The Free Seed Program Most Americans Have No Idea About
Today I want to share with you something I find really exciting. This is the kind of news any homesteader and gardener would go crazy about. Did you...
Chicken Treats – What to Feed, What to Avoid, and 7 Easy DIY Treats From the Homestead
Walk out to the run with a bowl in your hand and watch what happens. Every hen in the yard comes sprinting, wings out, like you are carrying gold....
2027 Homestead Upgrades to Secure Your Water, Power, and Food
Last year my homestead went two days without power. A storm came through, a line went down somewhere up the road, and that was that. That was the...
Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies – A From-Scratch Homestead Recipe With a DIY Flour Blend
A good chocolate chip cookie is one of those small comforts every kitchen should be able to turn out, even when someone at the table cannot eat...
Worm Castings – How I Use This Homestead Black Gold in Beds, Pots, and Seed Trays
The first time I harvested a worm bin, I had a bucket of dark, crumbly castings and no real plan for them. I dumped most of it around one tomato...
Why Buying Honey in Bulk is the Ultimate Homesteading Move
Yesterday, I was standing in the pantry trying to remember what I had gone in there for when I noticed a jar sitting on the shelf. I picked it up...
Airtight Container for Seed Storage: How I Keep My Seeds Alive for Years
The first time I lost a whole year of saved seed, it was not to mice or mold I could see. It was a shoebox of paper envelopes on a shelf in a...
7 Amish Greenhouse Hacks That Will Save You Money
Something I've noticed over the years is that when homesteaders get stuck on a problem, sooner or later somebody starts looking at how the Amish do...
How to Turn Your Backyard Into a Nature Discovery Area for Kids
A backyard doesn't need to be large, perfectly landscaped, or filled with expensive equipment to become an exciting place for children. Even a...
Canning Jalapeños: Safe, Tested Ways to Preserve Your Pepper Harvest
Every August, my jalapeño plants go from a handful of peppers a week to more than I can give away. The neighbors start avoiding eye contact when...
Why Homesteaders Are Hanging Garlic in Their Chicken Coops
Each time I visited a fellow homesteader, I started noticing something: they all had garlic in their chicken coops. I also braid garlic and keep it...
Outdoor Electric Cooker: Why I Moved My Summer Cooking Outside
Every July, my kitchen turns into a sauna. Between canning tomatoes, simmering beans, and roasting whatever the garden throws at me, the stove runs...
7 “Must-Have” Kitchen Tools That Are a Waste of Money
If you cook from scratch or put up jars of what comes out of the garden, you know how this goes. There’s always a new and miraculous kitchen gadget...
Dehydrated Lemon: How I Dry, Store, and Use Lemons All Year
There's a point every winter when the lemons pile up faster than I can use them. A neighbor drops off a grocery bag full from her tree, the store...
Planting a Bottle Brush Tree: How I Get Mine in the Ground and Blooming
The first time I saw a bottle brush tree in full bloom, I honestly thought someone had wired red pipe cleaners to the branches. Then a hummingbird...
60 Ways to Save Money When Everything Gets More Expesive
Few people aren’t feeling the pinch of rising costs. More and more, the money that helped us make it through the month isn’t enough. The result is...
Soil Exam – How to Test Your Garden Soil and Actually Understand the Results
For years I fed my garden the way most people do, a bag of all-purpose fertilizer every spring and a hope that it was the right call. Some crops...
Why Burying Carrots in Sand Is the Best Thing You Can Do This Fall
You pull a good crop of carrots in the fall, more than you could eat in a month, and then you ask yourself: What can I do with all of them? Doing...
When Are Onions Ready to Harvest? How to Read the Signs and Save Your Crop
Every summer I get the same question from neighbors leaning over the garden fence: "Are those onions done yet?" It is a fair question, because...
How to Tell If a Chick Is Male or Female
Every spring I stand over the brooder with a cup of coffee, staring at a box of fluffy chicks and trying to guess which ones will lay eggs and which...
5 Homestead Layouts That Cut Chores in Half
You did the same chores today that you did yesterday. Feed, water, eggs, garden, then back inside. By the time you sat down, you were tired, but no...
How to Cook Chicken Feet: A Homesteader’s Guide From Cleaning to Plate
The first time I saved the feet on butchering day, I wasn't sure what I would do with them. For years I had tossed them into the scrap bucket...
Do Cucumbers Need a Trellis? Here’s What I’ve Learned After Growing Both Ways
My first few years growing cucumbers, I just let the vines sprawl across the ground because building a trellis felt like an extra project I didn't...
Why Your New Washing Machine Will Break in Less Than a Month
Something Changed, and You Noticed! You've probably thought this for years: stuff just doesn't last like it used to. Your parents had appliances...
What Do I Feed Newborn Chicks? Everything I Wish I’d Known
The first time a box of peeping chicks showed up on my porch, I stood there holding a bag of feed I'd grabbed off the shelf without really...
7 DIY Low-Cost Fence Options
A fence does a lot on a homestead. It keeps animals from wandering off, keeps predators away, and hopefully stops deer from eating your garden. It...
Cabbage Worms – How I Finally Got Mine Under Control
The first year I grew cabbage, I walked out one morning to find half my crop reduced to lace. I hadn't seen a single bug the week before, and...
25 Wooden Pallet Projects Every Homesteader Should Try
Spend enough time around a homestead and sooner or later you end up with a stack of wooden pallets. Sounds familiar? They turn up behind feed...
How to Plant a Banana Tree: What I Learned Growing My Own
I planted my first banana tree with far more enthusiasm than knowledge. I dug a hole about the size of the pot it came in, dropped it in, and...
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...
I Put Cayenne Pepper in My Chicken Feed (Here’s What Happened)
I went down to pick up a rooster and four new hens a while back, from the same old fella I've been buying birds from for years. He's kept chickens...
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,...
