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homesteading – Page 10 – Homesteader Depot

Homesteader Depot

Tag: homesteading

  • Growing An Edible Garden Landscape

    Growing An Edible Garden Landscape

    Gardening is a hobby that can be enjoyed by everyone. With the numerous types of accessible gardening methods available, physical limitations or mobility concerns should not prohibit you from growing a garden. An online search of photos of accessible gardens that creative individuals have designed will give you some ideas as to how you might want to design your garden. Keep in mind that accessible gardening is just like traditional gardening in that the design you choose and the plants you include can be tailored to your individual preference.

    Raised beds are a popular form of accessible garden. When you choose this method, you can construct the gardens so that they are a convenient height for you. The width of the garden can also be determined in accordance with the range of reach you have. If you have the space available, you can construct numerous raised beds in order to increase the variety and amount of vegetables you grow. Be sure the area between the beds is large enough for a wheelchair, walker or rolling cart if you depend on any of these items. A smooth surface area is essential for easy navigation through your raised beds.

    Garden tables are an ideal method of accessible gardening. They are ideal for anyone using a wheelchair or mobility scooter. Garden tables can be built to fit the space you have available. You can find some helpful information on how to construct a table garden from most cooperative extension offices. Table gardens should allow for at least a 6″ soil depth. Increasing the soil depth will expand the variety of vegetables you can grow in your table garden. A lightweight, organic potting mix is recommended for table gardens. This type of accessible garden will require more frequent watering than a traditional garden or a raised bed garden. When you plan the layout for individual plants, be sure you put plants such as beans, peas, squash, cucumbers and anything other type of vine along the edge of a raised bed or table garden. This will make harvesting the vegetables much easier and prevent them for becoming entwined with the other plants.

    Planter boxes and standing planters are an ideal way to create an accessible garden. You can create an individual garden design using boxes, planters and trellises by looking around the Internet and at local stores.  The shape of the boxes allow for easy reach and easy navigation around the planters. This type of garden is a great choice if your only available space is a patio or deck.

    An accessible garden is quite similar to the very popular container gardens that are increasingly trendy. To assure the greatest success with the plants you include in your garden, you can utilize the list of recommended vegetable varieties for container gardens found at http://www.highmowingseeds.com/Suggested-Varieties-For-organic-non-gmo-Vegetable-Container-Gardening.html. Don’t hesitate to try new vegetables in your garden. Gardening should not simply be a means of providing food for you and your family; it should also be an enjoyable and personally rewarding hobby.

     

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  • Adding Calcium to Your Garden

    Adding Calcium to Your Garden

    Calcium is an essential nutrient for a healthy garden.  If your soil is lacking in calcium your plants will not be able to transport other soil minerals to the leaves and fruit.  Obviously, this could lead to a variety of health issues for your plants including blossom end rot.  Having to purchase fertilizers can be avoided by adding natural sources of calcium to your garden soil and compost that you might already have, and might even otherwise be throwing away.

     

    Eggshells

    Eggshells are a great source of calcium for your garden that most of us already have.  The calcium in the eggshells will not immediately be plant available, so you can just add the shells to your compost bin, giving them the time to be consumed and broken down without any effort you’re your part.  But if you want to speed the process along a little you can rinse and dry your eggshells and then put them in a blender until they are a fine powder.  This can be added directly to the garden beds.

    Bones

    Bones will provide a great long-term source of calcium for your soil.  Dry them out in your oven or in the sun, then put them in several paper bags.  Squeeze and twist the bags so that all the bones are confined to one small area.  Then using a 3lbs mini-sledge, smash the bones until they are as small as you can get them.  Because these pieces will not be as small as your powdered eggshells and might attract scavengers like raccoons at first, they would be better put in your compost.

    Add Vinegar

    The thought of using vinegar in the garden might cause alarm, but vinegar could actually help you deliver calcium to plants in need.  How?  Well like I just said above, the calcium in bones and eggshells will require time to break down in order to become plant available.  This means that if you have plants that are already suffering from a deficiency they will not be helped by simply adding crushed eggshells to the soil.  But, if you mix those crushed or powdered eggshells with an equal amount of vinegar, shake or stir, and let it sit for about an hour, the vinegar will chemically react with the eggshells and will both extract the calcium and neutralize the acid in the vinegar making it harmless for your plants.

     

    All of these items are probably in your house right now, so there is no need to go spend money at the store buying fertilizers, limestone, or gypsum to increase the calcium in your soil.  Save yourself some money and help your plants today with these easy tips.

     

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  • 3 Tips for Steady Potato Harvests

    3 Tips for Steady Potato Harvests

    If you don’t have a root cellar, then you probably don’t want to have a 100-pound potato harvest.  But that doesn’t mean that you don’t want to grow 100 pounds of potatoes or more.  Instead of planting for one large harvest of potatoes, here are 3 tips for getting a steady supply of smaller harvests that could easily exceed the amount you could get from one large harvest.

     

    Plant Early

    While waiting until after the last frost to plant some crops might be the way to go, potatoes can handle cold soil well.  If your zone is particularly cold or winter is lasting a little longer than usual you can plant them under a layer of cover to get them out early.  Extending your growing season will increase the number of harvests you can get in a year.  Even if a frost comes, the potatoes will survive.

    Sequential Planting

    As much as the room in your garden allows for, plant additional potatoes as times goes on.  This will give you more small harvests, instead of one large harvest.  This will give you a steady supply and reduce pests, spoilers, and the need to store large amounts of potatoes.

    Variety

    Planting all of the same potatoes will mean that they will all mature at the same time.  It will also increase the likelihood of pests or disease spreading.  Even if you plant them at the same time, you will have weeks in between your first and last harvest.

     

    While soil conditions and other factors that are zone specific will affect the length of your potato growing season, these tips should help you to get the most out of whatever season you do get and allow you to enjoy eating the fruits of your labors throughout the year.

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  • DIY PVC Hoop House (Video Instructions)

    DIY PVC Hoop House (Video Instructions)

     

    It’s getting cold, and your crops are certainly feeling it when they are left exposed.  A greenhouse is a great thing to have, but they are also expensive.  A cheaper alternative is a hoop house.  There are lots of videos that people have put online of their hoop houses and how they built them, but they all seem to still involve framing out the back and front with lumber and putting a swinging door on.  These luxuries can double the cost and difficulty of constructing it for those that aren’t carpenters or don’t have the tools necessary.  Here is a video of step by step instructions showing how to make a PVC hoop house using only PVC conduit, rebar, rope, wooden stakes, and the plastic sheeting that covers it.  The hoop house in the video is for large row crops, but the basic design could easily be sized down to cover raised beds in your garden.  One detail that he does leave out that might help you is to leave the PVC out in the sun to heat up to make it more flexible.  And remember, even if your garden has already stopped production, having a hoop house can also add to your growing season by allowing you to start your crops earlier in the spring.  Hope this helps!

     

     

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  • 3 Things You Should Stop Doing in Your Garden

    3 Things You Should Stop Doing in Your Garden

    There is no one right way to garden, everyone’s resources differ and everyone’s approach will also differ.  That being said, there are some practices that will tend to yield better results, and there are some that should be avoided.  This is a list 3 things that people commonly do in their garden that you should not be doing in yours, and why.

     

    Tilling

    Tilling hard, or weed-covered ground to get it ready for row planting is a common practice.  But it can be counterproductive to the reasons why most people chose to do it.  First, it can destroy soil structure and kill beneficial organisms.  This can lead to the soil becoming more compact over time.  The other reason many chose to till is to clean weeds, but tilling can result in bringing weed seeds to the surface.  It would be better to save the money, time, and energy building raised beds that will never become compacted, and won’t have a seed store of weeds in them.

    Comfrey Tea

    Many people wanting to grow organically have turned to comfrey as an alternative, and for good reason. But while comfrey tea boasts many beneficial properties, it can take time an energy to make and can be a bit overrated. It smells like hog manure at best, I’m not exaggerating.  It takes weeks to get and space to store and “brew”.  The same advantages and more can be had by simply cutting your comfrey leaves and mulching with them.  In fact, the tea doesn’t even provide mulch, which will in time become food for beneficial organisms and become plant available on a similar timeline to making “tea” from the leaves.

    Using Synthetic Fertilizers

    Most of the people who chose to use synthetic fertilizers do so because they are cheaper than store bought organic fertilizers.  But a better approach would be to help strengthen the natural food web in your garden by supplying natural (and often free) food for beneficial organism.  You can do this by using green manure, comfrey, coffee grounds, wood chips, grass clippings, egg shells, and homemade compost.  Consider testing your soil as well, it might be more nutrient rich than you think.  Avoiding synthetic chemicals in your garden is healthier for the food web, your plants, and therefore you.

     

    Your garden is yours, you can do what you want in it.  But replacing these practices with the suggested alternatives will get you more enjoyment and more food out of your garden with less hassle.

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  • Benefits of Homesteading for the Kids

    Benefits of Homesteading for the Kids

    Kids today are very different from kids a hundred years ago, and the idea of homesteading and sustainable living might seem very foreign to them. This is especially true if you are introducing this sort of lifestyle to a child who has already passed a couple of years old. However, living sustainably is very important, and you need to be the one to guide the children.

    One of the first things you have to do is show them the importance of sustainable living. Explain to them why it is so important that they learn to reuse items and to learn to eat from the garden rather than the grocery store. Kids will learn a number of valuable skills when they are part of homesteading family that they would not have otherwise.

    There are many practical skills about living and survival that are no longer taught to children. Kids don’t know how to plant and grow food. In fact, many have no idea where their food comes from. This is especially true when it comes to meat.

    In addition, children tend to learn responsibility in homesteading households. They are given chores – just like children hundred years ago – and they are expected to complete them. If they don’t, it could mean that the family doesn’t have enough food that night on the dinner table.

    By having the homesteading life, children will become more respectful of the things that they have. In addition, because everyone has to work together to make this type of lifestyle work, they tend to have a much closer family life.

    As you can see, kids who are learning the homesteading life can find quite a few benefits. In the beginning, it can be difficult to get some of the older children involved, but with perseverance, they will come around.

     

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  • 3 Ways to Save on Raising a Dog

    3 Ways to Save on Raising a Dog

    Dogs can be expensive to keep, but they don’t have to be!  You can maintain a high quality of life for your dog while cutting costs at the same time.  Here are three ways to save money on raising a dog.

     

    Selection

    The first cost to consider is the price of the dog itself.  A specialty breed can easily cost you thousands of dollars, and that’s just to get the dog.  Then there are the health complications that go along with dogs that have been bred for specific traits.  One the other hand, you can get a rescue dog from your local shelter, through the newspaper, or on Craig’s List  $100.  Not only will you have saved hundreds of dollars off the bat, but you will save thousands in the long run as well with a solid mutt that has a not been inbred for generations.  You will also save a dog’s life, and reduce the demand for unhealthy inbred dogs.  Large dogs also cost more than small dogs, they eat more, need more medicine, destroy toys faster, and can have more joint issues as they age.

    Alternative Medicine

    Medicine for dogs can be expensive.  But there are alternatives to the typical products for common ailments.  One common and expensive medication for dogs is heartworm treatment.  Depending on the size of your dog, you can spend $500 a year or more on heartworm treatment alone.  And then there are intestinal worms, and other parasites.  A money saving alternative for all parasitic worms is to go to your local farm supply shop or look online for Ivermectrin for cattle.  The active ingredient for nearly all anti-parasitic medicine is the same, only the dosage and price differ.  Be careful when using Ivermectrin with Collies, some people report that their collies have died after treating them with Ivermectrin, but some also report this with standard heartworm medicine because they both contain the same active ingredient.  Do some research into using Ivermectrin with your breed online; pet owner and farm forums can be quite helpful To get accurate dosage and save money on supplies, get diabetic syringes.  The medicine can be given orally, but you need a syringe to remove it from the sterile packaging.

    Toys

    One of the most commonly overlooked costs of a dog is toys.  Quality of life is important! Also, you don’t want an unhappy dog, for one it will cause you trouble by digging holes, destroying furniture, and being more difficult to train.  But store bought dog toys are ridiculously priced.  The cheapest alternative is the age old stick.  Wood is great for dogs to chew on, as are bones.  They clean their teeth and provide them with the satisfaction of destroying something.  Dogs love destroying soft fluffy overpriced toys, but they don’t know what you paid for them so go to the thrift store and grab some second-hand stuffed animals instead.  You can also add a level of fun to the basic game of fetching a ball by putting the ball in an old sock and tying a knot to keep it there.  This will allow the dog to shake it the way it would prey after catching it.

     

    Dogs are great, for companions, security, or working dogs.  Don’t let the potential cost keep you from enjoying all the benefits a dog can bring into your life.  A little planning and thinking outside the box can greatly reduce the costs of keeping a dog, while maintaining all the benefits.

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  • Everyday Laundry Hacks for Off-Grid Living

    Everyday Laundry Hacks for Off-Grid Living

    Your clothes are not only going to get dirtier faster when living off-grid, but you will quickly find out how much more difficult it is to get them clean again, and how drying them can be even harder.  Washing an average sized load of clothes by hand will take you close to an hour, then there is hanging them.  And of course, while you are occupied with your laundry, you aren’t taking care of any of your other projects that all need your attention.  Laundry is definitely a big chore without a machine! These are a few simple and practical ways to cut down on the time and energy you spend doing laundry while living off-grid.

    Designate clothes

    Clothes that you wear to sleep in, then go garden in, will be too dirty to sleep in again on a single use.  But you can sleep in the same clothes for a week (your standards may need to adjust a little from having a washer and dryer) if all you do is sleep in them.  Designating clothes for sleeping, working in, lounging after work and re-entering civilization in will keep these clothes clean enough for their individual purposes longer, and make your laundry loads smaller.

    Air ‘em out

    Not everything is going to need to be washed with soap and dried on a regular basis.  Items such as sheets and towels can go longer between washes if you take the time to hang them out in the sun on a nice day.  Depending on your situation, this could make a huge difference in conserving time and resources since you will not need to use water that might need to be hauled. The sun naturally kills bacteria, so an hour or so in the hot noon sun can make all the difference.

    Indoor clothesline

    Especially during bad weather, it can save you time and resources to set up an indoor clothesline near a fireplace or wood burning stove.  You can’t always count on the sun to do your work for you, and if you are already burning wood, then you might as well get the most out of it.

     

    Off-grid living will come with its difficulties, but laundry doesn’t have to be one of them if you have a plan.

     

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