I am so blessed to have a hubby that not only takes an interest in my herb garden, but he has so much knowledge in the topic of cultivating and managing soil. Because of his continual commitment to that goal, my garden is flourishing. 4 years ago we used the entire area as a parking […]
homesteading
Are You Effective or Just Busy?
Are you effective or just busy? It’s very easy to fall into the busyness trap. You’re churning and getting stuff done. Feed and water the chickens, feed and water the sheep, feed and water the kids! There are times when things get jumbled in your mind. “I need to trim the hops back”, “I […]
Effectiveness over Efficiency in Homesteading
Effectiveness over Efficiency in Homesteading You completed 48 things today on a to-do list but did you do what was important to you? Probably not. Be effective and then consider efficiency. Efficiency without effectiveness provides zero results. Think about it, you can be extremely efficient but if you are pursuing the wrong priorities you are […]
Energy Efficiency with a Power Meter
Move toward more energy efficiency using a power meter In this video I cover two main points that are helpful toward energy efficiency using a power meter: 1. A power meter helps determine which appliances draw power all the time regardless of use. For example, most tvs draw power 24/7/365. Unplug these appliances when not […]
Culinary and Medicinal Garden Snowpocalypse!
Snow-Covered Herb Garden In the foreground is our culinary and medicinal garden. In the background is the food forest on terrace. We are excited about adding many different medicinal herbs this year to our established garden: yarrow, chaste tree, calendula and plantain just to name a few. In the food forest we will adding more […]
Cold Frames for Self-Sufficiency
Utilizing cold frames to get an early start and extend the season is one of easiest and most reliable ways to get a jump on the growing season. Have you ever listened to people talk about building high tunnels and greenhouses? They often are mired in cumbersome grant programs with costs in the thousands […]
Podcast Episode 125 – Blake Akers – Agritrue
On today’s program we interview Blake Akers, one of the partners, designers and promoters of Agritrue, which is a private alternative food Certification to USDA Organic Certification. Blake explains what Agritrue is and what it is trying to accomplish. Agritrue is a community policed, beyond organic food certification and labeling program. He talks about the […]
Podcast Episode 124 – What is the Prepared Homestead
On today’s program, Monica and I discuss the purpose of The Prepared Homestead. We talk about several aspects of our operation and what they mean. We discuss what preparedness means and our approach to the concept. We talk about what it means to homestead. A lot of these terms have a wide array of meaning […]
Surprise Chickens
Really cool surprise today. Our production breed layer hatched out 11 chicks which was a total surprise! We didn’t even know it. To be honest we haven’t been doing head counts because we have a lot of birds and we don’t lock up our coop at night. At least for now our predator problem has […]
Podcast Episode 118 – Homestead Goals
Today’s podcast is up! We recorded on Facebook Live this morning so don’t forget to check that out and subscribe to Live notifications! On today’s podcast Monica and I talk about one of our main homestead goals: By August, 2016 to provide 80% of our caloric needs from our property averaged out over any given […]
