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Firewood moisture content decides your winter heat, not species. Get the 20 percent rule, the meter test, and how to spot wet wood before you pay.
Read More →Build it yourself. Home and outbuilding projects, field and land work, seasonal challenges and the small DIY jobs that make a homestead more self-sufficient.
Need something to keep you a little warmer around the homestead this winter? Check out a pair of new garments from ALPS OutdoorZ, designed to fend off the worse of the winter’s cold. The Element Hoodie is available as a pullover or a full-zip hoodie. Its cotton/polyester blend and plush fleece interior lining make it…
Whether in the woods, the fields, or around the homestead, the value of a pocketknife is undeniable. Of course, multi-tools are also useful, but most have a definite preference, either preferring the broader utility of the latter, or finding the singular purpose of the former more appealing. True Utility has sought to bridge this gap, with…
The best part of having a homestead is getting creative with your land. You can get some crazy idea to build an ice rink and then go out and do it. I’ve built one on my property every year for the past five years, and each time I learn something new. Here are the basic…
Most homesteaders begin their journey with the desire to be fully self-sufficient. From food, to power, to transportation, this can be quite a process. Oftentimes, however, the simplest needs are overlooked in favor of more flashy pursuits, but the devil is in the details. Have you ever considered, for instance, how to live without store-bought…
If you’ve made it this far, congratulations! You’re officially at the fun part. And unlike your mean uncle Phil, I do NOT mean that ironically. You’ve suffered through the stink and the steam, the rotted meat and potential maggots. You’ve spooned out eyes and cut off ears, but you’re now at the finish line, and…
I’ve always wanted to be a shrewd negotiator. To get a great deal on something simply due to my slick talking and hardened determination, or willingness to walk away from a deal, hoping the seller would chase me down and beg me to come back. But I suck at bluffing, and my conscience usually gets…
(For legal purposes, I have to say this is not advice. I do not recommend doing this in any way shape or form, nor do the owners of this blog, business, or any of its subsidiaries. This is a cautionary tale.) I’m either a pyromaniac, lazy, or cheap. Most likely, it’s all three. I don’t…
Love composting, but dislike the idea of having big, furry, four-legged bear friends near your home? I don’t blame you. While I love encountering (black) bears out in the woods (its usually a much less scary experience than folks imagine), having them camped out near a homestead is a different story, as they can pose…
Howdy folks! Its been a little longer than anticipated since my first installment in the Euro-mount series. My apologies on that, been some busy times around the homestead this month. That said, the mercury is flirting with triple digits outside, and I think that is just the excuse I needed to move us along to…
Unless you’ve found a deadhead that–miraculously–has some of the meat still attached, this probably seems odd timing for an article on the procedures for Euro-mounting a deer skull. There’s a reason for that. About halfway through the project this fall, I came down hard with the world’s favorite Coronavirus, and was forced to shelve it…
Good day folks. As I sit here at my steam-powered excuse for a computer, I’ve begun to realize something–my writing has taken a distinctly garden-esque turn as of late. Perhaps it was the brisk spring air, or maybe it was watching the little green shoots peek through the dirt, but I’ve been in a distinctly…
So there’s a precarious looking arbor sitting trunk-distance from your humble home. Or maybe you just need firewood. But before you start swinging that axe or pushing that saw, you may want to know a few actual methods for how to fell a tree. Read on for some tactics that may come in handy, when…
