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Self Reliance – Page 2 – Homesteader Depot

Homesteader Depot

Category: Self Reliance

  • 7 Practical Reasons Your Homestead Needs Goats

    7 Practical Reasons Your Homestead Needs Goats

    Let’s face it – goats are cute. It’s fun watching the kids (also known as baby goats) leaping and playing. The adults have interesting personalities as well. These are just a few of the reasons why many people have them on their homesteads. There are plenty of others. If you’re considering adding a few goats to your brood and need some help convincing your significant other, here are seven practical reasons to have those animals around.

    1) They Are Fun to Watch

    We’ve already mentioned this, but goats are quite entertaining. Some of them will do things that make you burst out laughing. Others are just plain fun to watch. Like other animals, goats have personalities all their own. You’ll have odd nicknames for yours within a few days of adopting them, and will be excited to see what kind of antics they get up to next. Goats are really fun to have around.

    2) You Can Make Things Out of Their Hair

    Not only are goats entertaining, but they have very useful hair. It can be shorn, just like with sheep, and woven into yarn. From there, you can turn it into comfortable blankets, sweaters, and more. If you get really good at weaving and knitting, you might even be able to turn your goat-fur endeavors into a revenue stream. Or you can just make them for your own personal enjoyment. There’s nothing wrong with that.

    3) Goat Milk Is Highly Useful

    Have you ever drunk goat milk? It’s a good alternative to cow’s milk, although the taste is a little different. When you have a lot of goat milk, you can turn it into soaps and other body care products. You’d be surprised at the moisturizing properties of goat milk soap! On top of that, you can cook with goat milk, make it into cheese, and do a number of other highly useful things. It’s incredibly good to have around your homestead.

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    4) You Can Eat Goat Meat

    Many people shy away from eating goat meat. They prefer to use the hair for certain products and the milk in their kitchens, both of which don’t harm the animal at all. With that said, there’s nothing wrong with eating goat meat. In some countries, it’s considered to be a delicacy. Plus, an important part of homesteading involves having animals around that have more than one use – even if it seems a little unusual.

    5) Goat Hides Make Great Leather Products

    The goats that you butcher for meat can be skinned. Goatskin leather is used for shoes, book covers, wallets, belts, and plenty of other things. No part of the animal is ever wasted this way. Once you’ve learned how to tan and process goat leather, the sky’s the limit. You can use those same methods on other forms of animal skin as well.

    6) They’ll Take Care of Your Weeds

    Goats eat any number of things, including the weeds in your yard. They will also eat your plants, so you need to be careful and train them a little, but once you do, you’ll have an army of weed-eating machines on your homestead. Goats will do all of that hard work for you and won’t complain one bit, because they like the taste of the weeds.

    7) They Can Pull Carts

    If you have heavy items located all over your homestead and would prefer to move them around via cart instead of a motor vehicle, then you need a goat or two. They can pull carts, making your life easier. Plus, you won’t have to rely as heavily on fossil fuels, since you have goat power.

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  • Cooling Your Home Off-Grid

    Cooling Your Home Off-Grid

    Rather than rely on fossil fuels or nuclear energy to cool off your home this summer, why not go off-grid? These systems are just as effective, yet they use natural sources of power – not “standard” electricity in order to cool your home down. A geothermal system is just one example. You can also utilize green energy, like solar or wind power, in order to run the systems that will keep you cool all summer long. No matter what, you’ll save money and do your part to save the environment – while staying comfortable at the same time. There’s nothing quite like accomplishing all of that at once!

    Utilizing Solar Power

    There are several different types of solar power systems out there. All of them do the same thing – they soak up sunlight using solar panels. The sunlight is turned into electricity, and then it flows into your home. You can set up a system that’s completely off the grid, or you can choose one that is still hooked up to city or county power (i.e. standard electricity) that only kicks on should you need a backup system. It all comes down to how sunny your area is, as well as the type of system that you prefer. No matter what, you’ll be able to use this power to cool down your home without relying on any other methods. It’s designed to work well and be very efficient.

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    Harness The Power of the Wind

    Depending on where you live, you might be able to set up a wind-powered system. These work much better in areas that have plenty of open space, as well as a fairly continuous nice breeze. Since there are laws against putting a giant wind-powered system in your city backyard, you’ll have to be in the country for this to work. With that said, it’s entirely possible to power your home – including your floor fans, ceiling fans, and more, with a wind-powered electrical system. Just make sure to choose one that saves up electricity in a series of batteries so that you’ll stay cool on those non-windy summer days.

    Create a Geothermal System

    Geothermal systems sound complicated, but they really aren’t. These systems are designed to use the cool temperatures found about five or six feet underground, using them to control the temperature in your home. It all starts with a single PVC pipe. You’ll need one that’s around four inches in diameter. Since the pipe may be prone to leaks, as well as insects and other things, make sure to seal off the underground end with a fine mesh screen and account for necessary drainage. After you have all of these pieces into place, a geothermal system just requires some general digging: the end of the pipe needs to be deep enough in the ground to take advantage of the consistent 50-degree temperatures found there. Once you have it in place, run the other end into your home and set up a fan so that the cool air circulates. This is a very simple geothermal system.

    Another geothermal method uses water in the form of a hose buried at the same distance under the ground. The water flows through the hose with the help of a water pump. A radiator on the inside uses the water in order to cool down air that flows throughout your home. Like the other system, only a little electricity is needed in order to run the pump, the fan, and the radiator. However, the system does run almost entirely off of the grid, especially if you choose to use solar or wind power.

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  • 7 Incredible Benefits to Having Cats Around Your Homestead

    7 Incredible Benefits to Having Cats Around Your Homestead

    Do you have cats in your barn? You should. Cats are cute and fuzzy. They get along with many other types of animals (except for the ones that they prey on, of course) and are extremely independent. If you haven’t considered adding a few rescue cats to your barn, then you definitely should. Here are seven benefits to having them around.

    1) They Make Great Companions

    According to some historians, early cats domesticated themselves. Why? Because they figured out that humans would take care of them. They’ve been great companions ever since. Yes, cats don’t come when they’re called and they tend to do their own thing all of the time, but they crave human attention and affection. They’ll follow you around in order to get head pats and spend time making you love them. The same is true of all of the other creatures in your barn – with the exception of mice, those animals will love your cats as well. It’s just what they do.

    2) They’ll Take Care of Your Rat and Mice Problem (Pest Control)

    Mice cluster in barns. There are endless things for them to nibble on and plenty of corners and cubbyholes to hide out in. The only issue is that they’ll destroy things that you need, and possibly spook your horses as well. You’ll need to deal with those mice. This is where your cats come in. They’ll scare off any mice in the vicinity, and outright kill the ones that are still lurking around. Your cats will work hard in order to earn their keep and your love.  Rats and mice can contaminate your food storage and spread disease.  Poisoning pests can be counter-productive by inadvertently poisoning their predators like owls, trapping them can be costly and difficult.  But for a cat, hunting and killing rodents is combining business with pleasure.  And aside from the rodents that are killed, the smell of a cat will make any rodent think twice about setting up shop.

    Related Article:  Cats as Pest Control on the Homestead

    3) Cats Are Endlessly Entertaining

    How often do you sit and watch a cat play? They’re pretty independent, so you just need to give them something to swat at, like a piece of string, and possibly some catnip toys. They’ll entertain you and everyone else around with those two things. On top of that, if you have more than one cat, you’ll find them wrestling and playing with each other. There’s nothing with that either unless they’re actively hurting each other. (Then you’ll have to put a stop to it.)

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    4) Everyone Loves Cats

    Really, who doesn’t love cats? With the exception of those who are allergic to them, cats work their magic on anyone. You can’t stay mad at a cat since they’ll just look at you with their big eyes and cute whiskers. They’ll rub against your legs and start to purr, and then flop over on their sides for some head scratchings. Cats are infinitely loveable. They’ll bring together people on your homestead who have spent years disliking each other.

    5) They Have Economic Benefits

    There are some economic benefits to having cats around. For one, they’ll keep your pests at bay. You won’t have to hire an exterminator for creatures like mice or insects, because the cats will take care of them. This alone will make it worth having a fleet of cats around.

    6) Cats Will Eat Bugs

    Cats are great at catching bugs. They enjoy stalking any type of prey. As long as it’s moving, they’ll chase it. This includes flies, ants, spiders, and more. They’ll take care of just about any type of creepy crawly thing.

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    7) They’re Very Low Maintenance

    How low maintenance are cats? The answer is simple: they’ll take care of themselves. You just have to supply a little cat food, some clean water, a litter box (or something like one, if they’re kept outdoors), and they’re happy. You won’t have to do much, other than supply a few tummy rubs now and then if your cat’s into that sort of thing.

  • How to be More Environmentally Friendly

    How to be More Environmentally Friendly

    Do you want to live a more environmentally friendly life? Making a few small changes is the best way to do so. You don’t have to drastically overhaul how you do everything in order to be kinder to Mother Earth. Instead, just follow the suggestions described here and pick a few that sound the best. It’s easier to make these changes a little at a time, so once your first few choices have become ingrained habits, it’s time to pick a few more. Before you know it, your lifestyle will be very environmentally friendly.

    Stop Wasting Water and Using Disposable Water Bottles

    Sit back and think about how much water you use every single day and then find easy solutions to the problem. Do you take baths? If so, gallons of excess water are going down the drain every single time. You can reduce your water usage and still maintain your expected cleanliness levels by switching to showers with a low flow showerhead. In addition to this, if you go through quite a few bottles of water each day, you can switch a much more environmentally friendly solution with a reusable water bottle and a water filter that’s attached to your faucet.

    Use CFL (Compact Fluorescent) Bulbs

    If you go into any home improvement store, you’ll find an entire aisle dedicated to light bulbs of all shapes and sizes. The one thing that you won’t find are those old fashioned “traditional” bulbs that use up a lot of electricity. Now is the best time to stock up, so when your last of those traditional bulbs finally burns out, you can replace it with a CFL bulb. These bulbs use less electricity and will last much longer, making them very environmentally friendly.

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    Skip the Paper Towels

    Paper towels are handy. They clean up messes of all sizes and are very absorbent. The problem is that they’re bad for the environment. Think of how many paper towels you go through on a regular basis and then imagine how many are ending up in landfills. (The answer here is almost all of them.) Rather than fill your trash with used paper towels, switch to standard cloth towels. Microfiber ones are absorbent, don’t leave fibers behind, and can be washed and reused. Stock up on a bunch of them so that you have enough for a full load in the washing machine when they’re all dirty.

    Purchase Secondhand Goods or Borrow Things When You Can

    Have you heard of fast fashion? This clothing is designed for short-term use because it’s trendy and not made extremely well. With that said, it will hold up for quite some time when you treat it right. Rather than contribute to the environmental catastrophe that is fast fashion (think of how much pollution the manufacturing process creates), buy secondhand clothing. You also have the choice of purchasing clothing made in an environmentally friendly manner.

    Now, for the second part of this – borrowing things. Think of what’s involved every time you place an order for a book. It needs to be packaged in cardboard and then shipped using trucks that run on fossil fuels. If you just borrow the book from the library, you’re not only money but also the planet.

    Carry Canvas Grocery Bags

    The states that have banned plastic grocery bags had the right idea. Those bags just end up in landfills, dumping grounds, or even waterways. They’re a hazard. Invest in a few good quality canvas grocery bags and use them instead when you go to the store. You can wash these bags and reuse them again and again.

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  • Why are my Vegetables not Growing?

    Why are my Vegetables not Growing?

    You’ve planted your vegetables, and have tended to them properly (you think, anyway), but they still aren’t growing. Instead, you have tomato plants without flowers, tiny zucchinis that wither on the plant, and cucumbers that just won’t grow. Something went wrong, and it’s time to find out what. There are a number of issues that can cause your vegetable plant plans to go awry. Here are some of the most common problems.

    Everything Is Planted too Close Together

    This happens to the best-intentioned gardeners. You start off with tiny seedlings that are transplanted into the ground or a series of grow bags (depending on the plant and how much space you’re working with.) It’s easy to place them close to one another because they’re so small. You didn’t even think to consider how large they’ll get as they grow. The problem here is that since they’re too close to one another, they don’t have any room to grow. They don’t develop properly and will choke one another out as they compete for the same sunlight, water, and root space.

    You Don’t Bother to Weed

    Your plant beds need to be taken care of, and this includes weeding them regularly. It’s easy to think that those weeds won’t cause any damage, but they will. Weeds take up space, hog the nutrients in the soil, and introduce pests to your plants. As a result, your vegetables simply won’t grow properly.

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    They Were Put Into the Ground Too Soon

    Cold weather can damage your plants. Some types of seeds, such as tomatoes, won’t even germinate in temperatures that are below 50 degrees. If you want your vegetables to grow, you need to pay attention to the weather. Starting your seeds too early or in the wrong conditions can leave you with sickly plants that don’t produce anything. On top of this, if you plant the seedlings before the last frost of the year, they could die or become damaged by the cold. The results will be plants that don’t really do anything because they just aren’t healthy enough.

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    You Didn’t Plan Your Garden Properly

    Gardens need to be planned. Certain crops pair well together, while others simply don’t like each other. For example, the three sisters – corn, beans, and squash – will thrive if they’re placed close together because they protect each other and provide the right growing conditions. In order for your garden to be the best that it possibly can, you’ll need to do some research on the vegetables that you want to plant, and then plan everything out accordingly.

    Fertilizer? What’s That?

    If you don’t fertilize your plants, they won’t have the nutrients that they need in order to grow. There are many different types of fertilizer, so you should have no issues finding the best organic or non-organic one for your needs. As we mentioned above, you need to do a bit of research in order to see which types of fertilizer work best for your vegetable plants, and then apply them using the instructions on the package.

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    There’s Not Enough Sunlight

    Anyone who’s ever tried to plant vegetables in the shade knows what will happen. Without plenty of sunlight, those crops just won’t grow properly. In order to determine the best place for your garden, spend some time looking around your yard at all hours of the day. The spaces that get the most sunlight will be the best place for your plants. Very few vegetable plants will actually survive and thrive in low light conditions. Your garden placement might be to blame for your lack of output.

  • 5 Common Fertilization Mistakes

    5 Common Fertilization Mistakes

    How much do you know about plant fertilizer? While your level of knowledge depends on your gardening experience, as well as how much research you’ve done on the topic, this doesn’t mean that you don’t make mistakes when applying yours. It’s very easy to use the wrong type of fertilizer, not mix it correctly, or even apply too much (or too little) of it. Since fertilizer is an important part of the growing process, you need to know which mistakes your making so that you can avoid them in the future. Here are some of the most common ones.

    Using Too Much Fertilizer

    Too much of a good thing is definitely a problem. If you use too much fertilizer, you could actually be hurting your plants. As it turns out, over-fertilizing can cause certain compounds in the soil to build up, which will hurt your plants. For example, they need just enough nitrogen in order to survive and thrive, but too much can kill them. Never over fertilize. This is one of those things where the words “too much of a good thing” certainly come true. In fact, if you’ve just fertilized the soil and your plants look as if they need more fertilizer (look for droopy leaves, and so on) this might actually be a sign that you applied too much.

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    Adding Too Much of One Nutrient

    It’s easy to add too much of one nutrient and not enough of the others. Many people focus on the trio of NPK, or Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium, while forgetting that their soil actually needs to be a perfect balance of these compounds and others. In order to balance things out properly, make sure to use more than one type of fertilizer. Look for ones that contain calcium, sulfur, or one of the other many micronutrients that your plants need.

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    Your Fertilized Them at the Wrong Time

    This is where doing research on your plants comes in handy. There are numerous resources out there that tell you exactly when this type of tomato plant or that type of cucumber vine needs to be fertilized. You shouldn’t fertilize everything at once, or just “wing it.” Instead, look up your exact varietals and create a calendar or chart that shows when in their growth cycles that they need to be fertilized. Your plants will reward you growing plenty of vegetables if you do this correctly.

    Repeating the Same Patterns

    You need to remember that what worked great one year won’t necessarily provide the same results the next. It’s easy to fall into these habits and come up with a formula of sorts that spells out success. However, your plants might have different needs the next year, based on the air temperatures, amount of sunlight, soil conditions, and even how much water they’ve received. You need to plan everything to match – not just do the same thing over again because it worked that way in the past. Be open to change and everything will work out for the best.

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    Not Testing Your Soil

    The soil that you plant your crops in needs to be tested every year because its condition can change. Since you want your soil to have that perfect balance of nutrients and micronutrients, it helps to know what it’s exactly chemical composition is. This way, you can add in the right type of fertilizer. Otherwise, you might be applying more phosphorus to soil that already has plenty of this nutrient. This isn’t good for the plants or your soil composition. The more that you know about your soil before you fertilize it, the better.

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  • 4 More Simple Ways to Improve Soil Quality

    4 More Simple Ways to Improve Soil Quality

    Growing your own fruits and vegetables is much easier when you have great soil. If yours is filled with too much clay, is infiltrated by tree and shrub roots, or has nutritional deficiencies, then you won’t be able to produce as many of them as you’d like. Or, you could end up with great quantities of fruits and vegetables, but they won’t be very large. Either way, your plants will struggle. The best thing that you can do in order to reverse this is by improving the overall quality of your soil. There are several useful (and fairly simple) methods to do this. Here they are.

    Use a Cover Crop That Adds Nutrients

    Some crops are called “cover crops” because they add nutrients to the soil when they are allowed to break down and cover it. (After they’re grown in that same soil, of course.) These cover crops, including buckwheat and clover, can be planted during the off seasons. They’ll stay alive through winter and early spring, and then, when you’re ready to till your garden, just plow the plants into it. Not only will they act as mulch, but they’ll help enrich your soil.

    Turn Your Perennials Into Mulch

    Adding mulch to your soil does much more than keep it warm, ensure that it stays moist, and prevent weeds from taking root. It also adds some nutrients to the soil. What you can do in order to make your own mulch (or at least, enhance the type that you buy) is chop up any trimmings from your perennials and add them to it. Things like shrub trimmings, bits of perennial plants, and even small branches pruned from your trees all can be added to your mulch. As they break down, they’ll help your soil’s nutritional content.

    Allow It to Dry Out Before Tilling

    Sure, it’s good to plant your crops after rain, because the soil is nice and moist. This doesn’t mean that you should till it at this point though. Instead, wait until your soil has dried out, and then till it up. Otherwise, you risk taking all of the oxygen out of the soil and damaging its overall structure. You won’t be able to grow as much in this damaged soil. It’s best to test your soil by grabbing some of it with your hand and squeezing before you bring out the rototiller. If it crumbles into dust in your hand, then it’s time.

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    Test Your Soil and Then Add To It

    One of the best ways to improve your soil quality is by testing it, and then adding in what it appears to be missing. There are test kits on the market that can tell you what your soil is lacking. They are easy to use, as most involve placing a scoop of soil in a test tube and then adding some chemicals to it. If you want results that are more detailed than that, you can purchase the type of test kit that you need to send out to a lab. You’ll get your results in a few weeks.

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    After you find out what your soil is lacking, you can add that exact compound to it. For example, if it lacks nitrogen, just add some organic fertilizer that contains nitrogen to it. The test results might also include some suggestions for improvement, and give you the names of a few products that you can use. However, this depends on the exact test. No matter what, you’ll know exactly how to improve your soil in order to grow the best crops possible. That’s what every homesteader wants.

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  • 8 Items to NOT Include in Your Compost

    8 Items to NOT Include in Your Compost

    Creating a compost pile is always a good idea. You’ll get to reuse food scraps that would otherwise end up in the trash, and then eventually in a landfill. On top of this, compost piles create new, fresh soil that contains plenty of nutrients. Your plants will love it. However, before it gets to that point, you need to understand the basics of composting, which involve knowing what you shouldn’t put into a compost bin. Many of these items are downright harmful to your compost and will cause a number of problems. Avoid adding them to the pile at all costs.

    Citrus Peels

    While fruit waste of all kinds can be added to a compost pile, you should avoid adding in those citrus peels. They take way too long to decompose and can affect the overall balance in your pile. Your goal is to make soil, and you won’t be able to use it for much when it contains whole chunks of orange, lemon, lime, and grapefruit peels in it.

    Animal Feces

    It’s understandable that you want to do something with your cat or dog feces besides putting it in the trash. However, if you add it to your compost pile, you risk contaminating it with parasites and microorganisms. You don’t want them getting anywhere near your plants, especially if you grow your own vegetables.

    Onion Peels

    A good compost pile contains a balanced combination of food scraps and other waste that break down slowly over time. In some cases, you might want to add some worms to your pile in order to help this process along. Onion peels will hurt, rather than help, here. Not only do they slow down the decomposition process, but they also hurt your worms.

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    Sticker Labels

    You’ve no doubt seen those annoying sticker labels that appear on fruits and vegetables. Yes, they serve a purpose – helping the cashier code in the right items during checkout – but they don’t do much else. You can’t even add them to your compost pile, because they won’t biodegrade. They’re actually made of plastic, not paper.

    Paper That’s Coated or Glossy

    When you’re adding items to your compost bin, you do need to balance out those fruit and vegetable scraps with some paper. However, it needs to be the right kind of paper. You can’t use glossy or coated paper. Those enhancements are made of plastic, which prevents the paper from breaking down properly.

    Tea Bags and Coffee Filters

    While used tea leaves and coffee grounds absolutely can be added to your compost, the items that you use to make that tea and coffee cannot. Your tea bags and coffee filters need to be placed in the trash unless you’ve determined that they’re made of natural materials. Many consist of synthetic polyester fibers that won’t break down properly, if at all.

    Meat Scraps of All Kinds

    The meat of any sort can’t be placed in a compost bin. This means that you can’t include any beef trimmings, leftover cooked chicken (or uncooked chicken), fish bones, or anything that came from an animal. The problem here lies not so much in getting those items to biodegrade (they will, along with everything else around them), but in the smell that they give off while doing so. All of the animals in your neighborhood will end up rooting through your compost bin looking for food.

    Used Charcoal

    It can be tempting to dump leftover charcoal in your compost bin, but you shouldn’t do it. This material actually contains a lot of sulfur, which can upset the overall balance of your compost. It’s even worse if your charcoal has been treated or soaked in fire starting liquid.

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