Bamboo Buildings
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Bamboo Furniture
Bamboo Furniture
Homestead Applications for Bamboo
For centuries, bamboo has been considered one of the most useful plants on the planet. Without bamboo, life would be radically different for people who rely on it as a food source, medicine, fuel, and building material; over half of Earth’s human population! The Versatility of Bamboo Throughout Asia, bamboo has long been prized for
How To Grow Bamboo
Bamboo is an amazing plant! It has so many benefits to offer on so many levels. Not only does bamboo produce oxygen, which helps to clean the area where you grow your plants, but many varieties are edible! And above all, gardening is just great for your health in general. Unfortunately, growing bamboo is often
Bamboo Sculpture
Bamboo is the biggest member of the grass family and has thousands of uses. It can be pressed, flattened, molded, sliced, burnt or carved. It is used as paper, flooring, musical instruments; its leaves, as livestock feed; and its shoots are popular in Asian cuisines. Bamboo supports millions of people in cottage industries worldwide. Bamboo
28 Stunning Outdoor Rugs: In Every Shape, Size, and Style
Todayโs trends are offering up so many cozy, comfy and beautiful options to bring the indoors out. From throw pillows to furniture, weโre seeing our patios and decks become โroomsโ of their own. Accessorizing our homes is one of the best ways we can show off our own signature style. Itโs especially nice to find
Lucky Bamboo
Lucky bamboo is a fascinating little house plant. Adorable and easy to grow, they are quite common in homes around the world. Yet there are some myths that we need to get out of the way before we discuss this plant. Firstly, one of the most interesting things about lucky bamboo is that it is
25 Bathroom Rugs
When you step out of your shower in the morning do you step on a towel, or even worse, the cold tile floor? Do you find yourself slipping around on the floor and leaving a trail of water everywhere? If this sounds a lot like your daily routine, you could probably benefit from a bathroom
Brushwood Fence
Using undergrowth, twigs, tips and small branches to make fences. Brushwood fences were probably one of the earliest fence types constructed in Japan. Today brushwood fences are very popular in Australia as well. Bamboo brushwood fence. Using the twigs and tips of the bamboo.Via: japanesegardens.jp Brushwood fence at the Rakusai Bamboo Park in Kyoto. Originally
25+ Sustainable Stocking Stuffers To Give This Holiday Season
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
Accepting the Mess of Woodstove Season
Thereโs nothing cozier than curling up beside a crackling fire, the orange glow warming both body and spirit. We must have some sort of innate programming wired in our minds that draws us to fire, and it stands to reason why we brought fire into our homes as soon as we could figure out a
12 Ingenious Everyday Borax Uses
Inexpensive and readily available, powdered borax, also known as sodium tetraborate, is a naturally occurring common boron mineral salt. Borax is a component in a diverse array of laundry soaps, bath salts, hand soaps, cleaning products, and cosmetics. It’s a product homesteaders have used for more than 100 years. First discovered in dry lakebeds of
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 neighborโs
Can I Compost Paper Plates?
Learn which paper plate types and sources are compostable. Correct preparation, and optimal composting conditions are crucial factors to produce the best compost quality from compostable paper plates!
DIY House Winterizing
There’s useful knowledge that disappeared somewhere between these last couple generations. Maybe itโs just me, but there seems to be a lot of younger folks out there trying to figure out how to live in a harsh cruel world with bills to pay and things to do. Regardless of where or how you live, staying
10 Ways to Upcycle Old Clothes
We can upcycle just about any type of clothing as long as weโve got a vision, a bit of imagination, and some crafting skills. Clothing is one of the simplest things to upcycle. Old jeans can be transformed into shorts, household items, and tote bags. T-shirts can be made into reusable produce bags, hanging planters,
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
Garden Fencing
Garden fencing serves all sorts of purposes. Those needs might be practical, or you might just want a nice accent to mark the edge of your yard. This guide will help you choose the right material and recommend a few vendors. Why Does Your Garden Need A Fence? Every land ownerโs needs are different, but
Introduction To Permaculture
Interested in permaculture and not sure what to plant? This could be a great article to get ideas for unique and useful permaculture species! Before we begin, let’s talk about what permaculture is. What Is Permaculture? Permaculture is a land management or agricultural approach which aims at adopting itself to mimic natural ecosystems as closely
Eco Friendly Toys Ages 3-7
Eco Toys Ages 3-7
Plastic Bottle Homes and Greenhouses
Plastic bottle houses, PET houses, recycled plastic home, plastic bottle building
๐ก Homestead Living
Homesteading is the foundation on which Insteading was built. The core values of homesteading are ones that we at Insteading like to promote to our readers and ones that we like to establish in our own lives Self-sufficiency, living off the land, and choosing eco-friendly alternatives are all things we encourage. Our Homestead Living content
Insect Hotel
What Is An Insect Hotel? Insect hotels are winter lodgings for your backyard crawling and flying bugs. Usually made of found or upcycled materials around your yard, these hotels consist of different suites catered to each little bug’s preferred lodging taste. Most hotels are constructed with a strong protective frame of wood boards or pallets and
Wooden Bathtubs
The lowdown on today’s wooden bathtubs…
21 Bathroom Shelves To Organize Your Space
Ah yes, the bathroom: One of the rooms that we tend to shut the door and forget about when it’s not in use. I don’t know about you, but my bathroom tends to be more of a chaotic mess than a place of zen and relaxation. When you think about your bathroom organization, chances are
How to Get Started With Spinning Wool and Plant Fibers
One of the greatest acts of self-reliance outside of gardening and preserving your own food, is becoming crafty to the point you can knit, crochet, and weave all that you need not buy from the store. When the chores are done for the day and you have made yourself comfortable on the homestead, it is
Try An Eco Friendly Christmas Tree
Upcycled, recycled, reused eco-friendly Christmas trees are aย sustainableย alternative toย chopping down a living tree or buying a tree that’s been chopped down and shipped to you. Christmas tree farms are a classic example of monoculture, where a single crop is cultivated in a wide area. Row after row of similar trees does not make for a
Rustic Coffee Tables
Redecorating with Rustic Coffee Tables Moving into my new home, I sadly realized that a cottage by the greenbelt was going to look pretty strange with the sleek modern coffee table I had on my wishlist. In trying to stay true to the architecture Iโve got, I started shopping for some rustic coffee tables, especially
Wind Chimes
Wind chimes have been used by many cultures going back as far as 1100 BC. Believe it or not, they werenโt created to irritate cranky neighbors, but in fact were thought to ward off evil spirits. Theyโre considered a percussion instrument, and because their sound is created at random by the wind, their soothing, melodic
Living Willow Hedges
You can call them willow hedges but maybe a more accurate term? “Fedges” = fence + hedge. Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix (Latin for willow), a grouping of 400-ish species of deciduous trees and shrubs. Willow are native to moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Almost all
Flooring Ideas: 18 Eco-Friendly Options For Your Next Home Renovation
If youโre doing a home renovation or are in the market for some new flooring, youโre in luck. Right now, it appears that just about every type of flooring company has some exciting option youโre bound to love. Before choosing your flooring there are a few things to keep in mind. First, be sure that
Eco-Friendly Playgrounds
Parents know the benefits of installing playgrounds and playsets. Beyond being a fun activity that gets children outdoors, playground equipment is important for a childโs cognitive, emotional, physical, and interpersonal development. A day in the backyard or at the park does wonders for kidsโ physical health, as well as improving their self-confidence and social skills,
Tiny House Living
As more people downsize and choose to โlive smallโ, you have to ask: Why are tiny houses so popular? People are joining the tiny house movement for many reasons. The increase in environmental concerns, financial constraints, and the overall burden of having so much โstuffโ are just a few reasons people downsize their homes. Why
Eco-Friendly Kitchen Sinks
Seekers of eco-friendly sinks, I have some bad news and some good news. The bad news first: Affordable, new kitchen sinks arenโt 100% eco-friendly. When choosing a sink you’ll be balancing different aspects of sustainability. We’ve tried to give you a starting point for all the buying choices you’ll have to make. Kitchen Sink Materials/Colors
Organic Mattress Guide
Many mattresses contain harsh fire-retardant chemicals and inexpensive synthetic fabrics. Are these mattresses safe for you to lie on for 8 hours every night? Only a few mattress companies sell 100% organic mattresses. Most mattress companies use a mix of natural and synthetic materials. An organic mattress doesn’t contain harsh chemicalsโit meets fire safety standards
Best Tomato Cage
Spring and summer mean tomatoes. If youโre lucky, and you have a plot in your yard that gets consistent sunlight throughout the day, youโll have vines that yield more tomatoes than you know what to do with. My tomato patch faces north-northwest, and the sun isnโt impeded by any trees or bushes. Itโs the perfect
12 Office Plants to Add Greenery to Your Workspace
As gardeners, we all aspire to spend our mornings and afternoons planting seeds, pulling weeds, and finishing the day off with a dinner made of home-grown vegetables. But for some of us, gardening is a passion we unfortunately only get to enjoy on the weekends and evenings. If you find yourself at the office wishing
DECT Phone Safety
DECT Phone Safety, Dangers of DECT, low radiation dect phones
Earth-Sheltered Home: An Eco-Friendly, Passive Housing Alternative
Folks on the street may call them “hobbit houses” in reference to J.R.R. Tolkien’s work, but earth-sheltered homes have been around for far longer than 1937 when the novel was published. Though the practice of using a protective layer of earth to embrace your home exploded in popularity in the 1970s, it’s truly been around
5 Sustainable Eco Bath Mats
Your bathroom may be the least appealing room in your house by definition of purpose but that doesn’t mean that it can’t serve as an oasis of peace and solitude! While many aspects of your water closet determine exactly how appealing it is, there is no denying the power of the bath mat in setting a tone of design and usefulness as your bathroom’s centerpiece.
Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products
Too many cleaning products contain chemicals that are extremely harmful to the environment and its inhabitants, including humans. Eco-friendly cleaning products are an easy alternative and solution! The ozone, water, air, land, and the entire ecosystem are all affected by the choices we make as humans, including what products we use. Today I am going
20 Free Backyard Playhouse Plans
Treating your kids with a backyard playhouse is a fantastic way of providing them a safe outdoor sanctuary where imagination can run free. Unfortunately, a ready-to-use playhouse can be a costly investment. Fortunately, there are plenty of free plans — which is what we’ll help you find today. We’ve found 20 of the best free
Frugal Living: Everything You Need To Know
Itโs no secret that modern living is a bit of a morass of consumerism, waste, and debt. In a world where the latest smartphone debuts less than a year after its previous iteration, where the Joneses are always one step ahead of you, and where mountains of plastic are clogging up waterways and oceans, the
Pendant Lighting: 30 Rustic, Modern, And Farmhouse Options
We’ve all been there. You move into a new house or apartment, and everything seems perfect until you realize just how dark certain parts of your home are. Or, you find your dream home, but the 90s light fixtures are begging for an update. When you’re lighting your home, your options include recessed lighting, chandeliers,
Patio Umbrellas
Your garden beds are weeded, your deck has been power washed, and the patio furniture is out of storage. You’ve got a calendar full of backyard parties to come and can’t wait to spend some quality time with family and friends. But as you’re daydreaming about all the fun events to come, you start to
20 Soothing DIY Wind Chimes
Wind chimes: They’re soothing, relaxing, and add a beautiful, decorative addition to your garden or backyard. Wind chimes come in basically any color, material, size, and price tag, and nowadays, you can find some pretty artistic options on Etsy and at other retailers. But if you’re the do-it-yourself type that wants the ultimate satisfaction of
Living Off-Grid: What Itโs Actually Like
In our modern day, with cable TV shows banking off of the “weirdness” of living off the grid, the very phrase “Off-Grid” images of end-of-the-world preppers stocking up MREs and ammo, wild-haired hermits digging in the dirt for acorns and mushrooms, or maybe criminals attempting to elude capture. But if you visited our off-grid homestead,
How to Buy an Eco-Friendly Dishwasher (In 2014)
While an eco-friendly dishwasher is already a bit of a redundancy, the model you choose & the way you run it can save even more energy & water.
Green Home Plans
Tiny House Builders
With so many individuals and companies building tiny houses, how are you supposed to know who to choose? Some tiny house builders can build and ship homes nationwide or send their design plans across the world. Other, smaller builders, focus on their region and work primarily with locals. Choosing a Tiny House Builder The thing