Improving the quality of the soil in your garden is both simple and complicated. Simple in that it may require much less work than you would have thought, and complicated because there are so many ways you can do it, but they all require understanding a few underlying principles … [Read more...]
20 Plants You Can Turn Into Flour
In most of the world, wheat is a staple of almost everyone’s diet. Bread, pasta, cakes, cookies, cereal, and even beer all have wheat in them. Because of this, many off gridders are trying to grow their own wheat, but unfortunately, wheat can be difficult to grow depending on the … [Read more...]
How to Make Maple Syrup
I've always loved pancakes and syrup (who doesn't!?), but I never had homemade maple syrup until a few years ago when some relatives from the Northeast paid us a visit and brought along some syrup they had made. I expected it to be good, but it was even better than I had … [Read more...]
18 Berry Bushes to Grow in Your Yard (and How)
Do you have a yard? Then you should have berry bushes! Anytime you have the opportunity to get food from nature instead of the store, you should take advantage, and berry bushes are fairly easy to grow and maintain. Plus, the berries themselves are delicious, healthy, and loaded … [Read more...]
7 Ways to Light Your Home Off the Grid
Pulling the plug or making the decision to go 100% off the grid comes with some serious challenges. People taking that dive, hopefully, come prepared with a notion of how much things will change. Many of the comforts of modern day living disappear. The good news, of course, is … [Read more...]
3 Things to Think About Before Going Off Grid
So you want to go off the grid... But have you asked yourself why you want to go off grid? You no doubt have several reasons, but it's important to articulate those reasons. Discuss them with your family and make sure everyone is on the same page. Why is doing this so … [Read more...]
7 Best Ways to Cook Without Electricity
Picture this: a rogue comet enters the Earth’s atmosphere, interfering with all electrical waves and causing internet, heating, light, and worst of all, electric cooking to become obsolete. Equally plausible, a tree falls down during a winter storm taking your power lines with … [Read more...]
How to Make Homemade Soda: 3 Herbal Recipes
I was a Coca-Cola addict for over a decade until I realized how much the high fructose corn syrup was harming my health, so I switched to Diet Coke. A few years later, I learned about all the damage aspartame and other artificial sweeteners can do to the liver and other … [Read more...]
7 Easy-to-Grow Veggies That Even Newbies Can’t Mess Up
If you're a new gardener, or even a seasoned master of the edible landscape, there are many things you can do and specific vegetables you can grow to make your gardening experience easier. It's not so much what you're growing that will make the most difference, but how you are … [Read more...]
How Much Should You Plant for a Year’s Worth of Food?
If you're the type of person who worries about pesticides, preservatives, and GMO's, then you've no doubt heard of the dirty dozen. If not, it's a yearly report put out by the Environmental Working Group based on an analysis of fruits and vegetables around the country. It … [Read more...]
7 Reasons You Should Start Raising Rabbits
Rabbits are quickly becoming one of the most popular animals to raise on the homestead. They are low maintenance, provide a healthy source of meat, can thrive on a small amount of space, have a short turnaround time from birth to butcher, and are very feed-efficient. Not to … [Read more...]
Video: Off the Grid Cabin Restoration
After I graduated high school, my parents bought 60 acres of land in Oklahoma. The best thing about the land was it had an old barn and an old chicken house. They hadn't been used in years, but after a few months, we were able to completely restore them. It was a lot of work, but … [Read more...]
Simple Homemade Hand Cream for Gardeners
Throughout most of my childhood, my dad had a garden that he worked in almost every day. He also had some of the roughest, most calloused hands I'd ever seen. I don't know if it was because of the gardening or because he naturally had rough hands, but even if it was the … [Read more...]
35 From-Scratch Ingredients To Keep On Hand
One thing anyone can do to start homesteading no matter where they live is cooking from scratch. It can help you eat healthier, save money, and reduce your dependence on the grocery store. However, it can be hard to make homemade meals all the time, especially if you don’t know … [Read more...]
5 Mistakes That New Chicken Keepers Make
The first chickens I ever took care of were my parents' chickens. They bought a couple dozen Plymouth Rock chickens, and for a few months, everything was great. We had fresh eggs every day, and the chickens seemed very content in their large chicken yard. Then one day, we found … [Read more...]
19 Crucial First Aid Items for Homesteaders
Living off the grid--oftentimes a full boat-ride away from the nearest hospital or doctor’s office--has shown me that I’m more capable of treating my own injuries and illnesses than I have been taught to believe. When I lived fully immersed in the modern world, I would run to the … [Read more...]
