Getting new chicks – especially if it is your first time, is quite exciting. But, if you fail to set up the brooder and start the little flock members properly, tragedy can strike. While there’s no need to purchase an expensive commercially manufactured brooder, the habitat must conform to the basic needs of the chicks … Read more
Keeping animals on the homestead reduces the family’s grocery store expenses, infuses more healthy whole food into the diet, and is often quite a joy. However feed storage is often an imposing obstacle that must be dealt with properly. If animal feed is not stored in a manner that prevents spoilage and rodent infestations you … Read more
Dandelion infusions and tinctures have been used to garner the high nutrient content contained in the flowers, leaves, roots, and stems, and also to harness the potential natural medicinal properties the plant parts contain. Making a dandelion infusion is neither difficult nor expensive, but it does require both time and patience on the part of … Read more
Honey and chamomile are two of the most popular additives to natural soap bars. Combining the two is to make, and the melt and pour soap base creates both a pleasing scent and feel when used. The use of honey in soaps infuses it with humectant compounds that help combat and prevent acne, as well … Read more
Chickens do not like to be dirty birds – they love dirt, and hate water. It is just that simple, fellow homesteaders. If you have ever had to give a chicken a bath – or wash off a chick with the dreaded “pasty butt,” you know exactly what I’m talking about. To keep themselves clean … Read more
Growing your own duck food may not only save you an enormous amount of money over time, but will also provide both a sustainable and more natural diet for your meat and egg birds. It is possible to do away with store-bought commercial feed entirely if you cultivate aquatic and ground food plots for your … Read more
Saving seeds so you can start a new crop the following season only makes good economic sense. Preserving the seeds from a tasty and bountiful vegetable, fruit, or herb harvest also helps you increase the odds of replicating the same flavor and yield the following year. Typically, seeds will last between 1 and 5 years … Read more
Caring for fiber goats is a fun and profitable way to have a homestead. Not only do they produce high-quality fiber, but they’re also entertaining animals that can provide plenty of laughs. And let’s not forget how beautiful that fiber is! Not all fiber goats produce cashmere – some produce mohair – but cashmere in … Read more
I think I have been homesteading my entire life in one way or another since I was a child. Perhaps I was inspired by my love of Little House on the Prairie and Grizzly Adams television shows that I loved, and my by Sunshine Family dolls. They were far more awesome than those superficial Barbie … Read more
Jewelweed is a drastically underappreciated “weed.” While you can eat jewelweed, it is most often grown or foraged it for its potential healing properties. While this attractive bush-like plant has many uses, it is perhaps most widely known for its antipruritic (anti-itching) value. This wild plant is an active natural ingredient in poison ivy rash … Read more
Adding fertilizer to a pasture or hayfield can help infuse nutrients back into the soil and bring about robust growth of highly nutritious hay or field grass for the livestock to eat … if you do it right. Making mistakes when fertilizing livestock areas can not only bring about a vastly disappointing hay or straw … Read more
Amaranth may not be a staple crop on American homesteads right now, but it should be. This nutrient-rich plant has been used as a dietary staple in many parts of the world for centuries. This beautiful and easy to grow plant that is often classified as both a grain and an herb, has long been … Read more
Leaf miners are a destructive variety of insects that can destroy a garden or orchard in a single season, or harm plants enough to drastically reduce their yield. These tiny black fly larvae leave pale lines or blotches on the plants they carnage. These bad bugs are the larvae of the Hymenoptera and Lepidoptera Diptera … Read more
Feeding goats properly is essential to the overall health of the herd, and to the success of any meat goat, dairy goat, or fiber goat homesteading operation. Goats are ruminants, so they have four stomach chambers. When they are eating the wrong type of food, too much of the right kind, or introduce feed changes … Read more
Growing herbs in the shade is a wonderful way to increase the amount of crops on the homestead to eat or use. There are a plethora of benefits of living on a partially wooded homestead, but having ample full sun growing areas is not necessarily one of them. If you live on a small homestead … Read more
