DIY

It seems like everyone is coming around to the notion that plastic can be bad news. With so much in our daily lives being made of plastic, including the things we use in the kitchen and packaging that’s constantly in contact with our food, long-term toxicity from microplastics is a hot-button topic. Accordingly, my family … Read more

If you’re anything like me when tidying up in the kitchen and around the house, you go through paper towels fast and furiously. Cleaning up a mess? Paper towels. Wiping windows, the oven door, and the microwave door? Paper towels. Drying my hands? You got it, paper towels. It’s easy to get addicted to the … Read more

When you want a no-waste kitchen, you get creative and learn to improvise, it’s amazing what you can get done with everyday materials that seem to have only a single purpose. Let’s look at coffee filters, for instance. Yes, I know they are absolutely essential for getting our morning cup of perk out of a … Read more

Spinning wool or mohair does not require a huge investment of money. Spinning wheels are beautiful – but very pricey. A handheld drop spindle typically costs less than $25, and can spin beautiful wool or mohair that you have raised on your homestead into a skein just as well as a large spinning wheel that … Read more

What kid doesn’t like play dough? I used to love playing with play dough and molding clay as a child, and I continue to enjoy working with it as an adult. Salt dough is a form of play dough that you can easily make out of flour, salt, and water. You can use it to … Read more

Building a bathroom vanity out of barnwood and making a sink from a galvanized tub yourself can turn out just like the ones showcased on Pinterest. The only cost we had in our new bathroom vanity stemmed from a few pieces of pipe and the nozzles to make the faucet. We even used barnwood to … Read more

Flannel boards (or felt boards, if you prefer) are low tech learning aids that are rarely used in school classrooms anymore, but they used to be a staple in elementary schools and Sunday school classrooms. About a year ago, I got online to buy a flannel board to use with the learning sets I was … Read more

Making natural dyes from plants, weeds, vegetables, and fruit is a fun way to repurpose harvested garden plants and make all natural non-toxic dyes for a myriad of sewing and fiber arts projects. Some homesteaders cultivate a “dye garden” just to have enough beautiful plants, herbs, and weeds on hand to dye the wool they … Read more

The corn plant might be the most useful item growing in your garden right now. It is simple to grow and pick, a bit of a time-consuming pain to preserve, and offers the chance to use not just the yield from the plant, but the entire plant itself around your homestead. If you grew up … Read more

How do you make a free playground area on your homestead? Well, go shopping in your husband’s junk piles, garage, and sheds…of course. Keeping your eye out for so-called junk on the side of the road is also a great idea. Sadly, far too many folks throw away outdoor recreational items simply because they are … Read more

It isn’t finished yet, but here’s how our kids’ pallet play fort is coming along.