Our Journey to a Self-Sufficient Lifestyle
Many homesteaders keep chickens for one obvious benefit – fresh eggs! But have you thought about other ways you can benefit from your backyard chickens? There is one commonly overlooked benefit to keeping chickens – Manure! One chicken will produce approximately 130 lbs of manure in one year. Chicken manure is rich in nitrogen which …
We take preparedness very serious on our homestead. When injury or illness strikes, we don’t want to be running back and forth to the feed store or trying to desperately order supplies online. Chickens are usually pretty hardy and easy keepers but there will be accidents and illnesses occasionally. I hope this first aid kit …
Today’s post is a rather short one, but I wanted to share my idea with all of you! We recently purchased a new washer and dryer and I thought it was time to give our laundry room a face lift. Our laundry room is located in the basement and was rather dark and dreary. A …
In my opinion, composting is absolutely necessary to maintain a self sufficient homestead. Not only does composting provide free fertilizer, it also reduces food waste. By reducing your food waste you are significantly reducing methane emissions from landfills. It is also a smart move financially – No more buying chemical fertilizer every year. There are …
Hot pepper jelly is one of the greatest appetizers you can bring to your next pot luck dinner or Holiday gathering. Paired with goat cheese (or cream cheese) and some crackers, this recipe will have your friends and family begging for more. It is a rather simplified version of some of the other recipes I …
We decided to grow sweet corn in our garden this year for the first time and were pleasantly surprised by how successful it was. Then the thought occurred to me – We can’t possibly eat all this corn at once. In comes the pressure canner. We shall learn how to preserve corn by pressure canning! …
Powdery mildew is an extremely common plant disease and can affect any vegetable garden, whether you have a small backyard operation or acres of crops. But don’t fret! It is also one of the most recognizable plant diseases so you can catch it at an early stage. What is Powdery Mildew? Powdery Mildew can be …
This time of year our garden starts to produce a plethora of cucumbers. We can only eat a limited amount of cucumbers and salads in one day, so I went searching for the best tasting and easiest dill pickle recipe. I stumbled upon this recipe which took a whole 10-15 minutes to make. The pickles …
Some of you may not know that I do have a day job at an animal hospital, and I have the pleasure of working with a board certified avian veterinarian. I learn new things every day about avian health and I get to observe many treatments on chickens. One of the most common problems we …
We recently did a massive expansion on our chicken coop/enclosure and I wanted to share our progress with all you like-minded chicken people out there! I have included the full length video if you want to listen to me ramble on about our beloved backyard flock. If you would prefer to skip the full length …