the garden, butterflies do too! If you have a garden, small children, or simply enjoy seeing butterflies around your home, you’ll love this infographic. It has all 23 North American butterflies, their indicated regions, and the flowers they love. There are some great ideas for flowers to plant here, as well as the sorts of flowers or sap they gravitate […]

Making Chicken Feed: Pros and Cons (Video)

As with all things DIY, I’ve always assumed that making your own chicken feed would be healthier, and more affordable. However, I’ve been reading that while that can be true, it’s not always the case. These homesteaders and YouTubers have been making their own chicken feed, and received a lot of questions about how to do it and how it’s been working out, so they made this video in response. They break down the pros and cons of the method they’re using, how they store it, how they’re chickens like it, and the ingredients of their feed. It seems to […]