This has been weighing on my mind lately. It s SO easy to get discouraged or overwhelmed when first starting out with homesteading especially in this age of social media where you can follow along with established homesteaders And that s the key word Established Every big homesteader that I know has been working on this for many MANY years It surely doesn t happen overnight We ALL started small often on a city lot and with only a few things but overtime those skills build upon each other

7 days ago

Home & Garden

🤩If you’re designing a coop to build this spring, or looking for an upgrade, definitely consider a poop chute!! I’ve tried A LOT of different methods in the coop from the deep litter method to a DIY kitty litter box under the roosting bars, but this is by far my favorite! I love how easy it is to clean it out regularly, plus the mixture makes the most amazing compost 🙌🏼🙌🏼. Reposting this amazing feature so you can include it in your spring coop plans! 💫 What do you think? Can you think of anything to top this? #chickencoopdesign #chickencoop #chickencoopsofinstagram #backyardchickens #chickenpoop

8 days ago

Animals

Here are my best tips Grow things that store well: potatoes carrots turnips rutabagas winter squash onions garlic shallots Grow varieties that are known to store well: not ALL potatoes or carrots will store well Learn how to cure them properly for l o n g -term storage I have reels on this from last summer Can freeze ferment or freeze dry anything else that doesn t store well Eat things in the correct order - Start with fresh storage then frozen and fermented then canned and lastly dehydrated freeze dried Invest in a deep freezer - You won t regret it Take inventory at the beginning and end so that you know how much you used and can adjust for the following year Buy anything that s missing in bulk - Rice oats flour sugar canned tuna etc

11 days ago

Home & Garden

Now you know why REAL maple syrup is so expensive right It truly is a labor of love! Maple sap contains 98 water so to get rich maple syrup it needs to be boiled down aggressively to concentrate it. A quick rule of thumb is that it takes 40 gallons of maple sap to get 1 gallon of maple syrup. The best maple to tap is the Sugar Maple because its sap has the highest sugar concentration but any maple tree that has a minimum diameter of 12 will work. The season typically only lasts 4 -6 weeks so we re hoping for juuuust a bit more to meet our yearly quota we go through a lot of syrup. Once the buds on the trees start to mature the sap changes and season is over.

13 days ago

Food & Drink

This has been SUCH a fun project You should make one with me! As a gardener I m definitely a weather nerd and it s been so neat to see each year come to life. My favorite is being able to compare each year - they have all been SO unique. The other benefit of doing a 5 -year blanket vs a 1 -year blanket is that it’s a much smaller daily time commitment. I can complete 1 row in just a few minutes. Finding the right yarn and in a color palette that I was happy with was the hardest part; I wanted muted colors and 100 wool yarn. While acrylic yarn is widely available and inexpensive, I really didn t want to be snuggling up with a product made from petroleum. Bleh!

19 days ago

Home & Garden

⚠️Don’t make these common mistakes in your brooder! Have you made any of these mistakes before? 🙋🏻‍♀️ Can you think of any to add to the list? Share them below!

26 days ago

Animals

Don’t throw out those butternut squash seeds! If prepared properly they taste EVEN BETTER than roasted pumpkin seeds. More crunchy and less chewy! Recipe: 1) Rinse the seeds so they're free from the pulp 2) Soak for 12-24h in a brine (1.5 tsp salt in 2 cups water) 3) Drain, but don't rinse 4) Spread the seeds on a towel to air dry 5) Toss with olive oil, salt, and spices (we like smoked paprika, cumin, garlic, and chili powder) - just eyeball it! 6) Dehydrate at 115F for 12-24 hours, then enjoy! *Store in an airtight container for up to 3 months, but TBH these never even make it into the jar at our house

about 1 month ago

Food & Drink

This is something that I ve always felt strongly about My BEST days are always the ones where I m creating producing or doing something constructive with my hands It doesn t even have to go well either It could be a bomb project but just the act of trying something new working with my hands and having to think through a problem critically does wonders Interestingly I don t get quite the same effect when working on a project with Ryan compared to one that I take on myself Something special happens when we take ownership do the p r o b l e m -solving and call the shots I ve noticed that on days when I m just working through emails doing routine tasks or even reading a book I feel more down and less motivated Have you noticed the same?

about 1 month ago

Wellness

My 3 BEST Tips for Growing MASSIVE Onions Onions are one of the trickiest things to grow - it took me years to master it Here are a few more thoughts that I have on growing onions While it is possible to have success with sets I know I ll ruffle some feathers over this one you ll have the best shot at an abundant harvest when starting from seed Why are deep roots important Onions have shallow root systems and are prone to drying out so having deeper roots makes them so much more resilient Pick varieties that are known to store well so you can eat them through spring as long as you cure them properly My Favorite is Sedona F1 which is a l o n g -day onion so it s best for northern climates Pick a s h o r t -day onion if you

about 2 months ago

Home & Garden

This is the side of water glassing that often isn t shown Sure it s easy to pile eggs in a glass container and cover them with f o o d -grade pickling lime but what happens a year later Let s find out We water glass our excess summer eggs in a 5 -gallon food grade bucket and have been eating them ALL winter long while the ladies had a break from laying The verdict This is our third year doing it and it s been awesome It s so fun to be able to enjoy vibrant summer yolks in the depths of winter We ll plan on continuing to do this in the years to come for sure!

about 2 months ago

Food & Drink

Here’s what to grow for self-sufficiency👩🏻‍🌾 While any veggie is surely welcome in my garden, there are a few key ones that really help us pull through our long and COLD Minnesota winters❄️. The key to success is to selecting varieties that are known to store (or preserve) well vs those best for fresh eating. Here’s my top picks: 🧅Sedona F1 Onion - this is a long day onion, so it’s best for northern growers 🫛Maxibel Haricot Vert Bush Bean 🥬Passat F1 Cabbage 🧄Music Garlic 🎃Havanna F1 Butternut Squash I’ve been growing these for YEARS and I’d be lost without them! What did I miss? Add your favorites to the list!

about 2 months ago

Home & Garden

That audio though Thoughts How did we get so afraid of and unfamiliar with REAL food after just a few generations Today 6 0 -70% of the calories in a standard American s diet comes from u l t r a -processed food WILD Imported food Unpronounceable ingredients Stuffed in colorful boxes Void of nutrients Full of addictive and toxic ingredients Lab grown meat Now that scares me How about you While becoming 100 s e l f -sufficient is a massive undertaking that many cannot achieve I m not there either I want to encourage you to take a small step back toward what food used to be What it should be Start a garden or join a community garden Connect with a local farm or CSA Cook from scratch Buy in season and preserve extra for later Get some backyard chickens You can do this!

2 months ago

Wellness

We ve traded our health for convenience Thoughts Things have changed dramatically in the past century and now it seems like an impossible feat to turn back We were duped into thinking shortcuts m a d e - f o r -us items fast food and efficiency were the way to go Wow look at all of this time that I saved now that I don t have to make X Y Z from scratch anymore It was all too easy We started to eat out instead of cooking at home Backyard gardens nearly disappeared Root cellars became n o n -existent We forgot how to make herbal medicine Family time turned to the TV instead of doing real life skills together and now we re sick overweight and more stressed than ever While cancer is complex as a dietitian I believe a HUGE factor is our diet.

2 months ago

Wellness

Don t throw these away I LOVE recycling eggshells back to my flock Not only does it reduce my need to BUY crushed oyster shell but my hens LOVE crushed eggshells They purposely pick around the oyster shell chunks to grab a piece of eggshell The KEY part of this whole process is drying them completely and then crushing them into small pieces You want the eggshells to no longer resemble an egg in any way form or fashion That s because once your flock figures out that their own eggs are a tasty treat it s all over Once they become e g g -eaters it s nearly impossible to stop Do you have to dry them in the oven Nope but it gets the job done faster especially during the humid summer months

3 months ago

Home & Garden

Welcome to the wonderful world of FODDER Fodder is a n u t r i e n t -dense inexpensive food source for livestock throughout the winter months 1 pound of grain creates 4 pounds of fodder Pigs cows goats chickens rabbits they all love it

4 months ago

Animals

Common garlic planting mistakes!

6 months ago

Home & Garden

Are you feeling the same way this year?🙋🏻‍♀️ Food preservation takes A LOT of time and sometimes life gets in the way. We’re on a tight timeline to get Ryan’s shop dried in before winter🤪, so I’ve had to cut things down to the bare minimum. Here’s what I’m doing right now to make it work: 1) Freezing unblanched produce like green beans and broccoli (make sure to use it up within 3-6 months!) 2) Freezing tomatoes to can later (however, they are best used for sauce once frozen) 3) Storing crops like carrots (unwashed) and apples in plastic bags in the fridge 4) Freeze drying produce like shredded zucchini, peppers, and cherry tomatoes with my @harvest_right freeze dryer What other time-saving tips do you have? I’ll gladly take them 🫶🏼 and I’m sure many of you would appreciate the tips, too! Hang in there, friends!

6 months ago

Home & Garden

How to train your dog not to eat your chickens! Patience is key!

6 months ago

Animals

How to harvest and preserve elderberries to make elderberry syrup this winter!

6 months ago

Home & Garden

Fire cider recipe 🔥 (full recipe is on my website 🫶🏼)

6 months ago

Food & Drink