Lyme disease is no picnic. It starts with a rash that slowly spreads across your body. Next thing you know, you have a fever, the chills, joint pain, and a terrible headache. In severe cases, you could have nausea and vomiting. If left untreated, Lyme disease can cause permanent damage to the heart or brain. Most people get Lyme disease after … [Read more...]
18 All-Natural Ways to Eliminate Ants
We all want to make our homes nice and cozy for our guests… except if those guests are ants. Sugar ants, black ants, fire ants--there are 1,000 species of ants in North America, any of which might be getting ready to make your house their new home. First, you’ll see one of them crawling around your windowsill and the next day… a whole team of … [Read more...]
3 Animals Every New Homestead Needs
When people talk about homestead animals, they're usually referring to cows, goats, chickens, and other livestock. But in this video from Becky's Homestead, she talks about other types of animals that every homestead should have. For example, cats are great to have around because they keep mice and rats away. Also, livestock feed tends to … [Read more...]
10 Predators to Beware Of On Your Homestead
Homesteading life is filled with lots of fulfilling work, dirty jobs, great joys, and sometimes, tragic sorrow. The one sure way for a homestead to fail, and fail quickly, is to allow a predator problem to go unchecked. When wild animals are not taught farm avoidance, it will result in not only heartache, but wasted money, and a lot less food to … [Read more...]
8 Best Dog Breeds for Homesteaders
You’ve outfitted your homestead with a garden, stockpiles of food, fortified windows, and the ultimate backyard BBQ area. Your kingdom is almost complete! There is only one thing missing: your four-legged friend! A house isn’t a home without companionship, especially when you have kids around. When it comes to selecting a pup that is going to be … [Read more...]
9 Questions to Ask Before You Start Beekeeping
Beekeeping can be incredibly rewarding both to the beekeeper and the entire community as the bees go to work pollinating crops, regardless of fence line boundaries. Though bees are one of the few homestead animals that largely feed themselves, tending them can require a huge investment of time and money, especially if you're not prepared before you … [Read more...]
How to Install Packaged Bees
With all that is happening with the bee population declining, I expect there will be a sizable bump in the number of beekeepers in America. Last time I checked, the government was even paying a stipend for beekeepers. Why can’t we have a chicken shortage? I wouldn’t mind a nice stipend for my mean old hens out back. That said, this is an … [Read more...]
5 Best Farm Animals To Raise On Your Homestead
There is a seemingly endless array of livestock options. To decide which animals are right for your homestead, you'll need to consider several factors, among which are the size of your homestead, your end goal with livestock, and the time you'll have to spend taking care of them each day. Maybe being available to milk a dairy cow twice a day … [Read more...]
