Planting herbs is a great way to provide your own herbal tea, seasoning for food, and herbal remedies for treating minor illness.
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Spring Chores on the Homestead
Taking Care of My Spring Chores The rain has barely given us a break the last couple of weeks, so I’m having trouble getting out in the garden to do my spring clean up duties. Our soil is heavy clay and will turn into a brick if I mess with…
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Perennial Fruits for Self Sufficiency
Are you interested in growing your own healthy food, becoming more self-reliant, saving money, and planning for the future? If you answered yes to any of those questions, you’ll be happy to know that perennial fruits will help accomplish all of these goals. Your initial investment of time and money…
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A Tale of Two Roosters
Replacing My Rooster Earlier this year my rooster, Del the Delaware, fell ill. It was obvious he would not survive much longer, so I put him down. Since then there has been no one to serenade us in the morning and I’ve really missed hearing the cock-a-doodle-doo of a rooster.…
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Raising Ducks for Meat
Ducks are a fine source of meat for the small farm or homestead. They are fairly disease resistant, easy to care for, and fun to raise. Large breeds of ducks are a more sustainable source of meat for the small homesteader than hybrid broiler chickens.
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Perennial Vegetables for Self-Reliance
Perennial Vegetables for Self-Reliance Planting perennial vegetables allows you to harvest food every year without having to plant seeds each spring. Of course, it’s a good idea to plant annual vegetables too! But asparagus, rhubarb (yes, it’s a veggie!), French sorrel, and other perennial vegetables will provide for your family…
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The Skunk In My Tool Shed
An Uninvited Guest It was a wonderfully warm January day. The sun was out and the chickens were scratching happily in the muddy pasture. I had been hoping to burn off the weedy patch that I call a garden and get rid of my stash of boxes in the old…
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What to do With Extra Eggs?
Do You Have Extra Eggs in the Spring? Hens naturally start laying extra eggs in the spring so they can raise a clutch of chicks. Since most hens don’t go broody and hatch their eggs, it’s up to us to collect these extra eggs for our table. Do you have…
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Starting Cool-Season Crops for Spring
Starting Your Cool-Season Veggies Indoors If you live in a more northern climate, like me, you are probably just starting to think about getting your garden cleaned up and ready for spring. Warm weather crops, like tomatoes and peppers, will need to be started inside in a couple of weeks…
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How to Raise the Best Chickens for Meat
How to raise meat chickens for your table. Should you raise heritage breeds or Cornish cross? Get started on your own source of meat from the homestead!
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Garden Peas
Peas in My Garden I love planting peas in the garden. For many years we had rabbits eating them, so I rarely planted them anymore. In our new garden (well, going into the third year) we don’t seem to have as many pesky bunnies. So we ate lots of…
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Planting Onions From Seed
See also How to Start Seedlings Indoors Growing Onions from Seeds or Sets? I’ve grown most of my storage onions from seeds rather than ‘sets’ for years now. Originally I started sowing onion seed because I wanted to try some new varieties. When you purchase sets your choices are…
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Canning Cupboard
Storing Home Canned Goods For more information, read my post How To Store Your Home Canned Foods It’s important to store your home canned meats, fruits and vegetables properly. Cool temperatures and dark conditions help to retain the color, flavor, and nutrients of your canned goods. You also need to…