Look, I love the dollar store. I am a frugal girl, always trying to find some sort of a cheap deal. I not only find tons of useful things at the dollar store, I also find and make uses for the things that I find! Is It Possible to Start Homesteading on a Dollar Store
Tag: Homesteading 101
Alright, alright. I was one of those who complained incessantly about winter’s cold, vengeful reign. I swore I wouldn’t complain about summer. But y’all. I’m dying out here. Lately, we’ve had some pretty hot and humid days. The animals simply aren’t having it, either. I’ve considered laying over the air conditioner vent and panting like
Consistent watering is pretty important for a garden. However, a lot of people have it set in their minds that the garden simply must be watered every day. Unless you live in an area with very sandy soil, you could be doing more harm to your plants than good! This even applies to watering every
Let me reiterate: Homesteading isn’t 100% rainbows and sunshine; bad things happen, we adapt and overcome. I planted over 60 green bean seeds with more to go, and I might have 20 plants left. Now, this isn’t terribly tragic; as a matter of fact, I wasn’t too worried at all! This is a cheap, easy
The Battle Against Squash Vine Borers: Chapter One Squash Vine Borers get the best of us every year- they kill most of our squash plants before we can get a decent harvest of zucchini, yellow crookneck, pumpkin, and other hollow stemmed squashes. If your squash plants seem fine one day, then are wilted and dying
New baby? Just bought your homestead? Still grinding through college? Whether your finances are tight or you’re simply adopting a frugal lifestyle, you can garden without spending money! Standard gardens do require a good bit of preparation and investment: building beds and buying pots, amending soil, purchasing seeds, buying pest control, adding garden tools…. it
As a homesteader or gardener, dogs can be a real problem. This is a hot topic that I really wanted to bring to the table, as I know all too well how these situations can end up. If you think you’ve been having a horrid experience with some dogs, you’re not alone. Many of us
Tomatoes are one of our most important crops that we grow! I’m sure you can agree, as they are used for so many different foods including: Tomato Pasta Sauce (paste tomatoes) Marinara and Pizza Sauce (paste tomatoes) Salsa (slicing tomatoes) Ketchup (slicing or cherry/grape tomatoes) Salads (cherry tomatoes) Sandwiches & Burgers (slicing tomatoes) …. We’ll
If you’re anything like me, carrots are life. Those long, orange (or white, yellow, red, purple… whatever your carrots may be!) roots simply call to your soul with their satisfying, flavor-packed crunch. Carrots will go with nearly anything on your plate, too…. it’s impossible to argue that with a carrot fiend like myself. Carrots are
I sure do love pulling a massive, jaw-dropping sweet potato from beneath the soil. There’s just something so invigorating and satisfying about harvesting these tubers in particular, that no other crop can rival. However, I’ll tell you one thing I do not like: Voles. Filthy, thieving, over-populated voles. The war against these tiny demons is
Chickens are one of the most popular, iconic, flexible, and functional features of the historical homestead. Some modern homesteads only keep them for egg production and pets; but if your homestead is geared towards the historic style of self sufficiency (producing and making use of everything that your land can handle, including meat), you’re probably
Melons are delicious little presents that we anxiously await from our garden. While other gardeners and homesteaders were busy focusing on watermelons and cantaloupes, we decided that we were going to take on Sakata’s Sweet Melon. You won’t find too much information about experiences elsewhere; however, we’re about to lay it all out on the
Asparagus is one of my top veggies; it also happens to be one of the most expensive vegetables! Even the cheapest bunches at the local grocery stores ring in at $3 a pound; now, let’s not forget that you still have to cut the hardened, tough, browned, and woody ends off of your asparagus
Do you deal with an angry, hateful rooster every single day? Do you get challenged, chased, pecked, or even spurred? Does he make it nearly impossible to finish chores on the homestead? I know how the story goes, and I know how common this chicken owner’s “rite of passage” is among new homesteaders. Aggressive roosters
If you find yourself with a lot of wood chips to get rid of, you can always compost them. Composting wood chips allows you to turn excess wood from your property into a rich, nutritious, organic growing medium for your gardens.
Like any other day, you go out to the chicken coop to check on the ladies and give them some feed or veggies scraps. You make it to the nesting boxes, hoping to grab some delicious, fresh eggs (or, butt nuggets as we like to call them!) and you find the weirdest little egg you’ve
If you have several pine trees on your property, it can be really hard to figure out what to do with all of those pine needles as they are shed. Pine needles are known to be very acidic, as they compost into the soil around the trees. Therefore, it may not be ideal to use
If you have a nice little bed for greens on your homestead (like many of us!), you’re probably finding out that spinach can be a very finicky, hard to grow plant. I’m going to guess that you either lost your entire spinach harvest last year due to bolting, or you are currently dealing with bolting
Strawberry seeds can require a bit of work in order to get started. They aren’t as simple to grow as other seeds, such as tomatoes or squash. As a matter of fact, growing strawberries from seed is one of the more difficult tasks that a home gardener might tackle. Want to know what you’ve done
Garlic is pretty delicious in… well, everything. Can you name many savory foods that don’t pair well with garlic? Probably not! Garlic tends to be a rather slow crop for homesteaders, especially the first time around. But, garlic plants will reward their loving, attentive owners with an incredible gift…. A secret, delicious harvest of scapes!
Are you addicted to root veggie harvest videos? I cannot get enough of them! Seriously. I think I may have to seek help for this little problem of mine… Harvesting sweet potatoes is a rush, especially when you can binge watch reveal videos on YouTube. I mean, how else are you supposed to get through