If you're a gardener, you probably spend a good deal of time thinking about how to prevent weeds from taking over your beds. When left unchecked, weeds can take valuable space and nutrients away from our plants. Pulling weeds that do take root can be a time-consuming and arduous task. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a weed as “a plant … [Read more...]
16 Reasons To Stockpile Raw Honey
What do you look for when choosing foods for your emergency pantry? Long shelf life? Easy storage? Multiple uses? You can check off all three of these requirements with raw honey. Raw honey not only is a tasty natural sweetener, but it is anti-viral, antibacterial, and anti-fungal. It is easily is of the healthiest substances on earth. Honey … [Read more...]
Top 10 Herbs That Every Homesteader Should Grow
You probably already know that, in addition to adding flavor to food, many herbs have abundant medicinal properties. However, as we have come to rely more and more on the medical community to treat common physical ailments, many of us have forgotten how to use these plants to promote healing in our bodies. Since most herbs are easy and … [Read more...]
How To Read The Language Of Nature
Tristan Gooley writes in his book, The Lost Art of Reading Nature's Signs, that it is “not the map that should make sense of the land, but the land that will make a map for us.” Although we have access to more information than ever before in history, many of us have lost the ability to learn from an ancient and wise teacher: Mother Nature. It is … [Read more...]
9 Natural Remedies You Can Find In Your Kitchen
Diving into natural remedies can feel like a dangerous rabbit hole. You find yourself reading more and more, and adding tons of herbs to your online shopping carts. Many people fear that relying on natural remedies will cost them extra money, but that’s far from the truth. In fact, many of the items in your kitchen can act as natural remedies. … [Read more...]
10 Ways to Preserve Fresh Herbs So They Won’t Go To Waste
Waste not, want not. According to the Dictionary of American Proverbs, this well-known saying can be traced back to 1772. It is a mantra for many homesteaders. Herbs are delicious straight from the garden, but their freshness can fade quickly. You should discard herbs when their leaves turn dark or brittle, or if their stems show any traces of … [Read more...]
5 Homemade Healing Salve Recipes From 100 Years Ago
What did our ancestors use when they had wounds and sore muscles? I can tell you what they didn’t do; they didn’t run to Wal-Mart and purchase an antibiotic ointment or a sore muscle rub. Instead, our ancestors understood how to use herbs and other ingredients to create healing salves for what ailed them. Intrigued? I was, too! Learning how to … [Read more...]
How to Make Infused Oils From Common Weeds
Your backyard is a growing pharmacy; you just have to know where to look. The common weeds on your property contain fantastic healing and medicinal properties. With these weeds, you can create infused oils for homemade salves and ointments, or dry the herbs for herbal baths or herbal teas. Before you consider using backyard weeds for medicinal … [Read more...]
18 Unusual Home Remedies That Actually Work
More and more people are turning to home remedies rather than using pharmaceutical medications that may contain harmful ingredients and synthetic chemicals. Some of these remedies might seem very strange to you, especially if you’re used to popping a pill for every ailment, but people have been using them for decades--in some cases, centuries--to … [Read more...]
10 Herbs and Flowers That Can Ease Your Aches and Pains
Nature has provided everything we need to survive, including medicinal plants that relieve migraines, clear up rashes, ease aches and pains, reduce swelling and bruising, and treat various illnesses. At one time, natural remedies were used in homes every day. Carefully cultivated herb gardens supplied medicine for the family and were often shared … [Read more...]
How to Eliminate Ticks and Prevent Lyme Disease
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...]
Off Grid Living: 15 Toilet Paper Alternatives
We can all agree that one of the worst feelings in the world is when you have to do a number two, and there’s no toilet paper. A special kind of panic sets in, and now you’re doing a weird little dance as you scurry around the house to try and find something to wipe with. It’s a race against time; your body can only hold it in for so long while … [Read more...]
7 Natural Cleaning Recipes for Your Whole House
Once upon a time, cleaning the house meant covering every surface in products purchased from the nearest store. The manmade ingredients certainly stripped the place of germs and left behind a pleasant scent, but they also contained unsavory elements that left toxins lingering around the house and in the air. These products, no matter how … [Read more...]
10 Amazing Uses for Activated Charcoal
At one time, activated charcoal was considered a universal antidote for a wide range of conditions. With the advent of modern medicine, the popularity of activated charcoal declined. However, in recent years it has seen a bit of a resurgence, especially among the alternative medicine community. In this article, we’ll take a look at what … [Read more...]
7 Perennial Herbs to Plant for Culinary and Medicinal Use
Credible clinical studies verify that many herbs have significant medicinal benefits… and oh yeah, they taste good, too. Planting and growing herbs is surprisingly simple, and you don’t need an herb garden to do it. Many people make herbs a part of their regular garden, planting in between the flowers and the groundcover. Herbs also grow well in … [Read more...]
Aloe Vera: How to Grow It and How to Use It
You’ve probably heard about the healing powers of the aloe vera plant for sunburn, but did you know it can also be used as a hair conditioner, as a liquid tonic, and to treat other skin conditions? What’s even better is that aloe vera is easy to grow and would be a great addition to your homestead’s indoor and, possibly, your outdoor garden. A … [Read more...]
7 Natural Mosquito Repellents and Traps That Really Work
Zika Virus. Dengue Fever. Malaria. West Nile Virus. No, thanks. I’ll pass. While I’m certainly not going to sign myself up to catch one of these mosquito diseases… I also don’t want to drown my body in harmful mosquito repellent chemicals like Deet and other lab-created concoctions. So! I set out on a deep dive of the internet to collect all … [Read more...]
