With a challenging December behind us and the rest of the winter ahead, the most important thing to remember seems to be: Stick together. Robert Fulghum’s All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten comes to mind. Number 13: “When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and […]
Category: Homesteading & Livestock
Tech for Transformation When people consider the change that Tesla Motors’ electric cars have brought to the automotive industry, they sometimes compare founder Elon Musk to Henry Ford. But that comparison doesn’t seem adequate. Musk is building a network of solar-powered charging stations to be available coast to coast by 2017 while he simultaneously runs […]
The biggest question garden-loving Californians are asking right now is, “Should I even grow a garden this year with this drought?” It’s a responsible, well-meaning question. I asked it myself a few weeks ago. I went back and forth about it. A garden increases your water use, but at the same time, you don’t want […]
This story is from Debbie Mildfelt, submitted as part of our Wisdom From Our Elders collection of self-sufficient tales from yesteryear. My grandmother, Charlotte (Riley Mildfelt Thornburg) kept me entertained with tons of stories from her childhood. Her grandparents homesteaded land in Clay County, Kansas (coming from England). They were Mr & Mrs Daniel Waterman. […]
This month I’m writing to my HOMEGROWN friends about the ominous tale of what could have been. I could have written about happy things. I could have written about morel mushroom season, one of life’s glorious pleasures. I could have written about our booming garden produce. We’re harvesting small volumes of mixed salad greens, spinach, […]
Wood-Mizer Personal Best contest winners have completed some amazing projects. We’ve featured Donn Saindon’s reclaimed wood cabin, Robert Craig’s affordable and rustic barn and Joe Bonn’s incredible dream home over the past month, and this week, we have yet another beautiful construction project to share. Jim Oseychuk’s hand-built garden shed isn’t only functional — it’s […]
Adopting a pet is a big decision, bigger than most want to acknowledge. All of our pets (family members) are adopted from a rescue which is in no way meant to demean breeders who work diligently to keep breed lines intact. Breeders are a unique and wonderful brand of people who strive to preserve blood […]
I don’t know about you, but I have always been confused about that notion of a calling—you know, our society’s continued preoccupation with occupation. Maybe people in urban America keep the conversation focused on careers. But in rural communities,especially those where you’re part of a local family that has lived nearby “forever,” the question of […]
Let’s assume you love the outdoors and working with cows, don’t mind hard physical labor or getting a little manure on your boots. Like me, you have probably decided to start your own micro dairy. After, you’ve selected a location, know roughly how much milk you want to produce, and you know what you’d like […]
That petite Coturnix egg is marvelous in so many ways, such that it is the only dietetic food, but also it is beautiful and can be used in decorations and art work. Pharmaceutical companies crave this egg for components in their vaccines. What makes the Coturnix egg so special? Science has proven to us that […]