Every time the holidays come around, do you find yourself wondering what in the heck you’re going to get for all those special people on your list? Chances are you have at least one relative or friend who literally never wants anything. And if you love the tradition of spoiling your loved ones during the […]
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Wood Stove Decathlon
Wood Stove Decathalon
Vertical Farming
Vertical farms, urban agriculture, hydroponic vertical farms, urban hydroponics, urban skyscraper farms, urban vertical agriculture, skyscraper farming…
Can I Compost Tomatoes?
Not only are tomatoes beneficial for your health, but they’re also good for your compost. Correct preparation, and optimal compost conditions will yield the best compost quality and prevent potential problems.
sustainablog’s Pedal-a-Watt Powered Blogathon coming in March
UPDATE: The folks at Convergence Tech, Inc. have given us a very generous deal on a Pedal-a-Watt pedal power generator for the blogathon, so we’ve changed the name of the event slightly… we’re grateful for their help! A few of you may remember the last time I stayed up for 24 hours to blog for
Plastic Packaging Waste
plastic packaging waste
Planter Box Plans
Create a true gardenscape by moving your plants beyond the pot. Create your own planter boxes with these free online designs. I searched the internet to try and find a planter box to match just about any urban homestead and found some really great projects. Planter Box Plans for All Kinds of Homesteads Carpentry projects
Garden Shed Kits
I vividly remember parasailing across a South Dakota home improvement store parking lot. Not on purpose. I’d picked up a vinyl shed panel in the wind. It was 6:15 am and Iโd just been sent to clean up after a recent blizzard. Sleeting snow and wind stung my face as I skated across the slush-filled
Greenhouse Plans
A greenhouse is one of the most well-known garden structures. Providing shielding from extreme sun, wind, and rain โ greenhouses can significantly extend your growing season. These sunny buildings come in a variety of shapes and sizes too. Heated glass greenhouses can fight against snow and cold in severe climates. Plastic sheeting can help create
Geodesic Domes
Geodesic domes are enjoying a resurgence as more people seek out eco-friendly building options . Architect Buckminster Fuller invented the geodesic dome. The American Institute of Architects calls it โthe strongest, lightest and most efficient means of enclosing space known to man.โ No doubt youโve seen geodesic domes before. Some as public structures, some as
Farm Sinks
Itโs with good reason that homeowners are installing the farmhouse sink once again. Not only are they an aesthetically pleasing design element, theyโre highly functional. The farmhouse sink has no extra counter space to reach or lean over, making it more comfortable to stand at, which is especially important for people spending hours in their
๐จ Green Building
It seems like nowadays every time you look around thereโs another large suburb or apartment complex being built. Often times they replace large forests, greenbelts, and other natural ecosystems. Aside from that, the large construction machines emit carbon emissions for months at a time and all nearby residents have no other choice but to deal
๐งฑ Natural Building
Modern day building utilizes man-made materials that can be harmful to the environment. Even natural materials, like wood, utilize fossil fuels in order to be milled into the final product. Everything from steel to plastic is used in modern building, and the resources needed to create those materials are not renewable. Alternatively, traditional building methods
Mycelium Guide
What Is Mycelium? Mycelium is the vegetative part of a fungus. It is a network of cells living within and throughout almost all landmasses on Earth. More than 8 miles of these cells can be found in a cubic inch of soil (Source: Mycelium Running). Here’s an awesome close-up photo of soil with mycelium growing
Make Your Own Safe Non-Toxic Paints
Did you know that you can make your own safe and non-toxic paints from common household ingredients, without resorting to either dangerous conventional paints or expensive non-V.O.C. varieties? Using ingredients such as milk, wheat flour, and linseed oil, you can create paints for various surfaces that will not off-gas dangerous compounds that can be hazardous
Chuรฑo
Dehydrated potato sounds pretty boring, but itโs the food that made the Incan empire possible. Tragically for Incan society, this nutritious, stable food also allowed Spanish conquistadors to wage war across South America. Incasย called itโand their descendants still doโchuรฑo. How The Incas Made Chuรฑo The process for making chuรฑo is an amazing technological breakthrough that
Growing Leeks: From Starting Seeds to Blanching Bulbs
If you’ve never had the experience of growing leeks, you donโt know what youโre missing! This straight-laced member of the allium family has a milder flavor than onions, and itโs extremely cold hardy, making it a great choice for Northern gardeners looking for fresh vegetables in the dead of winter. To reap the fancier flavor
How To Cook Leeks
Leeks are a must-grow star of the winter garden. Leeks are milder in flavor and have a longer growing season than onions, another member of the allium family. Because the edible bulb of a leek grows underground, it can withstand far colder temperatures than onions. Depending on where you live, you can keepย leeks in the
How To Start Transplants
Winter’s almost over. Have you started your plants yet? This gardener can proudly say yes! In the late winter months, serious gardeners begin asking one another this question. As the daughter of a serious gardener, I learned at a young age that if you want to grow your own peppers and tomatoes here in Minnesota,
๐ Vegetable Gardening
Thereโs something that is so fulfilling about taking a walk in your garden with a bowl and coming back into the kitchen with a full salad. Vegetable gardening is a fun and rewarding activity that is accessible to all sorts of gardeners, whether you have 20 garden beds or just a few containers. With so many vegetables to
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
Cultivating Thimbleberries In The Homestead Garden
Thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus Nutt.) is a common bramble plant found growing in the wild on sunny, sub-alpine, mountainous slopes and avalanche tracks from Alaska to California. In fact, thimbleberries are a circumpolar fruit that grows wild in Japan and Russia, and all but the most southern regions of North America. Red when ripe, thimbleberries may
How To Get Rid Of Morning Glory
Morning glory (Ipomoea lacunosa) is a flowering vine that is native to the eastern and southeastern United States. On the East Coast and in the South, itโs a well-loved and beautiful part of well-tended gardens. But on the West Coast, itโs an invasive, pesky weed. When I moved into my new house, the yard was
DIY How-to: Build a $300 in-Ground Greenhouse (w/ plans)
Farmers have been trying to extend the growing season of their crops for hundreds of years. So far, the greenhouse has been the dominant technology, since it doesn’t usually require electricity to operate. The problem with setting up an off-the-grid greenhouse is that the typical, “glazed glass” structure can be prohibitively expensive to construct. That’s
Herb Gardening 101
Planning and planting an organic herb garden is a traditional part of the homestead lifestyle goal of self-sufficiency. Growing rare and beautiful culinary and medicinal herbs is a glorious gardening experience. Herbs offer brilliant flowers, delightful fragrance, eye-catching foliage, and they are one of the easiest types of plants to grow. Think of the herbs
Scientific American’s Solar Grand Plan
Scientific American has a thought-provoking proposal in its January 2008 issue. The magazine proposes a massive, far-reaching plan to get solar power generating 69 percent of America’s electricity 35 percent of our total energy by 2050, thus replacing all of our foreign oil needs and slashing global warming emissions. Below are some of the highlights
How to Grow an Avocado Plant
Avocados have long been considered a perfect food. If the avocado were newly discovered today, it would be marketed as a miracle food. Irresistibly flavorful with a smooth, creamy texture, avocados should be part of everyoneโs daily diet. Indigenous to Mexico and Central America, avocado trees thrive in sub-tropical and tropical climates around the world.
How To Harvest And Transplant Wild Asparagus
Asparagus has gone wild! Foraging for asparagus is easy and fun. When itโs asparagus season, you can dodge the high prices at the supermarket just by going out and harvesting some for yourself. Where To Find Wild Asparagus My favorite spring vegetable is wild in every U.S. state and most of Canada. Asparagus grows wild
Growing Lettuce
There is nothing more foundational to eating fresh vegetables than lettuce. It comes in many varieties and in many dishes on your table. Though usually not spectacular to eat on its own, it is a cornerstone of many beloved salads and a topping for an infinite variety of wraps, sandwiches, tacos, and so on. It’s
Homestead Stories: How I Accidentally Grew Trout Lilies
When I first moved to the country, I was amazed at the bounty of both wildlife and wildflowers. I had a big job ahead of meโtidying the forested part of our property. I wanted to clear out the brambles and remove the garbage that had been randomly dumped in a place the previous owners believed
Bee Balms Or Bee Bums?
โMom,โ my six-year-old called from the front walk where he had been riding his bike back and forth. He had paused in front of my display of red and purple, firework-like flowers and admired them. At an age where he wanted to know everything, it wasnโt unexpected that he would ask about the different flowers
Homestead Stories: The Outhouse Flower
I have fond memories of the outhouse at the family cottage. Years ago. When I was a youngster. Dad had built it far enough from the cottage that it didnโt project its noxious odors into the place where we ate and slept. Mom planted tall, bushy flowers around the outhouse in an attempt to beautify
5 Perennial Herbs For Fresh Garden Flavor All Year Long
Those of us with green thumbs may feel a bit of the winter blues once the first hard frost hits. Though the tender sprigs of our favorite basil and dill may look beautiful as the dawn strikes their fatally crystallized leaves, we know that soon those formerly verdant garden beds will be shriveled into a
Dwarf Fruit Trees
When landscape professionals talk about dwarf trees, they refer to trees both deciduous and evergreen that are explicitly cultivated to remain small and manageable. If space is limited, dwarf fruit trees are the ideal solution for both visual impact and fruit production in small gardens. Dwarf fruit trees are generally short trees with broad canopies
9 Flowering Trees To Consider
Flowering trees are available in a variety of sizes and shapes for almost any landscape application. Not only do deciduous flowering trees bring visual impact and beauty to your homestead, but they also provide habitat and food for birds and other wildlife. These types of trees also provide cooling shade for people, pets, and plants.
How To Grow Truffles
If youโve ever heard of truffles or been lucky enough to taste them, itโs probably been in the context of gourmet dining. A truffle is a type of edible fungi thatโs much more difficult to cultivate than other types. Like other crops requiring patience, truffles are considered a delicacy and fetch a high price because
9 Beautiful Water Plants For Your Aquatic Garden Or Pond
Spring has come. For the winter-weary gardener, the chance to finally get back out into the wonderful world of soil and sprouts is exhilarating. Within a few short weeks, garden beds are awake and planted, pots are filled and placed back on the porch, and flower beds are tenderly mulched. And then โฆ all that
20 Ways To Use The 5-Gallon Bucket: The Most Useful Tool On The Homestead
We homesteaders love our tools. We hang them from our belts, carry them until the handles show the impression of our hands, and use them to accomplish amazing things. As we keep our acres and animals in good working order, certain items start to become near extensions of our arms and take on their own
Tropical Homesteading: Growing Bananas
Bananas are a fruit instantly recognizable to just about anyone, anywhere in the world. Yet they grow only in tropical and subtropical areas. So how is it that grocery stores in temperate zones the world over manage to offer piles and piles of them year-round for 10 cents or less per fruit? Though part of
DIY Wine Cellar Plans + 10 Ideas to Inspire You
When you first moved into your house or apartment, there were probably a few things on your wish list. Maybe it was a fireplace. Or perhaps, a big open kitchen. And of course, you probably had a beautiful yard to grow a garden on your list. If you consider yourself a wine connoisseur, maybe it
What is Seasonal Eating?
Have you noticed the idea of seasonal eating “cropping up” in lifestyle magazines and organic-themed publications? I find myself viewing the trend with the same strange feeling as when I read modern articles about off-grid living, or pasturing livestock. Though these concepts are presented as new, they honestly couldnโt be more ancient. As mislabeled as
Homestead Stories: Pachysandra – Pretty Ground Cover or a Blight to Eliminate?
โHelp!โ I complained. โWhat is this plant? Itโs taking over my garden!โ My friend, always a great resource, had once again come to my aid. โI think thatโs pachysandra. Very invasive. Pretty little flowers and a great, fast-growing ground cover, but it takes over quickly. Worse than periwinkle and lily of the valley.โ โOkay. So
Homestead Stories: Skeleton Flowers
โOh my! Those petals are translucent — why is that?” It was eerie. Once again, I was visiting my friend and enjoying the array of plants in her garden. She had something new to show me, something uncommon. โDiphylleia grayi.โ I could always count on her to be technical in answers, especially when it came
Foraging for Violets
The rhyme says that April showers bring May flowers, but the experienced forager knows that March rains bring violets. The revision doesnโt 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 arenโt only
Exploring the Pigsqueak Plant
โWhat was that plant you gave me last year? I can never remember the name.โ My friend, Susan, pointed to a plant in her garden. โThe Bergenia?โ I nodded. โYes. Itโs sprouting a stem — I didnโt think it flowered.โ โIt does, but only briefly. Like a pigโs squeak,โ she explained. โWhich just happens to
Permaculture Topics: Retaining Water
Permaculture. As far as homesteaders are concerned, there are few topics that are more crucial to success on the land. Even if you arenโt a full-time back-to-the-lander, the concepts and ideas espoused by Bill Mollison (the creator of the term โpermacultureโ) will be useful to a caretaker of any amount of land. If you havenโt
Off-Grid Lifestyle Considerations: From Housing to Location to Social Life
As I type this, my husband Jaeger and I are finally and entirely off-grid. Woo hoo! It started with getting our home’s heat off-grid, then our water, then our toilets, and eventually, hand-building our off-grid home. Now, with the installation of some solar panels, we can run the computer we use for articles on solar
How Energy Efficient is Induction Cooking?
Induction cooking is a promising new technology that could make food preparation much more energy-efficient (as well as time-saving).
Sustainability 101: Learn How To Fix Your Own Clothes
Losing a button here and there and having a few small rips on your clothes is a small natural disaster that happens to everyone. The trick is to know how to make the fix before it’s no longer fixable!
Kombucha Fabric
Suzanne Lee Kombucha Fabric