What Is a Homestead? The Complete Guide to Starting and Living the Homesteading Life
Somewhere between a backyard garden and a full working farm, the homestead occupies a unique space in modern life. It is a place built around...
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...
DIY Food-Generator in a Box
What if you could grow a whole season of food out of one big pot just by watering maybe twice a week? What if you never had to feed your plants and...
7 Seeds You Should Never Buy From a Big Box Store
Every year, the same thing happens. You walk into the local gardening store full of hope and preparing for the new garden, and there it is by the...
How to Use Cornstarch Around Your Homestead
You probably have a box of cornstarch sitting in your pantry right now, and you probably think it is only good for thickening gravy and pie...
Lactic Acid Fermentation – A Complete Guide for the Home Homesteader
Before refrigerators, before canning, before any of the modern food preservation systems we take for granted, people kept vegetables safe and...
These 7 Homesteading Skills Pay for Themselves in Under a Year
You probably already know the drill. You save seeds, you preserve the harvest, you keep a compost pile. These skills are the bread and butter of the...
Can Chickens Have Pineapple? What Every Flock Owner Needs to Know
If you keep backyard chickens long enough, you find yourself holding a piece of fruit and wondering whether it is safe to toss into the run....
What to Feed Pigs – A Complete Guide to Pig Feed for Homesteaders
Getting pig feed right is one of the most important decisions you will make on your homestead. Feed typically accounts for 60 to 75 percent of the...
10 Things You Should Never (Ever!) Store in Plastic Containers
You probably have a cabinet full of plastic containers. I sure do and some of these plastic containers are stained orange from spaghetti sauce, a...
Domestic Sheep Herding: A Practical Guide for the Small-Scale Homesteader
Sheep are one of the most forgiving livestock choices for a homestead. They ask for less than cattle, produce more than chickens, and reward patient...
DIY Closet Farming Guide
It may seem unusual, but a closet is an excellent location for an interior garden. Many people who try to create garden spaces indoors, especially...
How to Make Sour Cream at Home – Simple, Reliable, and Better Than Store-Bought
Store-bought sour cream is fine when you need it in a pinch, but once you start making it yourself, the difference is hard to ignore. Homemade sour...
How to Prevent Garden Runoff from Reaching Your House Foundation
This is one of those mistakes that you notice when it's already too late. Maybe you spent years building a beautiful garden and then you discover...
Lemon Balm Tea Recipe: How to Make It Fresh, Dried, or Cold Brewed
Lemon balm is one of those plants that earns its space in any homestead garden twice over. It grows fast, comes back reliably every year, and makes...
What Happens if You Bury Tea Bags in Your Garden
You've probably seen the advice floating online. People say you should toss your used tea bags in the garden and then watch the magic happen right...
Bulk Fermentation: The Complete Homesteader’s Guide to Getting It Right Every Time
If you have ever pulled a sourdough loaf out of the oven and found it flat, dense, sticky, or gummy in the middle, the problem almost certainly...
Quail Eggs: Nutrition, Uses, and Why Every Homesteader Should Raise Quail
If you have ever held a quail egg in your hand, the first thing you notice is how small it is. About a quarter the size of a standard chicken egg,...
12 Signs Your Canned Food Has Gone Bad
Has this ever happened to you before? You go into your pantry ready to grab a jar of whatever you canned last season you look at it... and...
How to Keep Deer Out of Your Property Without Building a Fence
Yes, they're cute and all, but deer are a huge problem all over the country. You might have encountered them in your garden eating your crops, and...
What June Says About Your Homestead
We started the journey of this series in the winter and here we are… It’s already June! How is time even flying this fast? This is technically the...
Beekeeping Supplies for the Homestead: Everything You Actually Need
Bees are one of the highest-return additions you can make to a homestead. A couple of hives will pollinate your garden, orchard, and surrounding...
The Native American Remedy For Mosquito Bites
Mosquitoes and other insects have been a problem since ancient times. Before the salves and topical creams, our ancestors relieved insect stings...
Cleaning the Chimney: A Complete DIY Guide for Homeowners
If you heat your home with wood, you clean your chimney. That is not a suggestion. It is a basic maintenance task that sits in the same category as...
This Is Why You Should Add Cinnamon to Your Lard
I keep two jars of lard in my kitchen. One is plain white, neutral, and good for everything. Frying eggs, making gravy, seasoning pans, you name it....
Chicken Diseases: How to Identify, Treat, and Prevent Them in Your Backyard Flock
If you keep chickens, sooner or later you will deal with a sick bird. It happens on every homestead, no matter how clean the coop or how carefully...
Katahdin Sheep: The Homesteader’s Guide to This No-Shear Meat Breed
If you have been thinking about adding sheep to your homestead but dread the idea of annual shearing, worrying constantly about parasite loads, or...
DIY Natural Noise-Cancelling Walls
Has this ever happened to you? Staying in your backyard on a nice summer morning, thinking about what to do with this beautiful day and then...
Stop Washing Fresh Eggs! (Do This Instead)
If you are raising your own chickens, or thinking about it, this is something to learn early on. Fresh eggs are not store eggs, and they should not...
Medicinal Trees You Walk Past Every Day
Every child has imagined living at Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, I’m sure you have too. You might not realize it, but you live in a world similar...
Top 7 Best States to Be Self-Sufficient
Every once in a while, somebody emails me asking the same thing. They want to know where in the country they should move if they are serious about...
Why Tap Water Might Be Slowly Killing Your Garden (And What to Use Instead)
Has this ever happened to you? You feel like you've done everything right, but something is still off with your garden. You’ve followed everything...
