Composting is awesome. You can create your own amazing humus right in your backyard, and there’s just nothing quite as nutritious for your soil as well-composed, beautiful homemade compost. Once you start composting, you might find you view your kitchen and home as a veritable goldmine! You might not be familiar with how many everyday
Most people think of rabbits as being adorable, quiet pets, but they’re actually great to raise for meat as well. They don’t require a lot of space, aren’t too expensive to feed, and well, breed like bunnies. If you’re interested in raising rabbits for meat, here are a few considerations: Laws First of all, check
A cold glass of fresh milk is a delicious, wholesome treat. If it’s non-homogenized, the higher-fat cream will naturally separate from the milk to be skimmed for butter, whipped cream, or to splash into a hot cup of coffee. The traditional skimming process, however, is a tedious repetition of scooping out the cream ladle after
One of the biggest draws towards homesteading is trying to achieve energy independence. It sure is rough out there today. Electricity costs are soaring and you probably know the feeling of dread that comes over you each time you open up an energy bill. Well, it actually is possible to be completely energy-independent, and never
Have you ever been tempted to try a wild mushroom but were too afraid? Everyone has an urban legend to share about a well-meaning hiker who ate a benign-looking wild mushroom and paid dearly for it. Undoubtedly, mushroom foraging is something of a science and deserves as much research before trying as gardening or raising
Last week, we shared the very cool idea to make a beehive using mason jars, so since it did not come with instructions as to how to actually start a hive, I thought I’d go ahead and follow up with that one. Bees are a wonderful thing to do on the homestead, or even in
You will never run out of uses for buckets on the homestead. You can use them to carry water, feed, dirt, rocks, even your harvest from the garden or eggs from the hen house (if you have enough!). 5-Gallon buckets are one of the essentials of homestead or garden life, and you may have experienced
It’s great having fresh baked bread every day, and while one of the wonderful things about homemade bread is that it contains no chemicals or preservatives, it also doesn’t stay fresh very long. Also, if you live in a warm place or somewhere with high energy costs, you might not want to heat your whole
If you are a homesteader, you have probably spent quite a bit of time trying to determine just how much food you can grow on your property. While growing your veggies and fruit, and canning them, is great, most people will also want to have meat on the table. You may have some livestock that
Cauliflower is a great vegetable. It’s nutritious, delicious, and has grown in popularity in recent years since it makes a great base for many grain-free dishes. If you’d like to grow your own, you don’t need a garden to do it; cauliflower can be grown in a container, if you follow the right steps. First
Companion planting can be kind of confusing. If something goes well together, does that mean it might not go well next to another plant? Companion planting is really important to understand and utilize, because you can really maximize space, productivity, and also repel pests, with the right combination. It is also true, however, that planting
When starting a garden, it’s crucial to know what kind of soil you’re working with. It will help you determine what to plant and how to amend your soil. All soil is comprised of three basic components: sand, silt, and clay, and varying combinations of these three components determine what type of soil you have.
This is a homemade recipe I’ve always wanted to try, and this fun and informative video on how to make your own hard candy at home is really great! Using simple tools and ingredients that you probably already have at home, (with the exception of a candy thermometer, not everyone might have that), they walk
Many people spend a substantial amount of money on homesteading. They end up spending far more than they should on all the latest and greatest gear and equipment. While it might be nice to have all those things, you need to realize that it is certainly not necessary. Just because you do not have a
Every aspiring or seasoned dairy farmer is familiar with whey, the byproduct of making yogurt, cheese, and other delicious dairy products. In the process of making many of these dairy products, the whey is often discarded, but it’s actually quite nutritious on its own, and can be reused in many different ways. Use in almost