Homestead Survival Site - Page 19 of 24 - How to Live Off The Grid in Comfort and Style

11 Powerful Medicinal Herbs You Should Be Growing

For centuries, people have used herbs both to nourish and to heal the body. In addition to adding flavor to food, many herbs are high in antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antiseptic properties. While many grocery stores sell fresh herbs, it is easy and inexpensive to grow your own at home. In fact, most herbs do well in a backyard garden or … [Read more...]

10 Ways to Find Simplicity On The Homestead

Many people have a romantic view of the homestead life: enjoying the fresh air, watching their animals, sipping iced tea, and so forth. The reality is that homesteading is a lot of work. A lot. Not that you won't have any downtime, but in all likelihood, you'll be much busier than you were in the city, especially in the beginning. If you … [Read more...]

Train Your Milk Cow to Love You

Having a milk cow is a wonderful thing. You can get fresh delicious milk and use it to make butter, cheese, yogurt, and other delicious foods. The problem is, getting milk from your cow won't be easy if she doesn't like you. When my father bought himself an old Holstein cow (back when I was in college), he had a heck of a time milking her. She … [Read more...]

7 Fast Bearing Fruit Trees

There’s nothing quite like the experience of going out into your own backyard and picking fresh fruit right off the tree. But fruit trees can be discouraging to many gardeners who like to see a quick turnaround in yield. Many fruit trees can take years to start bearing fruit, and represent a significant time and space investment in any garden. Some … [Read more...]

7 Mistakes to Avoid when Harvesting Rain Water

Rainwater is an excellent source of drinking water whether you're living on a homestead or surviving after a disaster. However, it's not as simple as setting out buckets when it rains. You need to set up a proper rainwater harvesting system. And even then, you have to be careful not to make any serious mistakes. In this video from the Youtube … [Read more...]

Hundreds of Free Home Remedies in One Place

There are a lot of great books full of natural home remedies, but why pay for a book when you can get all the information for free? Today I want to share a web page with literally hundreds of home remedies all in one location. Common Sense Homesteading is a site with tons of remedies for things like acid reflux, allergies, arthritis, bug … [Read more...]

35 Emergency Foods You Should Stockpile

Modern life has led people away from their backyard gardens and well-stocked root cellars. These once farmhouse staples helped ensure that families could feed themselves no matter how long the road to town was, what the weather was like, or their economic situation. While access to grocery stores makes it seem like there’s no need to worry about … [Read more...]

How to Make Natural, Healthy Soda at Home

I already made a post about homemade soda a few months back, but what can I say, I really love soda. And since I vowed to never drink sodas made by giant corporations (who don't seem to care about public health), I've been making my own soda lately and trying various recipes. Recently, I discovered a recipe by Rain Country that I really like. … [Read more...]

7 Canning Mistakes That Can Make You Sick (Or Worse)

Common sense and creativity are things you need to have a lot of when homesteading. Most often there isn't a magic formula or set of rules for you to follow. You use your brain, hone your skills, and do what you can to keep moving forward. Learning to preserve your own food by canning is no different, except that it does come with its own set of … [Read more...]

How I Feed 30 Chickens For Only $1.25 a Day

One common concern people have when thinking about raising backyard chickens is the cost. Of course, you can feed your chickens table scraps, but you're going to have to buy lots of chicken feed. Chicken feed typically sells for $1 or more per pound, and since chickens eat 1/3 of a pound a day or more, that means it costs at least 33 cents a day … [Read more...]

3 Ways to Attract Frogs & Toads to Your Garden

A while back I published an article on all-natural ways to keep pests away from your garden. It briefly touches on the idea of providing water and shelter to allies (predators of pests), but doesn't go into much detail. By far the best allies you can have in your garden are frogs and toads. There are beneficial insect allies you can attract, … [Read more...]

40 Best Plants for an Edible Landscape

Imagine a dire survival situation where everything you stockpiled has disappeared into the sky and it’s just you and your partner, Adam and Eve style. It’s time to live off the land. Lucky for you two, your home has a landscape full of flowers, plants, seeds, and produce that practically sustains itself. You’ve got crops with vitamins, … [Read more...]

11 Uses for Olive Oil on the Homestead

Olive oil is one of those must-have staples for every homesteader. It truly stands alone in terms of its nutritional benefits and in terms of its many other uses around your home and property. With its high concentration of monounsaturated fatty acids, which can help boost your “good” cholesterol (HDL) and lower your “bad” cholesterol (LDL), olive … [Read more...]

4 Internet Options for Rural Homesteaders

More than a few people have purchased land in the country with big plans for setting up a homestead, only to realize they won't be able to access the Internet. While some people don't care about that, if you're reading this post then odds are you'll want to keep getting online. So what will you do if you ever move somewhere with no Internet? … [Read more...]

5 Birds (Besides Chickens) That Are Worth Raising (& 3 Not To Raise)

Though chickens are the best-known type of backyard poultry, there are many other breeds worth considering. A mixed flock has many advantages, as each type of bird will eat different forage rather than directly competing, meaning you can keep more birds in a single space without depleting resources. If provided with ample forage and outdoor … [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...]