A Homestead According to Mother Earth News, homesteading … is all about self-sufficiency — wherever you live. It's about using less energy, eating wholesome local food, involving your family in the life of the community and making wiser choices that will improve the quality of life for your family, your community and the environment around … Continue reading Increase Your Self-Sufficiency Checklist
Our 2024 Farm after the Last Frost Date
The last frost date for this area is February 15! Shortly after we took the plastic off the greenhouse and it rained for two days straight! My greenhouse plants soaked it up! Last year, we had a pretty mild winter -- didn't lose any plants to cold, although we did lose an entire litter of … Continue reading Our 2024 Farm after the Last Frost Date
Happy New Year! plus a look back at 2023
Happy New Year! We are looking forward to 2024 being our best year ever on the homestead. We now have places for guests to stay with us and people who are looking forward to visiting. That's really exciting! Now, for a look back at 2023 and the end of 2022. Just before Christmas 2022 we … Continue reading Happy New Year! plus a look back at 2023
What’s happening with our garden?
At the end of 2021, we had a beautiful garden full of tropical fruit trees, berry bushes, okra plants, ginger, hibiscus and tropical spinach. I was especially proud of my mango tree, which had grown considerably in a short time and my first potential bunch of bananas. My husband and I knew that in January … Continue reading What’s happening with our garden?
Discovering Ingredient Applications Can Be A Challenge – A Balsamic Adventure
By Alex Todd This story begins with some treasured friends gifting a bottle of authentic Italian balsamic vinegar (or Aceto Balsamico de Modena, as they say) to me for Christmas. I thought at that time that I didn’t like balsamic vinegar, having never tried the real stuff. But I knew my wife loved it on … Continue reading Discovering Ingredient Applications Can Be A Challenge – A Balsamic Adventure
Book Review – Permaculture in a Nutshell
Book Review by Alex Todd - NetZero Homestead Permaculture in a Nutshell by Patrick Whitefield (copyright 1993) If I had to express my feelings about this book in as few words as possible, I’d have to say: Fantastically eye opening. From the get go you’ll see that the author has his own viewpoint on things. … Continue reading Book Review – Permaculture in a Nutshell
2021 Update – our final animal addition – Chickens!
When we got our ducklings, we had the mistaken idea that as soon as they were fully grown, we would start getting eggs. Not true! Even after they were fully grown, we had to wait another two months before they started laying. Our second poultry addition came to us by chance. We were visiting with … Continue reading 2021 Update – our final animal addition – Chickens!
2021 Update – Part 3 – Lots of Ducks!
Next, fowl adventures or possibly, the tale of our first of two poultry additions to our homestead. That’s right, we were after some laying and meat birds at this point so again I did some research. After a lot of reading about different kinds of ducks, I decided on the Silver Appleyard as our breed … Continue reading 2021 Update – Part 3 – Lots of Ducks!
2021 Update – Part 2 – Goats!
Next, we added goats. The breeder who sold us the pigs said he’d have Kiko does for sale in January, but these are meat goats. We really wanted dairy breeds. I had met a local farmer some years earlier who had dairy goats, so I reached out to her again to see if she had … Continue reading 2021 Update – Part 2 – Goats!
2021 Update on our Homestead – Part 1: Pigs!
Over 2021, which was our first full year on our property, our activities grew more than we could have ever expected! We went from just "living in the country" to "having a farm." Now when I think of a farm, the picture definitely includes animals. As part of our efforts to grow our own food … Continue reading 2021 Update on our Homestead – Part 1: Pigs!
The Trials and Tribulations of Creating a Homestead – Part 3: Workshop, Garage and Gutters
Now, you might think that all we have had are problems since we started doing this. That’s not the case, it just seems like it sometimes. For example, when we finally got a garage door on the garage and a roll-down door on the workshop, the first thing we did was to move stuff from … Continue reading The Trials and Tribulations of Creating a Homestead – Part 3: Workshop, Garage and Gutters