Featured Stories

Using a Stanchion to Feed a Rejected Lamb
April 19, 2021 · · Sheep

When a ewe rejects her newborn lamb, there are several things that you can do to “persuade” her to change her mind before you start bottle-feeding the lamb.

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What is the Best Manure for Gardens?
April 15, 2021 · · Growing

The best manure for gardens is properly composted manure. It’s often called black gold, especially when it contains cow manure. When running a homestead, you have many different types of manure.

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Why Raised Bed Gardening is Better
April 15, 2021 · · Growing

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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Homesteading After Retirement: Part 3
April 14, 2021 · · Homesteading

Is running a market garden business a good fit for retirement life? This installment of the Homesteading After Retirement series involves an area of homesteading that I have absolutely no experience in doing.

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Wash With Nuts…Soap Nuts!
April 11, 2021 · · Soapmaking

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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Making Soap Dough for Decorating Body Bars
April 11, 2021 · · Soapmaking

This recipe uses the heat transfer method to melt the oils. This means that the fresh, hot lye water is used to melt the coconut oil completely, then the other two oils are added to help further cool down the batter.

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Using Modern Soapmaking’s Essential Oil Calculator
April 11, 2021 · · Soapmaking

In this article, I will briefly address the art of perfumery as it applies to essential oils in soap. I will then conduct a step-by-step exploration of the Essential Oil Dilution Calculator and how to use it to keep your products both fragrant and safe.

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A Simple Raised Bed Design
April 8, 2021 · · Growing

The simple raised bed design I settled on is perfect for someone like me with an average — at best — level of carpentry skills.

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Building Planter Boxes for Strawberries
April 8, 2021 · · Growing

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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Collecting Wild Mushrooms
April 7, 2021 · · Self-Reliance

Nature’s bounty is endless. All it takes to harvest wild foods requires to be at the right place at the right time.

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The Best Small Tractor Hacks
April 7, 2021 · · Tractors & Farm Equipment

Life is different when you own a tractor, so much so I don’t really know how I would function without one. Even with the best small tractor, there are situations that call for ingenuity and specialty add-ons to turn your tractor into a rolling Swiss Army knife.

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Life on the Homestead Post COVID-19
April 7, 2021 · · Homesteading

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted many lives and livelihoods. Many of us have spent time hunkering down in our homes, eating too many goodies, wearing jammies and sweatpants with t-shirts, and swiping online apps, only to see hundreds of messages accumulate while we quarantine ourselves.

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Making Natural Soap, and Other Soap Myths
April 2, 2021 · · Soapmaking

Do you dream of making natural soap at home? Unless you are willing to collect ashes to make your own lye, chances are that at least some portion of your natural soap will be laboratory created, or at the very least refined.

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A Basic Tallow Soap Recipe
April 2, 2021 · · Soapmaking

Tallow soap has many wonderful qualities to recommend it, such as a hard, long-lasting bar and creamy lather. It has similar qualities in soap as palm oil. It can also be very emollient when combined with other soap making oils, such as olive oil.

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Hot and Cold Process Lard Soap Recipes
April 2, 2021 · · Soapmaking

A lard soap recipe, in addition to containing a significant quantity of lard, should also contain complementary fats to bolster bubbles and skin conditioning properties.

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