There are thousands of ways to cook just about any natural ingredient. And if you are like me, there are vegetables you don’t like (and never believe you will) because of how you have always had it prepared.
Making Brussels Sprouts a Family Favorite
Category: How-To’s
Let’s get right down to it & teach you how.
A Practical Guide to Making Firewood from a Fallen Tree in Your Garden
Many of you may have gardens littered with fallen trees from strong winds or lightning. What are you going to do with all these fallen trees? The simple answer is: make firewood. There are certainly many alternatives to firewood in this day-and-age, such as gas and electricity. However, firewood is a very budget-friendly source of fuel in comparison to gas and oil. You may feel unsure of the how to turn fallen trees into neatly-chopped firewood. If this is the case, then this article was written especially for you!
Continue reading A Practical Guide to Making Firewood from a Fallen Tree in Your Garden
Home Economics, Deer Processing and the Value of a Buck, Part II
Home Economics
Deer Processing and the Value of a Buck, Part II
Up here in cold country, venison in the freezer is good insurance. That not only applies for beautiful NW Montana, but for anyone who spends the short afternoons of Autumn boiling hog bodies, dragging a deer carcass or plucking feathers only to tirelessly cut, chop and/or grind up meat. If that is you, you know the value of food put up for the winter. The subject of home economics is indeed one often learned by watching others or it might be taught by the unavoidable mathematics of stores on the shelf divided by mouths to feed.
Continue reading Home Economics, Deer Processing and the Value of a Buck, Part II
Deer in the Garden: How to navigate gardening with wildlife
Hungry animals are bold animals. They will walk right into populated areas for a quick snack. And apparently, my garden is fair game. Here are my hard-earned tips on how to keep them out of yours.
Continue reading Deer in the Garden: How to navigate gardening with wildlife
Top 5 Healthy Vegetables You Can Grow at Home
Everyone can readily buy vegetables they love at their nearest grocery store, but do you know that there are so many vegetables you can easily grow at home in no time?
Continue reading Top 5 Healthy Vegetables You Can Grow at Home
Grow and Harvest Yarrow for Insect Bites and Stings
I started beekeeping with two hives, and one was very calm and docile. The other? Uh, no, turns out they were Africanized and put me into the hospital. That’s another story you can read about here. But until we actually figured it out, we were finding ourselves with stings from just “more aggressive than normal” bees. Of everything we tried to soothe our skin, our family found Yarrow to be the most effective non-drowsy option.
Continue reading Grow and Harvest Yarrow for Insect Bites and Stings
Off-Grid Micro-Hydro Homestead
Microhydro Electricity Unplugged
Microhydro, its simplicity is so attractive. So, you have always wanted to do it . . . go off grid and be self-sufficient. What does it actually take? From everyone I have spoken to who actually has done it, the answer seems to be, “Take your estimated cost for time, energy and money and triple it.”
Still reading this?
Everything You Need to Know About Buying, Storing, & Using Spices
Spices have become an integral part of modern cuisine both in terms of health, and taste and many households prefer to keep them at home in storage. Correctly using spices can result in the best, most flavorful dishes you will ever have; however, that can be maximized after keeping a few important points in your mind. Here is everything you need to know about buying, storing and using spices.
Continue reading Everything You Need to Know About Buying, Storing, & Using Spices
Homemade Chicken Feed Using The Chop Rite
My how the chickens love this. It’s just what we do after fish night now. You can make homemade chicken feed from everyday scraps, but some scraps need to be broken down for them.
By grinding the parts that humans do not consume and feeding the chickens, we cut down on chicken feed and provide amazing nutrition to the girls.
We made this video five years ago when we first got our Chop Rite, and I don’t know why we never posted it. With five years’ experience with owning a Chop Rite, I can speak with some authority when I say that it was an excellent investment for our homestead.
Oh, and it’s still Made in America. The company used to be called “Enterprise” and once in awhile, you can still find an old Enterprise at an estate sale or in a dusty attic. They haven’t changed the design since they came out well over 100 years ago, so if you need Enterprise replacement parts, we have those too.
[youtube_sc url=”https://youtu.be/BidW_EQyR-g” title=”Using%20the%20Chop%20Rite%20Chopper%20for%20Homemade%20Chicken%20Feed” width=”500″ color=”white” theme=”light” autohide=”1″ rel=”0″ nocookie=”1″]VIEW CHOP RITE
Homemade Cheese
A friend has given me her homemade cheese several times, generally made from her goat’s milk. This is the single best reason ever to have milking goats (although the milk straight is really yummy as well). She invited me over to make some homemade cheese with her, knowing how much I wanted to learn for myself. You can do this with cow’s milk; the thicker it is, the better your outcome will be.
Deciding to DIY or Outsource Your Home Project
When you have a to-do list of home projects you need to complete, the decision to DIY or outsource is important. Whether the project is small (like replacing a porch board), or large (like adding onto your home), both DIY and outsourcing will present unique pros and cons. Before reaching a decision, thoroughly research what to look for in a professional. Also, carefully assess exactly what you’re getting into before you start a DIY project.
Continue reading Deciding to DIY or Outsource Your Home Project
10 Meals in 20 Minutes (or less) Using Home-Canned Ground Beef
Fewer skills more relevant to the family with a hectic schedule than taking time to pressure-can healthful foods for last-minute meals. One jar of ground beef can create fifteen different meals in fifteen minutes or less.
Continue reading 10 Meals in 20 Minutes (or less) Using Home-Canned Ground Beef
Non-toxic Pantry Items to Clean the House (plus recipes)
Our everyday products which we use for cleaning, polishing, washing and disinfecting are necessities that we cannot live without. Advertisements have been telling us that our houses are full of deadly germs and virus that may attack us and make us sick.
We believe that we are always surrounded by diseases that may just inflict on us anytime, and to make ourselves safe, we obsessively try to keep our surroundings sanitized by using endless toxic products that smell sweet but are full of harmful chemicals like phthalates, perchloroethylene, triclosan and many others.
Continue reading Non-toxic Pantry Items to Clean the House (plus recipes)
Things Besides Food to Have for Short-Term Emergencies
Snow storms, grid-down situations, extreme temperatures and social unrest, there are plenty of reasons you could be forced to stay inside your home for a few days, maybe even a week. Emergencies happen all the time and there’s no reason to assume they won’t affect you at some point, even though, until now, they were things that happened to “other people”. It’s time to get ready for short-term emergencies.
Continue reading Things Besides Food to Have for Short-Term Emergencies
How to Encourage Kids to do Gardening
It’s not easy to let your kids go with you to do some gardening tasks, especially now that there are now electronic gadgets to keep them entertained. But did you know that letting kids join to do some gardening tasks is essential, as this will help them to learn and develop skills when it comes to nature and science.