Making the decision to officially become a goat farmer is an exciting moment for many homesteaders. A few seconds later reality sets in, and you have to actually get to work figuring out how to actually buy and raise the goat herd. Keeping goats, be they dairy, meat, fiber, or brush clearers is not rocket … Read more How to Raise Happy Goats
Cultivating medicinal herbs indoors increases the homegrown seasonings and herbal remedy ingredients available on the homestead year-round. Unlike traditional crops, herbs and medicinal flowering plants do not take up much space nor do they require deep soil to thrive. Windowsill herb gardens were once commonplace throughout America. Growing your own spices or even an aloe … Read more 20 Medicinal Herbs You Can Grow Indoors
Learning how to can seems daunting at first, but water bath canning is easy! Once you get the hang of the steps, you will be able to can so many different things to store in your pantry. Jams, jellies, sauces, and salsas are at your fingertips. Before you get started, you have to learn how … Read more Water Bath Canning Step by Step
Dandelions have gotten a bad rap for far too long. They have summarily been dismissed as mere weeds, and get sprayed with chemicals to kill them every time their cute little flower heads pop up out of the dirt. Not only are these common backyard flowers edible, they may also boast natural healing properties. Dandelion … Read more How to Make Dandelion Salve – and Why You Should
Pigs, or hogs as we call them in my neck of the woods, are omnivores. The traditional farming and homesteading type of livestock are incredibly biologically similar to people and can eat nearly anything recommended for a healthy human diet. Hogs are largely “opportunistic” eaters. The bulk of a pig’s diet is based on what … Read more 150 Things Pigs Can Eat and 43 They Shouldn’t
Olive orchards can be cultivated on nearly all homesteads, no matter where they are located or how much acreage they sit upon. While these fruit trees are subtropical, dwarf versions can be cultivated outdoors (except during the winter months when they must be moved into a greenhouse or indoors). Starting an olive orchard also brings … Read more Here’s How to Grow Olive Trees
Permaculture may seem like yet another way of gardening, but it’s much more than that. At the core lie 12 principles that will guide you throughout your journey, principles that have stood the test of time, and will help you obtain higher yields from your garden. When we talk about permaculture, what immediately comes to … Read more The 12 Permaculture Principles and How to Apply Them
Wondering what histoplasmosis is – and whether you can get it from your chickens, an incredibly dangerous fungal disease? Yes, you can catch histoplasmosis, and not just from your chickens, but fron other birds as well. On the homestead, you can typically catch it as you clean out the poop by stiring up the funal … Read more Can I Get Histoplasmosis From My Chickens?
Making floral soap is a beautiful way to not only enhance the bar you are making visually, but also harnesses any herbal benefits the flowers, herb plants, or roots they may possess. The type of soap base you are using must be considered when collecting flowers to dry to suspend in a bar of soap. … Read more How to Dry Flowers for Soapmaking
Dehydrating food is a great way to preserve it for future weeks, months – perhaps years, depending on what exactly you’re preserving… I love dehydrating herbs in particular, as this makes it easy to store them for later use. Herbs definitely aren’t the only foods you can dehydrate, though. You can also dehydrate fruits, vegetables, … Read more 10 Foods to Never Dehydrate and Why
Have the dream to become more sustainable? Here’s what you need to know to get you started even if you live in an urban area, and don’t have much land, by starting an urban permaculture garden. Permaculture, a method of gardening, originally began in Australia and was initiated by Bill Mollison and Dave Holmgren in … Read more Urban Permaculture – The Ultimate Guide
Summer should be about lounging in the sun, enjoying crisp garden produce, and splashing in the water at the beach. And really, it’s all fun and games… until a heatwave rolls in, and you don’t have any electricity. Where I live, we are on day fourteen of a monumental heat wave (but who’s counting) and … Read more 25 Clever Ways to Survive the Heat Without Electricity
Stevia is a natural sweetener that is 200 to 300 times sweeter than sucrose – table sugar. The FDA has approved highly purified stevia for use in food, but has not done the same with raw stevia grown at home and used in the raw due to a lack of safety testing. This herb plant … Read more How To Grow Stevia… and Why You Should
Shea butter and oatmeal soap simply makes the skin look and feel great. No matter what scent you decide to use (if any) your skin will smell fresh and amazingly soft to the touch after using this simple melt and pour soap recipe. I used goat’s milk melt and pour soap base to create shea … Read more Shea Butter and Oatmeal Melt and Pour Homemade Soap
Learning to monetize your homestead not only allows you to make more money doing what you love to funnel back into the land, but can even lead to a full-time job working from home. Whether you are monetizing a homestead as a side hustle or in hopes of turning the project(s) into a full-fledged career, … Read more 33 Legal Ways to Monetize Your Homestead
Comfrey is a beautiful and medicinal herb. You can easily grow this shrub style herb plant in either ground plots or containers. Comfrey can be cultivated in an apothecary patch on the homestead, or used as part of an edible landscaping project in traditional landscaping flower beds. This healing herb typically grows to reach heights … Read more How to Grow Comfrey… and Why You Should