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Homesteading – Page 35 – Homesteader Depot

Homesteader Depot

Category: Homesteading

  • Shade Tolerant Vegetables

    Shade Tolerant Vegetables

    Sun is a crucial commodity in any garden, and if you don’t get enough sun in your garden, you might be wondering what to plant. Even having half your garden or yard covered with a shadow for part of the day seems like it excludes a great many options for planting.

    Fortunately, there are shade tolerant vegetables you can experiment with that can maximize that shady space in your garden and keep it producing as seasons change and light fades.

    Planning 

    When planning out your garden, spend time watching the way the sun moves for a few days, and designate the areas with the most sun exposure for light-craving plants, like tomatoes, peppers, beans, squash, and cucumbers.

    Shade tolerant plants: 

    Leafy greens: 

    The delicate leaves of many healthy, hearty leafy greens thrive in partial shade. For the cooler, shadier parts of your garden, opt for lettuce, spinach, sorrel, endive, watercress, arugula, and mixed salad greens. These typically thrive in the cooler parts of the growing season, and too much sun makes them bolt and become bitter, so they’re not only ideal for shade, they actually prefer it. They can do fine with 3 to 4 hours of sun a day, as well as dappled or indirect sunlight.

    Root vegetables 

    Root veggies such as carrots, beets, turnips, and radishes, do quite well with only 3-4 hours of sunlight a day. While they will grow bigger in full sunlight, they’re actually sweeter and have a more delicate flavor when they grow smaller.

    Brassica

    The brassica family, such as brussel sprouts, broccoli, and cauliflower, are happier in cooler temperatures so they’re ideal for either fall planting or shady garden real estate. They do just fine with half a day of sun.

    Legumes 

    Bush beans (as opposed to pole beans, which need full sun) and cold-season peas also will tolerate shadier patches of the garden, and also do fine with half a day of sun.

    Herbs

    There are many herbs that prefer dappled sunlight or half a day of shade, which is why herbs are so easy to grow on patios or windowsills indoors. Mint, cilantro, parsley, and oregano do great in partial shade.

     

    Finally, you can also experiment and see what works in the shade! Especially if you’re growing in pots, if something doesn’t seem to be thriving in the shade, move it to full sun and see how it does. Everyone’s climate and soil condition is a little different, and gardening is largely about trial and error, so see what you can manage to grow in the shade.

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  • Ways to Profit Off Your Land

    Ways to Profit Off Your Land

    When you invest in a homestead property, it probably won’t be cheap. You won’t want to buy cheap, useless land to get started, after all, since it won’t be much use to you.

    So how can you offset the cost of settling on the perfect slice of property?

    Well, there are a lot of possibilities. Here are just a few, to be followed up with more as time goes on. Be sure to let us know how you’ve made money off your homestead, so we can add it to the list!

    Vegetable Gardening

    Build additional beds to what you will need for your family and put the effort in a cash crop to sell at the farmer’s market. Quick, easy crops include eggplant, asparagus, okra, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, summer squash, cabbage, carrots, and leeks, to name a few (we’ll cover this more extensively in the future as well).

    Fruit Trees or Grapes

    Investing in some fruit trees and a small orchard, or grape vines, could pull in a handsome profit for your homestead if you do it right. Fruit trees are not incredibly high-maintenance and can produce a whole lot of fruit for you to sell at a farmer’s market or even to local restaurants, grocers, or food production factories.

    Eggs

    Invest in a large coop and a system to move your chickens around your property, like a mobile coop, and you’ll have eggs for days you can again sell at farmer’s market, directly to customers, or to grocers, bakers, or restaurant. Nothing is as appealing on a menu as “farm fresh eggs!”

    Bed and breakfast

    If you’ve got an extra structure on your property, spruce it up to create a rustic farm getaway. People love to experience country life on vacation (without having to actually get up early to do the chores) and you can charge a handsome price for it. Just make sure you’re coded correctly, or use AirBnb.com, which is getting very popular.

    Beekeeping 

    Raw honey and beeswax are very valuable and in demand. Harvest raw honey to sell by the jar, or beeswax to sell either raw or in crafts such as lotions, candles, or even crayons.

     

    Stay posted for more ideas on how to profit off your land.

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  • Why Are My Chickens Not Laying Eggs? (Video)

    Why Are My Chickens Not Laying Eggs? (Video)

    There are definitely reasons to keep chickens other than for producing eggs, but for the most part, eggs are probably why you’re raising chickens!

    So when they stop laying, what do you do?

    Well, Becky from Becky’s Homestead on YouTube has some solutions. There are several different reasons why your chickens might not be laying, and she’s got some suggestions for how to determine what those reasons are, as well as how to help them out get producing again.

    These simple tips will help you determine what kind of environment and nutrients chickens need to lay eggs. They’re not just little egg machines, they’re animals who need a peaceful environment, the right nutrients and habitat, and at least some attention and TLC to produce.

    Get some insight into what’s keeping your hens from producing and learn a whole lot about how they function in this video from a very skilled and knowledgeable homesteader and poultry farmer. I always have to mention about Becky, not only does she have a great YouTube channel covering all kinds of homestead, farming, and gardening related topics, she’s a trustworthy source since she built her house herself and got started homesteading from scratch.

    Enjoy!

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  • 3 Beginner Compost Mistakes to Avoid

    3 Beginner Compost Mistakes to Avoid

    Getting a good compost pile going is an awesome way to build your soil and contribute valuable nutrients to your organic garden.

    There are lots of methods for getting started, and lots of options as far as bioavailable, organic material you can use to build it.

    However, you can also make mistakes, and before you build your own compost pile, try to avoid these simple “don’ts” to ensure you have a successful compost pile and save yourself a lot of trouble.

    Cover your pile

    Compost piles left out in the open are not only stinky and unsightly, but they also attract flies and even wasps, which will make it no fun to turn the pile. While there are many creepy crawlers you’ll happily welcome into your pile, that help decompose and contribute nutrients to compost, flies in particular you do not want. They are unsanitary to have around, can spread harmful bacteria, and are also super annoying.

    Covering up your compost pile also helps it to decompose faster. By wrapping it in a tarp, for example, you’ll trap in warmth and moisture, speeding up the composting process and getting you the end result quicker.

    Water your compost pile

    You don’t have to water your compost pile everyday, but keep it consistently moist enough that it never dries out. Compost piles are essentially their own little ecosystems, full of life that work to decompose the soil, so they need moisture to thrive. Every week or so, stick your hose in the compost pile and let it run for an hour or so, soaking the whole pile thoroughly.

    Avoid weed seeds

    Be careful about the manure or foliage you add to your pile; anything that might have weed seeds in it will not only sprout in your pile, they could easily survive the whole composting process and sprout in the garden you add your compost to. And that’s not something you want to do!

     

    When you invest your time and effort into starting a compost pile,  make sure you’re doing it right!

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  • 3 Reasons to Keep Raw Honey Around

    3 Reasons to Keep Raw Honey Around

    Honey is a staple of any well-stocked pantry, but most people just think of it as a condiment to be added to tea or perhaps to top sweets or desert.

    The majority of conventional, store-bought honey, however, is actually pasteurized. Pasteurized honey sounds like a good idea, like any pasteurizing process, as it supposedly eliminates the possibilities of harmful bacteria growing in the honey.

    However, when you pasteurize honey, it actually eliminates the vast majority of beneficial qualities of the honey, and it is also largely unnecessary, as honey rarely contains any harmful bacteria.

    Here are three reasons you should always have raw honey as a staple in your pantry:

    1. It lasts forever

    No, seriously. If honey doesn’t come into contact with water or other external factors, it can last virtually forever. They found honey in ancient Egyptian tombs that was still perfectly edible (not sure if anyone ate it, but they deemed it edible at least). You can keep a jar of it in your pantry and it will virtually always be fresh. This makes it a great survival food, as well as reliable pantry staple.

    2. It can replace refined sugar

    You can use honey in place of white, refined sugar in pretty much any recipe, and it is way, way healthier. Surprisingly, for something so sweet, it has a comparably low glycemic index, making it a great alternative to sugar for those dieting or with health-related issues who want to watch their GI.

    3. It is a medicine as well as a food

    Along with all the wonderful ways you can use honey in cooking, there’s also a multitude of health benefits to raw honey. It contains prebiotics which help aid digestion and replenish beneficial gut bacteria, and it also is a natural antibiotic that can keep wounds clean and protected from infection. It can also help reduce allergies or ease cold and flu symptoms, especially if you consume local raw honey. You can even wash your hair and your face with it, or add it to healing facial masques.

     

    Raw honey is truly a miracle of nature, and it’s increasingly easy to find at local grocery stores. My Walmart, for example, carries several varieties of local raw honey that are very reasonably priced. Add this crucial pantry staple to your home cooking today.

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  • Clever Ways to Teach Children About Self-Reliance

    Clever Ways to Teach Children About Self-Reliance

    Kids these days! The new generation seems to be so fixated on their devices and pop culture, and I think a lot of us who grew up with these things are looking at today’s youth and shaking our heads.

    But of course, the truth is, that adults as well as kids need to learn more about self-reliance and basic survival skills, because our world is in a precarious state! Start them young, and we just might be able to raise a few kids who can carry on the traditions and self-reliance of past generations.

    Here are a few ideas for basic skills to expose your kids to that will give them a leg-up in a self-reliant lifestyle, should they learn to pursue it one day.

    Gardening

    Gardening is a really fun way to show kids how our food system works, and to get them involved in homesteading, even if you’re an urban homesteader. Small children especially love watching seeds sprout and grow, and appreciating where our food comes from.

    Cleaning

    Keeping a house clean and organized is actually becoming a lost art, and getting children involved in the things they might otherwise take for granted such as washing dishes, cleaning floors and windows, vacuuming, and laundry, will help them realize just how much effort goes into keeping their lives comfortable.

    Raising animals

    Raising chickens in your backyard or even just designating pet care to your children can give them an idea of what it takes to sustain life and how to use animals for survival and self-reliance, as well as help them to understand just what a big job it might be to take care of the pony they keep asking for.

    Basic vehicle care

    Get older kids involved in changing a tire or changing oil, so that they realize the vehicle they get driven around in every day takes maintenance and work to keep up. As a matter of safety, especially, teenagers should not be learning to drive unless they also know basic vehicle maintenance and safety.

     

    Let’s raise the next generation up right so they know how to take care of each other; and us!

     

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  • Why Are My Plants Turning Yellow?

    Why Are My Plants Turning Yellow?

    Yellow leaves are never a happy sight to see on plants you’ve been caring for and watch grow. And they’re not a good sign. Yellow leaves on plants or entirely yellow plants can be indicative of a number of different issues. Here are some of them:

    Pests

    One possible cause of yellow leaves is pests that are living on the plant and leaves and taxing the plant’s energy and resources. To determine if this is the cause, inspect the plant carefully to see if you can find any pests. To treat this, you’ll need to eliminate the pests themselves. Neem oil or insect-killing soap are great organic options for a pesticide.

    Overwatering 

    Plants can become yellow if they get too much water, and poor drainage or too much clay content in the soil can be a common culprit of this. To combat this, try to mix some sand into the soil or waterless.

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    Lack of sunlight

    Sunlight is what plants need to thrive, and if they’re not getting enough and aren’t shade-tolerant plants, this might be a cause of yellowed leaves. If this is the case, your leaves will be floppy and faded in color. If you have potted plants, try moving them somewhere they’ll get more sun, or, if your plants are in the ground, transplant if you can or simply choose a sunnier spot for these particular plants next year.

    Dehydration

    Not enough watering can also cause yellowed leaves, as plants require water to transport the essential nutrients of the soil to their foliage. If leaves feel crunchy and dry, dehydration is probably the culprit. Make sure your plants receive enough water and check daily for the moisture content of the soil. Soil should hardly ever be completely dried out if you stick your finger into it.

    Nutrient deficiency 

    If the leaves of your plants are yellowing, they could be deficient in any number of essential nutrients. If you haven’t been fertilizing or amending your soil, be sure to give them some compost tea or store-bought organic fertilizer for either growth or blossom, depending on what stage they are at, and buy some nutrient testing strips to test the nutrient content of your garden so you can amend appropriately.

    Plants are just like people, they need proper food, hydration, and care to thrive! Help respond to your plant’s needs by checking for these important issues and address them today.

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  • Butchering a Year’s Worth of Chickens (Video)

    Butchering a Year’s Worth of Chickens (Video)

    A few days ago we shared a video of some new homesteader’s first time butchering chickens, well, this is the opposite extreme! Seasoned homesteader and YouTuber Justin Rhodes shares his experience of butchering a whole year’s worth of chickens in one day.

    Videos like this are really inspiring and motivating to me, and stand as a reminder that while it takes lots of hard work, self-reliance is not entirely outside of the realm of possibility.

    Watch as this family butchers enough Cornish game hens to eat at least one a week for a year! They raised them all themselves and they didn’t take long to mature, so to me it sounds like a really great breed to have to stock up on a long-term supply of meat. Check it out:

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