Once upon a time, there was a house. A little prairie house. It was born in 1918, a homesteader's dream, built to shelter a growing family from the harsh conditions of the high plains. It's seen a lot in the past 98 years. Lightning strikes. Blinding snowstorms. Rattlesnake infestations. A shop fire. Tornadoes. The Blizzard of '49. And relentless wind. Oh, the wind. Many families came and went after the ...Continue Reading
Archives for May 2016
30 Essential Oil Hacks for Homesteading
WHAAAAT...? That's my response every time I get an email from someone who wants to know why I talk about essential oils on a homesteading blog. Okay, okay... to be fair, there was a time when I didn't get the connection either. I thought essential oils were just expensive little brown bottles surrounded by a bunch of hype. I still use herbs too, but I've found essential oils to be much easier to use as they are more "grab and ...Continue Reading
Deep Mulch Gardening FAQs
Back in the day, I was known as the "goat blogger"... ...thanks in part to my Goat 101 series and our small herd of extremely hard-to-contain dairy goats. But as I drifted away from the world of goatiness (hello big beautiful Brown Swiss milk cow!), I've found myself taking on a new identity: "That mulch garden girl" Yup. That's me. And I'm happy to claim it. I won't go into the back story of how I got into the whole ...Continue Reading
Dandelion Salve for Muscles & Joints
It's that time of year... ...when shriveled dandelion bits litter my kitchen, and desk, and float in random cups half-full with water. Every single time my 3 year old brings me a fistful of fuzzy yellow flowers, I can hardly bear to throw them away, even after they have wilted beyond recognition. Picking dandelion blossoms is a childhood rite of passage. I used to consider the predictable yellow flowers popping up each spring to ...Continue Reading
Do You Have to Refrigerate Eggs?
Do You Have to Refrigerate Eggs? No. And yes. How's that for an answer? I sometimes wonder what people think when they walk into my kitchen and see a big bowl of farm fresh eggs sitting on my counter. We are so conditioned to the notion that you MUST refrigerate eggs, I'm imagine some guests likely think we're trying to kill ourselves with food poisoning. But, believe it or not, there is a method to my madness. There are ...Continue Reading