Turning your dream of living on a homestead into a reality is very exciting. Creating a sustainable homesteading survival retreat truly is the best way to prep. But planning and skill honing is just as important when creating a homestead as it is when developing a survival plan. The one sure way to turn your dream homestead into a failure is by … [Read more...]
88 Old Wives’ Tales From The 1800’s
Has anyone ever dismissed a home remedy you used with the comment, “Oh, that’s just an old wives’ tale”? The phrase “old wives’ tale” is often used to describe an old cure or piece of wisdom that has been passed down through the generations. The “tales” include treatments for everything from toothaches to toddler misbehavior, and they vary widely … [Read more...]
The Easiest Way To Kill Flies
If you're at all like me and my family, you're going outside and back inside constantly. And if you also have pets and livestock, you're probably attracting lots of flies to your property. So until someone invents a way to get outside without opening a door, you're going to have flies buzzing around your home. I don't really mind having a few … [Read more...]
50 Amazing Ways to Upcycle Wood Pallets
A few months ago I shared a video about how to find free firewood. It wasn't about chopping down trees or finding piles of abandoned wood, but about searching your town for discarded wood pallets. As I said, you can find stacks of these behind grocery and department stores all over the place. Of course, you'll have to get permission from the … [Read more...]
35 Old-School Life Hacks That Used to Be Common Knowledge
You’ve probably seen numerous blog articles that list the latest “life hacks.” According to the Urban Dictionary, the phrase “life hack” describes any “tips and tricks that get things done quickly by automating, increase productivity and organizing… Formerly known as "good ideas." Long before the internet and social media, people were passing … [Read more...]
5 Biggest Challenges (and Solutions) Living Off Grid
Guildbrook Farm is a popular homesteading channel on Youtube and they've made several great videos such as 5 Ways Our Life Is Better Living Off Grid. After that video came out, they received several requests to talk about the ways living off grid has made their life worse. I like videos like this for a couple of reasons: First of all, they teach … [Read more...]
5 Things I Wish I Had Known Before Starting a Homestead
When it comes to homesteading, learning to expect the unexpected is crucial. No matter how many self-reliance skills you possess, things will run awry and epic failures will occur — far more often than some homesteaders are willing to admit. If I could go back in time a few years, I wouldn't change our decision to purchase a fixer-upper 56-acre … [Read more...]
50 Household Tips Every Homemaker Should Know
Being a homemaker is a lot harder than most people realize, especially if you have children. That's why as a homemaker, anything you can do to save yourself time, money, and hassle is worth doing. So start by checking out this list of 50 household tips. There are some really great ideas here. For example, fill a Tupperware container with your … [Read more...]
10 Tips for Urban Homesteading
The most common myth about homesteading is that you have to own a large piece of land out in the country. In reality, you can start homesteading almost anywhere. Granted, you won't be as self-sufficient as someone with a well, a huge garden, and lots of livestock, but you can at least be more self-sufficient than the average person, and … [Read more...]
150 Homesteading and Off the Grid Hacks
Over the weekend I was reading about homesteading hacks, and I came across two articles with a TON of awesome ideas. They're both from the same site. The first one is specifically about homesteading, and second is about off the grid living. Some of my favorite ideas from the homestead hacks article include: build a chicken watering station from … [Read more...]
10 Homesteading Hacks That Will Save You Money
The whole point of homesteading is to be self-sufficient, so once you've paid for your property and all the basic tools you need to manage it, your monthly expenses should be less than they were before you started homesteading. If they're not, then you're doing something wrong. In fact, you're probably doing many things wrong. In this … [Read more...]
