Archive for the ‘money saving tips’ Category
Winterizing Wednesday – Foundation, Cover and Comfort
January 6th, 2010
Winter is in full swing!
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.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Tags: 
Winterizing Wednesday – Up, Under and Around
December 16th, 2009
In this Wednesday’s Winterizing Tips to Homesteading we will go up, under and around to keep the winter chill at bay!
For the home, go up and Inspect Roof, Gutters and Downspouts!
- If your weather temperature will fall below 32 degrees in the winter, adding extra insulation to the attic will prevent warm air from settling inside through your roof. If you have ceiling vents, this will decrease the cold draft coming in from them as well.
- Replace worn roof shingles or tiles to avoid icy build up.
- Clean out the gutters and use a hose to spray water down the downspouts to clear away leaves and debris. If it is rainy and the debris holds water, gutters will get heavy and potentially damaged with ice.
- Consider installing leaf guards on the gutters and extensions on the downspouts to direct water away from the home to avoid icy build up close to doors and pathways.
Around the Garden, it’s time to go underground!
- Dig up any tender bulbs. Cannas, tuberous begonias, gladiolus, dahlias and most other summer-blooming bulbs don’t survive winters in USDA Zone 9 or colder. Store freshly dug up bulbs in vermiculite in a paper bag in a cool (65 degrees F or cooler), dry spot.
For the Animals and Livestock protection is just around the corner.
- Add at least one solid wall around the pen if there isn’t one already. This will provide a wind break. Ideally one wall should be on the north side to block the bitterest wind.
Now go inside and Warm UP!!!
.
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.
.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Tuesday’s Tips to Homesteading: Reuse ‘trash’
July 21st, 2009
One tip to homesteading is not so much being a ‘pack-rat’ (although I am guilty of that with glass jars), but looking at ways to reuse something that might otherwise be thrown away. Today I want to share a pictorial tutorial of just what I’m talking about when it comes to saving ‘trash’ and making good use of it.
Thanks to when our dog, Chewbacka [nicknamed 'Chewy'], was a puppy, a chewed up hose has been coiled in our shed for months, almost 2 years. I wouldn’t throw it away because I just knew there was something I could do with it, eventually.
Low and behold, the other day, while going to dig up some purple potatoes, I found that someone had left our pitch fork (of 15 years) out under some bushes last fall and to say it’s weathered now is an understatement:
But it’s still quite sturdy and, frankly we don’t want to buy something if we can already use what we have , so my wheels in the wheels in my head started turning and I grabbed the exacto-knife, scissors and some electrical tape:
With the scissors, I cut four equal pices of hose, then with the exacto-knife, I split them in the center: Look at that guilty culprit in the background….
I wrapped them around the weathered, rough handle of the pitch-fork by opening them up at the split:
Then wrapped it with electrical tape:
The gripes are cushioned and smooth. No splinters and less blisters now – time to get to work!
Now my husband jokes with me that there’s no room for being lazy and just working for 3 hours in the garden, with this ‘cush-handle’ I should be able to dig and pitch all day long! Oh my! What have I done??
Seriously though, reusing things that may have thought of as trash or something not worth the time to keep is one of the top tips to developing a good homestead. Of course it’s a money saver too!
By sharing these tips, I hope it inspires you to look outside the ordinary and challenge yourself to make the most of what you already have!
Best Blessings and Happy Homesteading!
Donna
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.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Tuesday’s Tip to Homesteading: Budget Friendly Home Decor
June 16th, 2009
Budget home decor can be an exercise in creativity for anyone on a homestead. Usually we are on limited budgets and have limited places to shop. So this Tuesday’s Tip is how to find home decor on a budget.
Follow this link to see a few ideas with examples from our life through the years…
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Tuesday’s Tip to Homesteading: Heirloom Seeds
April 21st, 2009
If you’ve not been homesteading long or are just beginning, it may be tempting to go to your local farmer’s market and buy some of those nice, pest-resistant, hybrid plants that are supposedly easier to grow. After all, they are ‘made’ to be more user friendly right? Well, that depends.
They are often genetically modified plants (GMO) that have had artificial genes grafted into their make up to make them resist draught or blight or bugs. That’s why some tomatoes don’t really taste like a tomato. Not only that, but by being hybrids, they are sterile or infertile for next year’s seeds. The plant you grow this year will not produce seeds for next year’s garden. You get to go spend money again on another hybrid seed.
Heirloom seeds will give you seeds to use each year from the crops they grow. Eat them this year, dry and save some for next year. Repeat. Now that’s money in the bank!
Take a look at this place that offers heirloom seeds with fast, free shipping:
Grow a Patriot Garden
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
