As the season draws to a close, some of you may have planted some of the elusive bird house gourds. (They seem elusive because I never can find mine until the vines start to die off.) But now what? How do you get these lime green beauties to turn into something for crafting? Well, its […]
Winter is coming
Yes we all know it is true, yet for a few more months we may flirt with denial. On the farm every season plays a key aspect in the whole of farm life. A season for planting and baby animals, a season for growing, a season for preserving and butchering, and now I am looking […]
Honey badger gardening gloves
So today I received a pair of Honey Badger gardening gloves. At first they looked like a costume piece for wolverine, or perhaps cat woman. I must admit, I was a bit hesitant. My sons age 6 and 7 were the first to break them out of the bag. “These are sooo cool! Are they […]
Gloria: our bottle pig
The main thing you need to know about raising piglets is that they are ROTTEN. They want what they want, when they want it, exactly how they say they want it. So don’t get any ideas that you are in charge, because your not. The pig called the shots in our home for nearly a […]
Ideas for making poultry easier to raise
Lets face it… Infrastructure is not glamorous. It my opinion, it is not fun (my Dad would say otherwise) Yet it is a necessary component of this thing we call homesteading. Outbuildings, electric, water, compost piles, animal pastures and garden space must be utilized to make working your homestead easier. It is hard enough with […]
5 homesteader skills you should know
Being a homesteader isn’t like a thing that you can wake up and one day decide that you are. It isn’t something you become after you move to the country, or even after you buy a pair of overalls. To me, being a homesteader is a state of mind, backed by skill sets. These skill […]
How to be a homestead friend.
I have never had a lot of friends. Growing up homeschooled I only a few close friends, and I was completely satisfy with that. Into early adulthood, I was never the “social butterfly”. I had a few friends from work, or neighborhood acquaintances, but never any homestead friends. Now that we have moved out to […]
Learn from my mistakes:Raising quail
This year we have added quail to our livestock resume. It was originally intended to populate our aviary. But after talking to a local breeder and finding out that they are not as cold hearty as the ringneck pheasant, we decided on putting them in a movable “tractor” of sorts that we could pull around […]
10 confessions of a homesteader
THIS POST IS FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT MEANT TO BE TAKEN AS ADVICE.THESE ARE TRUE STORIES. I have worked all day in the garden growing beautiful organic produce only to come in and feed my kids cereal for dinner. I have been snooty about chemical bug spray… and used a can […]
tips on how to make your vegetable garden beautiful
When you plant use string. I am HORRIBLE at making straight lines of seeds. Using string tied to two stakes for your rows insures even spacing and beautiful results for seeds or pre-potted plants. Weed your garden in the morning on a day that it is not going to rain. The morning means not to […]