Tag: homesteading
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3 Things to Consider When Felling a Tree
Cutting a tree down can be dangerous, even deadly. But it is something that, if you are homesteading, you will probably be faced with sooner or later, if not regularly. Felling a tree is not something that should be rushed into or taken lightly, especially if the tree is particularly large, or close to a…
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Developing Skills Prior to Homesteading
Given the drastic lifestyle changes inherent in making the transition from typical modern life to homesteading, preparation is a must. Along with gathering tools and resources, one should not overlook practicing the skills that are soon to be a regular part of your life, but which are typically unfamiliar to those living in suburban or…
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Going From Urban to Country Homesteading: What You Need to Consider
If you are one of the many people these days considering a transition from urban or suburban life to country homesteading, then you are in for a massive lifestyle change. This will involve things you may have never considered since they might not have had a large impact on you in your current way…
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Homestead (and Life) Lessons From the Great Depression
The Great Depression was one of the most harrowing periods of history in our country, and there are many lessons we can take from it. It dramatically changed our economy, our government, our agriculture and our people. We made it through the recent Great Recession with far less damage than the Great Depression, but the…
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Benefits of Bees for Homesteads
Bees can be greatly beneficial to the homestead. Becoming a beekeeper requires some knowledge, but it is still relatively simple to get into the field. Once you start to look at beekeeping, you will see that bees can provide a number of wonderful benefits. If you have a large garden that is meant to feed…
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Best Perennial Vegetables to Grow
If you are a new homesteader, one of the first things you want to think about when creating your plan is what vegetables you will be growing. You want to be as self-sufficient as possible, and that means growing and raising as much of your own food as possible. Of course, those who are new…
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How to Make Your Own Butter
You don’t have to have your own cow to make butter at home, although of course it helps. There’s nothing like fresh, homemade butter from your own dairy cow to make you feel like the ultimate self-reliant homesteader. But even urban homesteaders can easily whip (literally) up their own batch of delicious homemade butter with…
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Surviving Life Unplugged
Living off-grid can be a hard transition, and it may include life without internet or cell service, at least for a time. If you are considering at least a temporary transition to unplugged life, here are some tips to stay connected when you’re not…connected. Keep Your Smartphone If you don’t have internet access and/or cell service…
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Tips for Keeping Chickens Warm This Winter
We recently covered how to care for chickens in hot weather, but as fall seems to be whizzing around the corner, we thought it would be a good idea to cover how to care for them in cold weather, because it’s important to plan ahead. It’s simpler than you think really-chickens can, with the right…
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How (and Why) to Render Tallow
Tallow used to be commonplace a few hundred years ago, before it was replaced with mass-produced cooking oils like canola, corn and soy. What it is is rendered animal fat, (it’s normally called tallow for beef fat and lard for pig fat, but the same principles apply for each) and it can be used in…
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Dairy Cow Basics
Dairy cows are a wonderful addition to any homestead. The nourishment their fresh milk provides is liquid gold-raw milk is highly nutritious and can produce delicious, top-notch butter, cream, buttermilk, cheese and yogurt. I think when anyone thinks of farming or homesteading, they think of owning a dairy cow. If you’re interested in getting a…
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Top 3 Reasons You Should Be Growing Your Own Food
Whether or not you’re a homesteader, there’s no arguing that vegetables fresh from the garden just taste better than the ones you buy at the store. Even organic store-bought veggies just don’t have that same delicious taste that you get from vegetables that you grew yourself. If that isn’t enough to convince you to grow…
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Preparing the Homestead for Winter
I know, I know, it’s not even labor day yet, but it’s never too early to think about preparing the homestead for winter. The key to a safe winter is planning, preparation and foresight. If you’d like to homestead one day or get more off-grid eventually, here are a few basic tips for winter prep…
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5 Great Reasons to Get Goats
Goats are awesome. They’re fun, cute, useful, slightly weird, and low-budget and low-maintenance options for livestock. If you’re not convinced, below are five great reasons to get goats. 1. Milk I don’t know about you but I personally don’t need any more reason than this. Goat milk is delicious, and what’s better than loads of…
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Should You Be a Beekeeper? 3 Questions to Ask First
All over the world, people are worried about honeybee populations. Declining bee populations mean a decline in pollination, as well as a decrease in food supplies for birds. Basically, if bees disappear, we’ll be in a lot more environmental trouble than you might think. As a result, homesteaders everywhere are helping their local bee populations…
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Skills to Build While You Wish You Could Homestead
Whether you’re stuck in a cramped apartment in the city or living in a suburban starter home while you save up to buy land, there’s no reason you can’t start building your homesteader skills now, as you dream of more self-reliant times ahead. You can check out our guide to how to homestead in a city if…
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How to Homestead in a City
Many of us would like to be able to afford a plot of land in the middle of nowhere and set up an amazing homestead, but that’s not always an option for everyone. One of the big appeals of homesteading is becoming self-reliant. So while you may be tethered to an urban lifestyle for now,…
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Simple Green Laundry Hacks
When you begin learning how to eat and live more organically and self-sufficiently, it doesn’t take long for you to start noticing how other choices in your life could be greener. Did you know that more than 70% of natural streams in America have been found to contain traces of laundry detergent? Or that drying…
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Survival Gardening [Video]
Growing food in your backyard when its over 100 degrees for more than three months? How do you do that? If you are looking for something more than the usual “mulch and drip irrigation” answer…. Find out what the old-timers used to do, what plants will work the best, what not to do (if you…
![Survival Gardening [Video]](https://homesteaderdepot.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/survGarden-256x144.jpg)