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Countryside Magazine Contributor
Articles by Countryside Magazine Contributor
Why Raised Bed Gardening is Better
End-of-summer gardening is a hectic time of harvesting, preserving, and enjoying the fruits of your many labors. But as the final vegetables are gleaned from the ground, it’s also a great time to think about doing a bit of work now that you and your garden will appreciate in the spring.
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Wash With Nuts…Soap Nuts!
Want to save a ton of money on laundry detergent and household cleaners? The long unnoticed soap nut is nothing but 100% natural and has a plethora of uses.
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Building Planter Boxes for Strawberries
Add to Favorites By Sue Robishaw – It wasn’t that the old chicken wire covers we’d constructed five years ago didn’t work, they did. I had an idea for building …
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Barbados Blackbelly Sheep: Back From the Brink of Extinction
In 2004, there were fewer than 100 Barbados Blackbelly sheep in the U.S.
It took a while for breeders to realize how critical the situation was: Most of us thought there were thousands of these sheep.
Building Elevated Planter Boxes for Easier Gardening
Add to Favorites By Anita B. Stone Building elevated planter boxes helps bring plants closer. They’re great for children, disabled gardeners, or the elderly. Gardening can be an incredibly rewarding …
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Build a Backup Off-Grid Water System
Add to Favorites By Robert Sulek – Whether natural or man-made, rips in the fabric of modern civilization can occur with devastating consequences. Disasters seem to be happening more often, …
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Calving Success: How to Assist a Cow Giving Birth
The riskiest time in a calf’s life is being born. Several million calves in the United States and Canada are lost each year during birth or shortly after, and 45 percent of those deaths are because of dystocia (delayed or difficult birth).
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Akaushi Cattle Provide a Delicious, Healthy Meat
Add to Favorites By Heather Smith Thomas – The word Akaushi means red cow in Japanese. Akaushi cattle were introduced to the U.S. in 1994. “This is the only free-grazing beef …
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How to Vermicompost At Home
Even homesteaders on a tiny urban plot make a lot of waste. Our multi-faceted approach to recycling sends most yard waste through our chickens to start the composting process along with both an outdoor, hot composting system and an indoor worm bin.
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How to Tube Feed a Calf
Add to Favorites By Heather Smith Thomas – There are times you must get fluid into a newborn calf that needs colostrum or a sick calf that needs fluid and …
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Quick Tips For Fixing Metal and Wooden Gates
Keeping metal and wooden gates in good repair can sometimes be a challenge, but is an important part of homesteading today. A sagging or broken gate can be a chore to open and shut, and may also tempt an animal to jump, lean over or crawl through, possibly injuring itself in the process or getting out on a road or into a neighbor’s place.
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Designing Your Ideal Homesteading Land
Homesteading land is neither a farm nor a rural residence; therefore, it presents design challenges that are different from the others.
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Feeding a Pig (For Market)
The spring and summer are a great time to bring pigs onto your farm or homestead. Within a few months, it is possible to have homegrown pork to fill your freezer.
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Hydrosol vs. Essential Oil: Practical Aromatherapy in the Home
Hydrosol vs. essential oil: what is the difference and how can you use them for soapmaking and aromatherapy?
In previous articles, we have discussed what are essential oils, how to make a hydrosol, and hydrosol vs. essential oil as an overview.
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Raising Piglets: Ensuring Your Little Ones Are Born Safely
Springtime! The time of rebirth, awakening, and babies! For those of us raising piglets, this is a time of little ones running through the fields and nursing in the sunshine.
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