Tips to Homesteading

Archive for the ‘farming’ Category

 

As winter marches on and on and temperatures drop deep this season, we hope to keep the tips coming to keep your homestead humming!

 

 

Around the Home – Check Foundations:
Rake away all debris and edible vegetation from the foundation of your home.
Seal up entry points to keep small animals from crawling under the house.
Tuck-point or seal foundation cracks. Mice can slip through space as thin as a dime.
Inspect sill plates for dry rot or pest infestation.
Secure crawlspace entrances.

Around the Garden – Time to Mulch:
Apply winter mulch to perennials where winter temperatures generally fall below minus 10 degrees F.
Simply lay lightweight cover of organic mulch, such as shredded autumn leaves, pine needles or straw, over beds to protect plants from winter’s extremes.
Avoid more compact mulches and whole leaves (which can mat), since they can suffocate plants. This leaves slimy ground and is not a good cover.

For the Animals – Extra Comfort:
Lay down extra bedding so that animals can rest in warmth and comfort.
Straw, tree bark or wood shavings provide a soft surface to sleep on as well as additional insulation.
Don’t use rugs or rags–they can absorb liquids and freeze. Those are not comfortable when wet!

 

So….now that you’ve braved the weather to check around the homestead…go grab some hot cocoa and snuggle by that fireplace! Take care of yourself too!

Best Blessings!
The Millers

Donna Miller is an author, teacher and entrepreneur. Her favorite roles are that of wife and mother to three home-school graduates. The Millers own and operate Millers Grain House which offers Chemical Free and Organic Grains, Grain Mills, Bread Machines, Grain buckets, Bosch Mixers, the NutriMill, instructional tutorials, recipes and more.

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It won’t be long until many of us who live on homesteads will be facing the winter in full force. Over the next few posts, we would like to give some ‘tips’ to help you winterize in the areas of your home/house, your garden and your animals (pets & stock).

If you’ve not started, or you are new to an area that has harsher winters, or new to homesteading, these will be some ‘bite-sized’ tips to get the ball rolling. There’s no time to waste, though, because ole man winter is soon to come a-knockin’.

First tips:

In your Home:
Check the Exterior, Door and Windows
•Inspect exterior for crevice cracks and exposed entry points around pipes; seal them.
•Use weather stripping around doors to prevent cold air from entering the home, heat escaping and caulk windows.
•Replace cracked glass in windows. If you end up replacing the entire window, prime and paint exposed wood well before the wet freezing weather arrives.
•If your home has a basement, consider protecting its window wells by covering them with plastic shields to keep weighty snow from crashing in.
•Switch out summer screens with plexi-glass replacements from storage. If you have storm windows, install them now.

In your Garden & Lawn Equipment:
Now is the time to look a head and plant spring-blooming bulbs such as tulips and daffodils. Plant them any time from September in colder regions through December in warmer climates – as long as the ground can be easily worked.

A thorough cleaning of equipment to remove dirt, grass clippings, etc. will prevent rust and corrosion and will reveal any damaged or worn parts that may need replacing.

For your Animals:
Make sure the pen is located in an area where the animals will be protected from harsh winds and, preferably, exposed to the early morning sun. You may want to consider building a special winter pen for your animals in a better location if necessary. South- or south-east facing shelters are ideal in the winter.

Until next tip –
Best Blessings!
The Millers

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It’s kind of hard for me to get out in the fog and gray weather. All I want to do is sit by the fire and snuggle a kitty!

So today’s tip is – The show must go on!

Herbs need re-potting for wintering indoors, animals need feeding/cleaning/tending, windows need winterizing, vents need cleaning/closing, leaves and chestnut burrs (I hate those things) need raking and the show must go on.

If it would just actaully RAIN…then I’ll have more excuses to sit by that fire…(o:

Best Blessings!
Donna Miller

Donna Miller is an author, teacher and entrepreneur. Her favorite roles are that of wife and mother to three home-school graduates. The Millers own and operate Millers Grain House which offers Organic and Chemical-free Whole Grains, Bosch Mixers, the NutriMill, instructional tutorials, recipes and more.

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So, you dream of living in the country, living off the land, having small livestock and a serious spread of a garden. Life will be good then, and don’t we know it! For now, you’re in the suburbs though and there’s no sign of leaving any time soon. Can anything be done to start your homesteading journey? You’d better believe it!!

Homesteading in towns and inner cities are becoming not only trends, but growing vital branches of homesteading. Call them urban homesteaders or whatever you’d like; the truth is more people are bringing back the ‘old ways’ in the ‘new areas’.

Some tips to doing this are:

~ Window boxes, Indoor Grow Boxes.
~ Grow your own small, raised bed victory garden.
~ Join in a neighborhood community garden.
~ Compost yard clippings.

No matter where you are, you can begin to learn and develop skills that will and can be used when the eventual dream of homesteading comes to life for you!

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With so much in the news about the qualify and safety of our food supply, organic gardening has been steadily growing in popularity over the years. Now, you can find entire aisles of organic food in your local supermarket, and also visit a growing number of specialty stores dedicated to organically grown foods.

Part of this new popularity is obviously due to the concerns and better understanding of the dangers associated with synthetic and chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Growing organically generally means gardening without these potentially dangerous chemicals.  There is a growing trend of small-scale backyard gardeners who are turning to organic methods as they realize how easy and effective organic growing can be.

Part of the reason chemical pesticides and fertilizers are so widely used is because they appear to work well in producing fast-growing crops.  In deciding to use organic methods in your backyard garden, you first will need to accept the fact that you very likely will have to deal with greater pest damage and perhaps lower yields initially, than if you were using chemicals. Most organic gardeners are happy to make this trade-off in return for the opportunity to harvest chemical-free foods for themselves and their families.

There are several different approaches and techniques used in organic gardening. You may find that you are using some of them already. If you have selected cultivars that are resistant to pests or drought, you are involved in one form of organic gardening. If you put out a scarecrow or bars of hand soap to keep animals away, this too is organic gardening. Compost is an organic fertilizer. Organic techniques are around in many gardens already. By utilizing them more and moving away from chemicals, you can improve the environment and lead a healthier lifestyle.

There are different levels of organic gardening and different reasons why people choose organic methods. Some do it because they do not want to harm any animals, even aphids or cutworms. So they try to develop a system where they can cohabitate peacefully, keeping insects and other animals out when possible and removing them or learning to live with them when other options don’t work.

Some people are not opposed to pest control and extermination but they don’t want to add any more chemicals to the environment or to the food that they eat. Others go organic as a means of getting back to a more historic, natural, and even challenging way of gardening. You will need to decide which methods match your personal philosophies and reasons for going organic.

Pest control and fertilization are two of the key areas to focus on with organic gardening. In addition to using native, resistant plants, mulching, and practicing crop rotation, the use of other natural methods of pest control and of compost and manure as fertilizer can go a long way toward creating a more organic garden. Read the rest of this entry »

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