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Self Reliance – Page 22 – Homesteader Depot

Homesteader Depot

Category: Self Reliance

  • Common Mistakes When Going Off-Grid

    Common Mistakes When Going Off-Grid

    Getting off-grid and energy independent is really appealing, but can also be pretty intimidating. It’s hard to know where to start when you’ve lived your whole life reliant upon a municipal grid, and as I wrote recently about homesteading in general, it’s OK to make mistakes.

    But, you can always learn from the mistakes of others! There are common mistakes a lot of people make when first getting off the grid, and here are some of those mistakes and how to avoid them.

    1. Aiming too high

    Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s great to have goals and aim for the sky. However, when you’re thinking about going off the grid, don’t expect to have satellite TV, a dishwasher, run a crock pot, a video game console, curling iron, etc. all at once. When you get off-grid, you will have to scale down your life…drastically.

    2. Wasting energy

    This is obviously a broad category of mistakes, and there are many ways in which you can waste energy. Running a gas generator to watch a movie might be a good example, or using solar power to use a light during the day when natural light would work fine. You’ll need to conserve and constantly think about the most efficient way to use your resources.

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    3. Buying gimmicky products

    There are a ton of products out there to generate electricity off-grid, and some are really great, while others are probably a waste of your money. A lot of small solar products to charge small devices, for example, just straight don’t work unless there is direct sunlight on them for several hours at a time, so they could fail frequently. Do your research, read reviews, and again…

    4. Failure to Prioritize

    As mentioned in #1, you will need to take a cold, hard look at what you really need electricity for. We are accustomed to so many gadgets and gizmos these days, we don’t even think about how much we require electricity for the simplest of tasks. You will have to seriously reassess how much you really need an electric coffee maker or if you can make it in a percolator, if you really need a food processor or if you can mix things by hand, if you really need lights in every room or if you can use a lantern, etc.

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  • Are Grow Lights Worth it?  

    Are Grow Lights Worth it?  

     

    For those that have outdoor gardens, the thought of growing food indoors with artificial lights can seem like a ludicrous concept.  Providing your plants with access to the maximum amount of possible sunlight is a basic strategy for increasing growth, and the sun is free.  Purchasing and the operation of grow lights costs money, and gardening should save you money and provide you with resources, not cost money and use resources.  So, are grow lights worth their cost and the cost of their operation?

     

    Not to try to skirt the question, but it depends.  If you live in an area that has little difference in day length throughout the year and relatively warm winter temperatures that allow you to produce in your outdoor garden year-round, or nearly year-round, then grow lights will not offer you the same benefits they will to someone living in a colder zone, but they will cost the same.

    There are also a variety of products for you to choose from, on the low end you can get a small compact florescent light fixture for around $50.  Compact florescent lights don’t use as much energy as incandescent lights and they provide plenty of light for vegetative plants, that is plants that are growing leaves, but they do not provide the necessary light for plants that are fruiting.  On the higher end of the spectrum you can get LED grow light fixtures that can cost anywhere from $80 to over $600.  Some of these LEDs use less energy than CFL and still are capable of producing all the light necessary to grow plants all the way through their fruiting stages, but at that point you need to start thinking about more than just putting a few pots under a light and the cost begins to rise in proportion to how long you want your plants under the lights.

    If all you want to do is to extend your growing season, that is to start you plants earlier in the year when the sun is not giving enough light and when outdoor temperatures are not high enough yet, and potentially bring in a few perennial greens, then a grow light, even a CFL can be more than worth its cost, especially to those living in cold zones.  Consider that 1 pound of fresh spinach can cost most then $5, and that a $50 light fixture that will last at least a few years can extend your season by more than 8 weeks and cost little to operate and you will begin to see just how worth it a grow light can be for you.

    Even during the warm months, you may want to start seeds indoors to reduce the access pests have to seeds, this will reduce the cost of each crop.

     

    Not everyone is offered the same amount of benefit from a grow light.  If you have a green house or live in a zone with mild winters, then you won’t stand to gain as much as others.  A little math may be necessary to determine if they are right for you, but no gardener should turn their nose up at the idea using supplementary lights.

    Click Here to Shop Grow Lights on Amazon

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  • How Does Homesteading Make You Healthier?

    How Does Homesteading Make You Healthier?

    When you have a homestead, no matter the size, you do not have a lot of time to rest if you want it to stay up and running properly. Homesteading can provide you with a sense of accomplishment, but it certainly takes work. However, this work can be very good for your health. This is one of the “hidden” benefits of homesteading that many people do not think about. Let’s look at some of the ways that becoming a homesteader could make you a healthier person.

    Getting Exercise

    You are going to be outside and working quite a bit. Whether you are tending to the livestock, in your garden, making repairs, dealing with snow, fishing, hunting, or hiking, you will be out getting plenty of exercise. This can help you to shed some pounds and keep you in good shape.

    Eating Better

    When you are homesteading, you can eat better, too. You are growing your own food rather than eating unhealthy processed food and fast food. You will be getting more nutrients since you are putting better quality food in your body. Fresh meat, veggies, and fruit are key elements to a healthy life. They are good for the insides, and they can also help you lose weight. In addition, eating healthy tends to be good for your skin, too.

    Improved Psychological Health

    Many find that homesteading can help improve their outlook on life and their psychological health. They feel better when they are doing something to contribute to their survival; other than sitting in a cubicle. They like getting things done on the farm, they like the quiet it can offer and the starry nights.

    As you can see, there are many benefits to living the homestead lifestyle. If you are still on the fence about homesteading, it could be the perfect option for you.

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  • How to Homestead When You Live in An Apartment

    How to Homestead When You Live in An Apartment

    For many wannabe homesteaders, an apartment probably seems like the last place you’d be able to homestead. And of course, you won’t be able to grow (very much) food of your own, raise livestock, or live off the land. There are however, many things you can do to make your apartment a mini-homestead. While you’ll still be reliant on the outside world, the truth is, most homesteaders still are too, and no matter what your living arrangement, there’s always something you can do to be more self-reliant.

    Here are some tips for apartment homesteading that anyone can do:

    1. Grow as much as you can

    It might not be much, but any outdoor area or even sunny windowsill that you have is potential “garden” space. You can grow herbs, greens, even tomatoes in small pots. You can grow vertically as well, there are many ideas out there on Pinterest or products on the market for growing things from hanging pots or along a wall. You can also grow sprouts right on your counter, for fresh, insanely healthy greens year-round.

    2. DIY Everything

    Ok, so you probably can’t DIY literally everything, but learning to sew, craft, knit, mend, etc., can help you become mroe self-reliant and save money. The beautiful thing about living in the age of Pinterest, YouTube, and blogs (like this one!) is that you can learn to do and make all kinds of things yourself, learning basic skills and saving money along the way.

    3. Eat in season

    Find your local farmer’s market and eat what’s in season. This might mean some season you have less fresh produce than others, but there’s a great solution for that:

    4. Preserve food

    Canning, drying, and pickling are all forms of food preservation you can easily do right in an apartment. Buy marked down end-of-season produce and preserve it for the coming winter. It’s a great way to save money, have nutritious, homemade preserves year-round, and learn some of the skills that are the cornerstone of self-reliant homesteading.

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  • 22 Ways to Use Beeswax

    22 Ways to Use Beeswax

    Beeswax is amazing. It is the only naturally occurring wax, and is produced in special wax glands of female honeybees. It takes 8 pounds of honey to produce 1 pound of wax! Vegetable waxes are rendered from fruit or leaves, while soy and paraffin waxes are produced by a toxic chemical process. Only beeswax is wax in its natural form, and simply can’t be produced in a lab, even in this day and age. But if you keep bees, you can essentially grow it in your own backyard!

    It has been used for centuries in many different ways, and there’s still plenty we can use it for in our daily lives. While one pound of beeswax can be relatively expensive, it can last you for a long time and serve many different uses. Many projects you will use it for will only require a small amount of beeswax, making it quite cost-effective, especially compared to purchasing a pre-made product that contains beeswax.

    Here is a list of 22 things you can do with beeswax. Each of the items on this list is something that can be made using beeswax or something that beeswax can be used for in its raw state.

    • Fabric waterproofing
    • Lotions
    • Balms
    • Ointments
    • Deodorant
    • Lipstick
    • Lubricate screws
    • Candles (DIY Beeswax Candles – Video)
    • Condition tools
    • Condition wood
    • Hair pomade
    • Beard wax
    • In grafting trees
    • Firestarter
    • Solid fuel
    • Condition leather
    • Sealing wax
    • Crayons
    • Polish copper
    • Season cast iron
    • Cover cheese
    • Treat snow shovels

    This is certainly just a small taste of ways you can use beeswax! If you buy a pound or so for one or two of these projects, or keep bees yourself, you’re bound to come across other ways you can use it in your home. It’s a great item to have on hand, especially for homesteaders. It’s one of the greatest naturally occurring products available to us, and we should take advantage!

     

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  • 30 Non-Food Items to Hoard

    30 Non-Food Items to Hoard

    Yesterday I wrote about 30 items to purge in the New Year for a clutter-free homestead, and one of the purposes for purging is to make room for hoarded items that you do need! So here is a list of important non-food items to hoard in the New Year.

    Keeping with the trend of that article, it’s important to make sure you have a clean and orderly way to store these items. Keep them dry, organized in categories, and regularly go through your stash to make sure everything is in working order, not expired, and will still be useful to you. It’s OK to hoard and then go through your stash a year later and throw out what you might not need anymore. Just keep on top of a functional, accessible hoard stash for emergencies, because you never know when you might need these items!

    1. Aspirin & ibuprofen
    2. Lamp oil, candle wicks and batteries
    3. Borax
    4. Bleach
    5. Garbage bags
    6. Hand sanitizer
    7. Hydrogen peroxide
    8. Rubbing alcohol
    9. Lip balm, lotions, balms
    10. Matches
    11. Buckets
    12. Cotton swabs
    13. Firewood and tinder
    14. Can openers
    15. Lighters
    16. Baking soda
    17. Duct tape
    18. Pens and pencils
    19. Vaseline
    20. Toothbrushes, toothpaste, and dental floss
    21. Dish soap
    22. Tissues
    23. Toilet paper
    24. Paper towels
    25. Rags
    26. Electrolyte powder or drinks
    27. Ziplock bags
    28. Paracord
    29. Propane and propane tanks
    30. Shampoo and deodorant

    Some good suggestions for organized storage of items like this is cheap plastic bins from Costco or Walmart (these are also great to stock up on!) and also buckets. Make sure to label what you need, separate small items into smaller bins or Ziplock bins. Keep them somewhere that’s easy to access; keep in mind you will be needing this stuff in an emergency so you won’t want to be digging through cluttered crawl spaces trying to find batteries for your flashlights or aspirin for an injured person, for example. The bins are great because they’re easy to tote and move around, transporting your items quickly and easily will probably be ideal so plan for this as well.

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  • A Vegetable Growing Cheat Sheet

    A Vegetable Growing Cheat Sheet

    I love a good, detailed infographic, especially when it comes to gardening. A lot of the gardening infographics that show up on my feed on Pinterest are pretty simple, so I was stoked when I found this one from Anglianhome.co.uk recently.

    It’s an all-purpose cheat sheet for vegetable growing, from what’s best for plot vs. patio (or potted) vegetable gardens, where to plant, when to plant, and a handy companion planting guide as well. I think the companion planting guide section is my favorite, with handy color coding. It can be overwhelming trying to decide what to plant with what, and I love visual aids like this that can make planning out next year’s garden simpler.

    The most impressive part of the infographic however, has got to be the chart in the middle that has, in one handy chart, all the info you will need for planting, from spacing, sunlight, whether to direct sow, and what season to plant and harvest. This can also help to plan a garden, so you can coordinate companion plants and early spring starts.

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  • Creative Ways to Freeze Eggs

    Creative Ways to Freeze Eggs

    If you are ever faced with an abundance of eggs and not enough time to make something with all of them, it can be overwhelming! Eggs, especially of the farm-fresh variety, are such awesome, healthy, cheap (or free, if you have your own chickens!), and versatile sources of nutrients that it is imperative to use them efficiently.

    One really great option for preserving eggs with any of the following freezer methods is not only having eggs through the winter as production slows, but also to make them quick, easy, and relatively mess-free to use!

    Baking in Muffin Tins

    A really simple way to preserve eggs is to bake them individually in muffin tins and then freeze. They can be reheated quickly and easily for egg muffin sandwiches in the morning! Way cheaper and healthier than the fast food alternative.

    What you do is lightly coat muffin tins with cooking spray or butter and crack an egg in each round. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, then let cool, stick in Ziplock bags, and simply pop in the freezer! These will last up to a year frozen.

    Freezing Raw 

    This works surprisingly well for scrambled eggs or being added to any kind of batter.

    What you do is beat together the raw eggs and pour into ice cube trays. 2 cubes is about 1 egg. Once frozen, you can pop them out of the tray and put them in a Ziplock bag. Just thaw in the refrigerator overnight to use the next morning. These will keep up to 6 months.

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    Freeze Scrambled

    This is a very easy way to freeze and reuse, for things like breakfast burritos or easy morning scrambles. It’s about as simple as it sounds: scramble up the eggs you want to preserve, let cool to room temperature, wrap up in freezer parchment paper and stick in a zip-lock bag. They will last up to a year. Simply thaw in the fridge overnight; you can also store these in the fridge and they will last up to a month!

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