Homesteading | Self Sufficient Living | Living off the Land
It's the ultimate in home baking—the holy grail, the perfect standard.... I'm talking about 100% whole wheat sourdough bread, of course. This is the kind of bread Ma Ingalls would have made. It sustained the pioneers. It's the quintessential old-fashioned loaf. Yet, it can feel stupidly hard to replicate in our modern home kitchens. In fact, whole grain sourdough bread stumped me for years, so much so that I gave up on it completely ...Continue Reading
I'm about to say something heretical. Prepare your hearts. Sometimes the homemade versions of certain foods aren't as tasty as the industrial, processed versions. There. I said it. Now of course... that's not ALWAYS the case. And homemade versions are certainly healthier. (And yes, we can train our palates over time, etc, etc, etc....) But industrial food manufactures sink MILLIONS into making their products ...Continue Reading
How can we close our chicken loop? It's a question that's been rattling around in my brain since a long-ago podcast conversation with Kate from Venison for Dinner. In that episode, we talked about reducing outside inputs in our home food production. And I've been working towards it in small ways for a while by: Saving more seeds Shuttling volunteer seedlings around the homestead to eliminate buying certain plants Using ...Continue Reading
"Where's the perfect place to homestead??" The question comes up on every conference panel and podcast Q&A. I'm tempted to use the opportunity to shamelessly plug Wyoming (because I would LOVE more homestead-minded folks to join our community)... But instead, I figure it's better to share the truth, so I reply, "The perfect place to homestead? Well...." It doesn't exist. Northern states are wintery with minuscule ...Continue Reading
I've become a bit of a mulch evangelist. It started with my discovery of Ruth Stout all those years ago and has progressed into a full blown obsession. Now I find myself blathering on about mulch in almost every gardening conversation I have. Nothing else has impacted my soil health and fertility as much as mulch. And while results won't happen overnight, I'm continually blown away at the improvements that come faster ...Continue Reading
