Homesteading

  • Homesteading,  Preparedness

    Apartment Gardening

    Well, you live in an apartment. Does this mean you can’t have fresh vegetables and herbs? No, it doesn’t, creating a garden just takes a little finesse when you are working with smaller spaces and sometimes limited light. Plants have a wonderful way of connecting us to nature as well as clearing the air. Did you know that the air inside your living space can be more polluted than anything outside? We tend to keep our homes shut up; with winter cold and summer heat, we create an artificial living environment that has made us unable to adapt to the changing temperatures outside. This inside air becomes stale and full…

  • Homesteading,  Preparedness,  Sustainability

    Lessons of Generations Past

    This week we take a journey into the past, an exploration of how things were done in “The Old Days.” For some of us, when we consider things the way they were.  Sometimes it is with nostalgia or with a whimsical smile it brings warm fuzzy thoughts. For others of us it may make us cringe at the thought of chopping wood or hanging the laundry outside on a cold winter’s day. No matter the feelings we get when thoughts of these days are running through our mind. There is much to be said for “the way we used to do it.” An old saying that I am constantly reminded…

  • Homesteading

    Homesteading: Finding the Right Land

    There is much chatter about “getting out of the cities” and “buying rural land.” I’m a huge advocate of these philosophies and am working on building mine even now.So… now you’ve decided it’s for you, and you’re scratching your head, wondering, “Where do I start?”Well… first thing is to ask yourself, “What are my reasons that I want to return to the life that those before me chose to abandon in favor of the technological, sterile world we now live in? ” Meaning, why on earth would you want to get up in the morning and clean up chicken, horse, cow, or other cute little critter poop when we can…

  • Homesteading

    Herbalist Prepper

    The Herbalist Prepper, Recipes Well, we are quickly looking at fall and winter right around the corner and this turns me to wanting immunity boosting warm drinks.  I’ve got the perfect recipe for delicious Hot Cocoa, with an immunity boosting twist…. With cold and flu season looming before us, thoughts turn to building up our immune system so that we can hopefully get through the season unscathed.  And who doesn’t like Hot Cocoa?  Cocoa ImmuniTea Ingredients 3 tablespoons roasted cacao (powder or nibs)1 tablespoon dried elderberries2 tablespoons Astragalus root1 cinnamon stick3 ¼ cups waterRaw honey to tasteMilk or milk alternative to tasteReishi, cordyceps, or other immune-boosting tincture (optional) Directions Directions Elderberry:  Elderflower and…

  • Homesteading

    Companion Planting

    Companion planting is used by farmers and gardeners in both industrialized and developing countries for many reasons. The Legend of the Three Sisters The term Three Sisters emerged from the Iroquois creation myth. It was said that the Earth began when Sky Woman, who lived in the upper world, peered through a hole in the sky and fell through to an endless sea. The animals saw her coming, so they took the soil from the bottom of the sea and spread it onto the back of a giant turtle to provide a safe place for her to land. This Turtle Island is now what we call North America. Sky woman…