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Super Easy Homemade Buttermilk

Buttermilk isn’t something that you only need to buy at the store. Instead, you can make it yourself. The results will be much tastier and better for you. The buttermilk that you find in the dairy section (if your grocery store even carries it) is cultured. This type takes at least 24 hours to make, and you need to start with cultured buttermilk, making it a bit redundant, or active buttermilk culture. This process is fairly labor intensive. However, if you have a recipe that requires buttermilk and you don’t have any on hand, these quick methods will work nicely. […]

No Waste Chicken Feeder

Chickens can be messy and needy. They throw their food all over the place and then squawk at you until you give them more. This is no reason not to place a chicken coop in your backyard though. They do give you plenty of eggs and some meat. And chickens can make interesting companions, even though they aren’t quite as cuddly as cats and dogs – as long as you keep them happy, that is. The best way to do this is with a no-waste chicken feeder. Why Do You Need A No Waste Chicken Feeder? We’ve already mentioned the […]

No Sugar Canned Peaches

Canned peaches are an excellent treat – especially if you’ve canned them yourself and can control what goes into them. The downside to most canning recipes is the amount of sugar involved. Peaches are naturally sweet, so they don’t need a lot of additional refined white sugar, which is bad for you anyway. This recipe utilizes a more natural combination of honey and cinnamon to enhance the natural flavors of the peaches. Supplies Water bath canner Canning jars and lids Saucepan Peeler Cutting board Funnel Measuring implements Ingredients Peaches – a good measurement is between two and three pounds of […]

DIY Fruit Fly Trap Works Overnight

Fruit flies are unpleasant creatures. They seem to pop up whenever you leave fruit out. All that it takes is one several-day-old banana and the next thing you know, you’re surrounded by dozens of little fruit flies. Although these little buggers are relatively harmless to humans (they don’t bite, they’re just annoying), they just keep breeding and breeding, and might even scare off any company that comes over. Thankfully, there’s a solution. Well, two solutions. You can get rid of the fruit that attracts them, by eating it, canning it, or, in the banana example, turning it into banana bread. […]

7 Tips to Grow the Perfect Tomatoes

Tomatoes are tricky fruits to grow. Some years you end up with the perfect amount of ripe, round, bright red tomatoes without having to tend to your plants. It’s as if they grew by magic. Other seasons you end up with finicky plants that need a lot of TLC, and you still end up with one or two fruits – not the dozens of seasons past. It’s easy to blame this on the environment or weather, or even on the efficacy of the plants themselves. After all, you just didn’t have good plants this year, right? It’s even easier […]

Plastic Sheeting Gardening Hack

Many gardeners count down the days until the winter ends because they’re just dying (not literally, of course) to get their crops in the ground. Rather than wait until the earth warms up and the last frost is far from over, start your season early by using plastic sheeting in to create a greenhouse-like effect. Plus, if you leave the sheeting up once the weather than changed for the better, you’ll have fewer weeds to deal with. Your garden will be magnificent thanks to this quick and easy garden hack. It All Starts in the Autumn Once you […]

5 Critical Tips for Proper Pet Care

Pets are awesome. There’s no other way to say it. As long as you care for them properly, they’ll show you nothing but love. This doesn’t mean that you need to spoil your pets, showering them with food, treats, and toys. Yes, you can do that, but your pets will appreciate you much more if you care for them in these five ways. 1) Spend Some Time Exercising With Your Pets Your pets want to spend as much time with you as possible. This involves playing and exercising with them. Depending on the type of pet that you […]

5 Tricks for Keeping Animals out of Your Garden

There’s nothing worse than dealing with a pesky animal that got into your garden. Your fresh fruits and vegetables get chewed on. Entire rows of carrots go missing. The leaves on your trees and shrubbery have tooth marks on them. Yes, these animals can cause quite a bit of damage, both to your edible crops and your ornamental ones. Thankfully, we have some solutions for you. Fencing In most cases, a fence will keep these critters at bay. It will prevent many large types of wildlife from even getting near your garden. With that said, some, like raccoons, can scale […]

Animal Trapping for Dummies

There are two main ways to get rid of those unwanted critters that are terrorizing your garden. You can either use a number of methods to repel them, or you can trap them. There are plenty of humane traps out there that will do the job nicely without harming the animal. These traps are a good solution if you have one or two animals that have been bothering you. Before you get started, check out this short guide to animal trapping. Everything will go much more smoothly once you understand the basics. Some Basic Rules to Follow When it comes […]

5 Tips for Using Manures in Your Garden

Manure is one the best, all-natural fertilizers around. Yes, it does smell, since it consists of animal feces. However, its many benefits far outweigh the stench. You’ll be glad that you put up with it when your plants are growing strong and tall. Before you begin spreading manure around your garden willy-nilly, take the time to review these five useful tips. 1) Don’t Place Manure around Your Edible Vegetables You might be tempted to use manure to fertilize every single plant in your garden, after all, it’s good for all of them, right? Wrong. You never want to […]

How To Build An Earth Oven

An earthen oven is exactly what it sounds like – an oven made of a combination of dried earth and clay. These ovens tend to cook things better than standard outdoor brick ovens, and are fairly easy to build, as long as you know how. History of Earth Ovens A type earth oven, known as a pit hearth, has been used for centuries. Examples of them have been found in Europe that date back to the Bronze Age. In the United States, they were commonly used by Native American tribes to cook large meals. Use of these ovens […]

5 Great Benefits of Having Succulents in Your Home

Plants help clean the air, add oxygen and any number of other benefits. The problem? Not everyone has a green enough thumb to keep their plants alive, let alone flourishing. Fortunately, you don’t have to have a degree in botany to enjoy having plants indoors; you have to pick the right ones. Enter the succulent. Succulent plants, or succulents, are a type of plant that displays parts that are especially thick and fleshy. This characteristic lets the plant retain water in drying climates and soil types in a similar manner to cactus plants. These wonderful little plants have become even […]

5 Ways to Clean Your Tarnished Copper Naturally

Sinks, pans, and various other items found throughout your home can be made of beautiful copper. You may even pick up something cheap at a rummage sale made from copper that is just begging for you to bring it back to life. The only problem with this kind of a metal is that over time, it tarnishes. It can turn black after being exposed to the air. A greenish-blue color occurs when it gets wet. Instead of dealing with unsightly looking cooper, you are fully capable of cleaning it up with natural cleaners found right in your home. There […]

How to Prune your Roses the Proper Way

Roses come in a plethora of species. Over a hundred of them are available to be exact. They can be climbing, bushes, or trailing with long stems. You can grow just about any color that you can imagine at this point as a result of cross-breeding different ones to achieve the desired shades. They are gorgeous, they have a pleasant aroma, and they brighten up the exterior of any homestead or home. That’s why they are one of the most popular flowers found in gardens all over the world. Even though roses are pretty easy to grow and to […]

The Best All Natural Fertilizers For Your Garden

Store-bought fertilizers can get expensive. On top of that, they don’t always produce the results you are looking for. They aren’t natural, so there’s no guarantee that they are going to work the way they’re supposed to. Instead of heading into town to pick up an overpriced bag for your garden, go to your kitchen and mix up your own batch with any of these natural fertilizer recipes. Egg Shells After breakfast, don’t toss your egg shells. Wash them up and crush them. They are 93% calcium carbonate. With that there, it’s effective to use near peppers, tomatoes, […]

8 Simple Ways Baking Soda is the Forgotten All-Purpose Tool

You can go through just about any kitchen in the world and find a box of baking soda. It’s one of the most widely used ingredients for cooking, cleaning, and even various beauty regimens. While the standard teaspoon required for baking is why most people have it, there are plenty of other uses for baking soda that you may not have thought of before. See what you can do with it besides make a cake. Cleaning without Harsh Chemicals The last time you cleaned your oven, there was probably some chemical used that gave you a hard time […]

10 Simple Money Saving Tips Everyone Should Follow

I remember seeing a news report on T.V. several years ago featuring people who are addicted to “coupons” shopping. I was fascinated by some of the techniques these people had developed to get products for practically nothing. As I was watching though, and later when I was looking at the coupon mailers we regularly get, I was struck by the fact that so many things that companies and merchants often offer coupons for, my family don’t use. Or at least, don’t use a large amount of regularly. As I was watching, I realized I didn’t see the point of buying […]

4 Completely Natural Ways to Rid Your Property of Mice

Mice can be the bane of the homestead pantry, and feed shed, and garden, and…well, you get the idea. One thing that is important to understand is you will never have only one. You may see only one, but there where there is one there is the potential for dozens more. With a very short breeding cycle, mice can overrun a food source in a matter of weeks if left to their own devices. For many of us, the first reaction to the idea of mice is to go out and buy some chemical bait that will get rid […]

4 Things Baby Chicks Need for Healthy Living

Baby chicks. Fuzzy and cute, warm and cuddly, they are adorable beyond words. Sometimes called the “gateway drug” to adding animals to a homestead, the chickens these chicks grow into can add any number of benefits to your property, from pest control to fresh eggs to a Sunday Roast. If you are contemplating joining the thousands of people across the world to raise their own chickens for meat and eggs, here are some things you will need to be prepared with. A Brooder Brooder is a fancy way of saying container. When you first receive your chicks, they […]

Avoid Using Harsh Chemicals with These 6 Homemade Cleaners

House cleaning can be a drag, but house cleaning while wearing a gas mask is just wrong. So, why does it seem like so many of the available cleaners on the market today practically require a full haz-mat suite? If you are tired of dreading housework because of the inevitable headaches and respiratory problems that can be experienced by cleaners, consider instead mixing up your own with any or all of the options below. Full Strength White Vinegar Use this wonder product straight from the bottle to remove calcium and other hard water deposits from your shower, sink, counters […]