Does a Faraday Cage Need to Be Grounded? Here’s What I Learned
The first time I built a Faraday cage out of an old galvanized trash can, I spent a solid afternoon arguing with myself over whether I needed to run...
How to Choose The Right Gas Generator for Your Homestead
Keeping the power on a homestead can be a real challenge. Especially when you have many appliances, such as a freezer, a well pump, a water heater,...
An Old Homesteader Told Me to STOP Doing These Things…
A few years after Mark and I started our homestead, we signed up for WWOOF, a program that connects people with farms and homesteads where they can...
Ranking the Best (and Worst) Firewood in the U.S.A
Buying firewood can be frustrating when you’re not sure what you’re getting. A load might look like a good deal, but after an evening of feeding the...
Reviving an Old Sourdough Starter
You open the fridge looking for something, and there it is. That poor jar of sourdough starter you pushed to the back months ago and completely...
How Many Jars Should a Family Really Can in a Year to Save $2,000?
Let's Run a Little Experiment! Saving $2,000 a year just by filling jars in your own kitchen sounds almost too good to be true. For a family of...
Oil Canning – What It Is, Why It Happens, and How to Prevent It
The first time I noticed waviness rippling across my barn roof in the afternoon sun, I was convinced something had gone seriously wrong with the...
Birch Tree Syrup – The Complete Guide
We've mentioned birch briefly in our roundup of backyard trees worth tapping, but it deserves its own deep dive, because birch syrup is genuinely...
The Real Cost of Starting a Homestead (And How to Cut It)
When Mark and I bought our piece of land, I thought the price on the listing was the number I needed to save for. I had it in my head like a finish...
Why You Should Drop A Cactus Pad in Your Water Bucket
Think about how much muddy water shows up around your place in just one month. The rain barrel goes brown because the roof was coated in dust and...
When Essential Home Equipment Fails – A Resilience-First Triage Plan
Self-sufficiency does not mean repairing every machine without help. It means understanding which household systems are essential, noticing failures...
These Crops Will Make You Rich
How would it be to cover all your property taxes, feed bills, truck repairs, and other expenses without needing to do anything other than...
The Worst Mistakes You Can Make When Buying Land
Let’s say you find a piece of land that checks every box. The grass is green, the creek is running, and you can already see where the garden goes...
7 Natural Amish Soil Boosters You Can Make for Free
The Amish farms in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, have been worked for generations, and they still sit on some of the most productive non-irrigated...
Faraday Cage for Generator – The Complete Build and Storage Guide
A backup generator is exactly the kind of gear an EMP or major solar storm could take out in an instant, and it is also exactly the piece of...
Too Much Zucchini? 10 Smart Ways to Use and Preserve It
This is one of the biggest and funniest problems homeowners have year after year. They plant zucchini and then the harvest is so big that they have...
7 Old-Fashioned Ways to Find Water on Your Land
If you own land, sooner or later you're going to need to know where the water is. Maybe you want to live more off-grid, or you just want to pay less...
Should You Paint Your Chicken Coop Blue? Here’s the Truth
Maybe you've seen it on a homesteading page or heard it from a neighbor. Paint your coop blue and the wasps stay away. The spiders won't build in...
How to Care for an Open Wound – A Complete Step-by-Step Guide
Knowing how to care for an open wound correctly is one of the most practical self-sufficiency skills you can have. Whether you are dealing with a...
Amish vs Mormon – Two Self-Sufficient Lifestyles
When it comes to self-sufficiency in America, two communities stand above the rest: the Amish and the Latter-day Saints, commonly known as Mormons....
Homemade Window Cleaner: Simple Recipes That Actually Work
Store-bought window cleaners cost more than they should, come in plastic bottles that go straight to the landfill, and are made from ingredients...
