Preparing for Spring on Your Homestead Depending on where you live, you might already be enjoying spring-like weather, or maybe you have several months of winter left to deal with. Here in northern Illinois, we have a couple months of cold weather left, but I’m still getting started on spring homesteading…
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Planning For a Self-Sufficient Thanksgiving
Prepare a Self-Sufficient Thanksgiving Dinner It might be difficult to raise everything you need to serve a completely self-sufficient Thanksgiving dinner. However, what you can’t raise on your own, you may be able to purchase from a local farm or cook most of your holiday meal from scratch. Some of these suggestions need…
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Meet Pa Mac From The Farm Hand’s Companion Show!
The Farm Hand’s Companion Show & Pa Mac Every now then someone comes along and makes education fun and entertaining. That’s exactly what you get from Gary “Pa Mac” McWilliams and The Farm Hand’s Companion Show! Pa Mac created this series of short videos to show all manner of folks…
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First Frost
First Frost of the Season We normally have a frost in late September or early October in Northern Illinois. This year we were treated to a much later freeze overnight Friday, October 16th. The killing frost wiped out all of my heat loving veggies and the flowers in my pots. I can’t…
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Scenes From The Pioneer Fest
Scenes From The Pioneer Fest The Boone County Autumn Pioneer Festival gives visitors a glimpse of early settler life in Northern Illinois each September. I thoroughly enjoy spending an afternoon walking through the displays, dreaming about what life was like back in ‘the day.’ There’s always so much to see…
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Cast Iron Envy
Cast Iron Cookware at the Autumn Pioneer Fest Last weekend was the annual Autumn Pioneer Festival in Belvidere, Illinois. I try to make it there every year to see all the great pioneer living displays. It reminds me of my Grandparents’ home a little bit and brings me back to…
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DIY Succulents Review – Book by Tawni Daigle
DIY Succulents Review Let me just start by saying that I have killed jade plants, cacti, and aloe vera, as well as a number of other houseplants over the years. It’s not that I don’t have a green thumb. It’s just that I tend to sort of wear out my…
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Autumn on Our Homestead
Autumn on Our Homestead Our weather is gorgeous, with sunny days and crisp nights. Jack Frost has yet to visit and my tomatoes, beans, peppers, eggplants, and squash are still filling our table and tummies. I have yet another batch of spaghetti sauce cooking down in the kitchen as I write. The…
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Advanced Bushcraft: An Expert Field Guide to the Art of Wilderness Survival by Dave Canterbury
Advanced Bushcraft: An Expert Field Guide to the Art of Wilderness Survival by Dave Canterbury Book Review I’ve always enjoyed reading up on survival skills, even as a kid I would pour through my Dad’s army survival manuals. So when this new book by Dave Canterbury came out, I was…
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How to Farm Sit for Fun and Profit
How to Farm Sit & Make Some Cash If you’ve never lived on a farm, this term may sound weird. But for those of us with livestock, having a reliable farm sitter can help preserve our sanity. Homesteaders wouldn’t be able to vacation and keep animals if no one can…
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The Importance of Keeping Blades Sharp On The Homestead
Sharp Blades Make Work Easier Homesteaders are often whittling, chopping wood, cooking from scratch, processing meat, and preparing food to preserve it. These jobs require knives and other tools with blades and can be rather time consuming. To make the work easier, quicker, and less dangerous, make sure you’re working with sharp…
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Preparing for Spring on the Homestead
You might be interested in my article 20 Warning Signs You’re a Seed Junkie. Coming Soon ~Spring on The Homestead Spring seems so far away with all the snow and ice outside my window. It’s 16 F but the sun is shining and my flock is braving the cold to soak up…
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Should You Invest in a Wind Turbine?
Are Residential Turbines Worthwhile? With an increasing interest in self sufficiency, renewable energy, and off grid living, many people are investing in small residential wind turbines. But are they worth the cost? Here is an in depth look at the energy output you can expect from a small wind turbine……
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Fermentools Starter Kit Review
Disclaimer: I received a starter kit to review from Fermentools and they sponsored a giveaway of this product. However, all opinions are my own. Fermentools Starter Kit Makes Fermenting Easy I recently tried out the Fermentools Starter Kit created by Matt Gross, founder of Fermentools. I made one quart of…
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Bush Craft 101 by Dave Canterbury
Bush Craft 101: A Field Guide to the Art of Wilderness Survival by Dave Canterbury I spent quite a bit of time leafing through my Dad’s Army survival guide when I was a kid and I loved soaking up the info to try out on my hikes through the woods.…
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Laundry Day with Kevin’s Quality Clothespins!
Line Dried with Love I hang most of our laundry out on the clothesline during the summer, and I have to say that although I love saving money and energy by line drying, I’m getting pretty frustrated with el cheap-o clothespins (NOT a name brand…just the regular, made wherever, as…