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? Or did you choose different Christmas plants? Are they all real? Or plastic? Personally, I prefer real. There’s nothing like the smell of pine from a real tree to […]
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Foraging for Chaga
If you live within the circumboreal region of the Northern Hemisphere, and especially if you live near birch forests, this article could be pertinent to you. We will be talking about Chaga: What it is, associated health benefits, and how to forage for it. What Is Chaga? Chaga (Inonotus obliquus) is a parasitic fungus that […]
The Basics of Firewood
Of all the ways that we heat our homes, none goes as far back in time as wood. Coal, electricity, and natural gas are all recent newcomers on the block in comparison to wood. Something about the light of a wood fire has always held the hearts of man – long can you stare into […]
Tips For Bear Awareness
If you live alone, as I do, in a cabin deep in the woods, it is more than a bit frightening to hear noises in the night. Last year, on a cold and foggy morning in late November, I awoke to a loud thump on the porch. Startled, I stumbled from my bed, grabbed the […]
Growing Pumpkins
Native to Central and South America, pumpkin is a low growing, vining groundcover plant with bell-shaped yellow flowers and shallow roots. Pumpkins are members of the plant family cucurbit (Cucurbitaceae) that includes melons, cucumbers, squash, gourds, and zucchinis. Growing pumpkins is easy, and they are also easy to harvest, easy to transport, and store well […]
10 Steps To Attract Birds In The Winter
Do you want to attract birds in the winter to your homestead landscape? Do you enjoy their sweet sounds and would like to have more feathered friends come to visit? Birds make the garden magically come alive with beauty, color, music, and motion. Read on to learn more about foods that will attract specific birds […]
5 Answers To Your Beginner Chicken Questions
It’s time for the next entry in our series of Homesteading Questions and Answers. As we get questions from you, we try to formulate the best possible answer to help you on your adventure. This month is all about raising chickens. There are few other animals so symbolic of the homesteading spirit as the humble […]
Winter Squash Harvest And Storage Tips
Why do homesteaders grow pumpkins or winter squash? While the process may be challenging, the reward could be enormous. There are dozens of varieties of pumpkins and winter squash, weighing from 2 lbs. to 500! What’s in your garden? Read on to discover harvest, curing, and storage tips for the seasonal vegetable that is the […]
Outdoor Brick Ovens: Types, Uses, And Photos
When it comes to building an outdoor oven, you may start feeling like one of the proverbial three little pigs when you try to decide what type is best. Will you build it out of mud? Concrete? Stone? Brick? Unlike the porcine story, however, there’s no downside to choosing any of these building materials, and […]
Homestead Stories: Dynamite Tree
“I need at least one of these trees,” I decided. “A dynamite tree. A tree that can kill in multiple ways — and I don’t mean by falling on a person. Though that could definitely kill as well.” “Why would you want that?” my friend inquired. “It might blow up in your face.” She had […]
How to Find & Store Cheap Leftover Pumpkins After Halloween
I have been waiting for this day all fall. Specifically, I’ve been counting down the days until November 1. You see, now that the money-grabbing fall holiday has passed, the money-grabbing winter holiday is steamrolling its plastic, glittery way into place. There’s no room for the two to share. Thus, anything fall-themed absolutely needs to […]
Shutting Down the Garden for Winter Checklist
There’s a huge amount of anticipation when the first frost is close. It sometimes feels like you’re preparing for some sort of icy nighttime raid. Should you panic-pick all the remaining green tomatoes and beans tonight, or try to ride it out for another week in hopes that they’ll ripen? Should you cover the beds, […]
20 Cozy Fall Soup Recipes to Try When the Weather Gets Cool
There is just something about the crisp air of autumn that brings out a desire for a delicious hot fall soup. Butternut squash is ripe and abundant, pumpkins are in their prime, and so many other delectables are available — leading to crockpots full of fresh soups and stews. Some soups are thick and creamy […]
Preparing Your Homestead For Winter
Freezing rain, sleet, high winds, heavy snow, ice, and extreme cold can present serious hazards, so it’s imperative that your homestead is ready. Whether or not you think it’s too early, it’s always a good idea to begin prepping your homestead for the winter. Preparation For Power Outages Cold temperatures and winter storms can be […]
Alternative Libraries: Check Out Things, Not Books
I find it wonderful that libraries still exist in the modern age. Though the world sometimes seems unstable, angry, and poised to tear down whatever we currently don’t like, there still exists a public institution based entirely on free sharing and trust. Without spending a cent, you have access to hundreds of books, and what’s […]
Rocket Mass Heaters: What Are they, How They Work, And Photos
Rocket Mass
Chopping Wood: A Helpful Beginner’s Guide
Firewood is sold in measurements called cords and half-cords. A cord of stacked firewood measures 8 feet long by 4 feet high by 4 feet deep, or 128 cubic feet. A half-cord is half as long (so 4 feet × 4 feet × 4 feet), or 64 cubic feet. Currently, in Connecticut, the going rate […]
Homestead Stories: Autumn Crocus
“I haven’t seen those for a few years. Tulips in autumn? Strange, isn’t it?” “Actually,” my friend replied. “They’re not really tulips.” “But the flower is shaped like a tulip, and it’s so tall.” “It is tall, but the flower hasn’t fully opened. This is an autumn crocus. It is strange, however, that you don’t […]
Eating Acorns: From Foraging To Cooking & Recipes
The first summer my family and I moved to our homestead, we were not able to get a garden into the rocky, wild ground, but somehow we had a fantastic fall harvest and started accumulating jars of dry goods from the plenty. How was this possible? One surprising word… acorns.
Masonry Cook Stoves: How They Work And Photos
When most Americans think of a stove, they think of a collection of heating elements that sits atop an oven. In modern times, this stove and oven combination is usually a box made out of thin sheet metal and is powered by either electrical energy or gas (natural gas or propane). However, this is not […]
8 Gorgeous Spring Bulbs To Plant This Fall
If you want a bold display of color in the spring, fall is the time to start planting! Spring bulbs like daffodils, tulips, crocus, alliums, and hyacinths, as well as tubers, tuberous roots, corms, and rhizomes, should be planted in the fall before the soil freezes. These types of plants require a lengthy period of […]
4 Reasons Why Snakes on Your Homestead Aren’t a Bad Thing
“Found a big ol’ snake last week.” Now, I typically mind my own business at the laundromat, but I can’t help but overhear the conversations happening right next to me. The man to my right was folding towels, chewin’ the fat with someone he obviously knew well. “Lopped that head cleeeeean off, garden hoe.” He […]
7 Fall Vegetables You Should Grow
Fall vegetables offer a bounty of color, flavor, and nutrition. The vegetables that are in season in the fall include pumpkins and squashes of all sorts, cauliflower, potatoes, and hearty greens like collards and kale, which do quite well in cooler weather. Other autumn favorites include carrots, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and gorgeous beets in all […]
Masonry Heaters: Benefits, How They Work, And Photos
When you think of heating with fire, the first image that might leap to your mind is a crackling wood stove, the mainstay of cozy homesteading living rooms everywhere. But despite it’s current ubiquity in back-to-the-land imagery, the wood stove is a relatively recent invention, having been invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1742. If you […]
Foraging for Violets
The rhyme says that April showers bring May flowers, but the experienced forager knows that March rains bring violets. The revision doesn’t have the same lyrical flow (or cheesy, following historical joke), but for those hankering for fresh greens after a long, cold, winter, poetry is found in leaves, not words. Furthermore, violets aren’t only […]
Homesteading Myths: 6 Things That Pop Culture Gets Wrong
I don’t expect the pop culture version of the world to bear much resemblance to the real thing. It exists to distract and entertain, of course, and in doing so, must grab our attention for as long as possible and by any means necessary. But even when we admit our disbelief is suspended (as we […]
15 Different Types of Alaskan Berries
The Last Frontier, the 49th state, land of the midnight sun, or in other words, Alaska. The state many dream to visit and few actually do. Alaska is home to some of the world’s most beautiful natural wonders: the arctic and associated tundra, North America’s tallest mountain (Denali), megafauna ranging from muskox to polar bears, […]
10 Unexpectedly Edible Leaves in Your Garden
The resourceful and knowledgeable homesteader knows that there’s plenty of food to be grown overhead and underfoot. But there’s an unexpected cache of food that often goes unnoticed — the leaves of more plants than you may guess! We’re accustomed to eating lettuce leaves and kale leaves, of course, but you can also harvest greens […]
25 Fun and Festive Fall Pallet Projects
If you’ve been an Insteading reader for some time, you probably know that we love the idea of upcycling pallets! Not only does it utilize scrap wood that might otherwise end up in a landfill, it’s a resourceful way to craft decor, furniture, and even garden beds without having to spend a pretty penny for […]
Homestead Stories: The Mighty Apple
Let’s talk about apples. Why apples? Over the past year, I’ve gained insight and appreciation for apples: their history, as a life strategy, in new ways to eat them, and their associated health benefits. The goal of this article is to share this new found interest and recognition, and hopefully, pique similar feelings in others. […]
Foraging for Brambleberries
This is an open letter to the brambleberries of the world, particularly those blackberries growing along the edge of my ravine. Dearest Brambleberries: It is with great perplexity that I write to you. There is an understanding between berrykind and humankind that has endured for thousands of years. You produce delicious, sweet fruit. We eat […]
Foraging for Plantain
Children pick these leaves out of the lawn in idle fidgeting. The plants crowd edges of streets and sidewalks. Counselors fashioned tiny boats from them at summer camp — with an acorn cap as hull and the omnipresent leaves for sails. They’re at your doorstop, the edges of your garden, and in the park. Watch […]
The Many Uses of Sweetgrass
Sweetgrass, regarded as a sacred purification plant by indigenous people around the world, is a hardy, perennial grass that deserves a special spot in your homestead landscape if you are serious about cultivating medicinal plants. Many consider tobacco, cedar, sweetgrass, and sage to be the four most powerful healing plants. Native to Eurasia and much […]
Feel-Better Remedies and Recipes for Sick Days
You first feel it with that tickle in the back of your throat. Maybe you ignore it. Maybe you pretend to ignore it because you have things to do — then by evening, the tickle feels like someone took sandpaper to your trachea. Your head is pounding, and you feel chilled. It’s obvious you’re coming […]
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 […]
11 Plants To Consider For Fall Planting
As mentioned in an earlier article, this summer, rife with a serious drought and unrelenting heat waves, kicked my garden’s collective butt. Even though I did my best to distribute the precious cache of off-grid water, it largely did no good. I learned this year (the hard way) that plants simply shut down when temperatures […]
Growing Blackberries
Blackberries are easy to grow. A diverse array of blackberry varieties are native to almost all of North America. They are especially abundant in areas with warm summer days, cool nights, and plenty of moisture. An aggregate fruit composed of many tiny fruits known as drupes, blackberries are similar in taste and growth habit to […]
Homestead Stories: Rare Orchids
I love orchids. I have dozens lining my plant stands in the sunroom, and I nurture the wild orchids that pop up, unexpectedly, on my property, but they are just a few of the varieties that exist in the world. There are orchids of all shapes, sizes, and colors, and some that look like animals […]
How to Reduce Food Waste
Like many other college students (back in the day), I was a summer camp counselor. Though I loved the job, there was one specific task I absolutely hated. It wasn’t the cheesy skits, it wasn’t dealing with sleepwalking campers, and it wasn’t screaming those stupid camp songs for the 10 thousandth time. It was cleaning […]
Growing Spinach
Originally hailing from 4th-century Persia, Spinacia Oleracea or spinach has a long and storied past as a health tonic, a poor man’s food, a favorite of big-forearmed sailor men, and a choice food of health gurus. We are constantly hearing about how important it is to eat your leafy greens, and for good reason—they’re fantastic […]
14 More Tough Plants That Can Survive Drought
This summer has been unusually hot (in case you haven’t noticed). In my part of the Ozarks, it’s been bone dry to boot. That deadly combination of searing heat and clear skies has sent my state and many others into a serious drought that ceaselessly claimed vegetal casualties. Though many of us tried to water […]
15 DIY Cat Toys
Though we often consider our precious feline companions aloof and independent, it’s crucial they have physical and mental stimuli between napping in the glow of a sunbeam, or knocking things off tables. You don’t have to spend a bunch of cash at the pet store to provide your kitty with endless entertainment. Using materials you […]
12 DIY Lip Balm Recipes
If you love lip balm, you know the dread when you’re down to the last few uses. Make DIY lip balm with just a few simple ingredients to save on buying it new. Lip balm is essential for facial health and looking and feeling your best. Rather than purchase a ready-made lip balm, have a […]
Homestead Stories: A Colorful Zinnia Extravaganza
I have a couple of gardens that do well in the spring when the sun isn’t as intense but come late July everything dries up. It doesn’t matter how much I water those gardens (which I do sparingly as I don’t want to use up precious well water), the sun is just too intense. The […]
Foraging for Wild Tea
Tea is a simple infusion of plant material in hot water, yet somehow, it’s a lot more than that. It can be culture, conversation, or comfort. You can spend your money on tea and tea paraphernalia, if you want. But if you don’t, you can also get yourself a flavorful cuppa for the price of […]
What Is Labrador Tea?
If you’re an herbal tea fanatic or a home remedy solutions type of person, this article will be a great read for you. And if you don’t meet either of these descriptions, you may read on to learn about an interesting plant native to higher latitudes. Or perhaps your interest will be piqued by a […]
Growing Squash
Take a glance at anyone’s backyard garden. No matter where you go, you’ll likely find a squash plant growing. There’s something about these easy-to-grow and generous plants that demand a place in your garden bed — wherever you can manage to fit it in. So whether you grow succulent zucchinis and crookneck varieties for summer […]
How to Grind Different Grains Into Flour
Store-bought flour can leave a lot to be desired. Have you ever researched exactly what happens to turn whole wheat grain into the pale, satin-smooth dust that you buy in those paper cuboids? Nutritionally speaking, it ain’t pretty. After being smashed, heated, sifted, bleached, oxidized, sprayed with government-approved approximations of the nutrients that were removed […]
10 Answers to Your Beginner Goat Questions
It’s time for another installment in our series of articles where you ask us questions and we do our best to give you good answers. The theme of today’s series: Goats! It seems you all have tons of questions about these capricious caprines, and rightly so — they’re interesting, useful, and personable members of any […]
8 Gardening Mistakes That Are Easy to Make and Easy to Fix
We all make gardening mistakes, especially when we’re attempting something new like going back to the land and growing our own food. But when you take to social media for a bit of solace, it won’t be long until the motivational, cliched, inspirational quotes appear — emblazoned over stock images of garden landscapes seeking to […]
