15 Tools That Should Not Be Missing From Your Gardening Kit
Having the right tools can make all the difference between a thriving garden and a struggling one. With the proper tools, you can ensure healthy planting, adequate maintenance, and effective care of your garden. However, choosing the right gardening tools can be a...
Why You Should Add Calendula To Your Garden
Calendula seems like a mouthful, but most of you have probably admired this colorful, flowering plant for years without knowing its name or perhaps calling it by another name: pot marigold. Not the same as your typical marigolds (though those can also be beneficial),...
9 Signs You’ve Got Rats
Hearing a scratching noise, dirty runways, and smelling an unpleasant odor have freaked you out? As rats are active only at night, it's always tricky for homeowners to determine if they have gotten a rat infestation. Let's talk about 9 signs you've got rats. If you...
Plant These To Keep The Pests Away
Are you tired of seeing your lovely plants eaten away by pests you've spent months nourishing? If so, then it's time to consider planting pest-repelling greenery in your garden. As a gardening enthusiast, it's always a struggle to protect your plants against...
Weeds You Should Never Pull From Your Backyard
The image of a gardener down on their knees, hard at work pulling weeds is one that we probably remember from watching our grandparents gardening. However, there comes a time when every gardener realizes that some weeds need to be left alone because they are actually...
Deadly Bugs For Your Crops
Your garden is disappearing and you don't know why. Cabbage rotting, fruits falling apart in your hands, leaves sad and yellowed; what is going on? Then, you turn over a leaf and you see them. These evil things: insect eggs. Even worse, you know what they are and you...
Vegetable Planting “Tips” That Ruined My Crops
People give all kinds of tips on how to grow vegetables; unfortunately, sometimes it’s terrible advice. Most of the time, people give advice that works very well in a particular climate and soil type, but they fail to specify their conditions. So, when people with...
Stop Making These Dangerous Pest Control Mistakes
Pests in your home and on your outdoor adventures are troublesome and can be downright dangerous, so naturally, we want to control them. From mosquitoes buzzing in your ears to ants marching over your kitchen counters to cockroaches scurrying away when you turn on the...
Foods That Are Safe To Preserve In a Water Bath Canner
When you want to can your favorite produce, water bath canning is the best way to do it. However, it’s not meant for all foods because the food is processed at a lower temperature than a pressure canner. Therefore, it is most effective for foods that are highly acidic...
How To Preserve Food Without Electricity
Preserving food without electricity may seem like a daunting task in our modern, technology-driven world. But with some tried-and-true methods, you can keep your fruits, vegetables, and meats, and stay fresh for extended periods – no power required! Whether you're...
Stop Throwing Away Stale Bread. Do This Instead
Failing to eat your bread before it turns stale is extremely frustrating, and as a homesteader, the last thing you want to do is waste it. But fear not, there’s no need to throw your stale bread in the trash because there are plenty of creative ways to breathe new...
What Went Wrong With Your Bread?
Few things can rival the enticing aroma of fresh bread straight out of the oven, boasting a delightful combination of fragrance and fluffiness. Once you embark on the journey of baking your own bread, the chances are that commercial bakery products may no longer hold...
Never Store These 10 Foods Together
Whether you're storing your food in a chilly root cellar for the winter or you're simply looking for tips as to what not to do in your kitchen, you've come to the right place. Today, we'll be looking at foods that detract from one another by being forced into...
Ingenious Ways To Preserve Cheese At Home
Perhaps you've had an extremely bountiful milking season and you have nothing to do with the excess milk as you clean out your freezer (probably in preparation for hunting season). What do you do? And how do you turn it into something that won't go to waste? There's a...
Fermenting vs Pickling
Fermenting and pickling are food preservation techniques that have been used for centuries to boost the flavors and shelf life of certain foods. They are often mistaken as the same, while both methods preserve food, they are significantly different in terms of the...
How To Make Long-Lasting Tallow For Survival
Beef tallow is fat that’s cooked down from rump roast, ribs, steaks, or any other cut of meat of the cow. For this article, I use leaf fat from my local butcher shop which usually surrounds and protects the organs in the abdominal cavity. You can use any type of fat...
Ingenious Uses for Egg Cartons
Have you been tossing out egg cartons in your yard, thinking they're useless? If so, it's time to gather those cartons and turn them into something productive! Not sure what I'm talking about? Keep reading to get all the details. Living on a farmstead, I've always...
Better Than a Faraday Cage
My dad is living with me and my family. He just had his 80th birthday, but he’s very sick and bedbound. To top it all off, he also needs dialysis three times a week and because he cannot just go to a hospital, we have an at-home dialysis device. I can’t afford to have...
12 Types of Wood You Should Never Burn
Most homesteaders plan on using wood for heating and cooking, in the event that the power goes out. That makes sense, as mankind has been using wood for cooking and heating ever since our ancestors first harnessed fire to their use. Wood is a renewable resource and...
How To Purify Water Off Grid
There are various ways to purify water off the grid, which means without relying on a centralized water treatment facility. How to purify water off grid? The choice of method depends on the specific circumstances and available resources. Here are some common off-grid...
Don’t Throw Away Your Wood Ash! Do This Instead
Some people make a habit of cleaning out wood ash from their fireplaces and their fire pits and throwing it away. This blows my mind; wood ash is so useful in day-to-day life. Are you raising your brows yet? Think I've lost my mind? Join me for a journey into wood ash...
Off Grid Water Heaters
Living off-grid for a decade, I've tested various off grid water heaters. Solar ones are great on sunny days, though not so effective when clouds roll in. Wood-burning heaters warm us up and cook our meals, but gathering firewood takes effort. Geothermal systems are...
Native American Tips for Living Off the Land
Native Americans mastered the art of existing in the wild long before modern conveniences, but how was that even possible? In the past, Native Americans have been the rulers of the land since ancient times. They had unique skills to live off the land and always kept...
Modular Backyard Power Plant Review
I’ve always been a fan of Ron Melchiore. The guy has been living completely off-grid for the last 43 years, relying on systems like a modular backyard power plant to generate his own energy. And in all this time, a wire from the grid has never been connected to any of...
