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How To Make Mesquite Bean Coffee
I live in Texas and there are mesquite trees everywhere. In fact, they’re not actually a tree (more like a bush) and technically, they’re part of the legume family. Mesquite trees are called trash trees by locals. When their bean pods drop every summer, the pods are everywhere. Many don’t find mesquite attractive, either. Landowners […] More
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How To Cool Down A Room: 15 Easy Methods
Lately, summers have been getting hotter. Without some sort of home cooling mechanism, the scorching temperatures quickly become unbearable — and in some cases, deadly. The human body isn’t designed to withstand high heat for long periods. Without reprieve, high temperatures eventually lead to heat illness and heat stroke. Discomfort, dizziness, profuse sweating, and disorientation […] More
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Marek’s Disease: What It Is & How To Prevent It
If you are new to keeping chickens, you will eventually have to do some reading on the diseases that can befall your flock. In the lists of common ailments, you’ll encounter plenty of problems to keep in the back of your mind as you observe your birds. Some are serious but easily understood. Problems like […] More
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Homestead Stories: What Color Is Your Bleeding Heart Flower?
“And what do we have here?” I shook my head as I worked around some sprouts that had poked through the ground. It was early spring and the garden was coming back to life. I wasn’t talking to anyone in particular — just myself. I do that a lot when I’m gardening. I hadn’t planted […] More
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How To Make Essential Oils
Over the last few years, essential oils have become incredibly popular. Some people use them for aromatherapy while others swear by their health benefits and healing properties. Regardless of how you use your essential oils, you’ve probably spent a pretty penny purchasing them, so why not consider making them at home? While the initial investment […] More
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How To Get Rid Of Mildew Smell To Freshen Your Space
Mildew is a type of fungus that produces a distinct, foul odor. The growth is often confused with mold which has a different texture and is usually darker. Mildew has been linked to health issues like respiratory problems, skin irritation, and chronic fatigue. Often, the terms mold and mildew are used interchangeably. Mildew growth occurs […] More
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How To Press Flowers For All Your DIY Needs
Who doesn’t love to admire a gorgeous bunch of flowers in bloom? I’m lucky enough to have a patch of zinnias still going strong in my garden — despite the chilly weather of late. If I could enjoy those flowers all year round, I would jump at the opportunity. Unfortunately, a freeze will soon kill […] More
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27 Cheap Lunch Ideas
Whether you have a 9 to 5 job in an office or you’re someone who works from home, your stomach will inevitably start to grumble around midday. As a freelancer, I usually start to get hungry around noon, but I don’t always have a prepared lunch on hand. The best days are those when I […] More
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15 Sous Vide Recipes
Translating to “under vacuum” in French, sous vide is a process where food is vacuum-sealed in a bag and cooked at a precise temperature in a water bath. There are a few different reasons people chose this method or style of preparing food. Consistency Taste Flexibility Waste Reduction There are two main types of sous […] More
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How To Make Flour
One of my favorite college coffeehouses was across the street from a milling company. I spent many hours sketching and sipping their various brews, the mood-lit ambiance of the cafe constantly underscored by the low hum of unseen machines turning grain into flour. Anyone who parked more than an hour on the that street would […] More
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Soil Temperature: What It Is And Why It Matters
On any given day, normal people are concerned with the temperature of the air. If you have to walk a few blocks to the subway, or you want to plan a barbecue, the ambient air temperature can affect whether you go out in a t-shirt or hunker down inside. But us gardening folk are a […] More
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Homestead Stories: Forget-Me-Not Flowers
I have a special affection for the tiny blue wildflower that appears every spring. Forget-me-not flowers, the state flower of Alaska, is known to have special meaning and reflect compassionate sentiments. For me, it is a symbol of connectedness with my husband of 38 years. As a recognized symbol of true and undying love, it […] More
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25 Sustainable Stocking Stuffers
It’s not always possible to buy that new greenhouse or build a rain garden as a holiday gift. At Insteading, we understand that garden gifts can easily run on the large and expensive side. We wouldn’t want to substitute our love of natural and sustainable products for a plastic and battery-operated gadget, though, so we’ve […] More
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15 Things You Shouldn’t Feed Your Chickens
One of the best parts about raising backyard chickens is the fact you can feed them almost anything — and they’ll eat it! I love being able to give table scraps to chickens that even my dogs won’t eat. Throwing away food is wasteful, so it’s nice to know chickens will take care of some scraps […] More
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20 Homemade Floor Cleaners For A Sparkly Clean House
Mopping is one of my least favorite chores. At least, it was until I stopped using store-bought cleaners and transitioned to homemade solutions. The store-bought stuff never seemed to clean my floors (they’re mainly wood, laminate, and tiles) and left them feeling tacky to the touch. I also hated the odor of anything store-bought. Everything […] More
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Chicken Molting: What It Is And What To Expect
It’s a beautiful day with the first fall feelings. Maybe the asters and goldenrod have begun to bloom, and you noticed monarch butterflies headed south. There’s a good, crisp smell to the air — but as you near the chicken coop, your heart drops! There are feathers everywhere. A panicked headcount soon reveals that all […] More
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9 Of The Best Decorative Plants For Christmas
Have you started decorating your house for Christmas? Hung a holly wreath? Dangled some mistletoe over the entryway, decorated a Christmas tree, and bought your poinsettia? Are they all real? Or plastic? Personally, I prefer real. There’s nothing like the smell of pine from a real tree to set the mood for the season. Or […] More
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How To Capture And Use Wild Yeast
I have a secret weapon in my kitchen. It makes my daily bread taste amazing (and far more digestible than anything store-bought). As long as I take care of the starter, this weapon is an endless material. And the best part of all? It’s free for the taking. I’m talking about wild yeast — a […] More
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17 Great Depression Era Recipes
Nowadays, with the never-ending supply of cookbooks online and in bookstores, and the family recipes your parents passed down, there’s an exhaustive supply of meal ideas. And with modern technology and agriculture, we can basically get any ingredient we need with a quick and affordable trip to the grocery store. But back in the 1930s, […] More
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Gardening Gifts
‘Tis the season of gift-giving. Since colder weather has many of us stuck inside instead of in the dirt, we figured this holiday season is the perfect time to find the best in gardening gifts including gear, decor, reading – and of course, don’t forget some of those extra homesteading specialties. We’ve compiled over 70 of […] More
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Insteading Giveaway – December 2019
Regardless of whether you had a large harvest of food from the garden this year, or simply found a lot of cucumbers on sale at the grocery store, preserving food is an excellent way to provide yourself with a little more self-sufficiency in the winter months. While canning and dehydrating are common methods of food […] More
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Canning Peaches
After spending many memorable summers in the south, I am addicted to the smell and taste of peaches. Aunt Mildred and Uncle Elmer nurtured several different varieties in the peach orchard of their rural Georgia homestead. I loved joining Auntie Millie and the cousins, picking, peeling, preserving, and putting up peaches. Although most of the […] More
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16 Cheap Fence Ideas For The Suburbs And The Country
When buying a new property — whether in the city, suburbs, or country — you may also inherit broken-down, ugly, or absent fences. With a small patch of land, this may lead to privacy concerns. On a larger acreage homestead, bad or nonexistent fencing can lead to problems like your sheep escaping and eating the neighbor’s […] More
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Canning Peppers
Whether you overplanted peppers in your garden this year — or stockpiled a bunch that were on sale at the store — don’t let them go to waste! After you’ve made your red pepper soup and spicy jalapeno salsa, consider canning the rest of those peppers to store through the fall and winter. If you […] More
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10 Delectable Duck Egg Recipes
Duck eggs, a favored delicacy in China, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines are quickly gaining popularity in the United States. If you’ve never tried them, duck eggs are richer, contain larger yolks, and (due to their thicker shell) stay fresh longer than chicken eggs. Not only are duck eggs considerably larger than chicken eggs, but […] More
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40 Smart Uses For Dryer Sheets In Your Home And Garden
When you put laundry in a dryer, static builds up on the clothes, sheets, and towels that bounce and tumble in the heat. Throwing in a dryer sheet can reduce static cling and leave your clothes smelling fresh. That said, dryer sheets have gained a bad reputation because they contain quaternary ammonium compounds that can […] More
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How To Grow And Forage For Lady Fern
I am in love with lady ferns and tuck every variety into shaded crevices, niches, nooks, and crannies in my homestead rockery. Apple-green in the spring and a glorious golden-yellow in autumn, lady fern is one of the easiest plants to grow in moist, shaded locations. With hundreds of species of lady fern and dozens […] More
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12 Best Plants For Straw Bale Gardening
Straw bale gardening is an ideal way to overcome nutrient-limited soil. Like other forms of raised-bed gardening, straw bale gardening lets you control the nutrients in your soil. Straw bale gardening utilizes straw bales in place of other types of containers and is a low-maintenance, eco-friendly way to grow plants. Straw bale gardens consist of […] More
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Are Underwater Herb Gardens The Future? [Video]
If sea levels keep rising, where will we grow our food? Researchers in Italy are exploring one option: Underwater gardens. Nemo’s Garden in Noli, Italy is an agricultural project that’s attempting to grow herbs and other lettuce greens in a place where no one thought you could: underwater, in the middle of the ocean. They […] More
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How To Clean A Showerhead: 5 Natural Options That Actually Work
A showerhead is one of many often-neglected home fixtures. When was the last time you gave your showerhead a proper scrubbing — or even thought about it? You might not think much about washing this fixture during regular bathroom cleanings. And why bother? Water spurts out the holes and knocks away any nasty grime anyway, […] More
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Homestead Stories: The Monkey Orchid
If my Insteading readers have been following the orchid stories, you’ll know how much I love this charming plant. There’s my general, informative article on orchids, the unusually-shaped bat flower, and the swaddled babies. I keep finding more orchid varieties as I browse the local nurseries or share my discoveries with friends. I want to […] More
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20 DIY Wall Art Ideas To Give Your Home Some Personality
Wall art provides the finishing touch to a room and can pull an entire space together. The addition of wall art creates a focal point, adds texture, offers a splash of color, and shows the unique personality that makes your space feel like home. Here are 20 amazing DIY wall art projects to spruce up […] More
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Growing Peas
Every vegetable that bursts out of the ground is a gift to me. The wispy little feathers of emerging carrots, the blink-and-they’re-there sprouts of lightning-quick radishes, and the first true leaves of a tomato plant — heralding the impatient wait for it to grow and produce the fresh tomatoes of summer. Peas, however, are extra-special. […] More
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17 DIY Dishwasher Detergent Recipes
I’m probably one of the few people in this world who loves doing dishes — I love to load up the dishwasher and forget them, that is! Washing dishes by hand is an annoying and time-consuming task. And did you know it often uses more water than dishwashers? Handwashing dishes can use up to 27 […] More
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Growing Radishes
Every garden has its challenges: Florence fennel that refuses to make a sizeable bulb, spinach that bolts immediately, corn that’s full of tunneling, or kernel-wrecking worms. But every once in awhile, there comes a plant that gives and gives and doesn’t ask much more than a space to give it. Like radishes. I see these […] More
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20 Pumpkins You Should Have Planted This Year
In September you’ll start to see bins full of orange pumpkins at the grocery store. Why settle such a monochrome display? More than 30 different varieties of squash are grown in the U.S. These specialty pumpkins are for decorating, soup, even cutting slices off at eating raw. Find one to grow next year. Black Futsu […] More
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7 Of The Easiest Vegetables To Grow
Do you wish to practice self-sufficiency and grow and preserve your own vegetables — but are concerned that you have little time to tend a garden? No worries! There are lots of easy-to-grow vegetables that won’t take too much time and effort to grow successfully. Many homesteaders new to vegetable gardening are intimidated by the […] More
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How To Make Irish Soda Bread
Irish soda bread traditionally contains only four ingredients: flour, salt, buttermilk, and baking soda. Purists would say that anything beyond these four essentials makes an entirely different bread. There is even a society dedicated to the memory and preservation of traditional Irish soda bread! For many a hard year during the poverty-stricken times of the Great […] More
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Homestead Stories: A Colorful Mosaic Of Nasturtiums
“I love my nasturtiums,” Mom declared years ago as she led me on a walk through her extensive garden. The nasturtiums were everywhere. Every color imaginable — from solids pinks, reds, yellows, and oranges, to multicolored mixes. The long stems wove through and around the other plants, cushioned by the large umbrella leaves that served […] More
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Jazz Up Your Flock With Chickens That Lay Blue Eggs
Before I got into caring for my own flock as a homesteader, my understanding of chicken eggs was pretty much unchanged from childhood. There were the white ones that I could buy in a Styrofoam package at the Mega-Mart, and the brown ones that my dad sometimes brought home from his friend “in the country.” Now […] More
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12 Driveway Ideas to Transform Your Home’s Exterior
After months of planning, house hunting, and endless emails to your very patient realtor, you’ve finally found the house of your dreams — but the driveway is showing every crack and oil spill from the previous owners, and maybe even the owners before them. Your home’s exterior is the first thing your family, friends, (and […] More
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17 Homemade Laundry Detergent Recipes To Save You Money
It wasn’t until I began my journey toward a more eco-friendly lifestyle, that I found out there are many things you can make yourself. Many common household items that you can make, will save you money and are good for the planet. If you take a look at the ingredients in major brands of laundry […] More
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Chicken Wormers: A Guide
New animals are an exciting addition to the homestead, but there’s always a risk when outsiders come into the fold. You never know what extra parasites may accompany them, and potentially damage your healthy herd or flock. This was the case with our new Brahma hen. We loved her beetle-green feathers and quirky feathered feet, […] More
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