Homesteading

If you’ve got your heart set on homesteading, but you’re currently cooped up in an apartment, it’s easy to feel like your dream will never come to pass. Without land of your own and space to do all of the things you need to on a working homestead, you might as well give up, right? … Read more

Taking care of chickens is just as much art as science. I say that because, even if you’re just a backyard chicken owner, getting them to live in harmony with the environment around them can be tricky… Chickens make a mess when they’re kept confined in the run for a long period of time, and … Read more

Beekeeping is a great pastime, and more than that, it is a productive and potentially lucrative one… Bees are crucially important pollinators that can help out your own crops and garden, as well as those belonging to your neighbors. By taking care of them, you’ll be rewarded with lots and lots of golden, delicious honey. … Read more

Nothing beats homemade food. Absolutely nothing. If your family is like mine, you’ve probably got a signature recipe or two that everyone who tries it claims can beat all the others in the county, if not the state. If it’s that good, you might think, why not start selling it for a profit yourself? Lots … Read more

A good chicken coop will be elevated off the ground slightly; this helps it stay dry, warmer, and also helps to deter predators. But even though your chickens are pretty adventurous and nimble, you don’t want them jumping up and down to get in and out of the coop. That can easily result in injury … Read more

Gardeners know that one of the best possible resources you can use to improve the health of your plants is compost. This rich, all-natural mixture of decomposed organic matter provides tons of nutrition to help plants grow and produce, but it also improves soil structure. Best of all, you can usually make it for free … Read more

I wouldn’t trade living on a homestead for anything. Being more connected to my property and living to live instead of living to work is rewarding in ways that go beyond mere money or simple pleasure. But there’s no escaping the fact that living on a homestead is often hard, hard work, and there’s a … Read more

If there’s one appliance that we all tend to take for granted, it’s got to be the freezer. It’s difficult to overstate just how important freezing is when it comes to food preservation. Compared to any room-temperature method, freezing food offers an excellent shelf life with very little effort, and frozen foods typically maintain a … Read more

Part of living on a homestead is learning to get along with nature. Let’s face it, we homesteaders have to see and deal with things that our suburban neighbors likely never will! Much of the time, this includes local wildlife. For some of us, that’s just part of the charm. But you know what’s not … Read more

Everybody who has owned goats for any length of time knows that they love to eat. But, contrary to what most uneducated folks think, goats won’t eat just anything happily and be glad to get it. Oh no, these critters are surprisingly picky! And that’s because they are browsers. Browsers don’t eat just anything in … Read more

Whether you are trying to stretch your grocery budget or you just want to preserve every piece of your hard-earned garden harvest, at-home food preservation is a must-have skill for the savvy homesteader. There are lots of ways to preserve food at home, including tried and true canning or freezing, but my favorite method is … Read more

When you imagine a homesteader’s life, what do you imagine? A wide-open pasture with a cute farmhouse, barn, and no neighbors in sight? That’s the stereotypical idea, and I understand the appeal. But this notion comes with a dark side… Lots of would-be homesteaders give up on their dreams of living a more meaningful and … Read more

Since you have landed on this article, it’s safe to assume you’re thinking a lot about homesteading. You might even dream about it, both when you are asleep and awake! I know I sure did. I couldn’t wait to get back out of the city and return to a simpler and more fulfilling way of … Read more

For so many people, having a homestead to call their own is a dream. But even if you own a property, the prospect of actually living that life can be overwhelming, even frightening, if you didn’t grow up that way. Let’s face it; most of us are so used to living “in the box” that … Read more

When most homesteaders think of making a living on their own small property, they probably think of subsistence farming—supplementing or even replacing trips to the grocery store with what they can raise and grow on their own… After all, there’s no way you can farm at scale on a small parcel to make a serious … Read more