Better Than Concrete: DIY Cob Projects You Should Do Today
Cob building material is a mix of clay, sand, and straw, forming a sculptable mortar that dries rock-hard. Unlike concrete, it requires no permits, no mixers, and no special tools. Cob literally bends to your needs. With it, you can knock out functional homestead...
How to Preserve Milk for Years
Back in the day, people didn’t run to the store every time they needed milk. They had ways to keep it fresh long after the cow had been milked, even without a fridge. Sounds almost impossible now, right? But here’s the thing: those methods worked, and many of them...
Automatic Chicken Feeder That Needs No Electricity: How Do You Make It?
Chickens don’t care if you’re sick, busy or on vacation. They demand food daily. Store-bought automatic feeders? Pricey, power-hungry, and prone to failure. Five years ago, I jury-rigged my first gravity-fed feeder from a cracked bucket and leftover PVC. Today, it’s...
The Best Guardian Animals for Your Homestead (Besides Dogs)
There’s a description of dogs that protect livestock. They’re called “guardian” dogs. They protect poultry like chickens and ducks and even more timid livestock like sheep, goats and suckling pigs. The primary predators fall in a range from coyotes to foxes to...
How to Make Your Own DIY Homestead Defense Kit
At 3 a.m. one night, I noticed someone outside, wandering around with a knife in hand. When he got near the backyard, the chickens went crazy, then fell silent. I’d run through situations like this in my head before, but in the moment, my hands still shook. Then I...
Greenhouse Mistakes I Learned from Building My Own
I’ve built 3 greenhouses. And like so many things we do, each one was progressively bigger. Along the way I learned some hard lessons. Some were fairly immediate, others showed up as time went on or when winter arrived. Then again, I found some unique challenges in...
Can You Catch Bird Flu From Chickens? What No One’s Telling You
Bird flu has been spreading rapidly, wiping out flocks across the whole country. While its effects on birds are well-known and often fatal, many people are also worried about its potential impact on humans. Can people who care for birds contract bird flu? If so, is...
Homemade Amish Apple Butter Recipe With 12+ Months Shelf Life
Apple butter - this old-fashioned powerhouse food was a favorite among early American settlers. They relied on it as a way to preserve apples for the winter months. They liked it in particular because it didn’t require refrigeration and could last for months in cool...
Why is Rosemary So Hard to Grow?
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is one of the most beloved culinary and medicinal herbs, yet many gardeners find it surprisingly difficult to cultivate. Known for its fragrant needles and resilience in the wild Mediterranean hills, rosemary seems as if it should...
12 Amish Farming Secrets Every Homesteader Should Know
Unlock the secrets of sustainable living with insights straight from the Amish playbook. In this revealing article, we’ll explore 12 time-tested farming techniques that have powered Amish self-reliance for generations—methods so potent they were deemed too dangerous...
How Big a Greenhouse Do I Need?
Building or buying a greenhouse is one of the most exciting steps in gardening. But before you jump in, you’ll want to answer the big question: how large should it be? There isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer—your ideal greenhouse size depends on your goals, available...
How Planting in Rows Could Destroy your Garden
Most of us grew up learning that planting in neat, straight rows is the key to a successful garden. It looks tidy, it’s easy to manage, and it’s what every gardening book tells you to do. But sticking to those rows might actually be harming your garden more than...
19 Ingenious Ways You Can Repurpose Tomatoes
If you grow tomatoes on your homestead, you probably already know how wonderful they taste fresh off the vine. But tomatoes are way more than just a tasty treat for your table. Around the homestead, they can be used in all sorts of clever and practical ways, from...
How To Grow Food for a Year in Just 4 Square Feet
If someone told me you could feed yourself for an entire year from a space smaller than your dining table, I’d probably raise an eyebrow too. But there’s a little-known method, rooted in old survival gardening tricks, that makes it possible to harvest baskets of fresh...
The Native American Way To Self-Water Your Backyard
For thousands of years, Native American tribes lived closely with the land, while growing their food in some of the toughest environments in North America. They didn’t have any of the modern tools we have today. Instead, they learned to work with the natural...
Asparagus – Where to Plant: Complete Location Guide for Growing Success
Choosing where to plant asparagus might be the most important gardening decision you’ll make this decade. Unlike annual vegetables that give you a do-over each season, asparagus location is a commitment that will define your harvest for the next three decades. Get it...
Are You A DIY-er?
Whether you live in a 100 year old house or a brand new one, you are bound to have something break down or malfunction. The question that now arises is this: are you going to fix the problem yourself, or are you going to part ways with your hard earned money and hire...
DIY Solar Oven From A Pizza Box
Some foods are best served cold, but most are meant to be eaten hot. When electricity is down, or it ends up costing you a fortune, you’ll just make do with cold or room temperature food at best. But, what if there is a way to use the sun to heat up your meals? This...
The Best DIY Traps Against Property Intruders
In these tumultuous times, we have seen too many examples of riots, looting, and unrest sweep across the globe. Whether it be unrest following elections, protests turned riots, or pandemic related panic many events can see the criminal element and looters at your...
8 Easy Projects You Shouldn’t Miss From Your Backyard
For decades, Americans have been under the trance of aerating, fertilizing, and seeding lawns. The pinnacle of a front and backyard, was literally Bermuda grass and a white picket fence. The measure of a good yard was how vast an expanse of monocultured grass you...
How To Make A Pressure Sensor Pad To Know When You Have An Intruder On Your Property
A simple DIY intruder detection system could save your life. This article will detail the construction of a pressure pad alarm. Humans and large animals are heavy enough to activate the alarm, warning you of their approach. Throughout military history, the element of...
DIY Raised Beds For Your Backyard
There is a gentle dance when fresh herbs are added either as part of the dish, or generously sprinkled as a garnish to form a taste and visual duet of delight. Fresh herbs have a life to them, that is absent from those that have rested for too long in a packet in the...
How To Make A Simple Fire Pit In Your Backyard
Ever since man, or perhaps women discovered fire, there has been an almost magnetic attraction to sit around it. A fire draws people together, to cook, and share stories, to sit around it and talk late into the night. The warmth creates an invisible blanket of comfort...
25 Powerless Appliances for Your Homestead Kitchen
The kitchen is the heart of the home, it is where all our meals are prepared for our daily sustenance. The homestead life is a wonderful one, but there is no denying the fact that it is also extremely time consuming. With the busy lives, we live in today, it’s...
Canned Beets: A Long-Lasting Source of Nutrition and Wellness
Beets have been prized for centuries as both food and medicine. From ancient Greek athletes who consumed them for strength, to traditional healers who relied on their earthy roots to purify the blood, beets have always held a special place at the table. Today, canned...
Home-Cooked Meals to Keep in Mason Jars for 5+ Years
Canning home-cooked meals rather than keeping jars of individual ingredients, can be a viable alternative to MREs. Best of all you can make them yourself, at a much lower cost than the processed pouches sold in-store and online. Yet canning home-cooked meals and...
What Happens If You Cook Your Food In Leaves?
Back in the day, people didn’t have foil or fancy bakeware. If you wanted to cook something over the fire, you used what was around, and that often meant...leaves. It sounds strange at first, but wrapping food in leaves and cooking it right in the coals was a common...
The Weeds in Your Backyard You Should Start Eating Today
For years, I cursed them. Every Saturday, knees sore, I yanked weeds from my lawn and tossed them into the compost. It felt like an endless war. Then one frustrating morning, a neighbor leaned over the fence and asked, “Why are you throwing away dinner?” I froze....
How to Make Long-Lasting Flour from Wild Grains, Seeds, Nuts and Bark
Bread has sustained civilizations for thousands of years. But the foundation of bread has always been flour. Flours made from grains, seeds, nuts, beans and even bark. It should come as no surprise that plenty of experimentation occurred over those centuries. Once...
Ingenious Ways to Freeze-Dry Your Food at Home for 10+ Years Shelf Life
Most people think a deep freezer is the key to long-term food storage, but what happens when the power goes out? There’s a reason pioneers and survivalists alike have turned to freeze-drying. It locks in flavor, nutrients, and freshness for over a decade without...
How to Make Depression-Era Potato Cakes
During the Great Depression, every meal was an important act of survival. People had to stretch what little they had, and potatoes quickly became a kitchen hero. The Depression era was brutal. You’d toil all day—sweating, scraping—for just a dollar. Then head home to...
How To Make Survival Dandelion Jelly with 2 Years Shelf Life
If you’ve ever yanked a dandelion from your yard without a second thought… you might’ve just tossed away one of the most underrated survival foods out there. In a pinch, these so-called “weeds” can be turned into a golden jelly that’s not only packed with nutrients,...
10 Easy Ways to Turn Profit from Your Homestead
Typically, homeowners select a homestead lifestyle to enjoy a sense of purpose and a way to provide their family with sustainable resources. However, homesteaders often struggle to manage to grow their homestead while working a 9-5 job. So, is there a way to pay your...
6 Best Guns To Have Around Your Homestead
Firearms have a particularly important place on the homestead. You could be plinking cans, or you could be chasing varmints from your property. No matter the task, the right firearm is always going to make it easier. While we have never done it, we have friends that...
How to Prepare Your Homestead In Case Of a Natural Disaster
From disastrous wildfires to devastating hurricanes, natural disasters occur across the globe all the time. Unfortunately, after every natural disaster come chaos, fear, and grief. Moreover, there's no way of stopping Mother Nature from sending catastrophic disasters....
15 Things You Should Teach Your Children That Can Save Their Lives
When you are in the thick of rearing children it seems like a period in your life that will never end. It’s a whirlwind, the schlepping kids around, the constant cleaning, the worry, the cleaning, the discipline, the feeding, the lessons, did I mention the cleaning?...
Best Dog Breeds For Homesteaders
Living in a homestead without a dog, is like living in a house with no electricity. It just doesn’t feel right. Homesteads are renowned for having a four legged buddy around for security, hunting, or herding purposes. I can boldly attest to the popular line that says...
25 Things We Did as Kids That Would Get Someone Arrested Today
With all of the ridiculous new regulations, coddling, and societal mores that seem to be the norm these days, it’s a miracle those of us over 30 survived our childhoods. Here’s the problem with all of this babying: it creates a society of weenies. There won’t be more...
How To Secure Your Homestead Against Intruders
In an ideal world, the responsibility falls partly on the state, and partly on yourself. As states descend into chaos or become politically and ideologically compromised, citizens become increasingly responsible for their safety. Recent events confirm this decline and...
The Best Vegetables To Grow To Turn A Profit
If you are looking to grow vegetables not only for your own family but also for a profit, you want to know the most profitable options. This is a given. You don’t want to spend all that time planting and learning more about them to not make any money from them. I’ve...
How to Stock Up on Essentials Despite Inflation
Recent economic reports confirm what we’re all feeling at the checkout—inflation is steadily driving up the cost of everyday items. Let's talk about how to stock up on essentials despite inflation. A year ago, filling a basic shopping cart cost $100; today, the same...
Homesteading Skills You Need Before The Next Crisis
Homesteading skills were first defined by our pioneer ancestors. It’s essentially the ability to make use of available resources in our surroundings to survive. What they basically did was live off the land. Homesteading Skills Defined The skills that homesteaders...
6 Foods You Should Bury in Your Backyard
Three generations of my family have used the same backyard storage pit. My grandfather dug it by hand in 1962. These were called "root caves" by ancient Scandinavians. This simple, straw-lined hole helps keep our vegetables safe in harsh winters. Do you want to know...
How Long Do Potatoes Last?
Have you ever harvested potatoes on your homestead? It’s a feeling of pride, knowing that the fruits of your labor are about to become part of your next meal. Potatoes are such a staple in every kitchen, and the possibilities are endless. Whether it’s creamy mashed...
Common Plants You Can Turn Into Flour in a Crisis
Is it possible to make flour without using wheat? According to Grandpa—YES! Did you know that there are several common plants you can turn into flour in a crisis or before one? I can confirm it too, having experimented with a variety of plants that make incredible...
How to Survive a Winter Power Outage
Power outages are all too common and are usually the result of weather. High winds take down trees that take down power lines and ice storms can be worse. In fact, in Quebec, Canada an ice storm took out power for months across parts of Canada in Winter. So let's see...
This Water Source Will Disappear in a Crisis
Water is essential for survival. Without it, you won’t last long. That’s why, as a homesteader, making sure you have a reliable, clean water source should be your top priority. Don’t waste time on other supplies until you’ve secured this. Water can be more dangerous...
I Ate Only Canned Meat for 6 Months and This Happened
Fresh meat is tough to keep in your homestead pantry, especially if you ate only canned meat for an extended period. It’s an excellent source of protein, but it spoils quickly. Even in the fridge, it only lasts a few days. Frozen meat keeps longer, maybe a year or...
How To Survive In A World Without Water
For most of us, water is something we simply take for granted. We turn on a faucet in the sink; flush a toilet fill a bathtub or turn on the shower. It’s always there. But what happens when the water stops working? How can you survive in a world without water? In the...
Forgotten Nose-to-Tail Recipes Every Homesteader Should Know
Over-consumption is the norm today, making nose-to-tail recipes more vital than ever. This sustainable, eco-friendly approach uses every part of the animal, not just the usual cuts. Nutritious and flavorful parts like the heart, liver, and kidneys are often overlooked...
Home Canning Sausages for Maximum Shelf Life (10+ Years)
As a homesteader, ensuring the long-term shelf stability of your food supplies is a top priority. One essential protein source that deserves your attention is sausage—a versatile ingredient that can be used in meals from breakfast to dinner. Home canning sausages is a...
How to Stock Up on Essentials Despite Inflation
Recent economic reports confirm what we’re all feeling at the checkout—inflation is steadily driving up the cost of everyday items. Let's talk about how to stock up on essentials despite inflation. A year ago, filling a basic shopping cart cost $100; today, the same...
Homesteading Skills You Need Before The Next Crisis
Homesteading skills were first defined by our pioneer ancestors. It’s essentially the ability to make use of available resources in our surroundings to survive. What they basically did was live off the land. Homesteading Skills Defined The skills that homesteaders...
6 Foods You Should Bury in Your Backyard
Three generations of my family have used the same backyard storage pit. My grandfather dug it by hand in 1962. These were called "root caves" by ancient Scandinavians. This simple, straw-lined hole helps keep our vegetables safe in harsh winters. Do you want to know...
How Long Do Potatoes Last?
Have you ever harvested potatoes on your homestead? It’s a feeling of pride, knowing that the fruits of your labor are about to become part of your next meal. Potatoes are such a staple in every kitchen, and the possibilities are endless. Whether it’s creamy mashed...
Common Plants You Can Turn Into Flour in a Crisis
Is it possible to make flour without using wheat? According to Grandpa—YES! Did you know that there are several common plants you can turn into flour in a crisis or before one? I can confirm it too, having experimented with a variety of plants that make incredible...
