Learning how to save seeds will help you increase your self-sufficiency and grow healthy, productive plants year after year. Learn more about seed saving with this comprehensive guide! * * * It’s officially fall, which means it’s time to start wrapping things up in the garden, save of course for those fall crops like beets| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it really means to be “self-reliant.” We talk a lot about self-reliance (or self-sufficiency) in the homesteading community, and outwardly it may seem as if the goal of “achieving” self-reliance is what ultimately drives many of us to live this lifestyle in the first place. But what| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
[do_widget id=text-5] Whether you’re a budding green thumb with a bit of experience under your belt or you’ve never grown a garden (or perhaps even a plant) before in your life, there are a few organic gardening basics that are helpful to know when you’re just getting started. On one hand, growing a garden might| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Discover self-sufficient living for the modern world. Learn gardening, food preservation, and sustainable practices for a simpler life.| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Learn how to take control of your food security, improve your health, achieve financial independence, and start living a more self-reliant lifestyle today!| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Canning and preserving food goes hand-in-hand with homesteading and self-sufficiency. And for the most part, it’s pretty safe and straight-forward. Whether you’re water bath canning pickles, jams, jellies and fruits, dehydrating, fermenting or freezing, all of these methods are pretty easy and unintimidating for even the most inexperienced homesteaders. As long as you follow tested| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
These homemade soy candles with essential oils are a safe, healthy and all-natural alternative to store-bought candles. And they make a great homemade gift for Christmas or any other occasion! *** I started making my own candles 3 years ago at Christmas when we couldn’t afford to buy gifts for everyone in our family. I'd| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Learn how to make your own homemade rain barrel out of a garbage can and a few simple materials and always have a source of off-grid water on hand! * * * We have the good fortune to live on Vancouver Island. On the west coast of Canada. Where it rains. A lot. In fact,| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Knowing how to apply the principles of permaculture to your property can make your homestead more productive with less effort on your part. But first you have to understand what the principles of permaculture are and, of course, what permaculture is! Permaculture has been a buzz word in the homesteading world for a while now.| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
The number one secret to success for any home gardener lies in having good soil. No, scratch that… It lies in BUILDING good soil. Because even if you start out with the best soil on Earth, if you continue to grow in the same soil season after season without amending it or adding in any| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
One of the biggest problems that every homesteader runs into sooner or later is the issue of wanting to grow more food than their garden space allows for. You see, this whole growing your own food thing… it’s sort of addictive. The more you grow, the more you want to grow, the more seeds you| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
I love to create things. Like food. You may have noticed that by now. But I love to create other things as well. I've always loved to write; To craft stories with my words. And to take photos of beautiful things. Things that I create. Things that grow wild. Everyday things that are made beautiful| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Save money, reduce food waste and and improve everything from your soil to your gut health with this list of 11 frugal ways to use kitchen scraps in your home and garden. *** We're such a wasteful society, especially here in the west. The mounds of waste we create every day is staggering. For the| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Learn to cultivate an heirloom vegetable garden by selecting open-pollinated, non-hybrid seeds that have been passed down through generations.| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Discover the top 10 crops to grow in a victory garden. These high-yield, nutrient-dense plants are ideal for maximizing your homegrown food production.| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Tomatoes are one of those crops that you really can’t grow enough of. Even if you’re not a big fan of fresh tomatoes, chances are you enjoy some tomato-based products on the regular. And that means that if you grow your own tomatoes, you can make those products at home! Homegrown tomatoes aren’t just healthier| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Learn how to find your gardening zone and frost dates for a thriving garden. Understand your growing season and choose the best plants for your climate.| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Welcome to The House & Homestead’s FREE resource library, where you’ll find all sorts of freebies and useful downloads to help you on your own homesteading journey, including my printable labels, charts, checklists, eBooks and more!| The House & Homestead
At long last, the snow on the ground has almost all melted, the songbirds are chirping in the forest around us, the crocuses and daffodils have poked their heads out of the ground and there’s a distinct feeling of spring in the air. I LOVE this time of year. Full disclosure: I actually love every| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Whether you’re an expert handyman or a fledgling fixer-upper, here are 15 essential tools for every home toolkit to keep on hand for minor repairs and odd jobs around the home (and homestead!), plus how to use each one! * * * When it comes to self-sufficiency, we tend to talk a lot about things| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
With the new year comes a fresh start and a new opportunity to do anything you set your mind to over the next 12 months. Why not work on increasing your self-sufficiency this year so that you can become more secure and independent and less reliant on others to take care of you? Whether you’re| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Learn how to build a strong, self-reliant community. Discover ways to connect and trade with neighbours, support local food systems, and strengthen community resilience—no matter where you live.| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
The Canada-U.S. trade war highlights the need for self-reliance. Learn how tariffs impact daily life and why self-sufficiency matters now more than ever.| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Discover natural spring cleaning recipes using essential oils to eliminate toxins and create a fresh, clean, natural home this spring.| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Stinging nettles are rich in vitamins and minerals and can be foraged in the wild. Nettles can help with allergies, boosting immunity, joint pain, and more.| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Build a 3-bin composter using pallets for under $5. This DIY guide provides step-by-step instructions to create an efficient composting system in your backyard.| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Learn how to grow pumpkins from seed with this guide. With a few simple tips, you can grow fresh, homegrown pumpkins in your home vegetable garden.| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Learn how to grow carrots from seed with this step-by-step guide. Discover optimal planting times, soil conditions, and care tips for fresh homegrown carrots.| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
These 12 frugal living tips for spring will help you save money and embrace a simpler lifestyle. Create DIY cleaners, declutter, start a garden, and more.| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Learn how to grow broccoli from seed with this step-by-step guide. These care tips will ensure a bountiful harvest of fresh, homegrown broccoli.| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Learn how to start seeds indoors! Get tips on choosing the right seeds, soil, containers, and more to ensure strong, healthy seedlings for your garden.| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Learn how to grow peas from seed with this simple guide. Discover best planting times, soil conditions, and care tips for fresh, homegrown garden peas.| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Learn how to build an indoor grow light stand for indoors seed starting. This DIY project is cost-effective and perfect for beginners.| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Water bath canning is one of the easiest and most popular ways to preserve many types of food. An easy skill to master that requires no real special equipment, water bath canning is the first form of food preservation that most modern homesteaders and sustainable foodies master, and it tends to quickly lead to an| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Learn how to grow tomatoes from seed. Discover the best practices for starting tomato seeds indoors, transplanting seedlings, and ensuring a plentiful harvest.| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
These pickled beans are the perfect way to preserve summer's bounty of green beans to enjoy all year long. Great in a Bloody Mary, better in a Caesar! * * * Pickled beans are one of my favourite things to eat out of a Mason jar. For starters, I’m a self-proclaimed caesar addict - eh fellow| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
I’m not gonna lie: when I first decided to learn how to make kombucha at home, I was feeling pretty intimidated. I had never done any fermenting before and, just like with learning any new skill, I feared I would mess it up or make my family sick. But as it turns out, making kombucha| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Canning blueberry pie filling lets you enjoy this summer treat all year long! Preserve blueberries with this recipe for home-canned blueberry pie filling. * * * Blueberries are one of my favourite summer fruits. I love to eat them fresh, and frozen blueberries can’t be beat! I usually buy a bunch in the summer and| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
This rhubarb juice concentrate makes an excellent base for rhubarb soda, rhubarb lemonade and iced tea, rhubarb cocktails, rhubarb popsicles and more! * * * We recently bought our first house: A charming 3-bedroom rancher on ¼-acre plot of land with more gardening space than we had on the one acre we’ve been renting for the| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Learn how to make your own fermented giardiniera, a spicy Italian-style relish using a mix of garden vegetables and gut-healthy brine. This recipe is the perfect way to make use of small garden harvests!| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Learn how to make your own sourdough starter from scratch using just flour and water and start baking sourdough bread in just a few days! *** Sourdough starters have been a homestead kitchen staple for as long as there have been homesteaders. One Chicago Tribune article highlights just how valuable sourdough starters really were for| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Learn how to make your own whole wheat honey oat sandwich bread at home with simple ingredients. No bread machine needed!| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Having a well-stocked pantry is key to whipping up quick meals at home. Here are 25 frugal pantry meal ideas to help you save money and avoid the grocery store.| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Disaster can strike anyone, anywhere at anytime.Be ready to bug out with this list of 15 emergency preparedness items you need to have packed and ready to go.| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
This low-sugar strawberry jam recipe is made with Pomona's pectin and preserves the bright, fresh taste of summer strawberries all year long (without the insane amounts of sugar!) Once you try this recipe out, you may never go back to traditional, sugar-laden strawberry jam again! * * * The very first homemade jam I ever| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
Discover 12 must-have perennial food plants that provide a reliable harvest year after year with minimal effort.| The House & Homestead - Helping you create, grow and live a good life... From...
